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The Social Network: Cline commits to continue hoops career at Niagara

BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com

Published: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 1:31 PM CDT

Plano West alum T.J. Cline's hard work has paid off.

Rising from the ranks of the freshman B team to the Wolves varsity basketball squad -- and enduring a smattering of "he just isn't ready yet" critiques along the way -- Cline kept to the grindstone, soldiered on and now has a collegiate career on the hardwood to look forward to this fall after committing to Niagara.

It wasn't until a couple months after the conclusion of Cline's senior campaign at West that Purple Eagles popped onto the forward's recruiting radar though, reaching out to Cline via Facebook shortly after a visit to Air Force.

"I thought it was kind of weird at first," Cline said on teams recruiting over Facebook, "just because that's not what I was used to, but I guess a lot of coaches are doing that now."

With Air Force out of the equation, Cline weighed his options between Niagara or going the prep school route. Initially leaning towards the latter, he was still intrigued by the idea of Niagara.

A trip to the New York-based campus only further justified that sentiment.

"I feel like it's the right place for me," Cline said. "I feel like (head) coach (Joe) Mihalich is great for me and knows the game. My mom (Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman) called some of her friends, like Fran Fraschilla, Dave and Lane Odom, and they said he was someone who really knew what he was doing and could really help me get to where I wanted to go both on and off the court."

During his trip Niagara, Cline said he toured the campus, visited Niagara Falls and got some time familiarize himself with his future teammates both on and off the court. That, coupled with the city's devotion to the basketball team and the school fulfilling things academically for the prospective sports marketing/business major, made for an atmosphere too good to pass up.

Should Cline have gone the prep school route, Brewster Academy -- the stomping grounds of recent NBA draft picks Thomas Robinson and Will Barton -- would have been the likely course of action.

Air Force, Long Island and Sam Houston State were also among the schools on Cline's radar. The locale of that recruiting trail would indicate plenty of comfort in traveling to the other end of the country.

"I'm going to miss my family but I feel like I need to stay somewhere else outside of Plano," Cline said. "Just so I can get used to living on my own and not be dependent on my parents. I'm excited to go out there."

For Cline, it'll mean starting a new chapter after turning the page on a successful high school run with the Wolves.

"[Plano West head coach Anthony Morgan] told me I could have been on varsity as a junior," Cline said, "and I would have contributed ... but I figured I needed more time on JV to develop, just because going from sophomore team to varsity is such a big transition and that extra year helped me gain ground and gain confidence."

Playing on one of the Wolves' best JV units in program history helped as well, with Cline helping pace a 32-2 season as a junior. The strides in his game began to come into bloom as well.

On the bubble just to make the cut as a 5-foot-9 freshman, Cline grew to 6-8 by his senior year and after biding his time, emerged as one of the focal points for the Wolves during the 2011-12 season -- leading West in both scoring (16) and rebounds (7.8) en route to being named the District 8-5A Offensive Player of the Year.

A fitting culmination from the days of working out before, during and after his mom's annual basketball camps to having to earn his stripes amid a cast of Division I talent on the AAU circuit.

Cline now gets the chance to rinse and repeat at Niagara.

"Hard work really does pay off," Cline said. "I've always worked decently hard but because I couldn't see it in the drills, I'd take time off. This time, I kept pushing, pushing and pushing and then finally getting recruited and having a good senior season really helped me."

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