BOSTON -- When Brandon Ball first met Terrence Clarke, the star shooting guard was just a fifth grader, hanging around the Vine Street Community Center and other area gyms with mentor Aldexter Foy.
Ball, who had recently returned from playing professionally in Canada, was playing in a local men’s league at the time. His team was coached by Foy as well, and Ball couldn’t help but notice the tall kid with nice form and a good handle for his age.
Clarke, meanwhile, noticed Ball as well.
“I could play a little bit,” Ball said. “Terrence was just a gym rat. He would always come to every one of our games.”
Clarke reached out to Ball, and the duo began training. At first, the workouts were casual, but in seventh and eighth grade, Clarke began taking it seriously. Ball still remembers getting a call from Clarke while his young student participated in a Syracuse basketball camp.
“Hey B,” Ball recalled Clarke saying. “It’s getting easier.”
Several years later, on Saturday afternoon, Ball was asked to give a semi-impromptu speech to a crowd at Vine Street Community Center before Clarke announced his college commitment to the University of Kentucky. Ball examined Clarke for a long moment before speaking about Clarke’s IQ as a basketball player and his character as a young man.
“It’s a little surreal,” Ball told MassLive. “He’s still got a lot of work to do, but it’s a milestone.”
Clarke, who is ESPN’s fourth-ranked prospect in their 2020 Top 100 and the second-highest ranked shooting guard, chose Kentucky for a variety of reasons, but one of the most important was the program’s player development -- an attribute he said all six of his final schools (Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, Boston College, Texas Tech and Memphis) shared.
“That was kind one of the things that I wanted to mainly focus on, because I want to be the best basketball player I can be,” Clarke said.
Clarke said his relationship with Memphis coach Penny Hardaway and Boston College’s close proximity made the decision more difficult. Ultimately, however, Kentucky coach John Calipari’s legendary ability to connect with prospects paid off, and the Wildcats added a superstar to a loaded 2020 class. Clarke credited Calipari’s relentless recruiting, which began his freshman year.
“He never really kind of gassed my head up or anything like that," Clarke said. “He always told me from Day 1, ‘If you come to Kentucky, you’re going to have to work.’ And that’s one of the things I need, I need a coach that’s going to push me and make me a better player and person. I think me going to Kentucky, I can elevate my game to the next level and try to get to the next level.”
That, of course, is an unspoken element when any top recruit commits: The hope for Clarke is that after a year at Kentucky, he will announce his intention to enter the NBA.
For Clarke’s mother, Osmine Clarke, the fact that her son is an NBA prospect is almost overwhelming -- especially when she recalls sending Terrence off to train with Foy and Ball at first.
“I was like, ‘Okay, go ahead and work with him,’ thinking he was just a regular kid playing ball, just to be out of the house and off the streets,” Osmine said. “Just an average kid. Then when they told me, ‘No, Terrence is really good. He could make the NBA,’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
At first, Osmine didn’t believe Foy. But before long, coaches and members of the basketball community began approaching her after watching Terrence play.
“They’d come up to me and be like, ‘Mom, congratulations, you’ve got a special kid,’” Osmine said. “I just thank God. I’m just grateful.”
Osmine thought Terrence might stay home and play for Boston College (although she added that she’s “happy with the choice he made”). After all, inspiring the Boston community clearly means a lot to her son.
“Boston is always getting downgraded as not the best basketball city, and that’s one thing I take personal,” Clarke told the community center at large.
The only problem: Prospects like Clarke don’t come around often in most cities. At 6-foot-7 with long arms and great athleticism, Clarke combines great physical tools and a polished skill set for his age. While his jumper still needs some work, his form is excellent, and he creates separation nicely with his handle. A natural scorer, Clarke is the type of prospect who rises on draft boards, especially given his character and focus.
“You only have to show him things once, and he remembers it and he can go out and actually apply it right there in the game,” Ball said. “With that, he’s intelligent, and his ability to apply things, you kind of see him get things very quickly.”
Top-tier NBA prospects need a unique combination of genetics and work ethic. But while Clarke has both, he hopes he can still inspire people who might not.
“I tell (all the young guys) to just keep on going,” Clarke said. “That’s kind of the main thing for me. I kind of always was here. I always stayed here. I used to come here at like 8 a.m. and never leave until like 7 p.m., because I just wanted to get better. I kind of just tell everybody, you’ve just got to keep on working. It doesn’t matter what happens, you fall you’re gonna get back up. I just tell them every day, all the kids that’s been here around here. You’ve just got to keep on going."