'Players know when somebody is different': The oral history of Dwyane Wade's sit-out season at Marquette

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'Players know when somebody is different': The oral history of Dwyane Wade's sit-out season at Marquette

Ben Steele, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel · Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wed, Aug 2, 2023 ·

15 min read

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Second in a four-part series on former Marquette star and NBA great Dwyane Wade as he prepares to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 12.

Marquette coaches knew they had landed an overlooked gem in Dwyane Wade.

But he would have to remain unknown outside of MU's campus for another year. Wade didn't get the necessary test scores and was a partial qualifier for his freshman season. That meant he could still practice with the team, but not play in games or travel to road matchups.

It became a very important year in Wade's development and a crucial step on his journey to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Here are behind-the-scenes memories from that sit-out season from MU coaches and teammates:

Dwyane Wade impressed once he got to Marquette

Head coach Tom Crean's second season at MU saw a team in transition. Key players like Brian Wardle and Cordell Henry were holdovers from previous coach Mike Deane, while Crean was also indoctrinating his first recruiting class in Scott Merritt, Odartey Blankson, Terry Sanders and Dwyane Wade. But it became clear Wade was a star-in-the-making.

Tom Crean (MU head coach, 1999-2008):"I'll never forget the day that he came and was getting ready to start summer school. And he showed up with one big giant Nike duffel bag and a garbage bag full of everything else. He didn't have bedding, he didn't have towels. That's an image in my mind that I'll never forget."

Scott Merritt (MU forward, 2000-04):"That first summer where we're all on campus playing pickup, and he just had this ability even back then to finish over and through guys. So if he was anywhere near the rim, it was a dunk. And he was so explosive off the bounce, one or two dribbles and it's a dunk. You knew he was different even though, I wouldn't say raw, but he was strong even though he was slimmer back then. His first step was crazy. And he was dunking on people. Now he didn't dunk on me, but the other big guys he got them pretty quick. The John Muellers of the world, the Greg Clausens. He was dunking on pretty much every big guy on the team at will."

Greg Clausen (MU center, 1997-2001):"I'm sure he did. Every big guy has gotten punched on before. But we just kind of ignore those ones and we just kind of remember that, oh by the way, I also got you. Don't forget. Short memory. I'm sure he got me a few times, but I'm sure I got him at least once."

Cordell Henry (MU guard 1998-2002):"D-Wade was matched up against me. Obviously I heard about him through Chicago basketball. But I'm like, 'He's just a kid. He's just a freshman.' So we're playing against him and I'm like, OK, he's a little different. He's not a typical freshman or about to be a freshman. It's just the way he competed. He had really big hands. His arm reach is really long. I'll hit him with a move that usually work on people and I'm like, he's still right there!"

Dwyane Wade's high-flying exploits were only seen in practice during his first season at Marquette. As a partial qualifier, Wade couldn't play in games.

Steve Novak and Travis Diener got sneak previews of Dwyane Wade

Some future teammates also got their first looks at Wade during those open gyms at The Old Gym on MU's campus.

Steve Novak (MU forward, 2002-06):"I was a high-school kid at Brown Deer, I'm at the Old Gym. Wardle is shooting me a message: Hey, we got open gym, we'd love to have you come. I'm up there getting my butt kicked but it was awesome. And then it was 'Oh, and we got this awesome guy named Dwyane Wade and Odartey in.' They had high hopes, but Odartey was the guy of those two. And I remember the first time playing with those guys in one of those open gyms when it was D-Wade and Odartey and they were up there to play, I went home and immediately told my parents and I said, this sounds silly, 'I just played with a guy who is going to play in the NBA.' When you're a 15-year-old, 16, that is everything."

Travis Diener (MU guard, 2001-05):"Dwyane was always there playing when I would go up there, so I got the chance to see him playing in open gym before I ever got there. Coach Crean, part of his selling point, and it was incredibly important to me, was I wanted to go to a school that was going to have a chance to win. And at that time Marquette wasn't really winning. And his big selling point was that we got this kid that is going to be sitting out, so your first year playing this kid from Chicago will be playing with you. I'm, like, it's easy to say that but then you realize rather quickly, even going to those open gyms, yeah, he's the best player on the court and it's not even close."

Dwyane Wade's scout team was formidable

Once official practices began, Wade was on the scout team. But his talent − and some young assistants like Dwayne "D.J." Stephens and Darrin Horn who could still play − led to some invigorating practices.

Crean:"I went into every practice with a plan for how we were going to make him better along with all the other guys who were playing. And how we would get the most for him and out of him that would not only help him but help his teammates. I didn't know we had what we had, but I knew we had a future pro."

Brian Barone (MU guard, 1999-2001):"I was the backup point guard. Cordell was the starter, as it should have been. But our second team, we were kicking their ass sometimes. Like frequently. I could guard. Plus, under Crean, it was like a four-hour practice. It was nuts. Wardle could score, but we had D-Wade. They had O-Dot (Blankson) and Oluoma (Nnamaka) maybe and then he would come out. And then I actually had (assistant coach) D.J. Stephens who practiced with us every day, who was a hell of a player at Michigan State. He was probably our best big man."

Brian Wardle (MU guard, 1997-2001):"I remember I just had to shot fake (Wade) to death because I couldn't go around him. He had one of the best shot fakes in NBA history, in my opinion, and I always joke with my kids like, see, it's because I had to shot-fake him 100 times a day so he was like, OK, I should put that in my repertoire."

Practices were Dwyane Wade's games that season

Wade also got extensive work with the Golden Eagles' assistant coaches, including intense sessions on game days because he couldn't play.

Tod Kowalczyk (MU assistant, 2000-02):"If you're just doing drills, he would get bored. But as soon as you put a time and score on it and made it competitive, look out. I did a lot of shooting with him. And if we just went and shot, he wasn't engaged with it. But as soon as I told him, listen, we got to get 14 out of 20, and put a number on it, or we run, then his focus and his competitive nature … he'd get competitive with himself, he'd get competitive with me. It was truly amazing to watch how competitive he was."

Darrin Horn (MU assistant, 1999-2003):"You started to see some little things even in that year. At some point, it was like, yeah, this guy is going to be an NBA player. Yeah, this guy is going to be a really good NBA player. Hall of Famer? I don't know if anybody said that. If they did, I don't know that I'd totally believe them. But he just kept getting better and better and better. Even in that year, he showed signs with little plays he would make when it'd be like, huh, that looked really different. And so it was a lot of fun."

Kowalczyk: "He worked at it. He got better. His shot was broken when he got there and he was very receptive to changing the fundamentals of his shooting. He had just like a circular motion in his form. It took him hours and hours of repetition to correct it. And he did it. Just through muscle memory."

Barone:"He would always be in his uniform (working out before home games). It was funny because he was No. 25. People don't realize that. He was No. 25 his first year."

Crean:"I wanted him to learn during the (home) games. That was really, really important. The games were never blow-offs for him sitting out. I could ask him a question at any point in time and had him literally address the team at halftime. There was one, where we're playing Southern Miss and we're not playing well. We're behind. And I said 'Dwyane, on a scale of 1-10 how is Scott playing?' Scott Merritt. And he said 'About a three.' Man, you could have heard a pin drop. That was real honesty. And then he talked about it, talked through it. Then we come back, we win the game. And after the game, in the old Bradley Center, in the bathroom stall area is Dwyane and Scott talking because he hurt Scott's feelings. There's no doubt about that. It would have hurt most 18-year-olds' feelings when he does that. I never went and asked what those two talked about but they were covering it. That was incredible. Being able to tell the truth, being able to have a solution and then when they walked out of there, there was no question that they were better. And I think that's one of Dwyane's great keys."

Dwyane Wade is one of the greatest players in MU history and will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Tom Crean pushed Dwyane Wade to get better

Crean also pushed Wade hard during practices, devising ways to keep him engaged.

Henry:"The accountability was so high on him. He would get D-Wade really, really mad. And it was like D-Wade had another switch. When Coach Crean got underneath his skin, there was another switch where it flipped. He got really mad, fighting over screens, trailing screens, contesting shots, blocking shots. It was like on another level. Crean was like, you should do this every day in practice. He was figuring out how to compete every possession. That next year was his first year playing and he was prepared. That year he sat out really helped out his game."

Crean:"I was going to drive him and push him because I loved him. Were there times when it was too hard? There's absolutely no question. Were there times where he was ready to go home on the weekend and be ready to quit and not come back? Yeah, I later found out there definitely was and (Wade's high-school coach) Jack Fitzgerald got him back every weekend. There was no doubt that I was too hard on him at that time. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world and I don't think he would, either."

Kowalczyk: "I thought Tom was brilliant, and I've used this ever since, he made him play a different position every day. Depending on who we were playing, he was the best player (on opposing team for scouting). It didn't matter if that guy was a point guard, a two-guard, a three, four or five. For that week, he was that player. I've emulated that in my career with redshirt guys. That's a big reason why I think he became a good post scorer. Because Tom made him play some of those in practice. I thought Dwyane did a tremendous job taking that challenge and making it personal."

Wardle:"Most of us as coaches, we do shell drill and we might do 'no paint touch' as a segment. And our 'no paint touch' was you got to keep Dwyane out of the paint. And it was like five-on-one and we still struggled to keep him out of the paint. I thought as a coach looking back now on how Coach Crean challenged him and gave him a voice, that helped keep him engaged that whole freshman year. I would have loved to have played with him. We're probably winning five to eight more games if Dwyane's on the floor. Because he's exactly what we needed my senior year, a scorer. A guy that could go play-make and score. But how Coach Crean kept him involved in giving him a voice. Drill work. He knew he was special. We could all tell that. Players know. I always say that, players know when somebody is different. And Dwyane was different."

Dwyane Wade's competitiveness in practice during his first season at Marquette impressed his teammates and coaches.

Making him feel part of the team

Crean always tried to make Wade feel part of the team, even though he couldn't travel to away games.

Dwayne "D.J." Stephens (MU assistant coach, 1999-2003): "It was heartbreaking every time we saw it. He would practice and we would jump on the bus to go to the airport and see him walking back to the apartment rather than being on that bus with us. It was a tough thing to see because we knew how good of a player he was."

Clausen:"Coach Crean would always pass the phone to all of us on every road trip. Because D-Wade couldn't make the trips with us because of the Prop 48. I was, like, why are we doing that? Isn't he just a regular freshman? That's when it kind of clicked in my head that he was going to be really special. So every single person down the line had to ask him how he was doing and let him know that he was still here in spirit with us and we can't wait to get back home and continue to work out and get better every day. So Coach Crean really did a good thing with that. Instilled a family kind of thing for us."

Ready for prime time

Wade improved dramatically during his sit-out season, forecasting the Hall of Fame player he would become.

Wardle:"He's a generational talent. Everybody sees athleticism, length. But he was an extremely smart player. High IQ. Great feel. Wanted to learn. Had a work ethic. You got to have those intangibles, too, to be great. The talent only lasts so long. Toughness is the best talent you can have. Understanding the game. Having the mental capacity to take in a lot of information. He could do all that. And so he kept getting better, month by month by month. And then by the end of the year, he was probably the best player on the floor every day in practice."

Barone:"My dad (Tony) was the director of player personnel for the (Memphis) Grizzlies. I was on the left side of the court in The Old Gym. D-Wade went baseline and had one of his wiry, acrobatic type of moves. Kind of like those ones you'd see all the time that he did (in the NBA). And Coach looks at me and yelled at me, 'Tell your dad and brother – because my brother is a scout – that we got us one. That kid is going to be a pro. They're going to be hearing a ton about his name.' "

Crean:"I also remember one time he jumped over Jon Harris on a drive from the corner. And he jumped over him like Vince Carter-in-the-dunk-contest type of dunk. There were moments like that."

Jon Harris (MU forward, 1998-2002):"Cordell was guarding him. Lunges, goes for a steal. Misses. And D-Wade sweeps it baseline. I rotate over to get a charge. Which … it was a charge! He just completely takes off over the top of me and punches it. That was the first one that everyone was like, woah!"

Wardle:"After my senior year, I got asked by the Milwaukee Bucks to come play pickup games in the summer. But Coach Crean asked the Bucks if Dwyane could come along because he was a talent. So Dwyane was in the car, I drove him over and we went to play open gym with the Bucks. And on the way, I was driving my girlfriend's car at the time – who is now my wife Lecia for 20 years – so I have Lecia's car and it starts storming out and we get in a little fender-bender car accident. I'm kind of all discouraged, worried about the car, wondering what I am going to do. But this was a big open gym for me because I am trying to play well and impress people because I'm done playing at Marquette.

"I just remember that open gym that day with Dwyane, that was the day I said D-Wade is completely not just a NBA player but a NBA all-star. Because I watched him in that open gym play unbelievable against Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Big Dog (Glenn Robinson). And he hadn't played a college game yet and he was controlling the open gym. I remember Sam Cassell was talking trash to Big Dog like 'Who is this guy?' And there was such a buzz in the gym about him that the GM and the coaches just came down to the court to stand on the sidelines to watch this kid because he was playing so well. And I remember Coach Crean calling me like 'How'd you play, Brian?' I'm like 'I wasn't very good.' I was always very self-aware as a player. I go, 'I wasn't very good but, Coach, you not only have a NBA player on your team, this guy is going to be an all-star just because I just watched him really do what he wanted to do in a gym full of all-stars."

Up next in the oral history:Once he could play, Wade became an ascendant star

Previously: Wade was an overlooked gem in recruiting

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dwyane Wade sat out first season at Marquette as partial qualifier

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