Carter: Right at Home
January 12, 2004 10:41 AM | General
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Issue 2
If not for AAU basketball, West Virginia University forward Michelle Carter would be in the Air Force now.
Carter, a native of Little Rock, Ark., was about ready to take her father Michael's (an ex-Marine) advice and enlist in the Air Force when some recruiters from Westark Community College convinced her to reconsider.
Carter, who had gone virtually unnoticed at Parkview High was in the process of losing her anonymity after an outstanding summer on the AAU circuit.
"I was like, 'Okay, I'll go to junior college and play basketball,'" she says.
After her first season at Westark it was apparent that Carter, a 6-2 forward, was good enough to play Division I basketball. She was getting letters from virtually every school in the South while at the same time entertaining nightly telephone calls.
Her sophomore season, Carter averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds per game to earn all-conference and all-region honors. One scouting service rated her as the nation's fifth-best junior college power forward and another had her as the country's 16th-best junior college player. Carter narrowed her choices down to Houston, Mississippi and West Virginia.
"I talked to West Virginia and when I came on my visit I just liked Morgantown," she says. "It was small like my juco and everything was surrounded by the college. I'm not a big-city-type person and I like easy ways to get to places."
With her mind made up, now all Michelle had to do was to sit her parents down and give them the news.
"Of course being the baby of the family they didn't want me going too far," she says. "They really wanted me to stay around Arkansas.
"When I sat them both down I told them this is my decision and you're going to have to trust me on this one," she adds. "This is where my heart told me to go."
A year later, Michael and Lillie Carter are two of the biggest West Virginia Mountaineer fans in the South.
"They love it now," Michelle laughs. "My dad and my mom are Mountaineer fanatics."
Michelle says her dad is on the Internet every day listening to games and reading stories.
"It's so funny because my dad has never been an Internet person and now he gets on MSNsportsNET.com all the time," says Carter. "He uses my mom for e-mails, too."
Having the Internet has closed the distance between the Carters, but Michelle estimates they still talk two or three times a day on her cell phone. Michelle also frequently sends her parents game tapes, though she admits she only sends them the ‘good games.'
If that's the case, then the Carters still have a pretty impressive collection of videos. Last year in her first season in the WVU program, Michelle ranked 11th in the BIG EAST in rebounding with an average of 6.9 per game. She finished the season fourth on the team in scoring with a 10.4 points-per-game average.
She produced 18 double-figure scoring games including a season-high 21 points on 7 of 13 shooting against nationally ranked Villanova.
Even though West Virginia took a small step last year producing a 15-13 record for the program's first winning season since 1997, Carter believes the team may have left some wins out on the floor.
"It was disappointing because we came so close in so many games," she said. "We just needed either a post (player) or an extra guard, something extra just to help us get over the hump. Playing the non-conference schedule was good but when you get into the BIG EAST it's a whole different story."
For now, she is trying to overcome a broken foot sustained in a pickup game back home during the summer. Carter was held out for most of the preseason and admits she is still trying to get back into playing shape.
"The first few practices really hit me hard," says the athletic coaching education major, "but it is getting me into better shape."
Carter is prepared to do anything she can to make sure West Virginia is a team to be reckoned with in the BIG EAST this year. And following her every move from the Internet miles away are her two biggest fans - Michael and Lillie Carter.
Phil Caskey is the assistant sports information director at West Virginia University.
