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Posted Jan. 27, 2006

E-mail: mark@d3hoops.com

Imani making most of his chance
Growing up, Carlos Butler and his nephew Caron were basketball stars in Racine, Wis., both dealing with the dangers of inner city life on a daily basis. Both initially had their struggles with the streets and the law. Caron's success story has gotten attention from his making it to the NBA. Carlos' is playing out in a smaller setting, at Carthage.

Carlos was a great player turned drug dealer, whose mistakes led to three prison stints, starting in 1994 and concluding in 2001, after he finished a sentence for violating parole. During Carlos' time in prison he adopted Islam and changed his name to his current one, Malik Imani, which when translated means "King of Faith"

During Imani's third sentence, an inmate, whom Imani had befriended in his two previous stints, warned him that he would grow old in prison unless he committed himself to turning his life around. With the support of his mom and other family members he began doing that.

When Imani was released from prison for the third time, he had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, and his parole officer felt it was more important for him to get a job, rather than an education. In 2004, he got a new officer, who promised him a fresh start and the ability to eventually return to school. That, in turn with a chance meeting between Carthage assistant coach Cory Wilson and one of Imani's sisters triggered the idea of his enrolling at that school. Six months later, Imani called Wilson and set the process in motion.

Imani lost weight (it took a season and a half to scale down from 250 to 199 pounds) enrolled as a 29-year-old freshman in the fall of 2004 and joined the team. Imani averaged 7.4 points per game coming off the bench last season, but more significantly, made the Dean's List in the spring semester.

The monitoring bracelet is now off and he's successfully completed his parole. Imani is engaged to Catina Curtis and the two have set a wedding date of July 16, 2008 (four years to the day after they met) with Imani planning to graduate from school with a degree in business administration two months prior.

Imani has come to an understanding of what he was and what he now is and has come to terms with his past, when people viewed him as angry and distant. People who hadn't talked to him in years have begun to approach him, after a recent local newspaper article heralded his success story. Imani is glad for the opportunity to address them

"I was always a good person, but when I was Carlos, I was introverted," Imani said. "He was a different individual than Malik. Malik is more talkative. If I have problems, I talk about them. I don't have a problem asking for help."

The Redmen are 6-11, 2-4 in the CCIW heading into Saturday's game at Illinois Wesleyan. Imani is averaging 7.4 points on 43% shooting, and ranks second on the team with 28 3-pointers. He has started eight of Carthage's 17 games, filling in for teammate Trey Bowens, who is dealing with eligibility issues this semester. Imani says he is working to become a more complete player. Though he's a step or two slower than he was in his athletic prime, Imani has promised to add more dimensions to his game. For now, he's known primarily for his perimeter play.

"I'm a wiser player now than I was when I was a kid," Imani said. " but I haven't shown my entire game just yet."

"He's really a good shooter," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "He's a solid player who has done everything he could to max out his abilities"

"Basketball doesn't even begin to scratch the surface as to what he's done. He's taken his education very seriously. He's someone to be admired for making his life better."

"I can see the future and what it takes for me to make it bright," Imani said.

One person who helps is Caron, who went on to star at Connecticut. The two talk before each of their respective games.

"He always calls me before games and says 'Take smart shots and be aggressive," Imani said of Caron.

Carthage just won its first CCIW game on Saturday, edging Millikin by a point, then beat North Park for its first back-to-back wins this season. The Redmen have lost some really tough games on their first go through the league schedule, among them a one-point loss to Illinois Wesleyan and a three-point loss to Augustana, but could be a dangerous team the second time around

"We have to figure out how to close games out," Imani said when we spoke to him prior to the Millikin matchup last week. "We know how to play together. We just don't know how to win together. I'm pretty sure that our fortunes are going to change."

He's someone who should know.

THREE THOUSAND CLUB: Bethany seniors Matt and Mike Drahos have posted stats that are identically staggering not just this season, but throughout the careers of the twin brothers from Wheeling, W.Va. Through Wednesday's matchup with Thiel, the 6-foot-7 Matt, a two-time first-team All-Presidents Athletic Conference selection, had 1,712 career points and 823 rebounds, while 6-foot-5 Mike, the reigning two-time Player of the Year, had 1,516 career points and 801 rebounds. This season, they have combined to average 39.9 points and 16.1 rebounds per game, and 45.7 points per game in Presidents Athletic Conference play for a Bethany team that has averaged nearly 90 a contest and is shooting 52% from the field for the season.

"Matt has some of the best post moves you'll see," said Mike Drahos. "Once he gets in a rhythym he's very hard to stop."

"Mike makes my job a lot easier," Matt said, referring to his brother's shooting ability. "I can go inside more and they can't double-team me because of him. He's also a great post passer."

Matt sports a 3.5 GPA as a biology major, and plans to either go to graduate school or play professionally overseas next season, while Mike had a 3.6 GPA as a psychology major and has aspirations of a career working for the FBI.

Bethany was disappointed with how last season ended, with a loss to John Carroll in the NCAA Tournament. This year's team is trying to better how last season's squad did, by not only getting to the tournament, but getting a win. One thing this Bison team has that the last two didn't is seniors and these two plan to make their presence felt the remainder of the way.

"I feel pretty satisfied with my career, but it seems like a career of 'almosts," said Matt Drahos "I don't want to feel like that after this season."

SOUND OFF: The hottest team yet to receive a Top 25 vote is the Willamette Bearcats men's squad, out of the Northwest Conference. The Bearcats are 12-5, 8-1, but still in "prove it" mode after having rattled off six straight triumphs, including an upset of Puget Sound last week. Willamette survived having played only one of its first 13 games at home and its eight league wins match its total from last season. Being in Oregon, the Bearcats non-conference schedule consists primarily of non Division III opposition and their only Division III defeat came at the hands of NWC rival Whitworth.

Willamette head coach Gordie James referred to his squad as "very sound" and it's smart play that has prevailed during this return to success. The Bearcats have gotten really solid play all season from grad student John Olinger, a 6-1 wing, and guard C.J. Stuvland, a transfer from Oregon, who had 36 points in the most recent triumph, a nine-point win over Lewis and Clark. Willamette, picked to finish fifth in the league preseason poll, shoots at better than 50% from the field and is also among the better 3-point shooting teams in the country, converting at 42%.

Willamette beat Puget Sound's "blitz basketball" style by passing over the top of its opponent's pressure defense, and since the Bearcats strength is in guard play, they were well equipped to do that. Willamette held off a late rally to win by nine, holding Puget Sound to 68 points.

"I wouldn't have wanted to play them for five more minutes," said James, whose team has at least one more meeting (and possibly two with the reinstatement of the NWC playoff system this season) with the Loggers, who now face a stiff challenge for league supremacy. "This just happened to be our night."

PONDERINGS: The season is still relatively young in both the NESCAC and UAA, but there are two unexpected first-place squads on the women's side in Wesleyan and Rochester. Wesleyan, which advanced to the Sweet 16 last season, started 2-3 and struggled early in the season. A comeback overtime win over Coast Guard woke the team up and started a 10-game win streak that included triumphs in its first four league matches (the Cardinals lost a non-league rivalry game at Williams, but beat them in league play). With Bowdoin having already lost to Bates and Bates having already fallen at Williams, Wesleyan is in an interesting position, particularly if it can defeat visiting Bates this Saturday.

The other intriguing first-place team is Rochester, which faces an unbelievably brutal schedule over the next three weeks. The Yellowjackets are 13-3, 4-1 in the UAA (tied with Washington and NYU for first), which certainly isn't bad, but consider that their next four games are home-and-homes with Washington University and Chicago, followed by back-to-back home games with Brandeis and NYU. Each of those five teams have three losses or fewer. It will be interesting to see how things play out, especially consdiering that the UAA has no playoff. We've seen this league get three NCAA bids in a smaller field and are wondering if it's possible for four squads to make the since-enlarged NCAA Tournament.

Springfield has spruced up Blake Arena in preparation for hosting the women's Final Four, shining up the basketball floor and making various other touch-ups to the facility. We made our first trip there this season last week for a men's game and noticed something that will be interesting to observe. Granted, it's a little early for teams to start thinking about this, and perhaps this is overanalyzing a bit, but the Blake rims have a distinct touch to them. Shots that hit the front rim caromed out hard and fast, while shots that hit the back rim plopped into the net more often than not. We've seen some women's teams over the years have come out a little nervous at the start of the semifinals and championship game and are curious to see how things will play out in this building as to how quickly players pick up on the basket tendencies.

Notes for Around the Nation are compiled with the help of sports information directors across the country. If you have suggestions or information for this column, please send it to mark@d3hoops.com.

Previous columns
2007-08 columns
March 6: Faith restored
Feb. 27: John Jay, Cinderella
Feb. 21: No safety net
Feb. 14: Ursinus better enough
Feb. 8: Hope-TMC on collision course
Jan. 31: Plattsburgh's big shot
Jan. 24: UMD answers call
Jan. 18: Like Bosko, like son
Jan. 11: Keystone stakes
Dec. 13: Unstoppable
Dec. 7: UWW aiming deeper
Nov. 30: Coach's shadow lingers
Nov. 15: Strong duo
2006-07 columns
2005-06 columns
2004-05 columns
2003-04 columns
2002-03 columns
2001-02 columns

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