"A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

[LemonTea3260]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

Big game from the king

[beast10]

"A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

January 8th, 2015

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I bursted out of my bed in the disturbance of the alarm and aggressively turned it off nearly knocking it off its original position. I believed I had possession of the worlds loudest alarm clock but I couldn't do anything about it because without it I'd oversleep everyday.

Lately the weather had been compiled with snow here in Dayton so I turned on my TV to check the local news station to see the school status before starting my morning routine. I watched as the ticker bar at the bottom of the screen flipped through the list of schools who either had a 2 hour delay or a complete school cancelation. Finally it'd said Tree Hills Township cancelled which was where Polk was.

With relief, I flipped one of my blinds up just to take a glance outside. It was worst than yesterday, my dad's Lexus's tires were nearly covered by the snow on the ground.

I sent a text message to my dad that school was cancelled just so he wouldn't wake up and yell at me because he thought I skipped school.

• • •

I woke up for the second time but this time with a headache. I figured it'd came from sleeping for such a long time after I realized it was 3:21.

I walked into the kitchen to relieve my growling stomach and noticed my dad sitting at the table while reading the newspaper.

"Hey dad." I said as I yawned.

"Man, what time did you wake up?" Dad said as he noticed my presence.

"Just did. I went back to sleep after I saw school was cancelled."

"Rest is good but too much isn't good for you. But look what's in the newspaper today." He said while waving me over.

Dad positioned it over near the empty seat and I sat down and looked around for the article I was suppose to be reading.
With no success I asked, "What am I suppose to be reading?"

He pointed towards the section titled "Polk Stays Victorious With Win Against Whitney Young"

A smile immediately formed as I began reading the article.

Polk basketball celebrated on Whitney Young's floor following the 76-74 last night in their first out of state game out their season against the previously undefeated Dolphins.

I skimmed through searching to see if I was mentioned in the article.

— Starting sophomore point guard Michael Kane had 19 points along with 8 assists in the outing and he appears to be a promising player for the Knights as they progress in the years to come.

I read the sentence with the smile still remaining on my face and placed the newspaper back down once I finished.

"Think any college's gonna see this?" I asked.

"No doubt. With Polk being such a powerhouse high school that produces the NBA talent it has in the past, your just another one they're adding to the list. I've already got Billy hooked on your game but at this point I think you've exceeded our programs prestige. You're only a sophomore and your playing like this, I'm thinking you've got a few more inches to put on hopefully so with that addition you've got power conference schools in your future."

I pictured myself being in an Indiana Hoosier jersey like my brother Julian had the opportunity to wear back in his college days or a Florida State jersey. Those two colleges had always been my favorite especially Indiana just because Julian had been my idol every since I could remember.

Then I thought what if I didn't end up growing those "few more inches" would any D-1 programs even look at me anymore? Would I just end up playing D-2 or even worst JUCO? I tried to erase the discouragement out my mind and stay positive.

"Yeah..." I then remembered what I'd come to the kitchen for. I opened the freezer and my eyes roamed through as I looked for something to eat. I pulled out the full bag of pizza rolls. It reminded me of those mom made pizza rolls memes I used to see with James Harden and the OKC Thunder players plastered onto the image. I wondered how my mom was doing, I'd realized how irresponsible I was being because I haven't called her lately but I assumed everything was ok since no one said anything.

[beast10]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

January 8th, 2014

Early in the morning the street cleaners had forced their way through in an attempt to unclog the snow and allow others to resume work and school. It was perfect because today was game day against Arcadia High School.

I looked at my playing report card I'd been given to by the Adidas camp just so I could review things I could maybe do better in today's game.

Spoiler

They had left nothing but positive for the most part besides rebounding and defense. I didn't care much about rebounding but defense was an aspect I knew I had to grow better at.

• • •

Towards the beginning of the day before any classes began I walked around the hallways just so I wouldn't have to sit in first period until the bell rang.

"Hey Michael!" Said Ava who walked my way. She was hands down one of the best looking girls sophomores at Polk.

"Hey what's up." I asked.

"Nothing. Good game yesterday!"

Ava was a cheerleader so she travelled everywhere the team went. "Thanks, couldn't have done it without the cheerleaders support." I said with a laugh. "You got any plans during the weekend?" I asked in regret, I forced it a little.

"Yeah, a bunch of us are going to the movies. Aren't you going?"

"Yep I was just about to ask you if you wanted to go." I looked at the clock and it'd said 7:29 and we were suppose to be in class by 7:30 but luckily my first period class was right around the corner from my locker.

• • •

I decided to stay after school instead of going home after the school dismissal. The whole team except Hugh did actually but he only left because he needed to get some different shoes.

We were all as always told to report to the cafeteria if we stayed after and we had to sit in there with very little talking allowed until it was time to go to the gym. I guess it was set up like this so none of us would make excuses for not turning in our homework because the game.

"You ready to put in that work today." Said Troy who approached me with a handshake.

"You already know."

He moved on to a table and I trailed along. Seated there were all the seniors talking everything but basketball.

"I'm about to make my college commitment to the Buffalo Bulls in a few days." Said Odis as I sat.

"Oh yeah, aren't you suppose to be replacing me in football Mike?" He asked.

"Yeah I suppose. Mr. Hill said he wants me there this year."

"Good luck, he's one of the greatest coach's you'll ever play under."

"We still sucked though. Didn't we go like 3-7." Stated Cleveland.

• • •

4:00 struck onto the clock and we gathered our material and left the cafeteria and moved towards the main gym. Ahead of us were Arcadia's players walking into our school from entrance as we headed to the locker room. They were lead by a guy who looked to be taller than Augustus and then behind him resided the rest of the roster who appeared to at least be in the mutual average height of 6'4".

I'd never heard of this school until today but I had to admit that they looked a little intimidating if you did a "judge a book by it's cover" on them.

[beast10]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

On the same day...

The game buzzer signaled game time and both teams scrambled into position on the gym floor. I examined my match-up on the other side of the floor. He looked to be my height and showed a lot of enthusiasm as he jumped around hoping the ball came his way.

• • •

From the sideline, coach had been telling me to sag off my assignment and play a lot of help defense but it tangled up my mind because when I obeyed the command Arcadia would just kick it back out to him and he'd sink the jumper as I tried to recover.

Quarter number one ended favoring us with the score being 17-8. I admit that I had been looking to score more than distribute once I realized how much of a poor defender the other team's guard was... We gathered around on the bench and listened to coach construct with game plan until the buzzer sounded for the start of the second.

--

"Guard your f*cking man" Said an angry Troy who looked to be talking to me.

I began picking up on the guard at the half-court line and defended him aggressively trying to force him to immediately pass or allow me to pick up the steal.

• • •

We pretty much rode our first quarter dominance to the victory were we won 61-46 because every since that quarter Arcadia began to really keep up with us. Me and Troy had been a double threat all game as we combined for 42 points in the game and I had 7 assists. As a team we shook hands with the Arcadia Frenzy's and on the way back to the locker room coach stopped both me and Troy. Besides him was another man who greeted us both with a head nod.

"Troy, Michael. You guys both had a great game today. Luckily somebody important was here to see it." Coach said as he looked in the direction of the man signaling for him to take over.

"Yes, I'm Greg Paulus, a fellow scout at Ohio State. I originally came here on an assignment to further evaluate you [Troy] and yes, you've impressed as expected but I also see you've got a sidekick here as well." He said while turning his eye sight over to me. I didn't want to be known as a side kick. "I saw good things out there from you and that's no joke. Which class are you coming out of?"

"Two thous—" Troy cut me off on what seemed to been accidentally.

"Yeah so coac— Oh my bad Mike." Troy said and allowed me to continue.

"It's cool. I come out in two thousand seventeen coach."

Greg Paulus continued, "Wow! Didn't think you were that young! But anyways Troy, I understand you're close to your commitment decision and you've got Ohio State in your school's of interest."

Troy responded saying yes.

"So I was also sent here to invite you to an official visit on the campus on this Saturday."

"Ok that's great. I'll be there, just gotta plan it along with my mom and dad."

"Alright that's a deal. And for you Michael, I'll definitely be telling Ohio State about you. You've got a nice game for only a sophomore."

"Thank you, I couldn't have done it without coach Santiago here." I said.

"Yes, you've done a fantastic job here Chris (Our head coach)."

"Appreciate that, Paulus." Coach added.

After speaking that last sentence the scout sauntered towards the exit.

What if me and Troy ended up playing college ball together. How ironic would that be. But I could already tell the possibilities were slim, anybody knew that Troy would be the type of person who would be quick to declare for the draft.

[megarover]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

Aint nothing wrong with being Robin for a little bit

[beast10]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

[beast10]

"A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

Real life update: Somebody broke into my dad's house today and while I had taken both my xbox and computer to my cousins house with me, I left all my games except 2k there and that included my college hoops 2k8 copy which is an important addition to the storyline. Hopefully I can get the game again at GameStop but it is very rare and I was lucky to get it the first time. I haven't actually returned back to my dad's house yet so I don't know what they took but let's hope they didn't see the value in the 5 year old game and left it behind!

EDIT: They caught them and I got everything back

[NewscasterNews4]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

Real life update: Somebody broke into my dad's house today and while I had taken both my xbox and computer to my cousins house with me, I left all my games except 2k there and that included my college hoops 2k8 copy which is an important addition to the storyline. Hopefully I can get the game again at GameStop but it is very rare and I was lucky to get it the first time. I haven't actually returned back to my dad's house yet so I don't know what they took but let's hope they didn't see the value in the 5 year old game and left it behind!

EDIT: They caught them and I got everything back

Glad you and your dad are ok.

[beast10]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

Aint nothing wrong with being Robin for a little bit

Yeah hopefully it stays at a "bit"

Glad you and your dad are ok.

Thanks. The story continues!
Update coming tomorrow

[beast10]

"A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

January 12th, 2015

I sat in my bed while being completely solitude in my house injected with boredom after the plans to go to the movies were all cancelled. I thought of my favorite thing, basketball. So far I had known interest from three colleges: Ohio State, Wright State, and TCU. I dwelled on about Ohio State... It was a good feeling knowing I had a school like that already on my tail. But I knew I needed to remain focus on my high school career and not let the next level get me out of my zone.

The thoughts rattled in my mind then I shifted back to my current boredom mood. I wish I had a job or something, Foot Locker ended up never calling me back after I turned in that application which frustrated me because I was really looking forward to getting my hands on retro Jordan's before the store would cluttered with what seemed to be psychopaths loosing their minds over them.

It was also my goal to get the job so I'd be able to eventually try to make enough money to purchase myself a car and now the opposition couldn't be worst because for me because now I was trapped in the house all day unless I had a ride, despite having a license of my own.

I got on my phone and inserted my headphones plug and turned on some music and it was a start of relief then right when I was about to close my eyes I suddenly heard a shattering type sound coming from a somewhere around the house close to my room and an immediate heart rate burst took me by storm as I quickly gathered myself out of the bed to investigate the noise.

I slowly moved towards the den first to see if that was were the noise had come from.
I inhaled so much air I thought I'd faint as my eyesight displayed shattered glass spread all throughout the floor and and even worst, two unmasked people invading there way into my house from the broken window.

---

Lol at least it gave me something to write about. TBC

[BUCKSWEATSHIRT]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

Glad that your dad is OK.

[beast10]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

On the same day...

The burglars continued to climb through the window as I stayed undercover hiding behind the door. That's when the house alarm system came in.

"What the f*ck!" Yelled one of the invaders.

"Markel said there wasn't a system man what the f*ck!" Said the other one.

They quickly maneuvered back out of the window while the alarm continued to give inconvenience throughout the entire street.

They said Markel told them there wasn't an alarm system. I wondered if they were talking about the Markel I played basketball in my backyard with. I remembered he told me he had to hit a lick and I had no clue what it was. I searched the phrase on my phone and it described it as committing an armed robbery. I then knew it had to have been him who planned this.
I thought to myself, were they armed? What if this house didn't have the alarm system. Today could have been my last day of life.

After they fled out of the window I stared as they ran across the fields trying to abandon the scene before the response police arrived. I'd seen both of their faces at a good quality and I believed I could identify a few features if asked but I still had never seen either one of them prior to this day.

I thought back about Markel. Why would he choose my house and not some other house on the block. I thought he was my friend but after this apparently he wasn't.
I called my dad to tell him about what the emergency.

"What's up Michael?" Said dad upon answering.

"Some people just broke into the house!" I said with an explosive roar in my voice.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm alright but it's glass all over the floor!"

He sighed, "Did you see them?"

"It was two teenagers and they ran away after they heard the alarm going off."

"I'm on my way." Dad said on the other line

"Ok the police are on their way, I can hear the sirens already."

• • •

Three squad cars arrived at my house within minutes after I called my dad and they came with the two suspects that had tried to break into my house in the back of the car. By this time my dad had returned home but the police still mainly questioned me because I was the eyewitness of the whole thing.

[LemonTea3260]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

Well that was unexpected

[beast10]

Re: "A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

*During the simulations I still actually play the games throughout the stretch, the simulation is just to get by faster.

[beast10]

"A Look in My Eyes" - Journey Of 5'4" Guard Michael Kane

February 9th, 2015

A lot of stuff had went down in this past month... I began receiving way more national recognition every since I talked with Ohio State's scout. Domain staff such as ESPN, Rivals, 247 Sports, and more had personal player profiles of me set up on the sites. Rivals had boosted me as a 4 star prospect of the 2017 class which was a plus two from what they originally rated me last year. Everything was pretty much flowing great heading into the AAU season.

We as a team had some rocky games to end our regular season and sometimes we barely ended up winning. It seemed like every since Troy made his college decision to attend Kentucky he'd always tend to disappear in the clutch moments and therefore I was being forced to step up as the underdog of the team. I had no issues with it because I never wanted to be in the shadows of others in the first place but those last games of the season seemed to all be against extremely established teams with great team chemistry and loaded with experienced upperclassmen on the roster and most of the point guards were lockdown defenders.

But still in the meantime we still ended up going undefeated in the stretch and we became the favorites to win the state championship after finishing with a 14-1 record.

Our main focus of this Saturday was to defeat our opponent Yasogami and advance to the super sectionals. Yasgogami was our first scheduled game this season so it was bound to be a reunion except I wouldn't be a bench warmer this game instead I would be in the starting lineup instead of Mohammad.

• • •

We were centered around coach in the locker room, "Yasgogami..." Sighed coach. "They haven't and will never beat us and that chain will not be broken today. We've been through this journey together every since November and we've had our obstacles but in this tournament we are going to finish on a complete good note. As we can recall, Yasogami has a lot of depth but it's only at a certain degree because it all comes from the four and five position so we don't have to worry about that being a threat. We're going to go into this game from the very start and hammer them down all four quarters. Michael it's a very important priority for you to stay in control and protect the ball tonight. You've been making deadly mistakes lately but I keep you in the starting lineup because you correct those mistakes and that's exactly what I want you to do tonight understood?"

"Yes coach." I said. Coach was right, I was pretty sketchy in those games, when you have no clue who could be watching you it makes you feel you have expectations and can't make mistakes and that really seemed to have fired shots at me because like coach said, I tried to correct my mistakes but it reality it always didn't work out my way.

"Let's win this!" Chanted Troy after silence struck the locker room. We all hurdled out with the repetition of phrases until we reached the court.

Coach Platt walked by my side before we stepped out of the tunnel he stepped in front of me.

"Mike keep doing what you do out there. Take those risks you've been taking. Chris [Santiago] wants you to have the perfect game and if you strive for that you will shy away from everything and will be need ineffective. So keep doing what you do out there. Alright? He said.

I was sure it would be way smarter to listen to the head coach if I wanted to stay in the game but Platt's logic was right. I recalled last year when I was at Central I used to try to rely on not making mistakes all the time and I ended up being a non factor that game.

"Will do." I said while nodding.

"Alright and also, stop breaking plays unless you see the opportunity. That's why Chris takes you out so much."

"Ok." I said before hustling out to the floor to join the layup lines.