Tag: NBA Draft

[jwplayer 4BJVjPni]

A sneaker squeaks from the opposite end of a dimly-lit Convocation Center.

Eugene ‘Geno’ German and a teammate lap the court over and over, with nothing but darkness and the rhythmic screeching of leather on the hardwood to keep them company. These nighttime suicides are a simple pleasure. Sprint, squeak, repeat. Easy.

Of all the memories German built over his career at Northern Illinois, this one is his most cherished. Not inking himself in the history books as NIU’s all-time leading scorer and first to cross 2,000 points, but summertime empty-gym workouts by his own volition.

After all, players don’t go from one collegiate offer to scoring 2,000 points by accident. Countless nights of solitary improvement led to German’s history-altering layup against Miami Ohio and his pursuit of an NBA contract.

“The gym is like his little sanctuary,” his mother, Eugenia German, said.

The most important woman in his life, Eugenia danced with her son after his record-setting performance. Her and 50 other family members, as NIU head coach Mark Montgomery recalls, dotted the stands on that February night.

Yet this night was “bittersweet” for Geno, as no amount of family could have compensated for the absence of one. His father, who laid in his hospital bed, unresponsive – the man who shaped Geno into the person and player he is today.

*****

In Gary, Indiana, nothing comes easy. The North Indiana town once dubbed “The Magic City” is now a ghost town rife with crime. 

From as far back as he can remember, family shielded Geno. The Germans were inseparable, walking around the town, staying in and going to waterparks together. Eugenia stressed education and Geno’s father, David Sr., instilled integrity in his kids.

“We were always close, it was always just us,” Geno said. “We didn’t have a lot of friends, everything we did we did together.”

David Sr., a former high-school basketball player, installed a basketball court in his backyard. One day, he led his kids – David Sr., Princess and four-year-old Geno – to the blacktop for the first time.

Not only would calling basketball Geno’s love, at first sight, be cliche, but it would also be a grave understatement. Instantly, basketball became an obsession.

“They’d [Geno’s brother, David Jr., and Princess] just come in the house and say, ‘Okay, we had enough,'” Eugenia said. “Geno, he’d still be out there.”

Geno’s refusal to exit the court forced his parents to invest in an outdoor light for the backyard because they knew darkness wouldn’t deter him from putting up shots.

Before he was 10, Geno drew attention to the basketball court. Raining triples at a young age drew the attention of one AAU coach at a church camp tournament. Geno traveled across the state and country playing basketball.

From an early age, Eugenia knew her son was special.

“He was traveling like, ‘Who is this kid?’ and from that point on, he just wouldn’t stop.”

David Sr. spent hours training Geno in their backyard court.

“He showed very tough love, telling what you need to do more and what you need to get better at,” Geno said.

With unbreakable focus, elementary-school Geno wrote letters and drew pictures of his NBA future and spurned recess play for the courts.

Even his school friends observed Geno’s infatuation for basketball, opting to throw him a surprise birthday party. They’d tell him there’s a basketball game in Chicago but stop at a friend’s house first. He’d never see it coming.

Geno prepared to lace up in the Windy City while his friends poured time and money into this surprise. They couldn’t wait to see the look on his face.

In revealing the truth, Geno was distraught. His mother promised a basketball game; a chance to prove himself on the court, a chance to improve. Yet, nothing but a lousy surprise birthday party stood in front of him.

“He’s like, ‘Mama, we not gonna go to the game in Chicago?'” Eugenia said, imitating her son’s voice.

Despite the inherent dangers of his hometown, nothing would separate Geno from basketball. He and his older brother snuck out of the house while Eugenia worked in search of pick-up games. The streets of Gary fortified Geno, on and off of the court.

“Down here you have to be able to hold your own, even if you’re just playing basketball, and that translates when I got to the court,” Geno said.

Eugenia worked to keep her kids busy and off the streets of Gary. She knew the dangers of the city. 

“Crime, a lot of stuff just happens down here, a lot of negative things happen out here,” Geno said.

Geno lived life with a positive vigor, though, unbothered by the negativity of his environment. Eugenia called him a “jokester,” always looking to make others laugh. Not even the confines of a classroom could quiet Geno, who would often interrupt lessons breaking into song and dance. 

Though frequent visits to the principal’s office caused Eugenia some stress, she cultivated an unbreakable bond with her son during his childhood. And when Eugenia reminded Geno of his dream of playing college basketball, his antics ceased quickly.

“She’s the GOAT, man. My mom is the GOAT,” Geno said.

My Favorite lady 🧡🧡 pic.twitter.com/XJaJRynizd

— 🅔🅤🅖🅔🅝🅔 🅖🅔🅡🅜🅐🅝 (@e_german10) July 28, 2018

Geno continued to showcase his scoring gene in high school, turning heads at 21st Century Charter. Yet, nothing Geno accomplished garnered him the attention his play warranted. Not leading the state in scoring two years in a row, not leading his school to their first-ever regional championship, not scoring 51 points against national powerhouse La Lumiere.

“People in Gary, Indiana, we don’t get a lot of respect,” Geno said.

Geno watched as high school players scoring less than him received offers from college programs. Only one school showed interest in Geno: Northern Illinois. And if it wasn’t for former Michigan State assistant Mark Montgomery’s connection to Gary native Branden Dawson, Geno would have had no offers.

Located in Dekalb, Illinois, Northern Illinois was only an hour and a half from Gary, keeping Geno close to home. Close to his mom. Close to his dad. For him, that meant everything.

*****

Geno’s phone buzzed. It buzzed again. And again. Preparing for the first game of his senior season, he missed three calls from his sister while playing basketball.

Geno stepped off of the court, picked up his phone and dialed his sister back. 

His father had gone into cardiac arrest and was unresponsive, his sister revealed.

David Sr. trimmed his beard and cut his hair before Geno’s first game on Nov. 7, 2019. He had to look sharp: He was known for being the loudest, most supportive dad in the region, after all. David Sr. never missed one of his son’s games.

David Sr. wouldn’t blow the eardrums off of surrounding fans cheering his son’s name anymore. He wouldn’t watch the culmination of his son’s college career. He wouldn’t witness his son pass T.J. Lux as the all-time leading scorer in Northern Illinois basketball history.

Geno lost the support of the man who made leaving home to play college basketball in Dekalb, Illinois, just an hour and a half drive from home, so difficult.

“It was so tough, I was with them my whole life,” Geno said. “I wanted to come home my first week.”

He called his mom every single day to talk about basketball, life or whatever crossed his mind. Geno made frequent visits home in spite of his mother’s wishes to keep him off of the highway.

Once an outgoing class clown, Geno was quiet and soft-spoken as a college freshman. He struggled to adapt to the rigors of college basketball.

It wasn’t until Geno found, as Eugenia put it, his sanctuary, in the always-open gym doors at Dekalb. Past his reserved nature, Geno found his place where it always was, on the basketball court.

“Literally every single day he would come in at night or he would come in the morning and work out,” Montgomery said.

It was those late-night workouts, those summer nights running suicides with his teammate, Lacey James, that evolved Geno’s game and helped him find his home away from home.

“We were running suicides, trying to get better to separate ourselves because we felt nobody else was doing that, Geno said. “That’s definitely a moment for me I’m going to always remember.”

And Geno separated himself, progressing his game from a playground bucket-getter to an all-around point guard. Emulating Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker helped Geno become the scorer he is, a six-foot guard who knifes to the hole more than any player his size in the last decade.

“I don’t think he thinks he can be stopped,” Montgomery said.

Geno can’t explain how he penetrates so effortlessly or how he out jumps big men for rebounds: It just comes naturally.

When he was 12, Geno’s dad strapped weight-vests to him and his brother, battling on the court in full-court 1-on-1 games. They’d barrel into each other until they couldn’t anymore. That seems like a solid explanation.

Quickly, Geno established himself as one of the most prolific scorers in college basketball, averaging over 20 points a game for three straight seasons. When defenses loaded up to stop him, the passing came naturally.

“People got the memo,” Geno said about his scoring.

As Geno grew as a basketball player, the Huskies did as a program. Improving every season Geno played, they finished the 2018-19 season 17-17, the program’s second time hitting the .500 mark in the last 13 seasons.

And in the MAC tournament, standing in the way of the Huskies’ first semi-final appearance since 2003 was the Toledo Rockets, the two seed in the tournament.

Montgomery calls that four-point victory a turning point for the program, Geno’s 27 points vaulting the Huskies into the next season with great momentum.

“I think that was a defining moment where he’s the leading scorer,” Montgomery said. “He did everything he had to do to get the win and he found a way to will us through that game.”

Montgomery was right, as 2019-20 was the Huskies’ best season in four years, their second time notching 18 wins since 1997, all on the back of Geno.

Yet, Geno faced the toughest challenge yet this season, playing with his father’s hospitalization on his heart.

“He never used it as an excuse,” Montgomery said. “I think that he just used it more as motivation and it takes a special kid to do that.”

It’s almost like scoring 2,000 points this season was foretold, not in small part because Geno himself predicted the feat a year prior, despite his mom’s disbelief.

“He talked about this moment last year, ‘I’m going to be the all-time leading scorer at NIU, I’m going to make it happen,'” Eugenia said.

Geno college basketball career is done, and now, his next obstacle looms: the NBA. 

On his path to the next level, people will doubt Geno. Too small. Not strong enough. Not a good enough defender. No worries. Geno is used to this and frankly, he doesn’t care. All he cares about is winning basketball games and doing what it takes to win championships.

“He would cry [after games] because he wants to win so bad,” Eugenia said. “He looks at himself like, ‘What could I have done better?'”

After one loss, David Sr. sat down with a dismayed Geno to talk. His son had given everything to basketball. For once, he hoped he could give at least a fraction of that to himself.

 “Let this day go by, okay,” he’d tell Geno. “Tomorrow’s a new day.”

*****

For Geno, not much has changed.

The coronavirus shutdown has complicated the routines for many across the country, especially the few preparing to play in their first NBA games next season. Gyms closed. No pre-draft workouts. No combine.

Geno grinds like all is normal. Wake up, dribble, work out, watch the film, repeat. Easy.

Growing up, Geno never had access to weights at home or a gym to hoop at his pleasure. Nowadays, Geno trains with resistance bands and knocks out countless pushups and situps. It’s the way he’s always done it.

“He doesn’t know how to rest,” Eugenia said. “He says ‘Mom, if I rest, that means the next guy is getting better than me, so I can’t really rest right now.'”

Through his training, Geno will see his shoulders grow, the same ones on which tattoos of the Chinese symbols for family and loyalty sit.

Geno treasures family time and the quarantine has allowed more than ever. 

“That’s what I’m really passionate about, just to make them happy,” Geno said. “Because if they’re happy, then I’m happy.”

It’s just like old times: the five Germans would always work out together, take drives together, have fun together. Five.

Blessed to see another Christmas with my La Familia positive vibes only. 🎄🎁‼️ pic.twitter.com/0Bz2ppcoIc

— 🅔🅤🅖🅔🅝🅔 🅖🅔🅡🅜🅐🅝 (@e_german10) December 25, 2017

Something is missing, though. On April 12, Easter Sunday, David German Sr. passed away following his cardiac arrest the prior November.

Now, the four Germans work out together, take drives together and have fun together. Four Germans. Four.

Eugenia tries her best to keep spirits high in her household. She knows how hard her son has taken his father’s death. After all, their family needs to stick together. That’s how they’ll get through this. Together.

Geno plays basketball for his family. For his mother. One day, he wants to move his family out of Gary. The first step, Eugenia always said, is education. Geno will graduate with his Bachelor’s degree in General Studies, making Eugenia more proud than any on-court accomplishment could.

An NBA contract will help Geno fulfill his ultimate dream. Not making an NBA team, not winning an NBA championship, but raising a family and granting his own better life.

“I’m kind of disappointed I couldn’t do it fast enough for my dad,” Geno said. “They deserve to see a lot more in life, better things.”

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