Return of the Mack

Swish. There is no sound sweeter to the ears of a shooter. After gathering the ball again, a teenage Terrell Mack repeats the process. Crossover, hesitation, pull up. "Snap." The sound of the ball splashing through the net fills the air of the empty gym, his Jordan's squeaking repeatedly on the polished hardwood.

Triple threat, jab step, pull up. "Swish."

Step back, fade away. "Snap."

Crossover and go hard to the rack. As Mack elevates above the rim, he strikes a pose similar to that infamous silhouette on his shoes, right before he gracefully and powerfully throws the ball down.

It was usually sometime between 6 or 7 in the morning on a school day. While other high-schoolers were fighting with alarm clocks and lifelessly falling from their beds to their feet, Terrell Mack was in Fort Vancouver High School's gym, working and sweating. His mornings were filled with the chorus of leather on net. It was only him, his basketball and the janitors. In this euphoric isolation, Mack emulated the moves of Penny Hardaway and Michael Jordan, trying to add some of their greatness to his repertoire.

It's only fitting that the 6-foot-4 Mack was in the gym. For the Portland, Oregon native, the world might as well have had Spalding written on the side of it. If he wasn't at the school working on his game, he was at the neighborhood park, where his first memories of basketball originate. His playground was a 94-by-50 foot floor. It is pretty safe to say that this is where his first memories of anything were conceived, as he never remembers a life separate from the sport he loves. If he wasn't at the park, the local 24 Hour Fitness became his temple. Basketball was entertainment, conversation and competition. It was what Mack and his friends did. If the rock wasn't in his hands, he and his boys were talking about basketball. If not that, he was watching the NBA or He Got Game, a film that Mack credits as his favorite film as well as motivation. Mack saw inspiration in the "adversity and obstacles" that Jesus Shuttlesworth, He Got Game's main character played by NBA star Ray Allen, overcame.

Terrell Mack's experience at Fort Vancouver High was fairly consistent. Mack invested his energy, work ethic and time to the hardwood. The early mornings and late nights translated into a second-team all-state selection, as well as the 2008 Conference Player of the Year award. The devotion he gave to basketball allowed him to spoil Fort Vancouver's rival Hudson Bay's senior night, dropping 38 points in the winning effort. Mack finished his career at Fort Vancouver High as the school's prolific scorer and passer.

When the high school season was over, he was playing AAU club ball with the I-5 Elite team. The summer of 2007 was good to Terrell Mack. A relatively unknown prospect before his senior season, Mack exploded on the AAU circuit. He persevered through a broken wrist and credits his shooting and defense as keys to his success in the Main Event, a youth basketball tournament that includes thousands of the nation's best players.

Mack also attributes AAU as a contributor to his overall game. "AAU helped my game a lot. I was able to compete with and against the best competition in the United States," said Mack.

Mack had offers from many Big Sky schools, as well as offers from the Western Athletic Conference, but as much as Mack was ready for college basketball, college basketball wasn't ready for him.

His dedication to the game of basketball was a gift and a curse. He was a king on the court, but a peasant in the classroom. As his performance on the court rose, his grades suffered. All of the extra time he put in on the court had to be time lost from other responsibilities. Something had to give. The same work that enabled him to triumph on the basketball court also hindered his ability to have the same kind of success in school.

A YouTube video exemplifies the struggles Mack experienced in high school academia. Over a video of one of his high school practices, the lackadaisical pace and nonchalant tone of Terrell Mack is heard over the sound of bouncing basketballs and squeaking sneakers.

"Basketball means a lot to me. My coach and grandma decided not to let me play cause I wasn't averaging a C. I think that was good for me ‘cause I worked way harder in the classroom. It made me realize that I needed to take school first."

Mack made it back to the high school floor that season, but despite this new outlook on academics, Mack still did not meet the minimum requirements to be eligible for Division - 1 Basketball. It was a crushing blow to Mack.

"It was my dream to go to a D-1 school, and I knew I could play. I just didn't have the grades," Mack said. "I've never been a school person."

Mack intended to commit to Utah State under Proposition 48, a rule that allows high school athletes who fail to fully meet the qualifications to focus on school for his or her freshman year. The goal is to allow athletes a year to focus on school and become academically eligible on scholarship.

Despite this, Mack couldn't see himself away from the game that long and settled on playing for Saddleback College, a JUCO team in Southern California. He only averaged 6.8 points as a freshman and saw sparse playing time, but he came up big in the biggest moments. In 2009's California Community College Athletic Association state semifinals, Mack had played barely over a quarter of the game against the San Joaquin Delta Mustangs. With the game tied at 59 and less than five seconds to go, Mack received a kick out pass from one of his teammates. Before he pulled the trigger on that three-pointer from the corner, Mack had missed all four of his field goal attempts. A shooter always feels like he is going to make the next shot, regardless of how many he previously missed.