MUNCIE, Ind. — There were times growing up when the weight of expectations represented more of a burden to Ishmael El-Amin than anything else.
He knows people always thought of him as his dad’s kid. Khalid El-Amin won three state titles as a high school basketball star in Minnesota, earned numerous accolades before moving on to college, won a national title with the University of Connecticut in 1999 and played close to two decades professionally — mostly overseas, although he started in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls. And all that, all the hype those accomplishments associated with Ishmael’s last name, at one point took Ishmael to "a low place for a little bit.