For these Kangaroo freshmen, it's time to pay it forward

By: Elyssa Brogdon

Posted: 3/10/08

Forwards James Humphrey and Spencer Johnson and guards Nathan Balch and Reggie Hamilton, freshman all, may have only played one season together, but are already forming a brotherhood.

Johnson said since school started all four have been around each other, and the structure of the Roos' team enabled them to form a close bond.

"We are always around each other," Humphrey said. "We go places together, we eat together … we have fun together."

The freshmen also feel connected to the upper classmen but especially the seniors.

"Just the seniors in general were a big help," Balch said. "During the year they all have just helped me out and showed me different things to improve my game. They've been good mentors to me."

For Humphrey, he feels the senior encouragement has helped keep him motivated on the court during highly demanding games.

"I've had my head down sometimes and Jeremiah [Hartsock] came up to me and told me don't worry about it, shake it off and keep going," Humphrey said. "He has been a big help for me the whole season."

Hamilton also found support in Hartsock as well as junior Akeem Hemmingway and said they were two people who took him "under their wings."

To repay the seniors, the four hope to give them a good run at the Summit League Conference Tournament.

"I want to see my seniors out the right way, because I feel it wouldn't be fair to Jeremiah, Tim [Blackwell] and Brent. I don't want them to end after just one game," Humphrey said.

"We owe them," Balch added.

All four freshmen said they were excited for the tournament and can't wait to compete.

"It's a clean slate 0-0," Johnson said. "We've been progressing and we ended the season fairly well, and I'm just looking forward to competing and hopefully win the whole tournament."

While they are basketball players, they are also students and have to maintain a normal routine in addition to preparing for the tournament.

"I'm just trying to stay focused," Hamilton said. "Going through my day I try not to think about it too much, but it's going through my mind a lot. I'm excited for the tournament. It's my first conference tournament. I'm going to try to go in and get some wins."

According to head coach Matt Brown, the freshmen have done a lot for the team this year, but have also done very well academically.

"Basketball helped me overcome different obstacles and just made me work harder not just on the court, but off the court," Balch said. "I just try to put as much effort off the court as on the court with everything I do."

Basketball has made a big impact in each of the freshmen's lives and as Hamilton put it, "it's not all about putting a ball in a basket."

"I didn't really start playing ball until I was closer to my high school years, but before then I wasn't really doing anything," Johnson said. "I was basically being lazy. Basketball actually helped me get away from all the bad things in life and it's been good to me so far."

As freshmen, these four have gotten a lot more playing time with the Roos than they probably would have gotten at another school.

"Because of injuries and because of needs they got to play in a lot of games this year," Brown said. "The kids have gotten a lot of experience this year. That can help us later on, hopefully this weekend, but obviously in the future too."

When Humphrey originally came to UMKC, he didn't think he was going to get as much playing time, but said as he got more comfortable and got more and more experience he felt he was ready to play.

"At first I was like James - I didn't expect to play too much," Balch said. "But I kept trying to work hard each and every day and tried to get better and it's been paying off. I think we all had our ups and our downs, but I think we are starting to tick now. I think we are ready to compete. … I think we are ready to win."

ebrogdon@unews.com