Written by: Tom Dowd
SIlive.com
The address was 456 Richmond Terrace, and it was supposed to be just another stop on Dan Jennings’ trip through the system.
By the time Jennings arrived at Cora Darby’s home in St. George 10 years ago, he’d spent a year in a shelter with his mother, another few years with an aunt and, by his own count, lived in five or six other foster homes throughout the city.
“That’s a long story,” says Jennings. “I came out of it. I don’t like to discuss it too much.
“It’s hard to keep repeating.”
What he found on Staten Island was something he had never known. It was a home, and it would be his foundation as he embarked on another journey, hopscotching through the world of big-time high school basketball until he landed what he’d been a chasing all along, a scholarship to play in the Big East Conference with West Virginia.
It’s a trip that took the 19-year-old through three different high schools and a prep school, from New York to Virginia to Connecticut, along the way playing with and against some of the best high school players in the nation.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward was back in New York on Saturday, playing for the City team in the Regional Game of the Jordan Brand Classic at Madison Square Garden.
“He’s a kid that’s got a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy,” says Jere Quinn, the long-time coach at St. Thomas More in Connecticut, which Jennings currently attends. “He’s a lot of fun to coach. He’s a great teammate. Everybody down in Staten Island should be proud of a kid like this. He’s been in and out of the foster situation and he’s done wonderfully.
“He’s done a pretty good job for a young guy putting it together, coming from those obstacles and challenges.”
Jennings was a long, lanky lefty oozing potential when he played for the Curtis junior varsity as a freshman in 2004-05. But before that school year was over, he had transferred to Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn in search of a higher level of competition and greater exposure.
That took awhile. He broke his leg twice, and never got on the court at Loughlin until his junior year. It was in the six months after that 2006-07 season ended that Jennings’ recruiting profile exploded.
He hooked on with the New York Gauchos, the high-profile AAU squad that featured a slew of future Big East players in Kemba Walker (UConn), Jordan Theodore (Seton Hall) and Darryl “Truck” Bryant (West Virginia).
By the end of the summer of 2007, major conference colleges were calling. And Jennings moved on to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, the hoops powerhouse whose recent alumni include Carmelo Anthony, Ty Lawson and Rajon Rondo.
“I had to step my grades up and I wanted to become a better player,” says Jennings. “I had a great summer with the Gauchos. We were the number one AAU team in the nation. The next year I went to Oak Hill Academy for my senior year. I went there to get my grades better and play on a national level. I got to play on TV and with the best point guard in the country, Brandon Jennings.
“I played against a lot of All American players. Oak Hill is a place that is in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like city life. It’s on a mountain. There’s no service on your phone. It’s strictly books and basketball. That’s all you focus on. You eat, sleep and breathe them. You get homesick real quick.”
By the end of the summer of 2008, Dan Jennings’ list of scholarship offers included Memphis, Minnesota, Marquette, DePaul, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Rutgers.
He chose West Virginia, partly because two of his former teammates — Bryant from the Gauchos and Devin Ebanks from Loughlin — were already on the way there. There was also the lure of early playing time, and the track record of coach Bob Huggins in developing NBA players.
“Honestly I’m supposed to come in next year and be a beast down low, be that beast that they need,” says Jennings. “Grab all the boards, block shots, do all the dirty work, be around the basket, finish around the basket. I’m just trying to be that inside player, that body down low.”
Jennings gave West Virginia a verbal commitment at the end of the summer, but a year at prep school was needed to meet his academic requirements. So the West Virginia staff steered him to St. Thomas More, where Ebanks had gone to school the year before.
“His size and athleticism is a gift,” says Quinn. “He’s lean, lefty, can move. Now he needs to learn how to play basketball. He’s going to find success as a defender, a rebounder, a shotblocker.
“Although he’s working on his offensive game, he’s kind of limited right now. He mostly plays 10 feet and in.”
If there’s still work to be done, Jennings doesn’t mind that. He professes a love for the weight room, which must sound good to the West Virginia coaches who would like to see him bulk up with another 20 pounds.
It’s how he fashioned a winning end to an improbable journey.
“I came out on top,” says Jennings. “I thought I really wasn’t going to make it, and now I’m here.”
SIlive.com
The address was 456 Richmond Terrace, and it was supposed to be just another stop on Dan Jennings’ trip through the system.
By the time Jennings arrived at Cora Darby’s home in St. George 10 years ago, he’d spent a year in a shelter with his mother, another few years with an aunt and, by his own count, lived in five or six other foster homes throughout the city.
“That’s a long story,” says Jennings. “I came out of it. I don’t like to discuss it too much.
“It’s hard to keep repeating.”
What he found on Staten Island was something he had never known. It was a home, and it would be his foundation as he embarked on another journey, hopscotching through the world of big-time high school basketball until he landed what he’d been a chasing all along, a scholarship to play in the Big East Conference with West Virginia.
It’s a trip that took the 19-year-old through three different high schools and a prep school, from New York to Virginia to Connecticut, along the way playing with and against some of the best high school players in the nation.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward was back in New York on Saturday, playing for the City team in the Regional Game of the Jordan Brand Classic at Madison Square Garden.
“He’s a kid that’s got a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy,” says Jere Quinn, the long-time coach at St. Thomas More in Connecticut, which Jennings currently attends. “He’s a lot of fun to coach. He’s a great teammate. Everybody down in Staten Island should be proud of a kid like this. He’s been in and out of the foster situation and he’s done wonderfully.
“He’s done a pretty good job for a young guy putting it together, coming from those obstacles and challenges.”
Jennings was a long, lanky lefty oozing potential when he played for the Curtis junior varsity as a freshman in 2004-05. But before that school year was over, he had transferred to Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn in search of a higher level of competition and greater exposure.
That took awhile. He broke his leg twice, and never got on the court at Loughlin until his junior year. It was in the six months after that 2006-07 season ended that Jennings’ recruiting profile exploded.
He hooked on with the New York Gauchos, the high-profile AAU squad that featured a slew of future Big East players in Kemba Walker (UConn), Jordan Theodore (Seton Hall) and Darryl “Truck” Bryant (West Virginia).
By the end of the summer of 2007, major conference colleges were calling. And Jennings moved on to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, the hoops powerhouse whose recent alumni include Carmelo Anthony, Ty Lawson and Rajon Rondo.
“I had to step my grades up and I wanted to become a better player,” says Jennings. “I had a great summer with the Gauchos. We were the number one AAU team in the nation. The next year I went to Oak Hill Academy for my senior year. I went there to get my grades better and play on a national level. I got to play on TV and with the best point guard in the country, Brandon Jennings.
“I played against a lot of All American players. Oak Hill is a place that is in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like city life. It’s on a mountain. There’s no service on your phone. It’s strictly books and basketball. That’s all you focus on. You eat, sleep and breathe them. You get homesick real quick.”
By the end of the summer of 2008, Dan Jennings’ list of scholarship offers included Memphis, Minnesota, Marquette, DePaul, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Rutgers.
He chose West Virginia, partly because two of his former teammates — Bryant from the Gauchos and Devin Ebanks from Loughlin — were already on the way there. There was also the lure of early playing time, and the track record of coach Bob Huggins in developing NBA players.
“Honestly I’m supposed to come in next year and be a beast down low, be that beast that they need,” says Jennings. “Grab all the boards, block shots, do all the dirty work, be around the basket, finish around the basket. I’m just trying to be that inside player, that body down low.”
Jennings gave West Virginia a verbal commitment at the end of the summer, but a year at prep school was needed to meet his academic requirements. So the West Virginia staff steered him to St. Thomas More, where Ebanks had gone to school the year before.
“His size and athleticism is a gift,” says Quinn. “He’s lean, lefty, can move. Now he needs to learn how to play basketball. He’s going to find success as a defender, a rebounder, a shotblocker.
“Although he’s working on his offensive game, he’s kind of limited right now. He mostly plays 10 feet and in.”
If there’s still work to be done, Jennings doesn’t mind that. He professes a love for the weight room, which must sound good to the West Virginia coaches who would like to see him bulk up with another 20 pounds.
It’s how he fashioned a winning end to an improbable journey.
“I came out on top,” says Jennings. “I thought I really wasn’t going to make it, and now I’m here.”
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