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MINNEAPOLIS — When Matt Mooney was refurbishing used basketball shoes and selling them out of the trunk of his car in high school, that entrepreneurial streak looked as if it would carry him further than basketball. At the time, he had only one Division I scholarship offer.
When Tariq Owens was at a renowned prep school, as a bouncy, loose-limbed, four-star recruit, an N.B.A. career seemed less like a pipe dream than a reasonable career path. College would serve as finishing school.
But several years (and universities) later, there they were last weekend in Anaheim, Calif.