March Madness is underway and the best and worst of college basketball is on display. The NCAA men's basketball tournament — on the positive side — annually provides exciting upsets and a fair share of buzzer beaters. There is a local angle as former St. Vincent Pallotti High student Marcquise Reed (a graduate of Capitol Christian in Upper Marlboro) is the second-leading scorer and a freshman guard for a Robert Morris team that won the Northeast Conference title to clinch an automatic berth in the national tourney.
On the down side the sport is still struggling to remain an amateur institution, with flagship program Syracuse the latest big-time school to run into off-the-court issues that has led to the suspension of nine games next season for veteran head coach Jim Boeheim.
Meanwhile thousands of miles away from this year's Division I tournament are two former college basketball players with Laurel ties who have been playing pro hoops overseas during the 2014-15 season. Ryan Cook, 24, from Laurel, is a one-time standout at Maryland, Baltimore County who signed to play in Kazakhstan earlier this year after he was named an all-import last season in Bosnia and Herzegovina while averaging 10.8 points per game.
The former St. Vincent Pallotti High standout played two seasons at Chestnut Hill near Philadelphia and then played two seasons at UMBC, where he was a second-team America East Conference performer as a senior in 2012-13 when he averaged 15.4 points per contest. He played in England during the 2012-13 season.
Another local player overseas is Tommy Brenton, a graduate of River Hill High in Clarksville. Since high school his parents have moved to Laurel while their son has traveled even further; he has played overseas this season in Japan.
He played in college at Stony Brook in New York and his alma mater just missed a spot in this year's NCAA tourney when it lost in the title game of the AEC tournament March 14 to Albany, which earned an automatic bid to March Madness. Brenton is a guard averaging about seven points per game.
"Living in Japan is very rewarding," wrote Brenton, who graduated from Stony Brook in 2012 and then got his master's degree the following year. "I love traveling and being able to see things I would never have the opportunity to without basketball. In my free time I like to visit the many historic shrines and temples located all over Japan. I live one hour north of Tokyo so I often spend my off days there. Tokyo is an amazing place with so much character and energy. In my contract the team included an apartment, car, cellphone, Internet on top of my monthly salary."
Brenton says the top league in Japan allows three foreigners per team but at most two on the court at the same time. Some European leagues have similar rules.
"With company teams like Toyota, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Hitachi the league is very competitive," Brenton added. "Teams have very big budgets and recruit top Division I players. Players that have been drafted or made NBA rosters are all over the league. I love those games most because my competitive nature comes out and I can see how I measure up."
Cook and Brenton are both products of American East Conference schools at UMBC and Stony Brook, respectively. While UMBC never made the NCAA tourney when Cook was there, he did get to take part in the AEC tourney in which the tourney champ earns an automatic bid to March Madness.
Brenton says the coaching staff at Stony Brook helped him with his work ethic and mental toughness, which is very much needed living so far from home in a different culture.
"Every practice and every game is a test. You can be cut at any time and another player is waiting at home to take your spot. This isn't just basketball anymore it's a business and I plan to stay," he said of pro ball.
While Brenton may be missing March Madness, he is getting another experience that not many get to enjoy — play hoops for pay overseas.
David Driver is a former Leader sports editor.