College Coaches Come Calling at Clover Park

Mel Ninnis is not used to seeing college recruiters in his gym.

In his 26th year with the Clover Park boys basketball program, two freshmen have changed that.

The seemingly unstoppable duo is already attracting attention from Gonzaga, Washington State, the University of Washington and the University of California—and David Crisp and Ahmaad Rorie are only freshmen.

“This is a new experience for me,” Ninnis said. “In 26 years, I have never had Division I coaches watching my kids. I have had (them) watching other people’s kids, playing in this gym against Clover Park, but never one from Clover Park.

“It’s been surreal,” he said of visits from the likes of Lorenzo Romar and Ken Bone, head coaches of the Huskies and Cougars, respectively. “I’m honored, humbled and blessed.”

The attention also comes as a surprise to Crisp and Rorie, who both averaged 13.8 points per game en route to helping the Warriors win the 2A state championship for the first time in school history.

“It feels good knowing that colleges want us—Division I,” said Rorie, who has already received a letter of interest from the Cougars. “A lot of kids wake up from dreams playing D-I, and we could actually do it.”

Crisp, who said Gonzaga has showed the most interest so far, agreed.

“After the season was over, we didn’t take breaks,” he said. “We’re sticking with basketball, just trying to get better. This is what we’re working for—to get the coaches into the gym.”

Ninnis traditionally doesn’t hold open-gym basketball sessions until after track and field season is over, but this year, he started earlier to allow the college coaches to see his players. Coaches are not allowed to talk to the high schoolers, but they definitely got a look at the freshmen’s skills—the soaring 3-pointers, the dunks and quick steals.

“We’re hungry for what Division I kids have,” Ninnis said. “We want what they have—the full-ride scholarships, the media, the Pac-10 television games. My kids want to be part of that, and they’re going to continue to work hard and hopefully their dreams will become reality.”

And he definitely sees that happening—as long as the duo stays “hungry and humble.”

“If they keep on maturing and their skills keep on developing … Wow, it’s going to be something to watch.”

The freshmen—they call each other cousins—both started playing basketball early. Rorie, who was born in Chicago, got his first hoop at age 2; Crisp, a Kentucky native, spent his early years in the gym with his dad, who was in the Army. After their families moved to Washington, the boys began playing together—and sometimes against each other.

“We thought, if we could play on the same team, it would be domination,” Crisp said.

In addition to donning to donning green and gold jeresys together, they both play for the Northwest Panthers, an AAU team that will have them headed to tournaments in Las Vegas next week and again in July.

They will be playing in front of a lot of college scouts, Rorie pointed out.

“They’re all going to be in the front row,” he said.

But after this memorable spring, they are starting to get used to it.

Rorie and Crisp, both of whom have grade-point averages of above 3.6, intend to get every Division I coach in the country into the Clover Park gym over the next three years. Therefore, they said, as exciting as the anticipation is, they aren’t in a hurry to get to the next level.

“We can wait,” Crisp said. “We’re trying to get all of these scouts here —we really want every college in the country to want us, (so) we want that time to work and improve our game.”

In the meantime, they have some immediate goals, namely taking the Warriors back to state in 2012.

“We want to go onto state and blow teams out, not have close games,” Rorie said. “And if we make it to state again, we’ll get more coaches out here.”

And, Crisp added with a laugh, “Maybe move up to 3A.”