Tomlin Takes Road Less Traveled to Major College Basketball

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Two visitors enter the rear door of the Ice Family Basketball Facility on the Kansas State campus one late September afternoon, the dribbling of a single basketball echoing as they pull open heavy glass doors. Inside, upon the full-court hardwood floor, a tall young man donned in a purple sleeveless top and gray shorts pounds the basketball on the floor, floats and effortlessly drains a 16-foot jumpshot on the far end of the court. The ball drops into a purple automatic rebounder, which sends the ball sailing toward the young man. He drains another shot, steps back, dribbles, then hits another one.

There had been stories about these young men putting in work, but few had yet to fully witness it, and digest their limitless passion. The official start of practice was still five days away. First-year K-State head coach Jerome Tang, whose first basketball team features two returners — senior point guard Markquis Nowell and junior forward Ishmael Massoud — is primarily loaded with fresh-face talent. Many of them are long-bodied types who can dunk as soon as make a free throw. Yet this young man on the hardwood appears to be so dramatically tall and he's nailing long-range jumpers, and stepping back, and still hitting with such unabashed consistency, that it causes one visitor to pause at the sight to observe the prodigy in action.

"Who is that?" the visitor asks.

"Oh him? That is Nae'Qwan."

Moments later, Nae'Qwan Tomlin introduces himself inside the K-State theater room, a gold cross dangling from a gold chain, dark locks of hair standing at attention, making him appear even larger than his 6-foot-10, 210-pound frame. He extends his arm to shake hands. He has a 7-foot wingspan. His gray-and-white Nikes look like miniature skis.

Tomlin slides into a black chair inside a room with beige walls, and appears to be at home. He has kind eyes. A smile envelopes the face of the 21-year-old junior college transfer as he begins to talk. He arrived at K-State as the No. 7 prospect by 2022 JuCoRecruiting.com. Some believe he'll emerge as a considerable NBA prospect. He has a story to tell.

"When was the first time I picked up a basketball?" he says, repeating a question. "I wouldn't be able to say. I was young, though."

He pauses.

"Yeah, I'd say I was young."

He was 7 years old when he first saw LeBron James. It was James' fifth year with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007-08. Tomlin's mother, Aisha Ishmael, loved to watch NBA games on TV. Tomlin was instantly hooked. He admired King James' 6-foot-9 size, his strength inside the paint, his powerful dunks, and how he could basically shoot from anywhere, long rainbows raining from the sky.

Tomlin was born in Brooklyn, New York, and he and his mother moved to Harlem when he was 10. He attended PS 46 — Public School 46 — located directly across the street from Holcombe Rucker Park at 155^th Street and Fredrick Douglass Boulevard, just east of the former Polo Grounds site. The most famous outdoor basketball mecca in America, Rucker Park hosted many greats through the years — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Dr. J, Connie Hawkins, Kenny Anderson and Chris Mullin, along with a multitude of playground stars — yet it also served as an after-school haven for Tomlin and his friends. They owned the court until the older boys showed up. Sometimes the older boys kicked them off the court. Sometimes, Tomlin hooped with the older boys.

One night, Tomlin saw Kevin Durant drop 66 points at Rucker. The living legend brought down the house.

"It was crazy," Tomlin says. "Back then, when I was in middle school, we used to go out there and shoot the ball from very far and yell, 'KD range!'"

Tomlin was 5-foot-9 as a freshman at Urban Assembly School. He grew to 6-foot-2 by his sophomore year, then to 6-foot-5 as a junior, and to 6-foot-7 as a senior. He first dunked a basketball at age 17. He preferred playing outdoors to playing inside gyms and he was self-admittingly mischievous — "I wanted to be outside and I unfortunately hung with the wrong crowd," he says — opting not to try out for the high school basketball team until his senior season. He proved his moxie on the playground. However, he wanted to play his final year with his friends, many of whom were on the high school basketball team. Tomlin made the final cut, but was deemed academically ineligible.

"I put a lot of stress on my mom," Tomlin says.

Aisha has two other children — Nyeem (currently 11) and Nalyna (just turned 7). Nyeem has Autism.

"My mom was dealing with my little brother and my baby sister at the time, and she was helping them with school, and taking my little brother to his speech classes and stuff like that, and then I was doing horrible in school, and outside and getting into trouble," he says. "I just really wanted to help my mom. I wanted her to feel proud."

Tomlin pauses while telling the story. He leans over, places his elbows on his knees, clasps his hands together, and stares at the dark carpet in the K-State team theater room.

"Your senior year, you have graduation rehearsal, you know, on how to walk on stage and stuff like that," he says, "and I couldn't go because I wasn't on track to graduate."

The day of graduation rehearsal found Tomlin inside a classroom, working harder than he ever had before in his life. After graduation rehearsal, the seniors had a barbeque. A friend tried to grab Tomlin to come along.

"I was embarrassed because I was supposed to be there, but because of the stuff I had been doing throughout high school, it wouldn't allow me to graduate," he says. "So, I said, 'No, I don't want to go to the barbeque.' I was embarrassed. I was doing a bunch of work. I handed everything in that day."

Hours later, Tomlin was outside with a couple friends when he received a phone call. The voice on the other end of the phone said, "You're able to walk."

"So I was going to take summer school, but at least I'd be able to walk and graduate," he continues. "It was crazy."

He phoned his mother. She cried.

"My mom," he says, "had to do a lot of last-minute shopping that day."

He pauses again. His jaw clenches.

"My mom," he says, "was my inspiration."

Tom "Tippy" McTernan is co-founder of Big Apple Sports, a program that steers AAU and streetball prodigies on the right track and helps introduce them to junior college programs that suit their needs. Steve Barnett, Tomlin's uncle, knew "Coach Tippy," who Tomlin calls "a legend." Barnett made the introductions. After Tomlin completed summer school, he attended Strength N Motion International in San Antonio, Texas. Strength N Motion International is committed to provide a structured program designed to teach the fundamental skills of basketball while focusing on growth and development. From there, Tomlin landed at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York — "That was my only option," he says — where he redshirted before embarking upon his first year of organized basketball.

In his first game, he scored 24 points and pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked six shots. He finished his first season averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.3 blocks, and led his team in virtually every statistical category, including shooting percentage (56.6%) and 3-point percentage (34.5%) while totaling 82 blocked shots.

"I was young, but my team believed in me to be that guy," he says. "It was difficult. It was still a learning process for me."

Tomlin moved onto Chipola College in Marianna, Florida, for his sophomore and junior seasons. He helped his team to a 53-11 record and back-to-back trips to the NJCAA National Tournament semifinals in Hutchinson. Last season, he averaged a team-high 13.8 points on 54.2% shooting, including 63.8% inside the 3-point arc, to go along with 5.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.

It was shortly after Tomlin's junior season that K-State officially came into his life.

New K-State assistant coach Jareem Dowling arrived from North Texas. He had seen Tomlin play. New K-State chief of staff Marco Borne, who arrived from Alcorn State, had seen Tomlin play in Florida. Tang and the K-State coaching staff studied video of Tomlin's performances. They were blown away. Tang and associate head coach Ulric Maligi visited Tomlin at Chipola. They spoke inside his dorm room. They spent hours talking and sharing personal stories. By the end of their chat, the player and coaches had tears in their eyes. Tomlin committed to K-State on May 2.

"When they visited me in my dorm, I knew I was coming to K-State," Tomlin says. "I just knew it, even before I visited the facilities. I just felt the bond. I liked Coach Tang's passion and what he saw in me. Me coming as a juco kid, a lot of people don't have high expectations of me, but he has high expectations, he and the whole coaching staff.

"I felt like because I'd told them my story, I knew them and they knew me, and when I came on my visit, it was 10 times better."

How excited is Tomlin to be a member of Tang's first team?

"Very excited," he replies. "This is going to be history."

Ask Tang about his players and Tomlin is habitually one of the first names that flows from his mouth. Tomlin can play power forward, small forward, and — a scary thought for opponents — he is currently also learning plays for the shooting guard position. He strives to emulate 6-foot-8, 190-pound Brandon Ingram, who is currently with the New Orleans Pelicans, and who was taken with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. King James remains Tomlin's idol. One day, Tomlin would like to play for his hometown New York Knicks.

Since Tomlin's arrival in the Little Apple, he has dedicated himself toward constant improvement, developing proper practice habits, watching film, and is a mainstay in the weight room. And he contends that his growth spurt might not be finished.

"I'm only four years into really playing basketball and I'm still learning," he says. "I'm getting up 1,000 shots a day. I'm still learning and trying to learn fast, too. Four years (of playing organized basketball) can't be an excuse. I want to look like I've been hooping my whole life."

Tomlin recently returned to Harlem. He went to Rucker Park, his childhood haven, right across the street from PS 46. The edges of the basketball court were damp and leaves of overhanging tree limbs were a dark green. He wore a black t-shirt, gray shorts, white socks, and gray shoes. He took three dribbles, spun the basketball, and shot a free throw. Swish. He backed up and shot again. Swish. A large black scoreboard stood in the middle of five rows of black bleachers that spanned the length of the basketball court. The court was beige and featured what appeared to be a gray leopard-print design. Big brick structures surrounded the black gates that turned the outdoor basketball mecca into a private sanctuary.

He shot again. Swish.

He figures himself to be one of the biggest surprises in the Big 12 Conference this season.

"Most definitely," he says. "They don't know who I am, but this year I'm going to show them and prove that I can come to the Big 12 and do something. I definitely want to win the Big 12 Championship and make a run in the NCAA Tournament."

It all goes back to the beginning of Tomlin's story — the boy who found his way. Now the 21-year-old stands on the cusp of playing major-college hoops with hopes of reaching the NBA. Not bad for a streetball prodigy who never played high school or AAU basketball.

"It's like, 'I'm really here,'" Tomlin says. "I came from not playing basketball and going to juco, and now I'm here. That's what I feel when I put on my jersey. I've thought about what it's going to be like seeing 13,500 people in the crowd, and it's like, that's crazy."

He pauses.

"I excited," he says, "to finally be a part of something like that."

Kansas State University Athletics

Tomlin Takes Road Less Traveled to Major College Basketball

Players Mentioned

Markquis Nowell

Nae'Qwan Tomlin

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