Always Trying to Perfect His Craft

By: D. Scott Fritchen

A boy stands with his father on a red and green synthetic basketball court nestled on the corner of 1^st Avenue and East 96^th Street. The basketball court is surrounded by an old gate and is located across the street from Stanley Isaacs Playground and a couple blocks west of FDR Drive. The boy is 10. He is positioned underneath a basketball rim and shoots high-arching rainbows again and again and again amid the sounds of nearby New York City traffic. He must make 500 shots each day, one after another — "form" shots against an unrelenting sun.

There's a story behind it, of course. Hany Massoud caught Ismael running up and down the basketball court, shooting 3-pointers with two hands, thrusting the ball up as if heaving heavy pillows upon the top of a bunk bed, and he believed that his son needed a gentle push in the right direction. Over the course of a few weeks – no, a few months – Ismael, under his father's guidance, was determined to learn – no, perfect – the mechanics and discipline required to shoot a shot with proper form. Eventually, Ismael backed a few steps away from the rim, and then a little farther, and a little farther.

Although Hany spent countless hours practicing with his son, and some of Hany's favorite memories with his son came on the basketball court, Ismael's skills actually came from his mother, who played basketball at the University of Houston. Her sense of hard work, discipline, grit and focus rubbed off on Ismael and helped him to trust the process and not give up in the face of adversity.

Ismael yearned for his newfound shooting skills to someday shine through in a game.

And, boy, did opportunity knock.

SWISH. SWISH. SWISH.

The north corner of four-lane Lexington Avenue and East 96^th Street backs against a wrought-iron fence that rises from a brick wall and encompasses a city block. Inside, sidewalks surround thick trees rising from landscaped squares. A seating area for picnics surrounds a flagpole. In the southwest corner of the park, a synthetic green basketball court worn from battle lies adjacent to East 95^th.

Although the official name of this basketball haven nestled in East Harlem is Samuel Seabury Playground, Ismael refers to it as "Lexington Park."

It became Massoud's second home.

"He definitely got the basketball bug on that court," Hany says.

It wasn't the first time Massoud became enamored with competition. Truth is, young Massoud was an avid and talented skateboarder. One of Hany's proudest moments was watching Ismael perfect his kick-flip off three stairs. Eventually, Ismael competed in skateboarding tournaments across New York.

"We even moved to the beach in Rockaway, New York, thinking, 'OK, this is what he loves to do. He's very devoted,'" Hany says. "There wasn't a single trick that he tried that he didn't try to perfect. He'd spend hours doing the same trick over and over until he got it, whether it was jumping over stairs of down a ramp.

"When we moved to Harlem and he picked up a basketball, I knew at that moment he caught the basketball bug."

The bug carried Massoud into battles at Lexington Park, Rucker Park and Dyckman Park. The bug swept into The MacDuffie School in Granby, Massachusetts, where Massoud was regarded as one of the top 120 players and top 30 small forwards in the nation by ESPN. The bug accompanied Massoud to Wake Forest for two years, although he could've attended Harvard. Then Massoud pivoted to Kansas State, where he has turned into a 6-foot-9, 225-pound 3-point weapon for the Wildcats while also providing a solid defensive presence.

Some K-State fans call him "SWISH MASSOUD," while first-year K-State head coach Jerome Tang and teammates call him, "BIG 12 ISH." Massoud's 3-pointers light up the scoreboard and electrify home crowds at Bramlage Coliseum. His long-range touch has also silenced crowds in Ames, Austin, Fort Worth, Lawrence, Lubbock, Morgantown, Norman, Stillwater and Waco.

"I'm really happy that he's found this group that he really considers a second family and they've taken him in and given him a responsibility where he feels a part of it," Hany says. "Coach has trusted him with some important minutes."

Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday, Massoud, again, will strive to make every minute count as the third-seeded Wildcats, 23-9, face No. 14-seed Montana State, 25-9, at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

"I was talking with Ismael after K-State's selection and congratulated him," Hany says. "We reminisced a little bit. I said, 'I can't believe you're that kid from 96^th Street.' He's going from 96^th Street to playing in March Madness.

"How did that happen? It's a lot to take in."

Yes, it's a lot to digest, especially during the craziness of March, a seemingly ceaseless stream of blue carpets and arenas and basketball courts and Cinderellas and advances and exits and hellos and goodbyes.

That K-State made it to March is, really, not much short of a miracle.

Massoud and senior point guard Markquis Nowell, a third-team All-American, saw it all unfold before their very eyes this season at K-State.

Massoud first met Nowell when he was 15 years old. They lived in the same neighborhood. They were acquaintances, two aspiring standouts who watched each other play at Rucker and Dyckman. It's amazing how many players run the court there. Players can cycle through like a rolling tide while others are like immovable rocks in the sand. Massoud and Nowell were immovable rocks. Always there.

Fate brought them together at K-State prior to last season — Massoud arrived from Wake Forest and Nowell from Arkansas-Little Rock.

When Massoud entered the transfer portal, former K-State assistant coach Shane Southwell, a product of Rice High School in New York City, convinced Massoud to join him in Manhattan, Kansas. Although Massoud drew close to committing to Vanderbilt, and there were some other potential schools, Southwell, with his New York City connection, won the recruiting battle.

"It wasn't totally a hard sell," Hany says.

Unfortunately, Massoud and Nowell didn't see March Madness during their first season with the Wildcats. K-State, which incurred a few recent up-and-down campaigns, finished with a 14-17 record and a ninth-place finish in the Big 12 Conference.

Following the departure of head coach Bruce Weber last March — "We loved Coach Weber," Hany says — Massoud and Nowell faced a decision. Would they stay? Would they go? K-State athletics director Gene Taylor hired Tang, the 55-year-old longtime assistant/associate head coach at Baylor, which captured the 2021 NCAA Championship. Massoud and Nowell decided to remain in Manhattan.

The lone returners from the 2021-22 season, Massoud, a junior, and Nowell, a senior, spent the summer together as lead recruiters as Tang and his coaching staff set up shop in the Little Apple. Massoud and Nowell worked out together, shot baskets together and ate together. They wowed and convinced visiting recruits. The list of newcomers grew to five to seven to 10 to 13. Massoud and Nowell had this vision. They were going to fight. They would not give up.

"It took Markquis to believe in Ismael and for Ismael to believe in Markquis and for the coaching staff to believe in them," Hany says. "It really was a full team effort for them to be able to put together a team like this."

It started with two players.

"I'm really happy that Ismael stayed because he could've left and done other things," Hany says. "He knew when there's a coach coming in that there's a chance your minutes might go down a bit, but he knew he'd have a chance to be a part of this rebuild, and he was excited for the opportunity and to learn.

"As a father, that's something you want to hear, that it's not about what you get out of it, but just try to get better and learn. We're really happy that he got that chance. I'm happy that he followed his heart."

Heart. That's what this remarkable K-State season has been about. The Wildcats, picked to finish 10^th in the Big 12, rose to No. 5 in the AP Top 25, and finished No. 15 in the AP Poll released Monday. The Wildcats, one of the feel-good stories of the college basketball season, feature two third-team All-Americans in Keyontae Johnson and Nowell, and the Big 12 Coach of the Year in Tang. It's amazing how some things work out with heart. With faith. With crazy faith.

Massoud sat next to Nowell at the Wildcats' gathering in the Shamrock Zone at Bramlage Coliseum for Sunday's Selection Show. They sat front and center. They wore purple t-shirts that read "CRAZY FAITH" and "12." The "1" and "2" stood for the first two players on this current squad — Massoud and Nowell. They popped from their chairs and erupted with their teammates when "KANSAS STATE" beamed across the TV screen. A third seed. Incredible.

"Things have just lined up perfectly this season," Hany says. "It's been incredible to watch."

Even now, Hany advises his son.

Together, they rewatch Ismael's minutes on the basketball court. They watch different plays, the offensive clips and defensive clips, because there's always something to learn. Hany pulls out selections from each game and sends them to his son. They watch each clip together over the phone. They analyze what went right and what went wrong.

"I watch every game multiple times," Hany says. "There's not a single game that I haven't watched multiple times with Ismael."

They hope that they might be able to discuss Friday's game — and a potential game on Sunday — for years to come.

If K-State defeats Montana State and then beats the winner of Providence/Kentucky, the Wildcats would advance to the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It's a lot to take in. But it's one shot at a time and one game at a time. Massoud will be ready when called upon to offer his shooting touch.

"I know he's put in the time," Hany says. "You always think it's going to go in."

It goes back to the days at 1^st Avenue and East 96^th Street, and it goes back to Lexington Park, and it goes back to form shooting, 500 shots each day, against an unrelenting sun. It goes back to the boy, who caught the bug, and who is on the cusp of the NCAA Tournament, one play at a time, one shot at a time, one game at a time in Greensboro.
If things go favorably for K-State, the team that began with Massoud and Nowell, could return to the Big Apple.

Madison Square Garden is 4.9 miles southeast of Lexington Avenue and East 96^th Street — Massoud's childhood second home.

"Every kid wants to come back home and play the biggest game imaginable in your home city. What basketball kid doesn't dream of that?" Hany says. "Playing in one of the most historic places in the basketball world would be an experience you couldn't write up."

It's a lot to take in.

It's the magic of March.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Keyontae Johnson

Markquis Nowell

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