MOLA:
Can people submit Mad Max facts to you?
Is there a book forthcoming?
I have to tell you, I love that Mad Max stuff. Incredibly original and hilarious.
How's this:
Jason Maxiell hired Jim Tressell.
Winning breeds confidence. Losing breeds reality.
LOLOriginally Posted by Zip Goshboots
Jason Maxiell: "The Quiet Monster"
(from "The News Record")
He glances at the replay occasionally. As the raucous home crowd at Fifth Third Arena anxiously awaits the opening tip, he tilts his neck back and, with his large, perfectly round, brown eyes, scans the highlight reel on the scoreboard that dangles above center court, joining more than 13,000 who watch the same replay with a feverish temperament. To the fans, this highlight is never old.
March 11, 2004. The Conference USA Tournament Quarterfinals. Cincinnati against Louisville, before 16,202 delirious fans, intoxicated with excitement. The Bearcats trail the Cardinals, 29-27, with 17:45 remaining in this slugfest. As Cincinnati strives to tie the game, Louisville's Otis George swats a fast-break, alley-oop attempt, commanding the few inches in front of the hoop for a fleeting moment.
The ball lands in the hands of a streaking bullet, perfectly in stride, seven feet from the basket. He takes one step and propels to the goal. The power with which he attacks the rim is only overshadowed by George cowering as this white-clad penetrating force runs him over and slams home two forceful points. George is already shielding his face the instant after the force collides with him, well before descending to the hardwood.
That night's crowd, 3,000 stronger than a typical UC home game because of U.S. Bank Arena's seating capacity, erupts to a degree that makes the referee's whistle inaudible. The only unaffected person in the arena; the man who sent the crowd, his teammates and press row wild. He unassumingly walks to the free-throw line, concerned with nothing else except completing the three-point play.
Jason Maxiell peers at the replay for a second. Did you see it? Too late; the glance returns to the game and opponent at hand. You just missed him at his most egotistical moment. And those do not come around too often.
-----
Quiet. No word depicts Maxiell better. Ask his mother, Patricia Maxiell. Ask his teammates. Even he confirms his non-verboseness. His quiet nature is no accident. It is the result of growing up an only child and the son of a single-parent who, likewise, was an only child.
His father was never a part of his life. "Even when I moved from Chicago and let him know we were moving to Texas, I had no responses from his family," Patricia said of Jason's father. So he spent his entire childhood with his grandparents and his mother, who never perceived his silence as unusual.
"If I saw [loneliness], I didn't realize I was seeing it because I don't know what it's like to have siblings," Patricia said. "I don't know what a person acts like when they have siblings. To me, whatever he did was normal."
On the court, Maxiell is far from normal. He is a 6-foot-7, 250-pound beast of a basketball player. The Bearcat senior power forward instills fear into the opposition with his presence alone. With long arms like the Spiderman villain Dr. Octopus, a stalwart upper body and an agile leaping ability that enables him to elevate at the snap of a finger, he garners an abundance of attention from opposing players and coaches. Despite modest career statistics (12.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game), head coaches shower Maxiell with praise usually anointed to superstars.
"He's tough, hard-nosed, he plays with a good attitude. I always said Bernard King was my favorite player and I compare him to King; that's how much I think about him," Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said earlier this season.
Said DePaul head coach Dave Leitao, "Jason is Jason and always will be a great player in [Conference USA]."
As his numbers have gradually improved throughout his career, the volume of his praise has steadily decreased. Cincinnati fans' adoration overflowed during his freshman season, thanks to his rim-rocking jams and gargantuan rejections. With an athletic prowess and his Texas roots, comparisons to the then recently departed Kenyon Martin quickly ignited.
Yet the adulation slowed as Maxiell's introverted personality became apparent. He does not attract attention with flair on the court, like Eric Hicks, or with a quote-a-minute persona in press conferences, like Tony Bobbitt. Still, his work ethic does not go unnoticed.
"He's a hard-working guy," said teammate Jamaal Lucas. "He gives 100 percent in everything he does."
"Max is a real, no-nonsense kind of guy," said Andy Kennedy, UC associate head coach. "He has a very workman-like approach to the game. You know day in and day out what you're going to get from him."
That includes another constant: silence.
-----
Patricia Maxiell was born Aug. 11, 1966, the lone child of James and Bernice Maxiell. Growing up on the west side of Chicago, and moving to the suburbs when she was 12, Patricia enjoyed a privileged, yet lonely childhood. Her father worked for the Chicago Board of Education and her mother for Sears payroll. They were the typical supportive, overprotective parents. Patricia was the typical quiet kid.
"I had a cousin that lived nearby me and went to school with me," Patricia said. It was hardly the makings of a gabbing haven. The foundation of her normal life vanished toward the end of her sophomore year in high school. She was pregnant. She was only 15.
Jason Dior Maxiell, her only child and her parents' only grandchild, was born Feb. 18, 1983.
Patricia did not miss a beat at high school after her son's birth, and graduated as schedule in 1984. She enrolled at Illinois State University, first studying computer science, before graduating with an accounting degree in 1988.
While attending college, she also worked a full-time job at McDonald's to support herself and her son. Because of their daughter's hectic life, James and Bernice handled a brunt of the parenting load during much of Maxiell's early childhood.
"My parents were crazy about him," Patricia said.
When Maxiell was 3 years old, he discovered a round, orange object that if bounced on the ground, it bounced back. When his mother asked him what he was doing, he responded, "I'm playing bassettball." He would never put the ball down.
Around the time Maxiell first dabbled in basketball, Patricia noticed his tendency to hold his tongue. "He's been that way since he was 3," she said. When he was 5 or 6 - Patricia can't remember - Maxiell spent a few days with her then-boyfriend, Derek Johnson, at NBA camps where Johnson was showcasing his talents.
Soon after he returned, Patricia noticed the first mentioning of his newfound dream. But he rarely spoke of the trip itself. "If he's got something he wants to talk about, he'll talk about it," Patricia said.
For the longest time, Patricia thought it was a phase. "What kid didn't want to play in the NBA?" she reasoned. Patricia played along, placing Maxiell in as many basketball camps she could find. With her limited basketball knowledge - she was a track athlete in high school - Patricia instructed her son to practice rebounding.
She waited for the phase to pass, for his dream of becoming a fireman or Wall Street guru to emerge. The new script never materialized. When he was 11, about the same time he lassoed the rim for his first dunk, Patricia realized Maxiell's NBA dream was here to stay.
-----
On a whim, Maxiell and his mother moved from Chicago to Carrollton, Texas - 17 miles northwest of Dallas - when he was 12 years old. It was here, in the spring of 1997, that Maxiell met Bob and Janice DeRogatis. Maxiell described them as "a second set of parents," while Patricia referred to them as "a Godsend."
Bob coached a local AAU basketball team that Maxiell's friend, Herb Evans, played for. One day Maxiell tagged along with Evans at practice. Bob vividly remembers his first encounter with Maxiell. He was dunking as the team warmed up - while wearing jeans. Bob motioned him over, Maxiell introduced himself, and Bob handed him a uniform and told him to practice in it.
"I wasn't planning on practicing that day," Maxiell said. "I was just coming to get a feel for it."
True to his nature, Maxiell hardly talked with his mother about the AAU team. A few weeks after he joined the squad, he showed her his uniform. A few weeks later, he mentioned he was leaving for his game. She figured he was playing in a recreational league.
It took two months for Patricia to grasp the lofty level her son was playing at, and that was only because she attended a game. When she arrived, she was amazed. "[Before I went], I thought this was just some gym rats," Patricia said.
Playing AAU basketball is how Cincinnati and head coach Bob Huggins discovered Maxiell. Initially recruited by former UC assistant coach Mick Cronin, Maxiell does not recall the date of his first meeting with Huggins. Only the conversation.
"The first thing he said was, 'It's going to be hard,'" Maxiell said. He was sold immediately. "I wanted to come somewhere to become a man, on and off the court."
-----
The date is branded in the minds of many Bearcat fans: Sept. 18, 2002. Patricia remembers the call like yesterday.
Patricia: "Hello."
Jason: "Mom, Cincinnati basketball is over."
Patricia: "What are you talking about?"
Jason: "Huggins had a heart attack. The team is over. There's not going to be anymore Cincinnati basketball."
Patricia had no clue to the extent of Huggins' condition. He could have been dead. All she knew for certain was her son's devastation. Maxiell cried, while attempting to cover it up, throughout the conversation.
It's a side of himself he rarely reveals, to anyone.
"He was distraught. I felt so bad for him," Patricia said. "I couldn't tell him everything was going to be alright because at the time I didn't know what was going on."
Huggins never knew of Maxiell's reaction until recently - "Max doesn't talk a lot," Huggins said - but it came as no surprise. "Max is a very caring person. He's a great friend to have," Huggins said.
"He loves Huggins," Patricia said.
When Patricia discovered her son's intention of attending Cincinnati, she suspected former Bearcats such as Martin, Danny Fortson and others advancing to the NBA as his reason. His response - "No, I like Huggins" - surprised her.
While Patricia and the rest of the family quietly pulled for Maxiell to choose Arkansas, where the majority of their family lived, he chose Cincinnati.
His decision-making process did not surprise his mother.
"He's always made his own decisions," Patricia said. "He used to want to be like Michael Jordan, but after awhile he just wanted to be Jason." To this day, he remains comfortable with who he is and the choices he makes.
-----
Two months to the day of Huggins' heart attack, illness struck near Maxiell again, only this time it hit even closer to home. Grandmother Bernice had been complaining of foot pains and checked in to a hospital to discover the problem. Besides her feet, she seemed healthy, she felt great. Unbeknownst to her and the family, she had renal cancer.
Just before the cancer discovery, Bernice came to Cincinnati to watch one of Maxiell's games. "She was happy. She had a smile on her face, just happy-go-lucky," Maxiell said. His most trying moment came when Patricia informed him of his grandmother's hospitalization. "One day I got a phone call from mom and she said [Bernice] was in the hospital and wasn't feeling too good and she might not make it," Maxiell said. "When she said that, it kind of hit me."
Accounting for 2 percent of all cancer related deaths in the United States annually, approximately 8,300 people, renal cancer infects the kidneys. Identical to Bernice's situation, most cases are detected through medical evaluations of unrelated problems.
Doctors discovered Bernice's kidneys were failing and the resulting toxins were settling in her feet, causing the discomfort. She never left the hospital after her Nov. 18 admittence and died, in a twist of irony, exactly two months later, Jan. 18, 2003, at 11:18.
Maxiell flew to visit his grandmother in the hospital four times. Sometimes he would fly back in the middle of the night and still attend his morning classes. He never missed one game, although he did skip a couple of practices.
He did his best to balance his visits with school and basketball. The emotional and physical wear became evident on the court, as he averaged only 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds during the weeks surrounding her passing. At his grandmother's request, he tried not to worry. "She was the type of person who if you had business to take care, you take care of it," Maxiell said.
While to the outside world he appeared to be suffering from an innocent playing slump, those close to him witnessed his first tangle with despair. "He was devastated," Janice DeRogatis said.
"That was the hardest thing he ever dealt with in life," Patricia said.
Maxiell misses his grandmother, but rehashes joyful moments when reminiscing. "My grandmother did everything she wanted to do that my grandfather could afford. She went on mini-cruises, mini-trips, so I was happy for her," Maxiell said. "She saw me graduate from high school and saw that I am growing up. And she's watching me now graduate from college." He sticks to an adage Bob DeRogatis saddled him with: "Never too high, never too low."
-----
Patricia attempts to explain how deep her son's dream runs. "When I say Jason wants to play in the NBA, I don't think you understand," she tells a reporter. "He breathes, eats, craps basketball. He'll do whatever it takes. He hates to be yelled at, so he's going to try to do things right the first time."
Perhaps that is why he has improved his game tremendously during his tenure at Cincinnati; from the moment he arrived, he kept quiet and listened to what his coaches had to say. They took notice.
"He's in a class with Kenyon, Keith Gregor, Pete Mickeal, Bobby Brannen, guys who just since day one came in and accepted it was going to be a lot of hard work," Huggins said. "When you're in a class like that... those guys are special guys. Special guys don't come along all that often... guys that kind of embrace the work ethic."
Maxiell's scoring average has increased every season, from 8.1 his freshman season to 11.9, 13.6 and currently 15.3 points per game as a senior. His 7.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game this season are also career highs.
But his learning curve extends beyond statistics.
"His evolution offensively has shown," Kennedy said. "From where he was as a freshman to where he is now, he's been able to diversify his game."
Bob DeRogatis said Maxiell has made drastic improvements offensively since he coached him in AAU. "He was awkward at the free-throw line," he said. "He didn't have much of a jump shot. His best offensive weapon was crashing the boards and dunking."
Maxiell possesses a soft touch that became evident his freshman season, as he consistently knocked down 10-foot jumpers. He has progressed slowly - from developing his turnaround jumper, to being able to spin in both directions, to extending his range closer to the three-point line - but now is a far cry from the defensive-oriented player that first arrived at UC.
He's improved on the other end of the ball, too.
"The one thing he's really gotten good at his understanding of the game, especially defensively," Kennedy said.
On more than one occasion, Huggins told the media Maxiell is perhaps the best team defender he has ever coached, thanks to his understanding and his effort.
He maximizes his strength against taller opponents on the blocks, plays excellent help-side defense (where he registers the majority of his block shots) and seemingly always defends switches and picks correctly. Plus, as DeRogatis recalled from his AAU days, he always "could block anything."
It is not only Maxiell's transformation that draws the most attention, but its transpiration despite his surrounding environment. On a team which a player or two leaving the program is an annual occurrence and rarely a week goes by without a different Bearcat finding himself cozily residing in Huggins' doghouse, Maxiell has never drawn the ire of his head coach.
From his high school days, where his varsity head coach Charles Duke never refrained from hooting and hollering, Maxiell learned to listen to what his coaches had to say and not how they said it.
That mentality is crucial to coexist with Huggins. Most players fight it, but Maxiell takes the licking, keeps his mouth shut and tries harder next time. "Every person on the team, even John Meeker, has been yelled at. That's Hugs," Maxiell said. "After he picks on you, you just have to crack a joke about yourself. It's all fun and games sometimes."
Huggins attributes much of Maxiell's workman-like attitude to following the example set by veteran players, such as Steve Logan and Immanuel McElroy, during his freshman season.
Patricia knows better.
Maxiell's determination to reach his goal will not deter no matter the improbability of the odds or the amplification of a coach's voice. He keeps quiet, learns and improves. It is that tenacity and silent demeanor that produces her shorthand description of Maxiell: "The quiet monster."
-----
Some followers of the Cincinnati program call Maxiell a victim. He was never supposed to shoulder the load he has. An undersized power forward, Maxiell spent the past three seasons essentially playing center. Donald Little's trouble with the law in April 2002 ended his Bearcat career prematurely, leaving no reliable center during Maxiell's sophomore year. Last season Robert Whaley - the supposed answer to the center position - was a bust. The brunt of inside responsibilities again fell upon Maxiell. He never complained, despite the disadvantage.
"It's made it very challenging for him, but it's also really helped his development," Kennedy said. "The reality is if he ever has an opportunity to play at the next level, he's going to be outsized every time."
All indications, according to Patricia, are that Maxiell is not big enough to be a power forward in the NBA. At 6-foot-7, he is a good two-to-three inches short than the average NBA No. 4 man. Experts have told her that Maxiell will be a small forward at the next level. According to his coaches and one NBA scout, these indications are dead wrong.
"No way [Maxiell is a small forward]. No way in a million years. He's a power forward. That's what he is," Kennedy said. "That's what the NBA knows he is. They have no misconceptions about him being anything other than a power forward."
Scott McGuire, a New York Knicks scout, downplayed the issue. He said Maxiell could be interchanged between the No. 3 and 4 positions. "[I like that] he has long arms, he's athletic and he's tough," McGuire said.
He noted Maxiell will be undersized, but that has been the story during his entire college career. "He needs to work on his range and overall skills," McGuire said.
Kennedy said Maxiell has already displayed those skills. "Because of his ability to step out [to] 17, 18 feet, because of his ability to bounce it once or twice, he's gotten better with his decision-making offensively, those are the things that have really helped him and opened some eyes at the NBA-level," Kennedy said.
-----
Evan Simovich and Maxiell met three years ago; the former as a freshman team manager, the latter as a freshman power forward. Their friendship sparked, innocently enough, when Maxiell playfully hit Simovich. The manager's response: "Paybacks are a bitch." They sparred ever since.
Members of Cincinnati's sports media watched a typical Simovich-Maxiell battle before practice Feb. 23.
The first Bearcat to grace the practice court, Maxiell shoots around on a side hoop until the women's team vacates the main court and then wanders to one of the chairs that serves as the team's bench during games.
Comfortably sitting solo, his peace is disturbed when Simovich drills him with two basketballs. Staying true to the friendship's motto, Maxiell waits for Simovich to walk towards the locker room and then fires a basketball the width of the practice court, missing his friend by mere feet. The media is highly amused.
Despite giving six inches to Maxiell - similar to 99 percent of the population - Simovich views him just like any of his other friends. "He's a good kid. What am I doing calling him a kid? I'm only three months older," Simovich said. Perhaps that's why Simovich attempts stunts that most students would never dream of trying on Maxiell.
Like what happened after a home game earlier this season. He faked giving Maxiell a high-five, smacking him below the belt instead. "He was on the floor in pain for five minutes," Simovich said, laughing as he spoke. "He had to go talk to the media. Tom and Brian were pissed because he was on the floor withering in pain," he said, referring to Media Relations Director Tom Hathaway and Associate Athletic Director Brian Teter.
Simovich sees the side of Maxiell that few do: the extroverted individual. Teammates see it too. "Don't get him wrong, he's loose," Hicks said. "When we chillin', oh man, you can't stop Max from talking."
"He's real loose in the locker room," Lucas added boastfully. "He opens up, jumps around a lot."
"If I do know you, I'll act a fool, as they say," Maxiell said. Beyond his fellow teammates and friends, only one other individual consistently sees the outgoing Maxiell. She sees it quite a bit.
-----
Maxiell and Patricia are not the typical mother-son tandem. Mom said many people confuse them for brother and sister. They trip, poke, name call and indulge in plenty of other sibling-like non-sense. And their similarities are frightening. Not only does the sound of their voices ring eerily close, their diction is practically identical. When asked to name any differences between him and his mom, he only replies, "She's a little more demanding than I am. I just go with the flow."
But the root of their relationship is as true mother-son as possible. Patricia always tried to protect and support Maxiell, but still never shied away from instilling responsibility and understanding the consequences of making poor decisions.
Most of her lessons, and personality, exude through Maxiell's pores, even on the basketball court. That first basketball lesson she taught her son when he was three - rebounding - applies more than ever to Maxiell's pursuit of his ultimate dream. "If I can get double digits in rebounds every game, I can play at the next level," Maxiell said.
Every dribble he made as a toddler, every dunk as a teenager, every lesson learned from his coaches and his mother has led to now. His college career is closing down. He has celebrated his Senior Night, announced to a standing ovation that sent chills down his spine. He has continued a standard at Cincinnati that only a few "special guys" have, a legacy that produces the love, not just support, from fellow students and fans. Yet he continues to handle the moment, even his final game at Fifth Third Arena, with the same silent, tough-nosed approach.
He quietly goes about his business, as the Bearcats embark on his final trip to the NCAA Tournament and his unknown future of a possible NBA career becomes clear during the next four months. Expect Jason Maxiell to do whatever is needed to make his lifelong dream come true.
Just don't expect him to tell you much about it.
Last edited by DennyMcLain; 03-22-2007 at 12:34 AM.
God, I wish there was a Nobel Prize for basketball.
Now this is just plain irresponsible journalism. Don't they know there could be kids out there reading this and thinking it actually happened??:
Patricia had no clue to the extent of Huggins' condition. He could have been dead. All she knew for certain was her son's devastation. Maxiell cried, while attempting to cover it up, throughout the conversation.
Hosed again.
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/...c-95547445ae9f
The young guys to whom Billups refers are point guard Rodney Stuckey, an explosive attacker who has drawn comparisons to Dwyane Wade, and power forward Jason Maxiell, a long-armed glass-basher so aggressive that you can buy T-shirts that read "Jason Maxiell Eats Babies" on the Internet.
Find a new slant.
Jason Maxiell saw Evil Dead and thought it was a chick flick.
+1 for Swami.
Someone's gotta take responsibility for keeping you guys on topic.
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