Citizen Akoy

by Steve Marantz

  Trudell and Bertrand pulled Jolie toward the Native American movement as her activism expanded. At one point Jolie enlisted Trudell’s help to adopt a Native American child but dropped the effort due to lineage rules. In 2002 she financed the start-up of a philanthropic nonprofit, All Tribes Foundation, which her mother ran and for which Trudell served as a “creative adviser.” Jolie also financed Trudell’s 2002 album, Bone Days, and was an executive producer of the 2005 film documentary Trudell.

  Throughout the 2000s Jolie used her box office fame to draw attention to the plight of refugees in her field missions to more than thirty countries, including Sudan. She adopted children from Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Vietnam and gave birth to three. UNHCR promoted Jolie to the rank of Special Envoy in April 2012 and authorized her to meet with diplomats and global leaders.

  In her 2003 book, Notes from My Travels, Jolie wrote, “I honestly believe that if we were all aware, we would be compelled to act. So the question is not how or why I would do this with my life. The question is, how could I not?”

  16

  Dynasty Blues

  Hoosiers is a 1986 film about a fictional town in Hickory, Indiana, whose basketball team is led by a new coach with a checkered past, a role played by Gene Hackman. Against all odds, Hickory upsets the defending champions from South Bend to win the 1954 state title.

  The film is based on an actual small town in southeast Indiana, Milan, whose team upset the perennial champion, Muncie Central, in the 1954 state final. In those days all Indiana high schools, large and small, competed in one tournament, and South Bend and Muncie were large. Milan High had an enrollment of 162; Muncie Central, 1,662.

  Hoosiers is David versus Goliath in high-tops. In the end almost everybody roots for Hickory (or Milan) as David. Almost nobody roots for South Bend (or Muncie Central) as Goliath. That’s how it was for Omaha Central in the latter years of the Behrens dynasty. “A lot of times we felt like Muncie Central,” Behrens recalled. “We were the bad guys in the movie, and most people rooted against us. That’s natural; it’s sports. Our job was to block that stuff out.”

  Behrens had a distant link to Hoosiers through Herb Welling, his volunteer assistant until 2009. Welling attended Mitchell High in Colorado Springs in the early 1980s, where his basketball coach, Bill Wright, mentored him. Wright had grown up in Indiana and had played on the 1953 Richmond Red Devils team that upset none other than defending champion Muncie Central in a regional final. Wright had a basement library of basketball books and films that Welling, who lived across the street, studied as a teenager. When Welling joined Behrens’s staff in 2001, he brought along Wright’s knowledge and Hoosier karma.

  By the spring of 2012 Behrens had been in the Muncie/Goliath role long enough to feel trapped by it. Winning is supposed to be fun, but for Behrens and Central it had become obligatory. “When you’re supposed to win, you breathe a sigh of relief and move on,” Behrens recalled. “What you miss is the exhilaration.”

  While Central was respected within Nebraska basketball, it also was quietly resented. Metropolitan rivals believed its dynasty was built unfairly on the talent supplied by Scott Hammer and Welling and only grudgingly acknowledged Behrens as a team builder, strategist, conditioning guru, psychologist, and social worker. Online rumor mills targeted Central. “Those silly basketball websites wrote horrible things,” recalled Rod Mullen. “Central gives players free cell phone minutes or Central allows players to not go to class and to commit crimes—outright lies or exaggerations. Posts would be anonymous, so we couldn’t trace them. That’s the kind of nonsense we had to deal with.”

  Behrens had coached Central to the state title in six of the last seven years. Most of his horses would be back from the 30–0 season, and he was about to get a blue-chip transfer, 6-foot-4 guard Nick Billingsley, from North High. Billingsley was a Hammer protégé, and his transfer would arouse the usual cynicism from rivals, even as he made Central a prohibitive favorite. His toughest opponents, Behrens foresaw, would be complacency and overconfidence.

  Behrens’s solution was to look for opponents outside of Nebraska, to whom Central’s dynasty meant nothing and to whom Nebraska basketball meant even less. Nationally Nebraska was perceived as a football state. Evidence came from the basketball recruiting websites, which ranked the best players in each senior class. One established site, Rivals.com, named eight Nebraska prospects for 2013, with Akoy the highest-rated at four stars out of a possible five. None of the other prospects got a single star.

  By comparison, among bordering states, Kansas had 47, Iowa 33, and Missouri 26 prospects. Indiana had 55 prospects, with 5 at four stars or five, and North Carolina had 60. Maryland had 63, two of which played for Montrose Christian, the prep school that had recruited Akoy. Virginia had 63, of which 5 played for Oak Hill Academy, a private prep school soon to become familiar to Nebraskans. Georgia had 85 prospects. Florida had 111, with 11 at four stars or five. California had 166, with 11 at four stars or five.

  Population worked against Nebraska, its 1.82 million residents making it thirty-seventh among the fifty states (2010 census), while California had 37.2 million, or about twenty times more. Logically fewer residents would mean fewer prospects, except that Nebraska had fewer prospects per capita than a lot of states. Nebraska had nearly one-third the residents of Maryland and only one-eighth as many prospects. It had a bit more than one-fifth the population of Virginia and just one-eighth as many prospects. It had a bit less than 20 percent of Georgia’s population and less than 10 percent as many prospects.

  New Hampshire, with less than three-fourths the population of Nebraska, had twelve prospects, with two at four stars and two at five stars. New Hampshire’s numbers were bolstered by private prep schools, such as Brewster Academy and New Hampton School, which had high-powered programs with a national reach. West Virginia, with roughly the same population as Nebraska, had eight prospects, seven of which came from the same private school, Huntington Prep, founded in 2009 as a “basketball-focused college preparatory school” in which “all students are considered D-1 prospects.” Huntington Prep featured the No. 1–ranked prospect in the country, Andrew Wiggin, at five stars, and three players at four stars. Nebraska had nothing comparable.

  The shoe-and-apparel companies Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour, ignored Nebraska’s grassroots programs, as they lavished teams in Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas with sponsorship and merchandise. The lack of shoe sponsorship added to the perception of Nebraska as a football state.

  Historically the contributions of Nebraska high schools to the NBA and defunct ABA were few and far between and from bygone eras: Bob Boozer (1950s), Ron Boone (1960s), Mike McGee (1970s), and Erick Strickland (1990s). Others peaked as NBA journeymen—Wally Anderzunas, Tom Kropp, Lee Johnson, Alex Stivrins, Bart Kofoed, Dave Hoppen, Rich King. A couple made brief cameos: Dwaine Dillard and Cedric Hunter. Strickland, a Bellevue West grad, was in the NBA from 1997 to 2005. No Nebraska high school product had gone to the top after Strickland through the time of Akoy.

  Akoy had won three straight championships in the large-school division and had been recruited by some of the top D-1 colleges in the country. He was Nebraska’s first four-star player since Rivals.com started its rankings in 2002. Yet Rivals.com put him at No. 87 among its top 150 prospects, while ESPN had him at No. 75. His modest ranking reflected doubts about his offensive game, as well as about Nebraska. Central had finished a perfect 30–0 and won its third straight championship in 2011–12, yet MaxPreps.com had ranked it twentieth in the country, behind several teams with three or four losses and DeSoto, Texas, with six.

  It was no small irony, Behrens realized, that while Central was Muncie in Nebraska, it was Milan on a national stage. He figured a few games against national powers could untangle this paradox. Was Central only good enough to win in Nebraska, or could it win anywhere? Was Nebraska basketball as irrelevant as the rest of the country seemed to think, or could it go against the best? Back in February 2006 Behrens had s
cheduled a private school from Louisiana, Reserve Christian, for a game in Omaha. That had gone badly, an 81–70 loss, though it catalyzed the team, which went on to win Behrens’s first state title. Welling had urged Behrens to build a national schedule, but after he left, the idea lay fallow.

  Now Behrens added two national components. The first was the City of Palms tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, in the week before Christmas. City of Palms, in its fortieth year, was a premier high school tournament, with a sixteen-team field of elite private schools and big-city powerhouses. The previous year eleven of the sixteen teams had gone on to win state championships. Its top seed, private Montverde Academy, was building a $6.5 million athletic complex at its campus near Orlando. “We knew it would be a great test to see how we stacked up,” Behrens recalled. “I didn’t know if we had the depth, if Akoy got in foul trouble, to match up. I knew we had six really good players, but our rotation stopped with six, in close games. That concerned me because we might have had to play four games in five days.”

  Akoy cut the ribbon at an October ceremony that made Central the first public school in Omaha to go completely wireless, the culmination of a million-dollar campaign by CHSF. That same month the Register profiled him with a spread that covered nearly two pages. He was a star who not only valued media, he cultivated it. “I can’t count on one hand how many times Akoy was down in 029 (the Register office),” recalled editor-in-chief Jen Rooney. Yet Akoy set limits with the media. He agreed to a Register photo shoot in the gym with executive editor-in-chief Emily Beck, but when she asked him to recreate the signature “roar” that accompanied his dunks, he demurred. “He said it only happened in the moment,” recalled Beck.

  Signing day, when seniors committed with a letter, was in mid-November. The letter had seemed like a formality after Rick Pitino’s visit in September, and it would have been had not Nebraska coach Tim Miles put on a late rush. Akoy was conflicted by Lotte’s decision to attend Nebraska and Adaw’s pleas to stay close, and he listened to Miles. Then Pitino jumped back in and persuaded Akoy to stick with Louisville, to the bitter disappointment of Husker fans on social media. “Sorry everyone that is mad that I made a decision that was going to benefit my life,” Akoy wrote. “Didn’t know that was a crime! Get on with your life!!!” He added: “People are so crazy!! . . People can say all they want but the people I love are happy for me. And that’s all that matters.”

  Early in December Central opened its season. Several players—though not Akoy—colored their hair yellow to complement their neon socks and shoes and added theatrical dance moves to their introductions. Central won its first four games locally, as expected, and basketball seemed an afterthought to performance art. On December 18, as a blizzard bore down on Omaha, Akoy was in balmy Fort Myers. He posted a photo of a sumptuous breakfast spread and wrote, “Down in Florida just ate at the Waffle House! #livingood.” Lasagna was not in the photo, presumably because it wasn’t on the breakfast menu.

  When Central took the floor against a suburban Atlanta team, Eagle’s Landing, it became the first basketball team from Nebraska to play in a boys’ national high school invitational. Eagle’s Landing was not the opponent Behrens had in mind. It too was making its first appearance in a national invitational tournament, and it was unranked in the national polls, while ESPN and MaxPreps had Central ranked at 22 and 13, respectively. Central found itself in the too familiar role as favorite and won easily, 62–37, behind Akoy’s game-high 16 points. “We had to prove to ourselves that we belong here, so we came here with a mindset and a chip on our shoulder,” Akoy told a reporter. The next day the Naples Daily News featured Akoy on the front of its sports section under the headline, “Sudanese Sensation.” Central’s victory was its forty-first straight, dating back to the 2010–11 season, tying it with Grand Island (1947–1949) for the longest win streak in Nebraska Class A history.

  Next up was Long Beach Polytechnic, ranked No. 2 by MaxPreps and No. 8 by ESPN and USA Today. Long Beach Poly had five thousand students and a storied athletic tradition such that Sports Illustrated recognized it in 2005 as “Sports School of the Century.” The California team featured two seniors headed to the Pac-12, as well as a junior who was in the top fifty of his class. No Nebraska school had ever faced a team ranked as high; Central found itself in the rare role of underdog, exactly what Behrens had sought.

  After Central scored the first bucket of the third quarter, for a 26–19 lead, an upset and national affirmation was within its grasp. Then Poly went on a 25–9 run over the next eleven minutes for a 44–35 lead. Central clawed its way back, and Akoy’s dunk tied it at 49 with just under a minute left. Poly worked for the last shot, and Central thought it had the ball when it went out of bounds with four seconds left. But Poly kept possession and inbounded to guard Ke’Jhan Feagin, who potted a 22-footer over the outstretched arm of Hollins, for a 52–49 final. Ouch.

  “They’re in tears, they’re heartbroken,” Behrens told the media. “They really fought and really wanted to win that game. That’s how it should be. If it wasn’t important it wouldn’t hurt. It hurts because they cared. . . . I’m proud that they’re hurt by a loss.” Akoy tweeted: “I am so pissed off right now! Should have won tonight! Good job though guys!”

  Both Central and Nebraska gained in stature with the narrow defeat. “Nebraska has some jewels,” said Poly coach Sharrief Metoyer. “They have some guys who can play and they’re catching up to the rest of the country.” What Central did not gain, however, was the joy of an upset victory. It got another chance in its next game, in the loser’s bracket against Whitney Young of Chicago. Whitney Young was an 1,800-student exam school whose alumni included First Lady Michelle Obama and NBA guard Quentin Richardson. The team was ranked No. 4 by MaxPreps and featured the top-ranked prospect for the class of 2014, Jahlil Okafor, a 6-foot-11, 260-pound center three years away from an NBA career.

  Again Central was the underdog, and again it flirted with an upset victory, though it didn’t look that way when Whitney Young took a nine-point lead early in the third quarter. But tough defense from Hollins and timely shooting from Thurman and Billingsley gave Central a 48–46 lead early in the fourth quarter. The lead seesawed until Whitney Young hit a 3 with 1:16 left for a 58–56 lead, then went up 60–57 and held on as Thurman and Hollins missed 3s in the final 30 seconds. Akoy had 14 points and 8 rebounds matched against Okafor, who had game highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds. “Akoy really held his own and opened some eyes,” Behrens recalled.

  Nonetheless, after winning forty straight in Nebraska, Central had lost two of three at City of Palms, though just barely. The narrow losses may have validated Central on a national stage, but they left a void where Behrens had hoped for joy. He summoned his inner Gene Hackman to rouse his players: “Guys, I will tell you something now, and I won’t talk about it again until it comes up on the schedule,” he said. “We’re going to play Oak Hill later this year, and we’re going to beat them. Count on it.”

  17

  Four!

  Oak Hill Academy was Part 2 of Behrens’s national experiment. Located at Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, Oak Hill was basketball royalty. Its 150 students paid about $33,000 a year to attend the Baptist-affiliated boarding school unless they could dribble, shoot, and rebound. Fifty-five D-1 scholarship players came out of Oak Hill between 2000 and 2012. Among its alumni with NBA pedigrees were Jerry Stackhouse, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo, Ty Lawson, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith, and Rod Strickland. In 2011–12 Oak Hill had gone 44-0 and had claimed its eighth mythical national championship in twenty years.

  Central had fifteen games against local opponents before it got to Oak Hill, and for the first eleven of them things went as expected, which is to say that Central was methodical and victorious. Then the burden of expectations became too heavy, as Behrens had feared. In late January 2013, Central was upset at Papillion–La Vista, 67–58, for its first loss in Nebraska since February 18, 2011, a span of fifty-one games. As the cl
ock ran out, La Vista’s fans stormed the court in a show of exuberance usually reserved for state tournaments or films like Hoosiers. Central was back in its Muncie role and didn’t like it one bit. “Yes, we lost, yes Papio deserved to win, yes we didn’t play with heart until the end, yes everyone in the state is happy we lost,” Akoy wrote. “But yes, we will win state in March!!!!”

  The loss underscored the value of Hollins, who was out with a high ankle sprain. Central lost its next game to Omaha South, 65–59, again without Hollins in the lineup. Akoy wrote: “My Central Eagles we just got 2 regroup and become a team again like we were in the beginning! It’s senior year! Go out with a bang!” Behrens recalled: “We were targets and they beat us. We had to regroup and refocus. When you lose, it hits you. Losing twice really hit us.”

  In the first week of February Hollins returned to the lineup, and Central won twice by wide margins. Those led up to February 9, when a caravan snaked west across I-80 to Grand Island, in the middle of the state, for the Heartland Hoops Classic and a showdown with Oak Hill. CHSF packed a bus with alumni, students and faculty car-pooled, and Lotte drove Adaw and some of Akoy’s siblings. Nebraska fans were familiar with the “Big Game” vibe on football Saturdays at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. A similar vibe enveloped Heartland Events Center. Most of the 5,500 spectators were local, which was to say white, and not apt to identify with the city school that started five blacks and dominated the division in which the local school struggled.