Sports Spotlight
Thomas emerges from shadows to lead Albion

February 13, 2004
by Jake Lloyd
Sports Editor

At 5-foot-11, 155 pounds, Albion men’s basketball junior guard Michael Thomas, from Saginaw, may not be the most intimidating figure.

But don’t be misled by his size. With a repertoire of offensive weapons, Thomas has emerged as Albion’s go-to guy on offense. “My quickness is my strength,” Thomas said. “I have the ability to get past defenders and then they gotta kind of respect my jump shot, too.”

Through 21 games Thomas was Albion's leading scorer, averaging 17.2 points per fame. He also was shooting a stellar 80.6 percent from the free-throw line.

As a freshman at Albion, Thomas was more of a spot-up shooter, but during the last two years he’s developed his game so that defenders have to prepare for anything.

“He’s got a lot of very good athletic skills, but also a lot of very good basketball skills, and he’s able to combine the two of those together,” said Albion head coach Mike Turner.

Thomas uses one of his trademark shots--one he didn’t have as a freshman-to score over the big players he calls "trees." He drives around an opponent and then, before the big “trees,” as Thomas calls them, can block his shot, he elevates, using his 34-inch vertical, and quickly floats the ball through the net.

Thomas learns a lot from watching basketball on television. As a kid, his favorite player was Isiah Thomas, but now he watches the likes of Tracy McGrady, Allan Iverson, Gary Payton, and rookie phenomenon Carmelo Anthony.

Thomas’s floater is very similar to Payton’s, and he’s also learned to use the pump fake up-and-under move from watching players such as Kobe Bryant use it. Watching Iverson, Thomas noticed that when the superstar gets the ball on the wing, he usually drives to the middle, scoring or drawing fouls, something Thomas has become accustomed to doing.

But most of Thomas’s skills were learned on Saginaw’s playgrounds. Thomas started playing when he was 3 or 4, and was soon on the outdoor courts competing against older, stronger players.

“The older guys make you better…You have to work harder to get around them,” Thomas said. “Then when you play against somebody your age it makes the game seem kind of easy because they’re not as strong or as quick as them older guys.”

“If you’ve got that flavor to your game you can pretty much play. You’re able to create your own stuff and everything. You’ve gotta have some of that when you play. You can’t just spot up and shoot.”

Thomas always has been around great talent--or been invisible behind it. Since elementary school Thomas has been best friends with Anthony Roberson, now a star basketball player at the University of Florida, and during the winter Thomas always sports his Florida coat and hat. Starting at the age of 10, Thomas played on the same AAU team and then the same high school team as Roberson, Charles Rogers—now a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions—and Eugene Seals—now playing Division I basketball at Miami University of Ohio—for seven years before Seals and Rogers graduated.

Because of the talent he was playing behind, Thomas never emerged as a star during high school. He played two years on varsity, averaging six to seven points his senior year. But Thomas’s high school coach, Marshall Thomas, is good at getting Saginaw High players noticed. When Thomas received a recruiting letter from Turner and then visited and played with guys on the team, enjoying the whole experience, he took advantage of the opportunity to play college basketball.

Thomas still plays with Roberson every summer. Last summer Roberson showed Thomas several drills he learned at Florida, and the two of them, along with Tanoris Shepherd, another good friend, who plays for the University of Idaho, worked out while also helping out at Albion’s high school basketball camps and playing for fun at night with other Albion players.

Thomas matched up with Roberson all summer long, and improved mightily. “I learned a lot from him,” Thomas said.

Stiff competition’s nothing new to Thomas. In his first AAU game as a 10-year-old, Thomas played against Desmon Farmer, now a big name at the University of Southern California who scored 40 points in mid-January in an upset over then No. 8-ranked Arizona.

Thomas, and a few other Albion players, may have faced their toughest competition ever last summer in the St. Cecelia tournament in Detroit. In their first game, they faced off against a team featuring NBA players Jalen Rose, Robert (Tractor) Traylor, Vashon Leonard, and Derrick Dial, along with CBA player Jimmy King.

Although his team got walloped, Thomas held his own, putting up about 20 points. It was just another experience that made him a better player.

Thomas said he’ll take basketball as far as it takes him. “If it’s not gonna come within one to two years, I’m not going to keep trying to pursue, pursue, pursue, but if the opportunity’s there, I’m gonna take it.”

Just like he’s feasted on his opportunity at Albion, Thomas, if given the chance, might just do the same at a higher level.