The Spencer Redbirds (red) and York Generals (white) tip off the “NBA 2K16″ Medina County League Tournament championship game
Want boys basketball players to have your undivided attention? Use “High school” and “2K” in the same sentence.
Bet you any money they stop dead in their tracks (Buckeye guard Braeden Stauffer’s jaw drop was particularly memorable).
The term “2K” is slang for the video game “NBA 2K16,” the award-winning sports franchise produced by 2K Games. The in-game TV show host is none other than talented 2008 Wadsworth High graduate Rachel DeMita.
Almost every prep player owns an NBA 2K game. He’ll talk smack while battling buddies online, ball out with his favorite team and even use facial scanning software to create his likeness and embark on a career against LeBron James, Stephen Curry and the rest of The Association.
He’s never seen anything like this, though:
Before Highland (1952), Buckeye (1953), Black River (1958) and Cloverleaf (1960) were established, most townships had their own school system and accompanying basketball team.
The Medina County League featured 13 schools at its height — minus Medina and Wadsworth — and the season-ending MCL Tournament on the old Medina High auditorium stage (now the Medina County Administration Building) was an annual spectacle that brought the area together.
Before reading further, burn this into your brain: These Homer Cavaliers, Lodi Tigers, Granger Rockets and Liverpool Flying Dutchmen, among others, were real. Their uniforms, real. Their logos, real. Alumni are at least 75 years old, but community passion runs as thick as blood.
What if the Medina County League existed today? Who would play for what team? What would their uniforms look like? Most importantly, who would win?
This is where fantasy and reality collide.
Early this season, Black River, Buckeye, Cloverleaf and Highland players provided their home townships. MCL teams were compiled accordingly, but four — the Litchfield Orange and Black, Chatham Oilers, Hinckley Wildcats and Seville Barbers — couldn’t field complete rosters and their players were “given” to a neighboring school (luckily, most of these moves matched historical context).
Brunswick also was excluded because of sheer size, resulting in an eight-team league of the Spencer Redbirds (scarlet/gray), Homer Cavaliers (green/white), York Generals (purple/gold), Liverpool Flying Dutchmen (blue/white), LeRoy Red Raiders (red/white), Lodi Tigers (black/gold), Granger Rockets (green/gold) and Sharon Bulldogs (red/black).
Then began the process of creating players in “NBA 2K16” — not forgetting out-for-the-season Blake Brumfield, Connor Rhine and Matthew Potter — using accurate heights, weights and skills (more on that in a bit). Every player is wearing his real-life jersey number and most are rocking their shoes (Nike Zoom Solider 9s are popular). If they wear a knee sleeve, wrist tape, undershirt or ankle brace, they wear one in the game, too.
The true chore was facial design, as the aforementioned facial scan software, in layman’s terms, applies only to a specific game mode and thus was unavailable. Eye colors and hair styles were calculated using headshots, and the amount of detail the game provides is staggering, right down to brow height, chin width, ear size and facial asymmetry (can’t make that up).
Some of the player models are creepy realistic (Brumfield, Mike Hazlett, Travis Hissom, Collin Levandowski, Justin Lowry), while others didn’t come out well no matter how determined the attempt (Joe Wiencek, Liam Murray, Allan Benson, Michael Martin, Tyler Frederick). A lot of sleep was lost over them nonetheless.
Next came 42 attributes, 68 tendencies and 82 special skills called “badges” for all 58 players to program the game for who does what and how well (or poorly) they do it. Examples are Mikey Novick is a pass-first point guard, Isaac Matejin is a power forward with range (aka “Stretch 4”), Timmy Schuerger is a volume shooter and Nathan Polidori is a flashy, athletic scorer. Getting every virtual player to compete as realistically as possible was painstaking but also the most critical aspect.
Skill-rating discussion was when interest naturally peaked. Murray half-jokingly/half-seriously said he’d be upset if his overall rating wasn’t at least 80 (spoiler alert: fifth-best player at 77), while Polidori asked if his dropped because of two sprained ankles (no) and Bruce Barnby only cared about his hustle attribute (the 6-foot-5, 280-pound Findlay football recruit thinks he’s Anderson Varejao).
Finally, the fun began. A traditional 14-game league season was simulated to lock in seeding for the ultimate prize, the MCL Tournament.
This is when the project shined, as the fourth-seeded Spencer Redbirds caught fire and thrillingly reached the title game against the second-seeded York Generals. Redbirds guard Benson distributed while Roupe was playing like a possessed man-child, banking in an elbow jumper with 3.7 seconds left to take down Lodi and scoring 25 second-half points (not a typo) in an upset of the top-seeded Sharon Bulldogs.
That epic double-overtime championship game between Spencer and York is chronicled elsewhere in this unique section, but the original goal — bringing generations of county basketball players together with a massive, you-need-a-life enterprise — was achieved.
Here’s how I’ll wrap it up:
Gently used copy of “NBA 2K16”: $45. Extension cord to keep battery of PlayStation 4 controller charged: $6. Man hours lost: Enough that my head will explode if I hear another Drake, D.J. Premier, Wiz Khalifa or Jay Z song.
Teaching these 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds local history in a way they’ll talk about at class reunions: Absolutely, positively, you-better-believe-this-was-worth-it priceless.
Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.