Ambition — Sam Truman

**beast10** · 06-25-2014, 11:56 PM

**beast10** · 06-26-2014, 12:09 AM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

November 21st, 2007

It was painful to watch.
It was painful to see all the work the team and I put in during my off-season seem to just be shattered as Center Grove High dominated us in the first half in our first game of the season. What made it even worse was that I was largely responsible - considering that I'm regarded as the teams floor general at point guard … It felt good to be back in action but this certainly wasn't too much of a warm welcome to the season.

I was missing open layups, not connecting on my shots, nor contributing with my duty of finding my teammates. I sat on the bench after the countless mistakes.

"Get the ball to Gordon!" Coach yelled while Cris brought the ball up. Even though me and Gordon were the same age, he'd always been my idol. We'd been playing basketball together since the youth YMCA basketball leagues and then all the way up until now. He'd always be the guy putting up the most work in practice and the results always showed up in games and that's what made me his friend. I was always told to surround myself around people like him so it'd motivate me to keep up with them and that's exactly what I was doing.

Now, the fourth quarter had begun. The score sat at 53-46 and we were down. Coach put me along with our original starting core back in in an effort to continue our heroic comeback that began in the 3rd.

My philosophy had changed, I wasn't making a high percentage of my shots so from common sense it'd be smart for me to get my teammates involved so that had become my plan.

I walked at a slow pace up the Center Grove hardwood - scanning their defense and my teammates. At half court I bombed the ball to who I found wide up in the corner due to CG's zone and he quickly fired away with a three that was a pure swish.

I clapped and focused on defense. That was the Brownsburg basketball that would lead us to state in my final year of high school basketball.

The quarter went by slow. We steadily snuck up on Center Grove but at the same thing they kept their distance on the scoreboard.

At this point I was really locked in and purely looking to pass opposed to shoot the ball. I was feeding the ball to each and every cutter I spotted and it was working out well for me, well enough to spark us a little bit closer as time ticked and the game started to get a little bit more crucial and intense. I hadn't heard about Grove's shooting guard up until this game but he was solely the reason why we couldn't capture the lead.

One thing to another and we had lost the game 69-62. It had started out as a disgrace but we ended it with hard work and that was important, it sent out a memo to Indiana basketball that we are not ones who give up.

But after all we still lost so after we finished up with the traditional high five line with our opponents we walked into the locker room and some yelled profanity and slammed the lockers.

"That's just the beginning," I say as I gather my stuff. "We got a long way to go and we're not going to let this lost get the best of us."

From there coach agreed with my brief statement of motivation and gave us a quick rundown of the flaws of our offense and defense in the game as we prepared to depart from the school.

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**beast10** · 06-28-2014, 12:20 PM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

December 4th, 2007

"Keep the ball moving guys," coach said as we scrimmaged in practice. "We've got some good shooters, they've got to get the ball when they're open."

Our offense was flowing well in practice. Something it wasn't doing in our last game against Grandview. We were now 1-2 and I was secretly starting to doubt us. We had lost a lot of our seniors on last years' team and this year we had two sophomores starting and two freshmen getting PT on the bench. We lacked experience and it was the reason we had gotten off to such a bad start.

But when I spent time thinking about it, it was a bright side. This is me and Gordon's team. We're leaders, last year I was a nobody but this year was different as a senior. I couldn't blame it on our other players because I partially run this team now - it's my responsibility to make sure they step up. That's intangibles, that'll get me into college …

Coach then blows whistle and we meet up at the center court and conclude our practice. Our starting unit ended up beating the bench which had become the usual result.

"Alright so we play Fishers up next. Guys we've got to step it up, we can't be playing this ******* soft basketball. I looked it up yesterday and found out we've got the lowest rebounding numbers in the entire state of Indiana. If we're going to play like that then we can really can our season because we're not getting anywhere with that bull****. Just plain ridiculous. We're playing with the chip on our shoulder - we can't do that, we've got to just go out there and play our brand basketball and that's what's going to get us the win. Alright?"

We all simultaneously say alright and I gather us in for a chant on 3 before we leave out.

When I exit my the school I head out to my car but stop when I see Gordon around. I head over, interested in what he has to say. "What do you think about this, G?"

"Coach is right dude. We're playing horrible … I mean we're going to make it out of here with some scholarships but this team isn't that great to be honest."

"Yeah, well you might make it out, my mail is still empty. But I guess it's me that's slacking, not doing my compete job as a point guard … I thought about it and I think I'll be making some adjustments."

"You're good dude, you won that game for us against RCHS - and you will make it out, it's schools all around Indiana coming to check me out in games so obviously they'll see you and hop on the boat."

"I suppose but yeah I did but I don't really want games to come down to hitting to go ahead layup and then relying on our opponent to make a mistake. That's luck. I want to win by skill, that'll take us to state."

"Yeah you've got a point. I'll hit you up later, we're making some plans this weekend."

"Cool." I walk back over to my car while the cool air blows and layers of snow compile onto the surface as a typical winter day in my state of Indiana.

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**beast10** · 06-28-2014, 03:22 PM

Ambition — Sam Truman

December 6th, 2007

We had just won our game against Fishers. It wasn't easy though, the game started with us going back and forth - that was the first quarter. I was cold as ice … Only teammate who survived us was fellow senior and sixth man Willis Lauren. But other than that we were simple off

Then when the second quarter came around and it was just dreadful. I looked back and realized they outscored us 21-5. That was where the headache part came. I was on and off the bench which made no sense cause Cris wasn't doing anything good for us anyways. I just watched Fishers expand their lead up to 20 as we hopelessly continued to miss shots.

But the 3rd and 4th is where we blew up and strived. I was back in for pretty much both of these quarters and our offense reached new heights to nearly flawless. We were hitting everything, I continued dropping assists, and all in all we became unstoppable. Perhaps it was all thanks to our crowd, we outscored Fishers 46-20 in the second half.

Now - after the game I checked out the box score. I had 15 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals. That was close to my season averages as of now, if I could keep it up throughout the year Gordon may actually be right about me getting some scholarships.

After celebrating on court with the team I went and met up with my family who had all came out to support me. All five of them were there; dad, mom, Olivia, Luke, and Garrett. They usually couldn't show up because my dad had a job were he traveled, and mom was always busy. My brothers usually got rides or walked to my games but it was the start of December so obviously that wasn't really suitable.

"That was a great game, Sam, you could've shot the ball a little better but you made some sharp passes. Seems like you guys have a nice team this year, huh?" Dad says. It was his first time coming to my games this year and although I told him about our record he was unaware about how we actually played on the court.

"Sorta—" I was then interrupted by Garrett.

"Noo, dad they suck," He laughs. "They play like how they played in that first half all the time!"

"Not that bad," I say to dad. "We just needed the memo and coach has been giving an earful about it so we're prepared to get some streaks going, I'd say."

"I never really liked that coach Boone. He belongs coaching in youth league if you ask me."

"He's alright to me, he just isn't great defensive wise."

"Well yeah that's the issue. It was really noticeable in that first half … We've got to get out of here though, going to be a lot of traffic. You got any plans with the team later?"

"Yeah, I'm going come home and shower then head out to the mall or something."

"Ok." We all left together but I was stopped by a somebody who was also talking with Gordon Hayward. Dad winked at me and continued out to their car with the rest of the family.

"Hello," he says as he reaches out to shake my hand. "I'm Ron Hunter, head coach of IUPUI. Gordon has been on our radar but we were unaware there was another talent here in Brownsburg."

"Much appreciation coach. I'm Sam Truman. Last year I was on the bench for the most part so I'm coming into this season a little unnoticed around the state."

"You can expect some change within that if you keep up that style of play. Good passer and a nice spot up shooting point guard is a good combination. Can we keep in touch?"

"Sure, I'll give you my contact information. Thanks coach." He hands a sheet of paper to me and I write down my phone number.

"Thanks, I'll be on my way now. Good talking to you both." He leaves and Gordon high fives me.

"What'd I tell," he says with a smirk. "Even quicker than I thought too."

"Yeah you were right. Are you really thinking about going there though?"

"Nah, well I mean I don't really have as many options as you think. Only colleges that have really talked to me is Butler, them, and Purdue."

I laugh. "IUPUI, I barely even knew they had a basketball team though!"

"D-1, that dude George Hill goes there, he might get drafted next season. They're not bad."

"Never heard of him but yeah that's not not too shabby. At least I've got some recognition."

"Yeah that's key. Keep it up bro, we might be the first kids to make it from around here."

The league … That was a huge dream of mine since forever. Actually fulfilling it would be the greatest achievement I could possibly think off.

**beast10** · 06-28-2014, 09:26 PM

Ambition — Sam Truman

December 21st, 2007

I waited for the ball in the warm-ups line we practiced layups before the game.

Today was the final day of school until our much anticipated two week Winter Break. But before I was set free from anything related to school we were hosting against Sky High Crusaders. A team who currently stood at 9-1 I believe. We were now just 3-4 …

"How about you do that in the actual game." I say as our center Logan Haywood goes up for a dunk. A couple of games back I had suggested that coach start him over Donny because Donny wasn't rebounding or making much of a presence on offense. Now, Logan was kind of fulfilling the rebounding part but not much of the offense.

I just had to deal with it though. Our team really lacked skillful depth and that played a part in why we had such a bad record at the moment.

I took a look over at Sky's team. They were our neighboring school so I knew a lot of their players. They're best were Hershel and Rusty. Both were guards but they also both started and I heard they put up at least 50% of their team's points. Hershel played on my AAU team last summer so he knew a lot about my game but I also knew a lot about his.

I looked towards the scoreboard and saw the time was ticking before the game was set to start. We headed back to the bench for coach's last second gameplan review and then me and the starters fled into our tip-off positions.

This was going to be a good game if you asked me, despite them being 9-1, I think we had a chance to beat them.

And it was, at least in our favor. We took the W and finished the game 66-55 bumping us to .500 … Herschel still destroyed Martin [our shooting guard] with 22 points. But together their team was turnover prone so we were taking advantage of that on the break.

"How was that, Sam?," Logan says to me as we stroll to the lockeroom. "You should start actually making those threes in games huh."

We both laugh, "Shut up Logan."

Karma haunted me and it played a part in this game, Logan ended up leading us to the win with 17 points and 8 rebounds, that performance stuck out like a sore thumb when categorized with his previous games. I on the other hand had a season low with 6 points but still had a good 7 assists to level out with my average. He earned the bragging rights for sure.

"Good work out there Bulldogs," coach tells us. "We're going to have some un-mandatory practices throughout the break but with these roads looking so scarce I doubt we'll actually have them. Have a good break and come back ready. We've got Taft and Adams on the schedule for January 3rd."

"Bring it in." Gordon says and we all put our hands in. "Bulldogs on 3; 1, 2, 3."

"BULLDOGS!" We chant.

We break and head out of the school. "Where you guys headed for break?" I ask.

Florida, California, Arizona, and other names are thrown around and I let them know I was just sticking around.

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**beast10** · 06-28-2014, 11:18 PM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

December 25th, 2007

I woke up to Olivia banging on my back telling me its Christmas, repetitively and how Santa got us a lot of stuff this year.

We were a couple days into break and I had been sleeping in so this was pretty different. I dragged myself down the stairs and gathered with my other siblings around the Christmas tree and also later my parents.

Mom handed out our big gifts individually. "For Sam," she said as she hands me the small box. "This one says it's for your future graduation!"

I unbox it and see it's a gold Rolex watch. It was clean but watches just weren't really me but I still thanked both my parents and mom continued the handoff. I ended up with a couple pair of Nike and Jordan shoes along with some new equipment and clothes I picked out myself.

Dad then informed me that he has gotten in contact with coach Witherspoon [my AAU coach] and he'd be willing to be a personal trainer for me up until the AAU season. That was definitely music to my ears. A trainer was one of the best things an athlete could have and getting individual advice from a great coach such as Coach Witherspoon had to be taken advantage of.

After little celebration at the house we left to and drove about a couple miles out to visit and have a Christmas dinner with my moms sister aunt Jude and a lot of others on my mom's side. Sounded boring but I needed to spend some time with my family because I didn't do if often.

"Hey everybody," aunt Jude says as she greets us at the door with hugs. "Merry Christmas!" She adds.

We settled in after a good 10 minutes and all talked as a family.

"I saw you in the paper Sam," my uncle Ronnie says. "You doing good with basketball I see and you've got that kid Gordon Hayward, you guys must be in for a state title."

"Yeah I'm doing pretty good, but yeah I thought we were too but we've started off bad. We're 4-4 right now but I've got some good hope for us. We just beat one of the best teams in the state. But even if we get to state we'd have to go against Tyler Zeller. He's the best center in Indiana and would dominate every single one of our bigmen on the roster."

"You can't talk like that. One man can't beat an entire team. You guys figure out your struggles, fix them, progress through, and you'll win it. It'll be no problem. You got any college offers?"

Uncle Ronnie was good with the motivation, he himself was a multi-purpose motivational speaker a while back. "We've been trying that, we win one then lose one, that's exactly how our pattern has been now that I come to think about it. That's kinda ironic … But I don't have any offers, I've talked to IUPUI's head coach though."

"IUPUI, that's where that kid George Hill goes. I heard he's been tearing the competition up."

"Yeah Gordon told me about him. I don't really know if I want to go there though. I always wanted to leave the state for college."

"Get yourself some more exposure and it'll happen, it's all based upon how bad you want it."

"Yeah me and my dad have been working on getting my highlights posted and stuff. Gordon has coaches coming to watch him so that's how I got with IUPUI - that'll continue so I think I'm doing good right now."

"Cool, well good talking with you Sam, I'm going to go get something to eat." Uncle Ronnie gets out the recliner he sat in and walked towards the kitchen which I do as well.

I checked my phone which I had accidentally left on do not disturb mode to see I had about 30 missed texts saying Merry Christmas and kiss faces and what not. When basketball was over, I was all in for these girls. I just couldn't deal with them during the season, I'm too focused with basketball and keeping my grades to their highest extent.

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**beast10** · 06-28-2014, 11:52 PM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

December 27th, 2007

I didn't quite know I was about to get these personal training sessions so soon but when dad told me to go get some rest when it was around 9:00 o'clock I was mad.

Apparently he and coach Witherspoon had planned these sessions at 6:00 in the morning just to see how dedicated to the game I actually was.

But yes, I did consider myself as one who was dedicated so I agreed and got some shut eye when I was told. I woke up the next day while everybody else rested, got ready and drove myself to the high school where I'd meet up with coach.

I was heaped up with energy and ready to take on what he had in store. Well at least that's what I thought.

Coach worked the **** out of me until the point where I wanted to sneak out the gym when he wasn't looking … We were in the weight room working with my strength, balance, and agility then when we actually got to the hardwood he was stressing with specific movement and footwork so I was running all around the entire court in defensive stances, sprints, all of it with little rest given.

Then I finally got a basketball in my hands and we really got to work. I was doing intense drills on every fundamental known about basketball.

I was tired but I continued to produce as much energy in the drills I could. When it was all over I was exhausted and I felt as if I had never worked this hard in my life.

"Sam you've got the potential to be the best player in this city, if not the state … I didn't play you too often on the AAU team last summer because I felt you were one dimensional as a three point specialist but you must have been busting your *** off these past months because I see a ton of improvement and I've heard you were doing pretty good with the varsity ball too … You've just got to know where you're potential is and get to it fast because time is ticking for you kid, this is a race for you, you've got the skill you just have to take over. You're a D-1 prospect and if I see you go lower then that then you'll disappoint both me and yourself. Step it up and make sure the nation knows your name."

"I'm working hard everyday to achieve that coach. Thanks."

"Work harder and harder then, meet me here in two days. Same time."

"Alright, thanks again."

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**beast10** · 06-29-2014, 04:57 PM

Ambition — Sam Truman

December 27th, 2007

I didn't quite know I was about to get these personal training sessions so soon but when dad told me to go get some rest when it was around 9:00 o'clock I was mad.

Apparently he and coach Witherspoon had planned these sessions at 6:00 in the morning just to see how dedicated to the game I actually was.

But yes, I did consider myself as one who was dedicated so I agreed and got some shut eye when I was told. I woke up the next day while everybody else rested, got ready and drove myself to the high school where I'd meet up with coach.

I was heaped up with energy and ready to take on what he had in store. Well at least that's what I thought.

Coach worked the **** out of me until the point where I wanted to sneak out the gym when he wasn't looking … We were in the weight room working with my strength, balance, and agility then when we actually got to the hardwood he was stressing with specific movement and footwork so I was running all around the entire court in defensive stances, sprints, all of it with little rest given.

Then I finally got a basketball in my hands and we really got to work. I was doing intense drills on every fundamental known about basketball.

I was tired but I continued to produce as much energy in the drills I could. When it was all over I was exhausted and I felt as if I had never worked this hard in my life.

"Sam you've got the potential to be the best player in this city, if not the state … I didn't play you too often on the AAU team last summer because I felt you were one dimensional as a three point specialist but you must have been busting your *** off these past months because I see a ton of improvement and I've heard you were doing pretty good with the varsity ball too … You've just got to know where you're potential is and get to it fast because time is ticking for you kid, this is a race for you, you've got the skill you just have to take over. You're a D-1 prospect and if I see you go lower then that then you'll disappoint both me and yourself. Step it up and make sure the nation knows your name."

"I'm working hard everyday to achieve that coach. Thanks."

"Work harder and harder then, meet me here in two days. Same time."

"Alright, thanks again."

**beast10** · 06-29-2014, 04:58 PM

Ambition — Sam Truman

December 28th, 2007

I chilled around at the house with my little brothers and played 2k8 on the 360 to just spare some time.

It was a boring and slow day. Dad was out in Virginia so we just sat around the TV the majority of the day, the town of Brownsburg was just about shut down so varsity practice was canceled like coach Boone said.

I dominated them on the game using the Pacers, they had been my favorite team every since I could remember. I was knocking threes left and right with Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy.

I gave up my controller to Luke after so many wins and decided to check my MySpace (think of the time lol). I scrolled through and saw all my friends updates of how bored everybody was, just like me. I came across Julia Arden's status and I clicked on her page. She was my teammate George's twin sister but the big difference was that George was terrible at basketball and she was one of the top ranked ladies in the nation. I had always had the biggest crush on her and at this point I was for sure I had a chance at her as I did for probably every girl in the school but she was headed to UNC for college so I wasn't too enthused to talk to her like that, maybe when prom comes around who knows.

I then started typed my name into the Google browser to see how many sites had a profile up on me. I quickly saw Rivals.com, ESPN, and 247, all of them listed me as unranked however with no stars.

Coach Witherspoon told me this was a race, he was right. I maintained an above max GPA so I could probably get into any school academically but I wanted that basketball scholarships more than anything.

"Dinner's ready!" Mom says from the kitchen.

Times ticking … Times ticking … I think. I'm a man with a mission

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**beast10** · 06-29-2014, 06:11 PM

Ambition — Sam Truman

INDIANA CLASS 4A — NEW YEARS REPORT
January 2nd, 2008

Time has sped by in this 2007-2008 IHSAA basketball season and now we take a look at which teams have been performing the best, and which ones have upset their fan base.

Top Teams

Sky High
With a 9-3 record is the Sky High Crusaders who are lead by ranked guard Herschel Lawrence. He's contributing big with 16.6 PPG and is getting major help in that department as well with guard Rusty Cruz's 14.3. This team is averaging a 5.7 point differential from their opponents and are coasting through the competition.

Pine Valley
Null - record 11-3

Fishers
Fishers tops off the top three list with their 8-4 record, the record itself may not sound the best but what will is their significant wins they've had this far. They've been lead by 6'6 bigman Don Alfredo who averages 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Upsets

Brownsburg
This team was expected to be up top with the best teams in the state but instead they continue to sink down with their now 4-4 record. They'll host Taft and Adams tomorrow in hopes to remove themselves from the .500 borderline.

Arcadia
With one of the state's finest guards in Jed Giueppe who's averaging 17.1 PPG and 4.3 APG; a lot more was expected our of them but instead they're currently sitting low in the standings with a 5-7 record.

Avon
Rival of Brownsburg, Avon sizzled through teams and added wins without ease. Now they're currently in a three game slump and now just sitting at .500 [8-8].

**beast10** · 06-30-2014, 04:28 PM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

Do I have any followers?

I'm enjoying this dynasty because it's really simple and easy, also it's really cool as I'm rewriting the past somewhat.
Thinking this one will probably outlast all of my dynasties.

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**BUCKSWEATSHIRT** · 06-30-2014, 04:46 PM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

I'm following

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**dodar** · 06-30-2014, 04:56 PM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

Definitely following, always enjoy your dynasties.

#ripcity

**beast10** · 06-30-2014, 07:38 PM

Re: Ambition — Sam Truman

Originally posted by BUCKSWEATSHIRT

I'm following

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Originally posted by dodar

Definitely following, always enjoy your dynasties.

#ripcity

Thanks, always good to know I've got some followers 👍

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Ambition — Sam Truman

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