Ok so about 5yrs ago...at the Y I hoop at, there was this skinny 13-14yr old kid, about 5'7" who use to come play with the regular older guys I hoop with every Saturday morning.

He sucked.

Not particularly quick, had an 'ok' handle, jumper was broke and he tired too many fancy passes that resulted in TO's.

But he kept coming back. So we grown-manned him and treated him like he's supposed to be treated playing with the big boys. I'd give him a ride home from the gym from time to time. Just getting cool with lil dude. Kinda looking out for him but not being all over-bearing about it.

So gradually over the years, he kept playing with us and was getting better and better. By the time he hit 17 (going into his jr year), he shot up 5-6 inches (6'2"/3") and had a lil AAU exposure.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/high-school/post/_/id/1186/wilbut-making-noise-on-the-club-circuit

His Jr year, dude put it all together. Dropped about 21 a game for his high school team, helped lead them to their conference crown and a 22-4 record.

Senior yr he was even moreso the man for the team as they lost a few Seniors and led them to 15-6 record while putting up 22 a game. Earned all-area honors and all-state too I believe.

Landed as a 3 star recruit. And was getting recruited by Oregon, Virgina, Memphis, Maryland, VA Tech and a few others. We felt like we raised dude.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/116035/jerron-wilbut
http://www.testudotimes.com/2012/2/28/2831417/maryland-basketball-recruiting-terps-offer-jerron-wilbut-increase

But what we didn't see was how much of a knucklehead he was. Dude missed a few games his senior yr cuz he was acting up in school. Now, i'm thinking it's a 'boys will be boys' type scenario but it was much deeper than that. I was always in his ear, trying to drop a dime of wisdom in his ear to keep him focused. But dude didn't listen to me or any of the older dudes who tried to help him.

He ended up not graduating due to grades and had to spend a yr at a prep school in WI to finish. But it seemed to be good for him as he was just hooping and going to school.

So, it all seemed to work out. In Januaray dude committed to...yup...Seton Hall!
http://verbalcommits.com/players/jerron-wilbut

And then THIS happened: http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/03/09/jerron-wilbut-a-seton-hall-basketball-recruit-arrested-on-robbery-charge/

Hurt my heart man. I was thoroughly disappointed and saddened for dude. SMH.

Real Talk, I've been dunked on 3 times in life and the 3rd time came 2 weeks before that story broke. Dude caught an oop on me (I didn't know he was rising for it, I thought it was a shot and was going to rebound but I was there so...bang...dunked on).

Like...I JUST hooped with dude. And all of us were talking about going to see him hoop in NJ and against Depaul, etc. SMH

Over the years, I video taped a few of our pickup games (bought a new camera and was testing out) and happened to watch some the other day. I couldn't help but feel saddened.

But yeah man...figured I'd share since you brought up how thugged out Seton Hall is. LOL