Growth spurt alters plans
Scarborough 7-footer earns hoops scholarship
By RYAN WOLSTAT, SUN MEDIA
If size 16 skates were more plentiful, 7-foot Liam McMorrow would probably still be on the ice.
Instead, McMorrow, who had never even played an officiated, five-on-five basketball game a year ago, is packing his bags, preparing to leave his Scarborough home for Milwaukee, where he has landed a full basketball scholarship to Marquette University.
Most people are done growing by the time they are 18 or 19, but nobody told that to McMorrow. The 21-year-old McMorrow went from 6-foot-8 two years ago to his current size.
Now McMorrow, who only shot baskets the rare times he wasn't playing lacrosse, ice or ball hockey, has dreams of playing professionally and for team Canada. Who does he think he is, Mike Smrek?
Smrek was the Welland native and hockey enthusiast who didn't care much for hoops, but went on to an NBA and international career after sprouting to 7 feet in high school.
McMorrow enrolled at Durham College last fall partly so people would stop bugging him about wasting his size.
McMorrow's life really started to change when he began receiving calls from coaches in the Deep South with accents he could "barely understand." Gradually, the school names became more recognizable, the accents more intelligible.
McMorrow really lucked out because Marquette coach Buzz Williams happened to have a former player living in Scarborough available to check him out.
After earning positive reviews, McMorrow, who averaged 8.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while ranking third in the OCAA in blocked shots, was given Marquette's final scholarship and after red shirting this season due to NCAA transfer rules, will suit up for the Golden Eagles in 2009, along with highly touted Toronto native Junior Cadougan.
"It's insane," McMorrow says of the events of the past year. "Every time I talk about it, it seems more and more unreal. One of the last things my coach (Desmond Rowley) at Durham said was, 'nobody has made the jump (from the OCAA) to the NCAA.'
"I guess I've done the impossible."
McMorrow comes from a hockey and lacrosse-crazed family and "didn't know any hoops terms or want to play basketball. "It was hockey my whole life, just like my brothers, McMorrow said.
McMorrow's eldest brother and role model, 6-foot-4 Sean, is one of the most feared enforcers in professional hockey.
The former Rochester American, who will try out for the Edmonton Oilers this fall, racked up an incredible 527 minutes in penalties in the rough and tumble Quebec professional league this past season.
Younger brother Patrick is considered one of the best ball hockey players in the GTA.
McMorrow said his hockey and lacrosse background help him on the court because he is more mobile and quicker than most 7-footers.
Having a brother to lean on that's gone through much of what he can expect going forward doesn't hurt either. "It's comforting," McMorrow said.
"(At Marquette last month) we went through a really tough workout. They were screaming at us and we thought we were going to die.
"I called up Sean because I thought they were just testing us. He said: 'Ya, for sure, don't worry about it.' "
link:
http://torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2008/08/19/6497776-sun.html
