As rumors swirled and self-doubt sunk in, Dion Waiters got the advice he needed from the person that’s been there for him his whole life.

His freshman year at Syracuse had fallen short of the expectations placed on the top-5 shooting guard recruit — especially the ones he had for himself. He never cracked the starting lineup, averaged just 6.6 points in 16.3 minutes per game and had an ‘iffy’ relationship with head coach Jim Boeheim.

‘I never came off the bench nowhere,’ Waiters said. ‘That was the first time. I even started in the Jordan (Brand) All-American game. It was just something new to me that I didn’t jell with.’

The tumultuous season led Waiters to question whether he made the right college decision. He said earlier this month that he was never as close to transferring as the rumors made it seem. But when it started making headlines, Waiters’ mom, Monique Brown, intervened with a few simple messages.

‘I told him, ‘I don’t raise no quitters,” Brown said. ‘‘You have to do what you have to do to be strong as a man.’ With me saying that as a single parent, I think it just turned it all the way around.’

That transformation has been clear throughout Waiters’ sophomore season with the Orange. He underwent a complete attitude adjustment and committed to becoming a solid all-around basketball player. On a loaded No. 3 SU squad off to a 21-1 start, Waiters plays six minutes more per game this year than as a freshman and is the team’s second-leading scorer with 12.5 points per contest. But more importantly, he’s doing it coming off the bench with the understanding that getting a win is more important than his individual numbers — something he never imagined himself saying just one season ago.

‘That’s the best thing about life,’ Waiters said. ‘You grow and you learn. You get chances. You’re not always going to be perfect. Nobody’s perfect in this world. You get the chance to mature, and you get the chance to grow and just become a better person and learn a lot about your mistakes.’

‘A rocky road’

On the playgrounds of Philadelphia, there are no subs or benches. Aggressiveness is a necessary part of the game while fear has no place. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a big-name player or a nobody. No one cares either way.

‘You like the competition because you don’t want anybody to bow down,’ Waiters said. ‘That’s what makes Philly the best. It makes us that much tougher. We always end up fighting to the finish. The way we play, that’s just Philly period.’

Waiters brought that attitude and toughness with him to SU. But looking back on it now, he knew he wasn’t completely ready for college basketball.

At the time, though, it didn’t matter. He expected playing time. He wanted to be on the court at the end of games. He wanted a major role because he felt capable of doing it.

‘He was still like a baby,’ Brown said. ‘In high school, everybody always gave him that extra hand. And it’s totally different once you get in college because college is where you become a man. It was a different transition coming out of high school going into college thinking that everybody is going to give you a spoon and feed you.’

What he didn’t quite grasp was that the privilege of playing critical minutes had to be earned.

The Orange already had three veterans on the perimeter in Kris Joseph, Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche. They had already learned that Boeheim preached hustle and defensive intensity over offensive prowess. Had it been the other way around, Waiters probably would have been a shoe-in on the court.

‘He’s always been a great offensive player,’ said David Boudwin, the athletic director and pastor at Burlington Life Center Academy (N.J.), where Waiters went to high school. ‘He’s always been able to break away and shoot and dunk. He has another gear that he kicks into. Dion’s always had that.’

But that wasn’t enough at SU.

Without a commitment to defense, Waiters found himself relegated to the bench more than he was on the court. At that point, the team’s successes were irrelevant. He wasn’t playing, so he didn’t care.

‘When it was going good, I would still be mad at the games,’ he said. ‘Even if we came off a great win, I still moped.’

That attitude, in turn, tainted his relationship with Boeheim, and it all spiraled into the offseason, when thoughts of transferring crept into Waiters’ head.

‘‘I’m leaving,” Brown said her son told her. ‘‘I’m not doing this. I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this. I’m not staying here. I’m not starting.”

And that is when Brown put her foot down.

‘It was like a rocky road,’ she said. ‘It was rocky for him, so it was rocky for me. At the end of the day, I still had to be strong for him.’

The turnaround

Waiters has been through a lot in his life. He went to three different schools before settling in at Life Center Academy as a junior. He has lost people close to him in shootings.

But through it all, Brown has been the one constant.

‘Dion’s mom has always been there for him,’ Boudwin said. ‘Dion loves his mother. One thing Dion would never want to do is disappoint his mom. They’re very close, and he has a high respect for his mom. And likewise, she for him. They’re pretty connected.’

No one else was going to get through to the disgruntled freshman last year. Not Boeheim. Not any of his Orange teammates. Brown was the one who could do it. She knew that was the case.

And once she started hearing him talk about the possibility of transferring, she made it clear that was not going to happen.

‘I told him he was not going anywhere,’ Brown said. ‘You committed to Syracuse, and you’re going to stay at Syracuse University. I told him that. Those were my exact words: You’re not going nowhere.’

Once she made herself clear, she knew that would be the end of the transfer talk. She knows he wants to make her happy. And this year, Waiters has done just that.

It started in the offseason, when the guard would play basketball three or four times a day, whether it was just putting shots up or playing in pickup games. He worked out and got into better shape. And he dedicated himself to becoming a force on the defensive end rather than just being an offensive star.

‘Dion’s a very good offensive player,’ Boeheim said after SU beat Fordham in its season opener this year. ‘We all know that. I think when he gets open shots, he’s going to make them.

‘I think his defense is a lot better. He’s 10 times better on defense, at least.’

Waiters said his defense has been the best part of his game this year. But the turnaround has been more than just a commitment to defense. His entire attitude has changed.

‘This year, I’m more happy,’ Waiters said. ‘I love when we’re doing good. You see I’m standing up, clapping, just supporting the team in every way, even when I’m on the bench. That’s a better teammate.’

And it didn’t take long for Boeheim to recognize this transformation.

Against Manhattan on Nov. 14, the head coach pulled Waiters out of the game after he missed a tough floater that Boeheim later described as a horrendous shot.

But the benching didn’t discourage Waiters. He returned to the action six minutes later and finished the game with a team-high 17 points.

‘Last year, he would’ve been pouting on the bench, and he probably wouldn’t have gone back in,’ Boeheim said. ‘He would’ve been thinking about it. He’s getting better at that.’

Living in the now

Waiters’ relationship with Boeheim has improved drastically from where it was last year. The sophomore credits his head coach with being able to flip a switch in him with just a few encouraging words on the sideline.

And unlike last year, Waiters believes the coach has a lot of confidence in him on the floor.

‘I’m just trying to soak everything out of him that I need to know and just go out there and try to perform at my best,’ the guard said. ‘I feel as though we’ve gotten to the point where he tells me, ‘Let’s go. Let’s get going. There’s no turning back.’ That’s all I need to hear. That just shows me he’s got great faith in me now.’

Now. That’s the key word for Waiters.

He and his mother both agree that he is a better person and player because of that rough patch he endured as a freshman. Waiters even admits that coming off the bench has helped him on and off the court by humbling him and making him work harder.

But now, with a new attitude in his sophomore year, Waiters gets to finish games for the Orange. He describes himself as the kind of guy who claps for his teammates.

He and his mother couldn’t be happier.

‘You can see he’s smiling more,’ Brown said. ‘He interacts with the bench more. He does a lot more things that he didn’t do last year. Dion did a whole 360 as far as attitude, bonding with coach and everything. I’m proud of him. And I’m glad I made this decision for him to let him know that he was not going nowhere else.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on January 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm