Clemmons’ perseverance inspires Iowa, MSU

IOWA CITY - One day, basketball coaches from two Big Ten schools will hold up Anthony Clemmons as an example of perseverance and dedication.

When that day comes, who knows? But when the chips are down for a player who's thinking about transferring, Iowa and Michigan State coaches will invoke Clemmons' name as a reminder that the past doesn't always determine the future.

'I have a story to tell,” Clemmons said. Yes, he does.

Clemmons, a 20-year-old incoming senior, arrived on Iowa's campus in summer 2012 fresh from a state title at Lansing (Mich.) Sexton High School. His best friends Denzel Valentine and Bryn Forbes also had basketball scholarships. Valentine, the son of Sexton coach and former Michigan State player Carlton Valentine, stayed home with the Spartans. Forbes went to Cleveland State for two years before transferring to Michigan State last year.

The trio were inseparable growing up and Clemmons looked to Valentine's older brother Drew as a mentor. Clemmons received his nickname 'Sapp” - as a tribute to his play on the youth football field - from Carlton Valentine.

The players left for college to chase their basketball dreams. For Clemmons, success came quickly. He moved into Iowa's starting lineup early his freshman year. At point guard, he guided the Hawkeyes to a win against instate rival Iowa State with 14 points, eight assists and only one turnover. That performance showed Clemmons' abilities, but it didn't take long for his mind to waver off the court. It caught up with him the next year.

Clemmons' sophomore season was nothing short of a slump. His minutes dwindled in Big Ten play, and he reached double digits just three times. He totaled 14 points in league action and averaged 7.1 minutes a game. After playing only one minute in the Big Ten Tournament and just four minutes in Iowa's NCAA tournament overtime loss to Tennessee, Clemmons knew he had a decision to make.

Most players in his position would bolt. Clemmons' potential was obvious, and another school might appreciate his talents more than Iowa. But Clemmons avoided a rash, emotional decision about his future. Basketball was one component, but so was life, school, his word and relationships. A transfer would mean fitting in with a new group on the court in a different location.

'That was probably one of the most difficult decisions I had in my life, so far,” Clemmons said. 'I think that's even harder than picking a school to go to.

'Since the end of the Tennessee game - people don't know - I took time by myself. I took about a week and no one saw me outside the arena and workouts. I was by myself a lot. I was thinking a lot. I prayed a lot. That's what helped me really think and what questions I had for (Coach Fran) McCaffery.”

The pluses for staying were many. Clemmons liked Iowa City, the school and his teammates. There's playing in the Big Ten, considered the nation's foremost basketball conference, and against his hometown Spartans. Along with McCaffery, Clemmons sought input from his friends and family.

'He was pretty confident,” Forbes said. 'He was happy there already. I just encouraged him to go after what he wanted.”

'Even if I did transfer, who said the situation would be better?” Clemmons said. 'It might be better for me basketball-wise, but what about life? That's what I sat down and thought to myself, ‘How is this going to help you in life?' People are going to say you're a quitter. You still had that flesh in your body that said, ‘Dang, I quit on them.' I wasn't raised that way. I wasn't raised to quit. My dad always told me once you start something, finish it out.”

Clemmons said his conversation with McCaffery cemented his decision.

'‘What am I going to get out of the rest of my career if I stayed here?” Clemmons recalled asking. 'That's something I had to ask Coach McCaffery. He told me I'm in a different situation than a lot of other guys. I can really contribute to this team. If you do what you're supposed to do and play the way confidently like I know you can play, you can really contribute to this team and do something special with this team. I took that to heart as, ‘OK, let me rededicate myself.' I kind of lost vision of what the Lord had for me. I just got on the right path and told myself, ‘Nothing's going to stop me from getting where I want to go.'”

Part of Clemmons' rededication included a trip home to Lansing after the 2014 spring semester to work out with old friends and former Spartans he had admired. He received encouraging words from Lansing native Magic Johnson and had McCaffery's blessing.

Drew Valentine worked as a Michigan State graduate assistant that summer. He immediately heard from Clemmons, and they began workouts at Michigan State. Valentine could sense Clemmons was committed.

'He was hungry,” said Valentine, now an assistant coach at Oakland (Mich.). 'I was the one he worked out with most of the time. He was hungry, always texting me, ‘Drew are you at the gym, can you work out?' Not only with Denzel and Bryn but on his own. He was just super hungry to get back and didn't want a repeat of last season.”

Few schools are secure enough to allow a player from a conference rival stroll into their sanctuary for off-season workouts. At Michigan State, though, it was different. Clemmons grew up attending MSU camps and knew everyone involved. An exception was made. He needed motivation, and he also motivated his friends and competitors.

'He comes over to our place quite a bit. We let him wear his Iowa gear,” Michigan State assistant coach Dwayne Stephens said, drawing out the Iowa gear. 'We cheer for Sapp when he's not playing us. He's a great kid. He has an unbelievable work ethic. When he was struggling a little bit, we tried to encourage him when we'd see him. He's a good kid.”

Stephens compares Clemmons to Travis Walton, a three-year MSU captain, a three-time all-league defender and perhaps the most hard-nosed Big Ten player in recent memory.

'(Walton) didn't get recruited by a ton of Big Ten teams, but we saw something in him that we liked and he went on to lead us to a Final Four,” Stephens said. 'I think Sapp has that kind of toughness where he can push his teammates and he can get some things done. He's not an offensive player that's going to blow you away, but he's going to continue to get better because of his work ethic and he's always going to be able to defend. I think he's a great leader.”

Clemmons, who watched Walton play through 2009, was humbled by the comparison.

'It means a lot to be compared with him, that's a blessing, too,” Clemmons said. 'Because he's a winner. He's a scrapper. It's really good to be put in that category because there's not a lot of Travis Waltons to come out of the basketball world to do anything and sacrifice anything to win a game.”

Clemmons' strides were obvious last season. He started 12 games, averaged 4.8 points and delivered 64 assists to 38 turnovers. He also became Iowa's top defensive guard and averaged just shy of 20 minutes a game. Over the final six regular-season games, he put up 24 assists and only six turnovers. He was named Iowa's Most Improved Player after the season.

In Iowa's NCAA tournament loss to Gonzaga, Clemmons scored 10 points with three 3-pointers. He and the Hawkeyes didn't qualify for the Final Four, but he still attended with tickets supplied by Denzel Valentine after the Spartans qualified.

But for all the backslaps between Clemmons and the Spartans, it hardly means they are soft toward one another, either. Just the opposite, in fact.

'I think our guys may take it more personal with him than Mike (Gesell), just because they know they've got to listen to him talking trash when he comes home over the summer,” Stephens said.

Iowa has lost nine straight to Michigan State, including all five during Clemmons' career. Last year, Iowa led 39-28 at halftime only to see the Spartans' second-half barrage lead to a 75-61 MSU victory. Clemmons, who didn't score, talked with Forbes (eight points) and Valentine (18 points) before and after the game, but not during it.

'That was exciting, that was fun,” Forbes said. 'Not many people get the chance to play with one of your best friends and against one of your best friends in the same game.”

'They throw it my face, still,” Clemmons said, 'because I beat every team in the Big Ten besides them. Getting a win versus them my senior year will outmatch any other losses that I had throughout my career.”

But just getting this far was a testament to Clemmons' perseverance. Instead of heading to a mid-major to become a star, Clemmons stayed at Iowa to contribute. He redoubled his efforts to maximize his potential. In college basketball, where more than 600 players transferred this off-season, Clemmons' dedication was rare and inspiring.

'It shows you're a loyal person,” Drew Valentine said. 'The fact that he came back and he was so hungry shows he was willing to work hard to get what he wants.”

'I wish there were more kids like him,” Stephens said. 'Because here's a kid that maybe didn't get recruited at a high level, came here with a chip on his shoulder, things didn't go right. So it would be very easy for him to transfer back to one of the MAC schools in Michigan that all wanted him in the beginning. But he came back and worked his butt off, and I think he had a heck of a year for (Iowa).

'There's always room for improvement. but I would say he's the model for how things should go. You stay there, you work your butt off and you get what's coming to you.”

Clemmons said he had a story to tell. The last chapter in his Iowa career has yet to be written. But he likes where the story is going.

'Every guy on this team has goals,” Clemmons said. 'If we stick them all together and worry about the team first and accomplishing our goals, it's going to go really far. We're going to go really far with this season.”

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