How Being a Walk-On at Syracuse University Changed My Life

The message was simple: you have to start being realistic with yourself. You’re not going to play in the NBA, so you have to start planning for your life now.

MAKING THE TOUGH DECISION

It’s one of the toughest decisions any high school athlete has to make: Where am I going to play in college? What University is best for me to succeed academically? The best for me to succeed athletically? Will I get along with the coaching staff? What about with the players that are already there? Year after year kids end up making the wrong decision which then leads them to transfer. Luckily not me—with my college decision, I made the best decision of my life.

I wasn’t a top 100 guy. I didn’t have major college coaches blowing my up phone, so even though I knew I was going to go somewhere to play basketball, it was different for me. I wasn’t the guy choosing between seven different Power Five schools.

 Ever since the sixth grade, the first time I stepped on Syracuse University campus, I dreamed of going there. My oldest brother, Kevin was a manager for the Men’s Basketball team beginning in 2009, his freshman year. The four years he was there were the four most winningest years in program history. People may know Brandon Triche for being the winningest player in Syracuse Basketball history. But I know Kevin Belbey for being the winningest manager in Syracuse Basketball history. Because of him my family and I would visit Syracuse every chance we had. We were even lucky enough to be able to go watch practices in the famous Carmelo Anthony K. Basketball Center, go in the locker room after games, and have unprecedented access to the program.

This was critical for me. I was able to create great relationships with the coaching staff at such a young age. I remember shooting around in the teams practice facility in the 8th grade with Coach Adrian Autry and Coach Gerry McNamara, thinking they were superheroes. All I ever dreamed of was playing for the Orange.

After my first trip to ‘Cuse, I had always thought that I was going to attend Syracuse University. That was up until my senior year of high school, when my parents and I decided to visit Saint Anselm’s College in Massachusetts. Saint Anselm’s is a Division 2 school that plays in one of the best D2 conferences in the country. They were recruiting me pretty hard, so we decided to take a look. To this day I still don’t know why we went on the visit—all I wanted to do was go to Syracuse, so why even go. But it all changed after that visit. My parents and I fell in love with everything about the school, and I was officially going to Saint Anselm’s. The visit was amazing. The players and coaches were awesome. It was just like Syracuse; it was everything I wanted in a school, but with the opportunity to get real playing time. For the next few weeks I was telling all my friends from high school that I was going to St. Anselm. One of my best friends from my high school had recently committed to a school in the same conference. It had seemed like the perfect scenario for me.

A few weeks later though I sat down with my parents and my two older brothers. Their message was simple: “You have to start being realistic with yourself. You’re not going to play in the NBA, so you have to start planning for your life now. So do you want to go play Division 2 or 3 and at your games mostly just have family and friends in the crowd at your games, or do you want to go to Syracuse and have 35,000 people in the crowd and make memories that you will remember for the rest of your life?”

I remember talking with a few of the Syracuse walk-ons who graduated with my brother Kevin and remember them telling me how they got big fancy jobs in New York City because they played basketball at Syracuse and how when they’d go on these job interviews and the person would see Syracuse Basketball, that’s all they would talk about. After hearing this and having the conversations with my family, my decision was final, I was officially going to Syracuse.

FOUR YEARS ON THE ‘CUSE BENCH  

Going into my freshman year at Syracuse, I didn’t really know what to expect. All I knew was, basketball was my life. I had started on every basketball team I’d ever been on, so I knew there was going to be some adjustments. I never thought I was going to actually play meaningful minutes in the games, but I always wanted to be one of the guys in practice.

From my frequent visits to Syracuse in middle school and high school, I sort of knew what practices was going to be like. Everyone had a role, even the walk-ons. But once the scrimmage time came, it would be the scholarship guys and then only 1 or 2 walk-ons. I knew I wanted to be one of those two guys, but my freshman year, I wasn’t. Two upperclassmen had those spots. They were much better than me. Doyin Akintobi-Adeyeye was a beast, at 6’9 he was so important for our team always challenging the big men, and Christian White who would sometimes even outplay the scholarship guys. Christian had actually played D1 at Monmouth University the year prior.

That year was a huge learning experience for me and our team. The highlight of that year was at a banquet the team has at the end of every year for the fans. At the end of the night, Coach Jim Boeheim always talks about each player one by one, that year when he got to me he said: “Every day or night you’re in the office and you hear a ball bouncing and there’s always one guy out there and its Shaun Belbey. He’s a freshman and he’s taken more shots and spent more time in the weight room then anyone on our team.” I felt like I made it. I always knew I worked extremely hard but felt like I got no credit for it, (which I never really needed) but I finally did, and it felt so good.

Our entire 2016 season was so up and down but we somehow ended up making the NCAA tournament and going all the way to the Final Four. That NCAA tournament run was legendary.

Still to this day people constantly talk to me about that run to the tournament. A 10 Seed that wasn’t even really supposed to be in the tournament who exceeded everyone’s expectations. Even after every game we won, all of the “experts” said we would lose our next game. We ended up making it all the way to the Final Four before losing to North Carolina.

The next four years, I was one of those two walk-ons that would play every day in the scrimmage. I used to say I was the starting point guard for the ‘orange team.’ The orange team was the scout team that would play against the starting five in practice.

My Junior year came around and again we barely made it into the NCAA tournament, having to play in a play-in-game to even get into the tournament. We ended up making it all the way to the Sweet 16, winning games the “experts” said we would never win. Our biggest game of the tournament was beating Michigan State in Detroit, Michigan in the Round of 32. Another Syracuse team who against all odds had to play one of the best team in the tournament on their home court. We ended up losing to a really good Duke team who ended up having two lottery picks in that years NBA Draft.

ONE MORE YEAR…

The experiences I had in my first four years at Syracuse were so surreal, that I didn’t want to leave. I had just earned a full scholarship as a senior which was something my family and I always dreamed of. It was a huge accomplishment for me. I had a big role in practice and really wasn’t ready to leave college. My parents always told me I had to get my master’s degree at some point in my life, so I thought why not now. I had the idea of redshirting my senior year so that I could come back for a fifth year and play again while getting my master’s degree. I went to Gerry McNamara who was my position coach with my idea. He said he thought it was a great idea and would ask Coach Boeheim for me. Later that day at practice Coach Boeheim and Coach McNamara both told me that they would love to have me come back if I wanted to. I was so happy. The funny thing I didn’t expect was that I got so much heat for the decision from my teammates. They didn’t understand why I wanted to come back for another year. But I did. It was all part of my plan. Come back to school, get my master’s degree and play another season of college basketball in the best conference in the country and continue to learn from one of the best coaches of all time. I also knew that I would probably receive another full scholarship if I came back, which I did.

While you’re in it, my teammates (and I) didn’t realize how spoiled D1 basketball players are if you play bigtime college basketball. You get a ridiculous amount of clothes and sneakers for free, you travel the country on private planes, and you stay in the fanciest hotels. Going into this last year, I also was able to go to Italy on an exhibition tour where we played pro teams and traveled the country. In my head--why wouldn’t I want to come back for a fifth year!

Other walk-ons and scholarship guys had always wondered why I worked so hard and why I loved being a part of the program so much. But basketball is my life and Syracuse basketball is legendary. Not many people in the world can say they have a Final Four ring with their name and numbered engraved in diamonds.

So… I came back for a 5th year, which was-again-one of the best decisions I have ever made. (Credit my parents for that again.) I earned a full scholarship for the second year in a row and was a huge part of the team in practices and with the coaching staff.

Most other walk-ons don’t have an experience like I had. If you don’t have a huge role in practice like I did and don’t love the game like I do, it can be very difficult to be a walk-on. It isn’t for everyone, but it was exactly right for me.

I have a lot of high school students reach out to me for advice about my experience as a walk-on and whether they should try to pursue that or go playing Division 2 or 3. I always tell them what my family told me all those years ago. You’re probably not going to play in the NBA, you’re not going to play overseas. Go be a walk-on at a Division 1 school, work as hard as you possibly can, make 500 3’s every single day (like I did) spend an hour in the weight room every single day like I did and you may earn a scholarship one day. But like I said earlier, it’s not for everyone, you really have to love the game and if you’re not one of the guys who contributes in practice, it can be tough.

People think walk-ons basically just hand out towels and water bottles. That’s not true at all. Throughout my five years, I did everything the scholarship players did, I got every piece of gear that the starting five would get. I just didn’t get a scholarship- I paid full tuition (until my last two years). Some of my high school friends used to make fun of me asking how it feels to sit on the bench every game. To be honest, I didn’t care because (1) I was playing in one of the most famous arenas in college basketball in front of 35,000 fans and (2) every single day I was scrimmaging against some of the best players in the country at practice. It’s not like I’m not playing, just wouldn’t play in the games. So, I’d ask them how it feels playing in front of 20 people in a gym smaller than most high schools. Now to be clear, I’m not discrediting anyone who plays D2 or D3. There are a ton of amazing players who end up playing D2 or D3 basketball. In fact, one of the best players I’ve ever seen in person is a guy named Mitchell Kates. He was a few years older than me, but we used to workout with the same trainer in high school. He played at a high school in the New Jersey area and then went on to play at Division 3 MIT University. Of course, MIT is known for their academics, but their basketball team was extremely good when he was there. He left MIT as an All-American, the school’s all-time leader in assists and steals and led them to four NCAA tournaments, the 2012 Final Four and the No. 1 national ranking. In his four years as the starting point guard his record was 91-22. I tell people this all the time: there’s no doubt in my mind that Mitchell could have played at Syracuse or any other high major program. Just look at Duncan Robinson, some guys just fall through the cracks. Duncan Robinson is currently the starting shooting guard for the Miami Heat. But eight years ago, he graduated high school with zero Division 1 scholarship offers. He ended up doing a fifth year of high school before committing to Division 3 Williams College. Now, let me be clear, Williams College is one of the best Division 3 basketball schools in the country. After averaging 17 points per game as a freshman at Williams College, he decided to transfer. He would end up playing 3 years at the University of Michigan before going undrafted in 2018.

OPPORTUNITIES OFF THE BENCH

Not only did Syracuse Basketball give me amazing experiences during every season and school year but it helped me get so many opportunities I couldn’t even imagine having.

The past three summers I’ve interned with Drew Hanlen who is the top NBA skills coach in the world. Drew works with guys like Brad Beal, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Zach Lavine, and more. I’ve been able to be around these guys every single day while they workout. I have passed, rebounded and played live defense with them all. The past two summers I was also the assistant trainer for the Professional Basketball Combine. A second-tier NBA combine for players that don’t get invited to the real NBA combine. Each summer there has been 25 NBA draft prospects and over 50 NBA scouts at the combine. I was able to help run the skills and drills for the workouts and this past summer was the first time I started doing training on my own. I happened to meet 2x NBA All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas outside a frozen yogurt shop in Los Angeles. This random encounter ultimately led us to get together for a basketball workout. We started working together in LA and it went so well, that he asked me to join him on a trip to China in the upcoming weeks to continue working out.

A few weeks ago, I was part of the first basketball back in the country since the Covid-19 pandemic at The Basketball Tournament. (“TBT”) The Basketball Tournament is a single elimination winner take all $2million dollar tournament. I was an assistant coach for the Boeheim’s Army TBT team. I helped recruit a team made up of Syracuse University Alumni, who would ultimately end up making the field of 24 selected teams to compete in the 2020 TBT tournament. Our roster included four former first round NBA Draft picks including: Tyler Lydon, Malachi Richardson, Chris McCullough and Donte Greene. I helped run practices and film sessions. (Tyler and Chris both had to drop out the week of the tournament due to injury).

Now don’t get me wrong, I had to work really hard on my own and still make them all happen, but I think if it wasn’t for Syracuse, I wouldn’t have had these incredible opportunities.

My family is forever orange. My oldest brother Kevin graduated from there with three degrees. An ungraduated degree from S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, a Master’s degree from Newhouse, and his Juris Doctor from Syracuse Law School. My middle brother Ryan graduated from Syracuse with a master’s degree in Bio-Medical Forensic Science and I graduated from Syracuse with an undergrad degree in Sport Management and a master’s degree in Sport Venue & Event management both from the David B. Falk College of Sport & Human Dynamics.

If you have the opportunity to be a walk-on at a Division 1 school, don’t overlook it. It can change your life. It changed mine.

If I didn’t attend Syracuse University and wasn’t a member of the basketball team, I am not sure where I would be today.

Thanks, ‘Cuse!