“Michael,” he said, “you can go one of two ways right now. You can’t play basketball for us, but you can come to practice and work out. There’s a lot of quality basketball being played down at [adjacent-to-campus] Victory Park, which will keep you sharp. But what you need to do—more than anything—is buckle down and get your grades together. I’ll help you as much as I can, but it’s important that you do most of it yourself. This isn’t just about playing basketball. It’s shaping the foundation of who you are, of how much you want to expand yourself and become something and someone of substance.”
