Drew makes peace with rocky past at UNC
LOS ANGELES – Through the blurred picture and muffled sound of a cell phone camera, Larry Drew II found catharsis.
He stood in the middle of the stage at the Congo Room at LA Live, the guest of honor, wearing all black and clutching a microphone, when suddenly inspiration struck.
UCLA guard Larry Drew II at the Bruins' game against Oregon on January 19 at Pauley Pavillion.
ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
He had never planned to pour his heart out to the guests of his 21st birthday party – all of them well aware of his highly publicized, highly criticized departure from North Carolina just a month before. But he had hid his feelings long enough.
For the four weeks leading up to this point, since he left without a word from Chapel Hill, Drew stewed back in California.
The national media attacked him ferociously for the way he had left, after his father, Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew Sr. informed North Carolina coach Roy Williams by phone that his son would no longer be playing for him.
Drew harbored resentment for how the situation had played out. He felt unfairly painted as the villain by the media and unable to defend himself.
And so, in the middle of the stage at the Congo Room, Drew confronted it all.
I mean the last three years I can't undo, but now I'm making all the moves I want to.
He grew louder, more intense as his words did the same.
They tried to tell me just to play my role, but who's really trying to stick to a script that's filled with typos?
It was a rhyme he had written to try and get his feelings on paper, still bothered by his time at North Carolina. Soon enough, those feelings would go viral, spreading like wildfire to every media outlet with a voice. "This kid just doesn't get it," the headlines read. The circus would start up again.
Like a horror flick, they made me out to be a monster. (Expletive) (expletive), I should have won an Oscar.
It's not often that people come out to Hollywood to escape the limelight – the city teeming with the tension of stardom, unfulfilled and otherwise. But for Drew, it was as much an escape as a return home.
On the plane ride back from North Carolina to Los Angeles, he put on his headphones to block out the noise. Almost immediately, he started writing – a habit he started on team flights with the Tar Heels. He had been lonely and out of sorts in Chapel Hill; writing gave him the outlet he needed.
"He felt that was his getaway," his mother, Sharon Curry-Drew, said.
For the month that followed between his leaving Chapel Hill and standing on a stage at LA Live, Drew spent time trying to find himself again. His mom began to notice the subtle differences. Most of all, she said, he just seemed happier.
Drew was lambasted by the media for his cathartic poetry reading at his 21st birthday. But for him, the spontaneity of it all made it feel like a step forward.
"It was a spur-of-the-moment type of thing," Drew said.
"Like when I left Carolina, that wasn't really planned to a tee like that, it was kind of just operating on my feelings. It just came from the heart."
It was a necessary part of the journey back, his mom would add later. But many members of the college basketball media felt a different way; they questioned whether he was even worth taking a chance on.
UCLA coach Ben Howland took to Drew quickly, seeing a second chance at a missed opportunity after the Bruins dropped Drew's offer after he refused to commit early. A year would pass for Drew on Howland's bench, waiting for his turn – all the while becoming in touch with the person he'd lost somewhat back in Chapel Hill.
Soon enough, as the Bruins would go into the 2012-13 season with one of the nation's top recruiting classes, it was Drew who Howland was referring to as "indispensable."
Being the only senior on UCLA's roster gave Drew a sense of ownership this season that he hadn't experienced before. And as the season began to unfold, it was clear that something had changed in him.
At North Carolina, fans called him "Turnover Jesus."
In Westwood, Drew is second in assist-to-turnover ratio in the entire nation at 3.8:1 heading into UCLA's matchup with USC today — almost double the ratio he had with the Tar Heels.
Lately, he has even found his jump shot – something he acknowledges he has struggled with throughout college. He's shooting 44 percent from the field now – up 5 percent from his last season at North Carolina – and his past four games have been north of 50 percent.
"People might see me play and say, 'He really changed as a player,'" Drew said.
"But to me, it's just like, 'Finally.' I'm just now starting to play the game how I played when I was in high school. When I was in North Carolina, I wasn't really playing like myself. I wasn't the player I was accustomed to being my entire life. Now, it's like, I'm finally getting back to that."
He's even sharing some of his raps and poems with his teammates.
"I knew he used to write stuff at Carolina, but I never heard him freestyle," junior Travis Wear said. "I never heard his stuff. But here, he'll freestyle for all of us. We'll all listen."
Curry-Drew refers to her son's time at North Carolina as simply "an experience" — all a part of life's journey. Drew has no regrets. He doesn't think much on his mistakes. He's wiser for them; all a part of the journey, he repeats.
There's a calm about Larry Drew II now – a sense that he has found peace. It's a demeanor that brings to mind a specific, fitting lyric from that night at the Congo Room.
What I've learned is success is a process, so I progress.
Contact the writer: rkartje@ocregister.com
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