Gheorghe: The Blog Adopts a Basketball Player

As most of you know, my friends and I spent over a decade's worth of summers scrimmaging a local High School (Melbourne High) Basketball team. I played some AAU for their Head Coach and he liked the idea of grown men (most of which played some level of College Basketball) kicking his team's ass throughout the summer. It toughened them up and, often, humbled them. For us, the chance to get in a good 2 hour run once a week against talented 17-18 year old kids was a great opportunity. The competition was good and there's nothing like pickup games with a group like this school regularly boasted to keep you in shape.

This was/is a very good program. They won more than a handful of District and Conference titles during this span, as well as 4 Final Fours in Florida's largest classification. Not surprisingly, they've sent a bunch of kids off to play in college at various levels. Even a decent number to Division 1. But most of those were places like Winthrop, Rice, etc. They also sent a ton of kids to the local Junior College- Eastern Florida State University (formerly Brevard Community College). Eastern Florida also has a great program. They're regularly ranked in the JUCO top 10 and have made a couple of JUCO Final Fours themselves. 

A few years back, Melbourne had one of their best teams in a while. Their PG was a rising senior who'd started on a Final Four team as a sophomore. They also had a big kid (also a rising senior) that was getting some looks. To be honest, I didn't see it. We'd been scrimmaging this kid for two summers and he didn't seem like anything special. That is until that last summer. I can vividly remember him catching a rebound in the air with one hand and emphatically flushing it on one of our big guys. A couple of us looked at each other like "Where the fuck did that come from?". To be clear, the kid always had ability but seemed indifferent and like one of those big guys who plays because, well, he's big. I can also remember the PG openly motherfucking him during scrimmages. As a PG who played with bigs who needed motivation from time to time, it's a great strategy. Get them pissed off at you so they'll play hard to prove a point. But I digress.

Fast forward to the season and Melbourne is kicking the shit out of everyone around here. They cruise to Conference and District titles and (in an upset) the big kid wins Area Player of the Year over his teammate. To be clear, he deserved it but it's not something that anyone saw coming even 6 months prior. Melbourne would advance to Regional Finals to take on Bartow and McDonald's All-American (and current Chicago Bull) Tony Bradley. And what do you know? Melbourne won handily and the big kid outplayed the larger, much more heralded Bradley. Melbourne would eventually lose in the State Finals.

After the season, despite his impressive senior year, no substantial scholarship offers came in so the big kid took a scholarship at Eastern Florida where he'd join his PG. The big kid had a very good freshman season and transferred to North Florida. A step up to be sure but not exactly a basketball powerhouse. Once in Jacksonville he continued his ascent through his two years with the Ospreys. And then he transferred again. To the Big East. If you had told me that he would be a Big East player when he was 17, I would've laughed you out of the gym. But now he was. And he was contributing. Averaging 21 minutes a game and 7 points and 6 boards. And usually, that's where this story would end. But, due to the pandemic all college athletes were granted an extra year of eligibility. So he came back for a 6th year. A 6th year that's undoubtedly been a magical ride. He starts now. Averaging 31 minutes, 11 points and 8 rebounds on 50 FG% and 37% 3pt FG. Oh, and his team won the Big East. And they play tomorrow night in the Sweet 16. 

That "big kid" is named Noah Horchler and he's one of the Friars most essential players. Doing a little bit of everything, leading the team in rebounds and knocking timely 3s. So, Gheorghies, root for the Friars tomorrow night and a kid (now a man) who earned every single minute of his basketball journey.