One year ago, Micah Rollin averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while playing fewer than 10 minutes per game at the College of Southern Idaho. It was his sophomore year, and his second in organized basketball.
One year later, after only participating in 31 organized basketball games, he is starting for a Division I basketball team.
What Rollin lacks in experience he makes up for in size and athleticism. Standing at 6-foot-10 and 260 pounds, Rollin has become one of the biggest keys for the Ball State University's men's basketball team as the team looks to turn around its struggling season.
Rollin didn't play basketball at all in high school. He was, however, a football player. He played defensive end and tight end for Lakewood High School in Long Beach, Calif. Despite being relatively tall, Rollin said there was a simple reason why he didn't play basketball in high school.
"I wasn't any good at it - I was terrible," he said. "When I got about 6-foot-7 during my senior year of high school my dad told me, 'you need to pick a different sport.'"
Still, he admits that football has influenced his basketball game.
"I love physical play, I do - like I said, I'm a football player." Rollin said. "In street ball, it's real physical. Coach had to help me bring my street ball game to the basketball game without having to be physical and fouling."
Despite the physical play Rollin brings to the court, off the court he considers himself a pleasant person. Following his 16-point performance over Northern Illinois where the Cardinals won 71-60, he went over to the student section and gave a number of fans a hug, pulling several members of The Nest into his massive arms.
"I'm a nice guy," he said. "Really, you see me walking out there, I'm smiling. I enjoy it, I enjoy my teammates, I enjoy playing."
While Rollin made the decision to switch to basketball, the transition was not easy. Before his senior year he tried out for the boy's basketball team, but found the switch hard.
"I wasn't really into all the running," he said. "You've got to use your mind a lot more [in basketball], because it's more of a thinking game. [There's] a lot of running - you got to be in shape. A whole lot of running. In football, we got a break between stuff. You've got to be mentally strong to play this game."
Rollin continued to work on his game. In the summer of 2004, he decided to try out for the team at Fullerton College, a community college in southern California. Rollin made the team, but broke his foot and could not play.
Things didn't work out at Fullerton, but Steve Flint, who had served as an assistant coach at the University of California at San Diego in summer 2004, watched Rollin's tryout and offered him a position on the team at Southern Idaho, where Flint had recently taken a job. When Flint moved to Ball State to become an assistant coach under recently hired head coach Ronny Thompson, Rollin followed.
Rollin was thrown into the fire at Ball State. The Cardinals were without their four tallest returning players from the previous season. Rollin, who had only played in 31 organized basketball games and for only one year, started his first game on a Division I team.
He was, however, able to tally 16 points and eight rebounds against the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga in his third Division I contest.
"I think I've been blessed with the ability to learn things fast," Rollin said. "I can't be running all over the place trying to knock people over. I have to be thinking about where my teammates are, where my defense is, where offense is, where screens are coming from. When I'm thinking through the game, then it slows down for me. When I'm not thinking I'm just out there moving too fast and knocking people over."
Coach Ronny Thompson echoed Rollin's thoughts saying that, while Micah has learned quickly, it's an ongoing process.
"I think he's maturing overall," Thompson said. "I think with every game, the more minutes he logs, just playing basketball period, he's improving with leaps and bounds."
Rollin is more than halfway through his first season in Division I, and is averaging 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per game. Still, he realizes he has a way to go.
"I figure if I keep working hard every day and putting in extra hours, and coach keeps showing me how to use both shoulders and both hands, my game can go to all sorts of heights," Rollin said. "I'm just going to work hard, I don't think there's a specific level I want to be at, I'm just going to play until I can be the best I can."
Thompson, meanwhile, thinks that if Rollin can continue to improve, he might become one of the great Ball State players.
"I think the biggest thing for Micah is going to be the mental aspect and how much he chooses to be committed to the sport of basketball," Thompson said. "And if he chooses to be totally committed to the sport of basketball I think his future could be bright."
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