City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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Daeqwon Plowden may have been pretty much convinced when he returned from a recent journey to northwest Ohio, but he wasn’t quite ready to say yes.

While a good bit of introspection and the typical back-and-forth with his parents followed, so did another visit to another campus just to make a comparison and confirm his earlier feelings. Once that happened, Plowden didn’t hesitate to make the call.

Bowling Green, the first NCAA Division I program to extend a scholarship offer to the Mastery Charter North senior and Team Philly product, was Plowden’s choice.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder committed just a few days ago.

“It was mainly comfortability,” Plowden said.

“I felt that Bowling Green was the best fit for me.”

Central Connecticut State and NJIT also were in the mix for Plowden’s still-developing game. Stony Brook also was a consideration at one point.

Yet it was Michael Huger’s BGSU Falcons that won out.

“Basketball-wise, I was comfortable with the team, the staff. Education-wise, academically they have what I want to major in,” admitted Plowden, a wannabe business major who projects as a small forward in BGSU’s up-tempo system.

“I felt comfortable with everybody and I got along with everybody.”

And it was BGSU who charged after Plowden following an impressive double-double (24 points on 10-for-16 shooting and 11 rebounds) in last March’s PIAA Class AA title game at Hershey’s Giant Center, a game Mastery lost to Aliquippa.

A week or so later, Plowden’s stock value increased even more when he landed a second-team all-state nod from a panel of Pennsylvania sports writers.

“Recruiting picked up a lot,” admitted Plowden, who averaged 15.0 points per game for Mastery Charter North (27-4) and was tagged the Philly Public League’s Division C player of the year. “It was like a surprise that that many schools began to contact me so recently after those games.”

Once his AAU campaign began to unfold with Team Philly — BGSU offered in late April — interest in Plowden’s game picked up even more.

Particularly since Team Philly used Plowden as a wing forward, the role he anticipates playing at Bowling Green. That gave coaches a chance to evaluate Plowden’s range, handle and the other requisite skills needed to play on the perimeter.

Not in the paint as he does for Nip Cook’s Mastery North Pumas — even though Plowden impressed plenty of folks with his play in the state tournament.

"I knew who he was, I just was praying that nobody else found out who he was until the summer came,” said Team Philly’s Kyle Sample, who also pilots the hoops program at Philly’s George Washington High School.

“I have a great relationship with Coach Cook over at Mastery, and we had Eli Alvin in our program, and Koby [Thomas], who used to be a student there. Seeing Daeqwon develop throughout the year, and to be honest, a lot of people actually convinced me more and more of how good he could be, and I had to actually see it for myself.

“He came in under the radar, but I think it took about 30 minutes for everybody who was in the gym to see he was going to be special, to realize he was probably one of our most valuable players throughout the summer. He's amazing, not even on the court, off the court as well,” Sample continued.

“He handles business, great student, 3.9 GPA, great shooter, great defender, rebounds the hell out of the ball, he plays different positions on the wing. Always hard on himself, [so] me and him in the beginning, we bumped heads a lot, I'm a very tough person to play for, he's someone who's used to doing everything right. I needed to understand who he was as a person for us to have a better relationship. But he dominated all summer."

That BG offer may have had plenty to do with Plowden’s performance on the court — as well as his belief in himself. Got him concentrating on his guard skills, for sure.

“It only made me think to work harder,” Plowden said, referring to BG’s gesture.

Even as the summer continued to play out and others became curious — perhaps really, really interested — Huger’s Falcons were always there.

"Bowling Green did a great job of recruiting him all year,” Sample said. “They were all over him, every game, 40 minutes early, they watched him warm up, they watched him stretch, watched him loosen up before games, they watched him play good, they watched him after games.

“They did a great job and I think that's a great fit."

So does Plowden.