In 2004, when prep star Malik Hairston stepped into a conference room at the Detroit Renaissance, he did the damnedest thing.
He picked the Oregon Ducks.
Hairston, a McDonald's All-American who would later be a first-round NBA Draft pick, snubbed Kansas, Michigan and Ohio State and decided to go to Pac 10 university that was coming off a 9-9 season and a NIT appearance. Then-coach Ernie Kent was understandably stoked. But nobody was more excited than William Wesley, a well-sourced basketball handler with Nike ties. He was a close confidant of Hairston.
"Worldwide Wes" explained to me one day that big-city kids were fearful of large markets in the wake of 9/11.