DaJuan Summers sits alone at a podium in the basement of Continental Airlines Arena, bathed in artificial light, his signature scowl outlining a long face. The mass of media can be heard from either side of him, hordes of reporters eager to pick the brains of famous teammates named Green and Hibbert. A reporter sidles timidly up to the intimidating figure behind the microphone, wary of the icy stare of Georgetown’s dead-on marksman. As his journalist leans in for his first inquiry, Summers stops him.
“Hold up,” the freshman forward says softly as he moves the blue Solo cup resting precariously between the two men. “I just want to get this out of your way.”
The dumbfounded reporter is even more astonished when his thanks is answered with a broad smile from Summers. What? DaJuan Summers – smile? All season long, the 6-foot-8 Summers has sank threes and stared down the opposition with the steely demeanor of an old west gun-for-hire. Now here he is, a day removed from a 15-point flare up in a Sweet 16 win against Vanderbilt, taking extra care to see that not a drop of orange juice spills on the perfect stranger before him. Why is DaJuan Summers – roughly 24 hours before he will torch North Carolina for 20 points in the biggest game of his life – so concerned with the small details concerning someone he has never met?
Maybe it’s because Summers isn’t quite the ruthless assassin of a basketball player that he seems.
“I’m pretty laid back off the court. I like to chill,” Summers says when asked what lies behind the stone-cold frown he displays come game time. “On the court, you can’t be corny and jumping around.”
In a season defined by the names Oden and Durant, Georgetown’s lone freshman starter went largely unnoticed despite averaging nine points and nearly four rebounds a game. While he may not be blessed with Oden’s colossal frame or Durant’s rangy athleticism, Summers does have an uncanny ability to shoot the lights out.
In his first year out of Baltimore’s McDonogh School, Summers has sunk 42 threes, second only to junior point guard Jonathan Wallace, and has repeatedly answered the call when his team has needed it most. Summers’ precise aim is attributed to his one-track mind for all things hoops.
“I love basketball. It’s the only sport I have ever played,” says Summers, pointing to the tattoo on his left arm that depicts an angel cradling a basketball, with the inscription, “Until Death Do Us Part.”I don’t know what I will do after basketball, but it will have something to do with the game.”
Earlier in the season, Summers’ fixed focus led many to wonder if the former Jordan all-American wasn’t some dead-shooting robot, incapable of displaying the range of emotions common among uneasy freshmen. Growing up in Baltimore, Summers knew little else than how to play ball.
As a spindly high school sophomore, he watched fellow Baltimorean Carmelo Anthony, whom he played against on more than one occasion, lead Syracuse to a national title.
Summers did his best to emulate ‘Melo’s rise, attending the Nike All-America Camp, scoring 1,052 points in a four-year career at McDonogh and starring on the same AAU team as former Connecticut great and current Memphis Grizzly Rudy Gay, with whom he speaks often.
“Rudy’s always positive,” Summers says. “He is always telling me to work hard and believe in myself – he’s very supportive.” Over the course of his first year under the watchful eye of John Thompson III, Summers has warmed, occasionally blinking, or even smiling as he slowly emerged from his protective shell.
“It came with me getting more comfortable, with me just being able to play how I play, and just being relaxed,” Summers says. “At the beginning of the season, you are tense – you are a freshman, you don’t know what your role is, you’re not relaxed. I have always played with emotion, but now I am just relaxed.”
The feverous excitement of the NCAA tournament has made Summers even more animated on the floor. When Jeff Green’s baby hook sank through the net with seconds to play against Vanderbilt, Summers was the first to embrace the Big East player of the year.
One of the most memorable images of Georgetown’s come-from-behind overtime victory over Carolina in the East Regional final is of Summers, fists clenched, mouth agape in a roar of unbridled celebratory exhilaration.
While his Hoyas’ amazing tournament run has been everything Summers could have hoped for, he has enjoyed other aspects of his freshman year as well. Summers has learned countless on-court lessons from the NBA-ready Green and has developed a strong friendship with classmates Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers off the court. “J
eff, he’s our best player, he’s a leader, and he’s supportive. He never sits down and tries to teach me. He leads by example,”
Summers says with genuine appreciation. “Vernon, we just best friends – we keep each other up when we get down.”
It’s not unusual to see Summers and Macklin slowly strolling down M Street, ducking into shops or checking out the matinee at the nearby Lowes. Movies, you see, are Summers’ passion – after basketball, of course.
Summers lists “300,” the violent epic about ancient Greece, as a recent flick that caught his fancy, but “loves movies so much, it’s hard to pick an all-time favorite.”
Such is the forward’s fondness for film that the dorm room he shares with Rivers resembles a cinema. “We both like the `Pirates of the Caribbean’ series – we are big on that,”
Rivers says. “We look forward to seeing the one on May 26. We already know the date and everything.”
When not setting sail with Jack Sparrow, the two freshmen battle it out in NBA 2K7, Summers with Gay’s Grizzlies, Rivers with Kobe and the Lakers, or team up to blast aliens on Xbox. “
There’s this game called `Gears of War,’ which is really intense,” a wide-eyed Rivers explains. “Me and him tag team duo on that and we beat the game. It was pretty cool.”
At certain times this year, when the never ending cycle of class, practice and long bus rides through the winter night grew hard on Summers, the two-time Baltimore County player of the year just picked up the phone and dialed 4-1-0.
“That’s my support system,” Summers says when asked about the four names tattooed on his right biceps.
“Without my family, I don’t know what I’d be doing. I’d probably still be playing ball, but I don’t think I would be this successful.”
Twana, DaJuan’s mother, and Malik, his 9-year-old brother, have attended nearly every Hoya home game this season, and DaJuan was especially proud to see his sister, Regina, a junior at Georgia State, in the crowd for a Jan. 24 game against DePaul.
“My sister, man, she’s amazing,” Summers says. “Everyone in my family is. I am not trying to be biased or anything, it’s a great family, always supportive of one another.”
Sometimes Summers longs for the shores of the Chesapeake, home to his beloved Ravens and his role model, fearsome No. 52. “I love Ray [Lewis], man,” Summers says with another smile, this one a bit more maligned.
“He’s the best.”
So how much longer will Summers be in season on the Hilltop? ock draft boards on www.nbadraftpress.com have the lanky swingman going early in the second round were he to forgo his remaining three years of eligibility.
Hoya fans should not panic however, for Summers’ concentration remains fixed steadfastly on the task ahead. “I mean, that’s cool, but that’s really far from my mind right now,”
Summers says of the praise he has received from pro pundits. “Ohio State and winning this next game are all I’m thinking about.”
On the whole, Summers has relished his inaugural campaign of Big East hoops, his long Xbox afternoons with Rivers, and even a class or two.
“Problem of God was my favorite. I really like theology,” Summers says. “It was a really interesting class.”
This Saturday, when you switch on CBS and see DaJuan Summers glaring back, remember he is not all that different from you. He likes Johnny Depp, video games and shopping. He models himself after a linebacker-turned-ordained-minister and reads The Book of Job for theology class. He loves his mama, sister and brother – and basketball – in that order.
Watch DaJuan Summers this weekend. Admire his fluid gait, his velvet shooting touch, his clamp-down defense. If not for that, watch to see him smile. He plans on having plenty to grin about.
