JayDee Luster dribbled the ball up the court and began to run through one of Wyoming?s typical offensive sets.
Luster hadn?t attempted a single shot in the first 37 minutes at Air Force, but the Pokes led by three points and needed a bucket to break the Falcons? backs.
The UW senior pulled up from beyond the arc and buried a 3-point bucket that virtually ended the game, and a two-year conference road losing streak, last month.
Luster has attempted 18 3-pointers in 10 Mountain West games, but two ? another against UNLV ? were game-changers.
And while they haven?t all fallen his way, particularly during the Pokes? three-game losing streak, Luster returns home to San Diego tonight for the final time during his collegiate career carrying an 18-8 record and a wide smile on his face.
For what must seem like the first time in more than a half-decade, something is going right.
?He?s lived a lifetime in 23 years,? said Ollie Goulston, Luster?s coach at Hoover High School. ?I?ve coached JayDee since he was nine and just the amount of things that he?s gone through, adversity-wise, it?s really fun to watch him persevere through things and have positive things happen for him.?
Death was no stranger to Luster as a youth in San Diego.
?Gangs and stuff like that was always around and the high school I went to wasn?t in a good neighborhood,? he said. ?And a lot of people questioned me for going there or didn?t want me to go there.?
Still, the basketball court and a spot playing for Goulston were a haven.
And they mixed well.
Luster helped turn a fledgling team around in his first year and was named California?s Freshman of the Year. As a junior, Hoover was San Diego?s city champion.
?Going into that year, I only needed to average eight assists to beat Jason Kidd?s national record,? Luster said. ?I could?ve done that.?
His senior season never arrived.
n n n
Luster, best friend Todd Doxey and a couple other buddies ventured on a trip to a nearby mall.
Rain soaked a busy stretch of highway.
Suddenly, the car in front of Luster ? who was driving ? swerved. It was too late for him to do the same, and the car barreled into another that was stalled out in the middle of the road.
?I was stuck in a bad situation, and I hydroplaned into the back of the car and cracked my ribs,? he said.
Three months earlier, Luster had lost a close friend and former teammate in a similar accident, so he knew he was fortunate to escape with broken bones.
He also found out that his senior season would never begin.
It was a frustrating piece of what became a year with a list full of bad news.
Luster?s cousin was shot and killed. Two other cousins faced life in prison for murder. Three other friends or family members were killed.
The teenager?s life spiraled. Panic attacks set in.
?Life was just hard for me,? Luster said. ?I started suffering from panic attacks, to where it was hard to do daily stuff ? drive, go to school. I think that?s just how my body was dealing with everything that was going on at the time.?
It wasn?t about to get any easier.
n n n
Graduation Day is supposed to be a celebration.
It was, too, for Luster, until he got some more heart-sinking news.
Reggie Theus, who Luster had known since he was a young ball boy for the former NBA player?s AAU team and the man who signed Luster to play at New Mexico State, was leaving the college ranks.
?They just went to the tournament, and he was in the process of turning New Mexico State around,? Luster recalls. ?We had one of the top mid-major recruiting classes in the country.
?The whole coaching staff left.?
Marvin Menzies took the reins, but Luster ? still bothered by panic attacks ? never felt comfortable.
?I just felt like I needed to be somewhere I was wanted, and somebody recruited me and understood what I?d been going through,? Luster said. ?That?s why I decided to leave.?
n n n
Adam Waddell saw an undersized, cocky point guard.
Wyoming?s big man was coming off a medical redshirt season, and the senior-laden Pokes were heading into a year where they?d make a run to the postseason.
?When JayDee first got here, I was not a fan,? Waddell, now a senior alongside Luster, admitted. ?He came in on his visit, and he was that little guard who just kind of came in and established himself and played really tough. He kind of played with a chip on his shoulder and you could tell.?
Luster wasn?t sure Laramie was the right fit for him at first glance, either.
He was at the Hilton Garden Inn across from War Memorial Stadium when he got a call from Doxey.
?[Goulston] called my best friend because he knew he was the only one that could really talk to me and get through to me,? Luster said. ?He called me and told me, ?Jay, you?ve got to do it.? That was my best friend, my brother, everything.
?After I got off the phone with him, I knew I was coming to Wyoming.?
It was the last time the two ever spoke on the phone.
n n n
Luster and Doxey had been inseperable since they were 7 years old.
They played Pop Warner leagues together and never separated all through high school.
?He was my brother, basically,? Luster said. ?Everything we did, we did together.?
On July 13, 2008, Doxey ? then a member of the Oregon Ducks football team ? drowned in a swimming accident on the McKenzie River.
?That has just been tough for all of us and even more so for [Luster] because they were like brothers and did everything together,? Goulston said.
Yet Luster also feels that everything that happened his senior year of high school prepared him for the unthinkable.
He quickly turned the grief into motivation.
?Every day I wake up, I do it for Todd; that?s the slogan I live by,? Luster said. ?Everything I do I feel like I?ve got to put twice as much effort in. Honestly, the world?s standards and what other people think about me [doesn?t] matter. I know what Todd expects from me, and I know what he wants from me and that?s what I live by.?
n n n
Luster arrived in Laramie in the fall of 2008 with two goals ? to be successful on the court and to get two degrees, one for him and one in Doxey?s honor.
He earned a bachelor?s degree in social science last year and will finish a second in criminal justice at the end of this semester.
?My mom always instilled education and always made sure I valued education,? said Luster, who was the first in his family to graduate from college. ?Even Todd, he was always a straight-A student and that aspect of school was always important. To know that the people that I care about most are proud of me, that means more to me than anything.?
Luster plans on continuing on to get his masters degree and would like to get into coaching.
First things first, he?s got a solid senior season to finish.
n n n
The basketball court presented its own issues.
Luster had to sit out a year to satisfy NCAA transfer rules, then became the starting point guard for the Pokes.
But they won 10 games in each of his sophomore and junior seasons.
UW fans were sometimes frustrated in the 5-foot-9, 160-pound point guard who averaged about six points per game and two assists for every turnover.
?He got a lot of criticism at times, but JayDee?s the same guy,? Goulston said. ?The thing about JayDee is he always tried to please his coach. So whatever system was there, that?s what he?s going to run.?
Eventually, head coach Heath Schroyer was fired. Interim coach Fred Langley ? who recruited Luster in high school ? lasted the rest of the season and eventually Larry Shyatt was hired.
?He?s had to play for five different head coaches, which is unprecedented in college basketball,? Goulston said. ?There were many times he could?ve left, even at Wyoming. We had conversations about it, and JayDee chose to stay because he believed in Wyoming and believed in himself and wanted to finish what he started.
?... He?s done a helluva job this year.?
n n n
Waddell has a different impression of his teammate four years later.
?The things that he?s been through, it makes JayDee one of the greatest people that?s ever been through this program and ever came to this university and that I?ve ever met,? he said.
Luster, never shy about bringing religion into the conversation, has often said that he believes good things happen to good people.
?I feel like this year?s team is a testament to that,? Luster said.
Shyatt starts five players that remained on board through the coaching transition and the team is two victories shy of 20 ? a feat not accomplished since the 2002-03 season.
And Luster has been a major contributor, averaging 5.6 points and nearly four assists per game while often stifling some of the league?s top scorers.
?I don?t know a lot of people that have gone through the stuff that he?s gone through all through high school and college,? Goulston said. ?He?s made it through.
?It really says that character means something.?
?God makes no mistakes, and everything he put me through, it was hard,? Luster said. ?It was a lot of hopeless days at that time, but I feel like it bettered me.
?Sometimes you don?t appreciate the sunshine or the good without experiencing the bad. We?ve been through so much as a team and as a family ? because I look at all these dudes as my brothers ? and it definitely makes it that much greater.?
Luster hadn?t attempted a single shot in the first 37 minutes at Air Force, but the Pokes led by three points and needed a bucket to break the Falcons? backs.
The UW senior pulled up from beyond the arc and buried a 3-point bucket that virtually ended the game, and a two-year conference road losing streak, last month.
Luster has attempted 18 3-pointers in 10 Mountain West games, but two ? another against UNLV ? were game-changers.
And while they haven?t all fallen his way, particularly during the Pokes? three-game losing streak, Luster returns home to San Diego tonight for the final time during his collegiate career carrying an 18-8 record and a wide smile on his face.
For what must seem like the first time in more than a half-decade, something is going right.
?He?s lived a lifetime in 23 years,? said Ollie Goulston, Luster?s coach at Hoover High School. ?I?ve coached JayDee since he was nine and just the amount of things that he?s gone through, adversity-wise, it?s really fun to watch him persevere through things and have positive things happen for him.?
Death was no stranger to Luster as a youth in San Diego.
?Gangs and stuff like that was always around and the high school I went to wasn?t in a good neighborhood,? he said. ?And a lot of people questioned me for going there or didn?t want me to go there.?
Still, the basketball court and a spot playing for Goulston were a haven.
And they mixed well.
Luster helped turn a fledgling team around in his first year and was named California?s Freshman of the Year. As a junior, Hoover was San Diego?s city champion.
?Going into that year, I only needed to average eight assists to beat Jason Kidd?s national record,? Luster said. ?I could?ve done that.?
His senior season never arrived.
n n n
Luster, best friend Todd Doxey and a couple other buddies ventured on a trip to a nearby mall.
Rain soaked a busy stretch of highway.
Suddenly, the car in front of Luster ? who was driving ? swerved. It was too late for him to do the same, and the car barreled into another that was stalled out in the middle of the road.
?I was stuck in a bad situation, and I hydroplaned into the back of the car and cracked my ribs,? he said.
Three months earlier, Luster had lost a close friend and former teammate in a similar accident, so he knew he was fortunate to escape with broken bones.
He also found out that his senior season would never begin.
It was a frustrating piece of what became a year with a list full of bad news.
Luster?s cousin was shot and killed. Two other cousins faced life in prison for murder. Three other friends or family members were killed.
The teenager?s life spiraled. Panic attacks set in.
?Life was just hard for me,? Luster said. ?I started suffering from panic attacks, to where it was hard to do daily stuff ? drive, go to school. I think that?s just how my body was dealing with everything that was going on at the time.?
It wasn?t about to get any easier.
n n n
Graduation Day is supposed to be a celebration.
It was, too, for Luster, until he got some more heart-sinking news.
Reggie Theus, who Luster had known since he was a young ball boy for the former NBA player?s AAU team and the man who signed Luster to play at New Mexico State, was leaving the college ranks.
?They just went to the tournament, and he was in the process of turning New Mexico State around,? Luster recalls. ?We had one of the top mid-major recruiting classes in the country.
?The whole coaching staff left.?
Marvin Menzies took the reins, but Luster ? still bothered by panic attacks ? never felt comfortable.
?I just felt like I needed to be somewhere I was wanted, and somebody recruited me and understood what I?d been going through,? Luster said. ?That?s why I decided to leave.?
n n n
Adam Waddell saw an undersized, cocky point guard.
Wyoming?s big man was coming off a medical redshirt season, and the senior-laden Pokes were heading into a year where they?d make a run to the postseason.
?When JayDee first got here, I was not a fan,? Waddell, now a senior alongside Luster, admitted. ?He came in on his visit, and he was that little guard who just kind of came in and established himself and played really tough. He kind of played with a chip on his shoulder and you could tell.?
Luster wasn?t sure Laramie was the right fit for him at first glance, either.
He was at the Hilton Garden Inn across from War Memorial Stadium when he got a call from Doxey.
?[Goulston] called my best friend because he knew he was the only one that could really talk to me and get through to me,? Luster said. ?He called me and told me, ?Jay, you?ve got to do it.? That was my best friend, my brother, everything.
?After I got off the phone with him, I knew I was coming to Wyoming.?
It was the last time the two ever spoke on the phone.
n n n
Luster and Doxey had been inseperable since they were 7 years old.
They played Pop Warner leagues together and never separated all through high school.
?He was my brother, basically,? Luster said. ?Everything we did, we did together.?
On July 13, 2008, Doxey ? then a member of the Oregon Ducks football team ? drowned in a swimming accident on the McKenzie River.
?That has just been tough for all of us and even more so for [Luster] because they were like brothers and did everything together,? Goulston said.
Yet Luster also feels that everything that happened his senior year of high school prepared him for the unthinkable.
He quickly turned the grief into motivation.
?Every day I wake up, I do it for Todd; that?s the slogan I live by,? Luster said. ?Everything I do I feel like I?ve got to put twice as much effort in. Honestly, the world?s standards and what other people think about me [doesn?t] matter. I know what Todd expects from me, and I know what he wants from me and that?s what I live by.?
n n n
Luster arrived in Laramie in the fall of 2008 with two goals ? to be successful on the court and to get two degrees, one for him and one in Doxey?s honor.
He earned a bachelor?s degree in social science last year and will finish a second in criminal justice at the end of this semester.
?My mom always instilled education and always made sure I valued education,? said Luster, who was the first in his family to graduate from college. ?Even Todd, he was always a straight-A student and that aspect of school was always important. To know that the people that I care about most are proud of me, that means more to me than anything.?
Luster plans on continuing on to get his masters degree and would like to get into coaching.
First things first, he?s got a solid senior season to finish.
n n n
The basketball court presented its own issues.
Luster had to sit out a year to satisfy NCAA transfer rules, then became the starting point guard for the Pokes.
But they won 10 games in each of his sophomore and junior seasons.
UW fans were sometimes frustrated in the 5-foot-9, 160-pound point guard who averaged about six points per game and two assists for every turnover.
?He got a lot of criticism at times, but JayDee?s the same guy,? Goulston said. ?The thing about JayDee is he always tried to please his coach. So whatever system was there, that?s what he?s going to run.?
Eventually, head coach Heath Schroyer was fired. Interim coach Fred Langley ? who recruited Luster in high school ? lasted the rest of the season and eventually Larry Shyatt was hired.
?He?s had to play for five different head coaches, which is unprecedented in college basketball,? Goulston said. ?There were many times he could?ve left, even at Wyoming. We had conversations about it, and JayDee chose to stay because he believed in Wyoming and believed in himself and wanted to finish what he started.
?... He?s done a helluva job this year.?
n n n
Waddell has a different impression of his teammate four years later.
?The things that he?s been through, it makes JayDee one of the greatest people that?s ever been through this program and ever came to this university and that I?ve ever met,? he said.
Luster, never shy about bringing religion into the conversation, has often said that he believes good things happen to good people.
?I feel like this year?s team is a testament to that,? Luster said.
Shyatt starts five players that remained on board through the coaching transition and the team is two victories shy of 20 ? a feat not accomplished since the 2002-03 season.
And Luster has been a major contributor, averaging 5.6 points and nearly four assists per game while often stifling some of the league?s top scorers.
?I don?t know a lot of people that have gone through the stuff that he?s gone through all through high school and college,? Goulston said. ?He?s made it through.
?It really says that character means something.?
?God makes no mistakes, and everything he put me through, it was hard,? Luster said. ?It was a lot of hopeless days at that time, but I feel like it bettered me.
?Sometimes you don?t appreciate the sunshine or the good without experiencing the bad. We?ve been through so much as a team and as a family ? because I look at all these dudes as my brothers ? and it definitely makes it that much greater.?
