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The Journal-Standard
FREEPORT - As Aaron Spears rumbles down the court, boxes out, or fights for position on the post, one thing almost always remains constant - the smile. If nothing else, the 6-foot-9, 260-pound center always seems to be enjoying himself when he's on the floor.
"He's just goofy. He's a big kid," said Highland point guard Temi Soyebo, who has known Spears since their days playing AAU ball together.
No more than a couple of months ago, though, a smile
from Spears might have been an unlikely sight. After transferring from the University of Illinois, Spears had become arguably the most hyped player to ever enter the Highland program.
Yet by December, he was the Snoopy to coach Pete Norman's Charlie Brown, firmly entrenched with a spot in the doghouse as he went three straight games without seeing the floor. His best friend on the team, Benyamin Robinson - one of the biggest influences on his decision to come to Highland - had left the team.
And those teammates he left behind after two years in Champaign? They just happened to be putting together one of the most magical seasons in college basketball history.
As the smile indicates, there's no bitterness about any of these things for Spears. He has moved on. And that's key for Highland, because if the Cougars are to move on to the NJCAA tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., he will be one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.
The Expectations
When Spears signed with Highland, there was an immediate storm of expectation. While Highland players frequently leave for big-time Division I programs, they never arrive having already been at one.
Furthermore, Spears became the first Highland player to sign with another school before the season even began, inking a letter of intent to play at St. John's next year.
"He was so built up," said coach Pete Norman. "Just because he was coming from Illinois doesn't mean he's going to come in and light the world on fire."
Spears admits he was a bit surprised at how difficult it could be to play at the juco level.
"It's hard," Spears said. "Any level of basketball is hard - the competition may not be Division I, but the teams are still gonna play hard."
Part of Spears' difficulty in adjusting had to do with the type of basketball being played. With many teams not having the size to duke it out with a big man down in the post, Spears found himself chasing a lot of guys who were smaller and quicker.
"It's real hard to stick with a small forward or a (2-guard)," Spears said. "But it's gonna do nothing but help me at the next level - I might have to stick with smaller players."
Another factor hampering Spears from demonstrating his full potential was his work ethic. Whether knowing he had something to look forward to next season played a factor in his giving less than 100 percent at times is a matter of speculation. But Norman feels there's a fairly good chance that was the case during the first half of the season.
"I think that may have been a crutch when things weren't going well," Norman said. "There were times when it may have been easy to fall back on that."
Spears' psyche wasn't helped any when Robinson, whom he had played with in high school, left the team in November.
"That hurt when 'Yin left. But things happen for a reason," Spears said. "This wasn't the spot for him so he had to make a decision, and I understood it. It was kind of like last year - Luther (Head) and Demon (Dee Brown) didn't want me to leave - he was in the same predicament."
The low point
For Spears, the deepest valley came in December, when he went three straight games without playing. Thrown between those doldrums was an in-practice scuffle with teammate LeMar Phillips.
In Norman's eyes, it's all water under the bridge.
"That's probably been blown up a little bit," Norman said of the benching. "Aaron's a good person. He's been playing a lot better. I just had to make a decision - we were playing better without him. It had nothing to do other than that. ... we had to do what we thought was best. I thought bringing him off the bench was a culmination of a lot of things up to that point.
"I give him a lot of credit for hanging in there. He probably wasn't expecting to come off the bench, but he hung in to make our program as good as he can."
Though he isn't in the starting lineup, Spears' improved practice habits have equaled increased playing time as the season reaches its crescendo, and he is averaging 8.8 points and 6.5 rebounds a game.
He credits his teammates for never letting him get down when things were rough.
"I just looked for positive things - kept my mind into the game when I got in, tried my hardest," Spears said. "All the players helped me keep my head. I wasn't really mad at anything."
Leaving No. 1
Perhaps it can be called the "Nomar Syndrome." A player leaves a team that he's given his all for only to see his former mates reach unprecedented heights.
Just as Nomar Garciaparra watched the Boston Red Sox' magical postseason run from afar last fall, Spears has been an onlooker as the Fighting Illini have catapulted to the top ranking in all of college basketball.
But he never sits back and wonders if it is something he could have been a part of. After two seasons at Illinois that were injury-riddled - he had to redshirt his freshman season, and saw little playing time last year after a highly publicized two-game suspension to open the season - Spears knew it was time to move on.
"I realized that wasn't the situation for me," Spears said. "I'm happy for them, but this is a better situation for me. This is a better spot for me, and next year St. John's will be a better spot for me. So I never really thought about it like I should be there."
Spears is still close to Head and Brown, and he took the Illini's first loss of the season to Ohio State as hard as anybody - if not harder.
"It really hit me hard because I hate Ohio State," Spears said. "I first committed there out of high school. I never wanted them to lose to anybody else in the country, but I wanted them to beat Ohio State so bad."
Playing for another No. 1?
Nothing would be better to Spears than helping Highland to a championship of its own. The high point of his season was clinching the Arrowhead Conference title.
"That's a big thing on any level, winning a conference championship," Spears said.
The Cougars are hungry for a little more than just that. They want to prove that they can win at Hutch - if they can make it there.
"I think everybody wants to win this regional tournament, win the play-in game, go to Hutch," Spears said. "We have a team full of winners. That makes everybody play harder."
If Highland does get that far, Spears figures to have some say in it. As the postseason carries on, opponents will start showing frontcourts with his size. If his 13-point, 15-rebound performance against Kennedy-King in the Region IV semifinal was any indication, he appears ready for the challenge.
"He's come a long way," Soyebo said. " ... We're gonna need him. We went to Hutch last year, and everybody was big and strong. He can put us over the top, so we're gonna need him to play big. That's why I stay on him. I think the whole team understands that we'll need him."
Note: journalstandard.com
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