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Issue link: http://dimemagazine.epubxp.com/i/56522
WHAT'S MY NAME? WORDS. Alejandro Danois PHOTO. Long Beach State Media Relations Casper Ware Jr. His astonishing quickness, vision, scoring and passing ability alone will make you take notice. But when you combine his rare humility and leadership with also being a supreme ball hawk and defensive disruptor, Long Beach State's Casper Ware Jr. – despite his low profile – is among the top point guards in the country. Last season, he became the first player ever in the history of the Big West to receive the Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the same season. When the 5-10 senior point guard was in diapers, the game was already providing the defining soundtrack of his upbringing. Every summer since birth, he could be found at the venerable Drew League in South Central Los Angeles, one of the country's premier summer Pro-Am leagues. But he was more than a mere bystander or fan. His father, Casper Ware Sr., was a preeminent playground legend from L.A., a cold-blooded scorer with baffling range who starred at Fremont High School in the late '70s before becoming a JUCO All- American and playing at Loyola Marymount University. Every Christmas, while other fam- ilies were unwrapping presents, the Ware family tradition was blocking off the street to play full court. During one heated contest, young Casper ran into the house in tears, insisting that his uncle was cheating. "He was crying over a game they were playing outside and that just showed me how much that determination was inside him," says Casper Sr. In addition to the family lore, Casper Jr. began to understand more about his father's prowess as he traveled around the city to play. "I'd walk into a gym, and people would be like, 'Are you Casper's son?' says Casper Jr. "They'd be like, 'Aw man, your dad was baaad back in the day! He'd pull from anywhere and scored 40 regularly, without the three-point line." When Long Beach State coach Dan Monson saw Casper in high school, he was convinced that he was the key recruit to turning around a 49ers program that had only six wins the season prior. "Casper was the second tallest person on his high school team and I went to watch him play against Mater Dei, where he was guarding one of the Wear twins – the 6-11 kids who are now at UCLA," says Monson. But ever since his sophomore year at Gahr High School, Casper Jr. had been playing against NBA players, overseas pros and college stars during his summers in the place that forged his father's legend, the Drew League. "That gave me all the confidence in the world," says Casper Jr. "That's why guarding that Wear twin wasn't anything to me." During his first year in college, Ware set Long Beach State's freshman assist record. Against Clemson as a sophomore, he copped 20 points and 10 assists and finished the year as the conference leader in dimes and steals. Last year, he followed up being an honorable mention All- American by earning MVP honors this summer at the Drew League. "I just stayed in attack mode, playing against guys like James Harden and DeMar DeRozan," says Casper Jr. "After I scored 43 against Steve Blake and J.R. Smith, I knew I could measure up to anybody." This season, Ware opened up with 20 points and four assists against Idaho, followed by 28 and six and 26 and six against Pitt and San Diego State, respectively. Monson though was more impressed with Ware's reaction after the 77-73 loss to San Diego State than any victory this season. "Casper carried us with 26 points," says Monson. "The game never would've been close with- out him. The next day, I got a text from him saying, 'Coach, that loss was on me. I didn't have the guys ready enough.'" Undefeated in conference play as this issue went to press, Ware is averaging 16.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. When he led Long Beach to an 86-76 victory over Pitt on the road in mid-November, LeBron James, who teamed with Ware at the Drew League, tweeted, "Casper Ware a problem out there!!" Less than a month later, he dropped 29 points, four rebounds and five assists in a six-point loss at North Carolina. "He's got NBA scouts at practice almost every day looking at him," says Monson. "They know he can put up numbers. What they're looking for is the art form of leading your team to wins." As Casper Jr. puts it, "If we don't get the win, I don't feel like I did my job." 21