Team dismissal reunites old friends searching for new goal

Justin M. Bowen

Tristan Thompson takes the court during a recent practice at Findlay Prep. The team is in North Bethesda, Md., competing for a national championship title.

By Rob Miech (contact)

Thursday, April 2, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

Justin M. Bowen

Cory Joseph during a recent practice at Findlay Prep.

NORTH BETHESDA, Md. – Tristan Thompson’s first phone call was to Cory Joseph, his close pal since the fourth grade in the Toronto area, at Findlay College Prep in the Henderson foothills.

Thompson had just been dismissed from St. Benedict’s in Newark, N.J. He asked Joseph about becoming a Pilot. Joseph thought he was joking that night.

“I was being serious,” Thompson said.

“I was shocked,” Joseph said. “No way. For real? Are you serious? Are you playing around with me? We’ve been friends forever, but I thought he was playing with me. When I knew it was for real, I was excited.”

The next morning, Joseph told Findlay coach Mike Peck of Thompson’s interest.

Peck did some investigating, had the administration at the Henderson International School – with which Findlay is affiliated – examine Thompson’s transcripts and trusted Joseph’s judgment.

As the Pilots prepared for the inaugural ESPN RISE National High School Invitational this weekend, Joseph sat in the tiny Henderson International gym this week and glanced at Thompson.

“He’s my friend, so I wouldn’t want him to be stranded out there,” Joseph said. “And he’s a good kid. Little incidents happen. It’s just unbelievable. Tristan is such an unbelievable player.

“We just have to go and get it done in this tournament.”

How r u doin’?

To Danny Hurley, the son of a highly successful New Jersey high school coach and brother of a highly successful former Duke guard, basketball always has been about winning.

That’s what drove him eight years ago, when he took over the St. Benedict’s program. That’s what is different about Hurley today.

“I viewed my role as strictly winning games,” Hurley said. “I’ve realized, as time’s gone on, that it’s not really about that stuff. It’s about helping to raise kids.”

When Thompson disagreed with Hurley in a Feb. 10 game against Passaic Tech, Hurley was left with no options. Thompson was dismissed for “public insubordination.”

Hurley said when a player is given game instructions he is expected to follow them.

“He did not take a swing at a coach or at a player,” Hurley told a reporter, “but when you're told to do something on the court for our team, you take the coaching and you do it. You don't have a response.”

Hurley said Thompson, a powerful 6-foot-9 lefty rated as a top-five national prospect for the Class of 2010 by the recruiting service Rivals.com, is intelligent and likable.

Wednesday morning, from New Jersey, Hurley didn’t care to replay the incident.

“The extent of which I’ll comment is, sometimes there are actions that prevent you from maintaining a player-coach relationship with a young man,” Hurley said. “I’ll leave it that way.”

The other day, Hurley sent Thompson a cell phone text message, asking him how he’s doing.

“I certainly believe that he’s a quality student-athlete and a good person and that he’s going to be successful,” Hurley said. “People didn’t understand that the dismissal from the team was done for him.”

No logical person, Hurley said, would think that he or his program would benefit from Thompson, strictly from a basketball standpoint, not being a part of the Gray Bees.

“So I kind of acted the way I felt I needed to act,” Hurley said, “so he could learn a valuable lesson that I’m really confident he’ll never make again.”

Don’t assume

Findlay went 30-0 for a second consecutive season, but that pristine record belies a campaign in which coach Mike Peck also had percolating issues with a player or two.

In February, Peck lost guard Willie Hankins and forward Victor Rudd, whose guardian is Hankins’s father, Bill. As the electric Rudd departed, the talented Thompson arrived.

“That type of news, that type of player, that’s gonna be fast,” Peck said of Thompson. “You don’t sit there and contemplate.”

Peck listened to Thompson’s side of the story. He said a series of personality differences led to the scene with Hurley on Feb. 10. Peck does not have a relationship with Hurley and the two didn’t talk.

“We did our due diligence,” Peck said. “You don’t stall or think or ponder too much with a kid like him or you’ll lose him. Sometimes, it’s a no-brainer.”

Having recruited Joseph, the junior floor general of the Pilots who has starred with Thompson on the Grassroots Canada summer-traveling team, and coached him every day for six months meant plenty to Peck.

“His word is gold,” Peck said. “If he says (Thompson) is solid … I just know that Tristan’s situation was unfortunate, probably for everyone involved. I’m not interested in dwelling on it or over-analyzing it.

“He’s here with us and we have another year with him.”

Peck bristles, however, if anyone believes he’s playing it both ways by taking Thompson after losing Hankins and Rudd. There are no corollaries, Peck said.

It isn’t wise, he always tells his players, to talk about something without knowing all of the details, without knowing specifics about a situation or question or issue.

“Don’t make an assumption that everything is the same,” Peck said. “Don’t think that (Thompson’s) reason for leaving St. Benedict’s is the same as Victor or Willie leaving us … we all know what assuming does. Don’t do that.”

Peck talks about Rudd learning from what happened at Findlay the way Hurley talks about Thompson learning from his chapter at St. Benedict’s.

“People might question a judgment or a decision,” Peck said. “They’re entitled to their opinion. But without knowing all the facts, you’re making some serious assumptions that maybe aren’t necessarily accurate.”

A Findlay-St. Benedict’s finale?

Told after Wednesday’s practice that Hurley said to say hello to him, Thompson smiled. He said he and Hurley have gotten past their episode and are friendly.

Thompson, who will play at Texas in the fall of 2010, is engaging, personable and pleasant. He and his new teammates trade jabs and jokes at practice.

He likes 65-degree days in February. “I love it,” said Thompson.

He doesn’t care, either, to rehash the past in Newark.

“We kind of clashed heads,” Thompson said of Hurley. “It was like a build-up of events. I think we both misread each other. It was bad on both our parts. I made mistakes. I admit it. He probably made mistakes.

“We just have to move on.”

Joseph and Thompson clicked right away in Findlay’s last two regular-season games. Thompson tallied 17 points on an array of dunks in Findlay’s regular-season finale at Henderson International.

When Thompson ekes out from under the basket, Joseph gives him a certain look to circle back to the rim for an alley-oop jam. They’ve been doing that for years.

They’re trying to recruit St. Benedict’s guard Myck Kabongo, a sophomore who already has given a verbal commitment to Texas, to Findlay. Grassroots Canada coach Ro Russell said Kabongo will remain with Hurley.

Thompson likes the Pilots' chances this weekend.

“We have what it takes to win, with our chemistry, players and coaches,” he said. “I think we’re ready to show what the West Coast is about.”

And what if second-seeded Findlay faces fourth-seeded St. Benedict’s (23-2), a matchup that can only take place in Sunday’s championship game at noon on ESPN?

“I’d love to play St. Benedict’s,” said a beaming Thompson. “I’d love it. It would be like a dream come true, playing against old teammates and friends. It would mean a lot to me.”