NEW YORK \u2014 Always, the dream begins very young. The ones to be chosen are the ones who never outgrow it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst time a ball was put in my hands,\u201d Liam McNeeley<\/a> says. \u201cI was like, 4 years old. In Kindergarten, you had the \u2018What did you want to be when you grow up?\u2019 Professional basketball player, that\u2019s what I wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n That was, as UConn fans know, in Richardson, Texas<\/a>, outside of Dallas, where McNeeley was born into a family of basketball players and his first coach was his mother, Ashley Elsey, who played for Rice<\/a>. She put the ball in his hands, she\u2019s captain of the team behind the dream.<\/p>\n And now here they are, in New York, Team McNeeley at the NBA Draft<\/a>. McNeeley will soon be assigned to a team, ready to put away his Dirk Nowitzki<\/a> jerseys to wear one of his own.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m probably going to cry tears of joy,\u201d Elsey says. \u201cI\u2019m probably going to be thinking about that little, 2 1\/2-year old and the first time he went to play YMCA basketball with the 4- and 5-year-olds and he was so happy\u00a0to have a ball in his hands. \u2026 And that he made it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018He really stepped forward\u2019: Jay Bilas\u2019 take on UConn\u2019s Liam McNeeley ahead of NBA Draft<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n McNeeley, 19, is projected to be picked in the middle of the first round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.<\/a> He and his family arrived in New York, settled in at the Lotte New York Palace<\/a> hotel for the pre-draft festivities this week, to be joined by Dan Hurley and UConn\u2019s staff in time for the selections.<\/p>\n So much of these events nowadays look performative. From the jacket-lining right down to the shoes \u2014 McNeeley has warned they will be red bottoms \u2014 much of the draft is made for TV, the family shots, the entourages, the drama unfolding should a player not be picked as high as the projections which, of course, mean little to begin with.<\/p>\n But there are genuine stories behind it all, the player who worked at it, overcame adversity, made fruitful decisions, catapulted the competition, and the family who facilitated it, team behind the dream.<\/p>\n McNeeley has done all of that, and he will become UConn basketball\u2019s third \u201cone-and-done,\u201d going to the NBA after one season in Storrs, 13 years after Andre Drummond<\/a> and one year after Stephon Castle.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI never discouraged him from pursuing his dream to play in the NBA,\u201d Elsey says. \u201cWe were very real about the work it would take and the sacrifice it would take, but I really believed in him and generally believed if you want something bad enough, and you work hard enough, you can get it.\u201d<\/p>\n That started at the YMCA in Richardson, long before McNeeley, now 6 feet 7, played with five-star teammates at Montverde Academy in Florida, long before he joined Hurley\u2019s ultimately unsuccessful run for a threepeat at UConn. McNeeley was about 4, and playing against first graders, 6- and 7-year olds, which is almost unfathomable. Then he asked to play with his friends, his age.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t cross half-court to steal the ball,\u201d Ashley says, \u201cso I\u2019d just have him stand at the half-court line and I would say \u2018go\u2019 and he would steal as soon as they crossed half court and score, and he\u2019d be so giddy about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Liam played at Pearce, his hometown high school, then to John Paul II in Plano, a step up in competition. Then he made the big move to Montverde, where he played with Cooper Flag, the projected No.1 pick, Asa Newell and Derik Queen, all in New York, all expected to go in the first round Wednesday. There was a point where Elsey worried that it was a mistake, but McNeeley worked his way onto the court at Montverde, too.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us played basketball, we all love basketball in our family,\u201d his mom says, \u201cbut not any of us ever worked as hard as Liam did. His focus and determination was unparalleled.\u201d<\/p>\n Dom Amore: As Jim Calhoun was sweating it out, one of his guys brought home an NBA title<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The decision to go the UConn was a natural. \u201cThe intensity matched,\u201d Elsey says. \u201cThe intensity and the care factor is what attracted him.\u201d<\/p>\n His year at UConn had its ups and downs, in part due to an ankle injury. But there was never any talk of a second year. When McNeeley and Hurley sat down after the season, it was an exit meeting, Hurley telling him he would be a great NBA player.<\/p>\n