Cunningham doesn't regret tough road to D-1 basketball

TROY – Steven Cunningham’s road from star at a small private school to contributor at a Division I program has been long and filled with some bumps and bruises, but certainly no regrets.

Cunningham, now a senior forward for Troy and once a three-time state champion at Northside Methodist Academy, is getting closer to the end of his college career.

The journey – he has just two more home games left, beginning with Saturday’s 1 p.m. game against Western Kentucky – took him 700 miles away from home and through a severe knee injury.

“I’ve just been reflecting over the past couple of days,” Cunningham said. “My teammates I’ve had, people I’ve been around, the fun times we’ve had even with last year’s team, we didn’t have a really good team, but my teammates and I built a bond.”

Even this year, he battled back from a fractured orbital (bones that surround the eye) in November to continue his main role. As a senior, he’s scoring 5.6 points per game, but the 6-foot-4 Cunningham normally has at least one rim-rattling dunk or big rejection every game.

“His athleticism is as good as anybody in the league,” Troy head coach Don Maestri said. “He has to focus on playing every play with a lot of effort.”

His athleticism almost went unnoticed. As a youngster, Cunningham admitted he was hanging around the wrong crowd and getting into too many fights. His parents pulled him out of Northview High after his ninth grade year and moved him to Northside Methodist Academy.

It was the best thing for him, personally and for his basketball career. Then-head coach Mike Johnson, who knew Cunningham from him coming to his camps over the years, took Cunningham under his wing.

The Knights won three state Alabama Christian Education Athletic Association championships during Cunningham’s three years at the school.

“He was very coachable,” said Johnson, who is now coaching at Emmanuel Christian School. “He was the sixth man as a sophomore and still played a lot of minutes, but I had nine seniors who had been with me for a while. He never complained one bit, even though he was probably our most athletic player.”

Cunningham became a focal point over his last two years, but Johnson knew scouts weren’t going to come watch his team take on other private schools. Johnson suggested to Cunningham and his father that he go to the Bob Gibbons Evaluation Clinic before his senior season.

Gibbons rates every player in attendance, suggesting which level they would be fit for, from high major down to junior college or even non-prospect. That scouting report gets sent to numerous colleges.

“I told his father that nobody was going to come out here and watch,” Johnson said. “We had to get him to where people can see him.”

Cunningham was rated as a low major Division I prospect, Johnson said. Immediately, the light switch came on in Cunningham’s head when he realized he had a future at the next level.

“After that, I had to kick him out of the gym because he wanted to be there all the time,” Johnson said. “At one point, finally I just gave him a key. I wanted what was best for him, and that was him being in the gym all the time.”

At that point, Cunningham was starting to prove people wrong because he was posting gaudy numbers at a smaller school against weaker competition.

“People that played against me knew I could play, but people who had never seen me play were thinking I couldn’t do it against big schools,” Cunningham said. “At first, I’m thinking, ‘Why wouldn’t you be able to think I would be able to do it?’

“No matter what you do, there’s people that are still going to doubt you. I just try to prove them wrong.”

Cunningham had some interest from Air Force and Jacksonville State, but the first offer came from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., a successful Division II school where he had a chance to play right away.

He played in 27 games off the bench as a freshman, but suffered a torn patella tendon and dislocated knee while playing pick-up ball after the season.

He went home to Dothan to rehab it, taking classes at Wallace during the fall. SBU wanted him back next year, but only offered a partial scholarship to come back. At that point, the doors opened to walk-on at Troy.

“My parents didn’t want me to go 700 miles away if we still had to pay for school, and plus it was a private school so it’s more expensive,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham played sparingly after becoming eligible in the second semester of the 2010 season, but the Trojans won a regular season Sun Belt title. Last year, Cunningham was inserted into the starting lineup after Troy started 0-2 in Sun Belt play, and he started the final 14 games.

Troy struggled to an 8-21 record last year, but six of those wins came after Cunningham became a starter. After the season, he was awarded a scholarship.

“He’s a great example of a guy that worked himself into a full scholarship,” Maestri said. “That happens a lot more in football. It very seldom happens in basketball and it’s a lot bigger accomplishment than people realize.

“He certainly was doing what he was supposed to, and we had kids who were starting that weren’t living up to their potential, so we made the change and started Steve, and we started winning.”

Cunningham will graduate this summer and said he hopes to get a shot professionally. If not, he’ll stay around the game, either training people or coaching.

If not for Johnson and his support group at Northside Methodist Academy at the time, any dreams of playing Division I basketball likely would have gone unfulfilled.

“I was around people who were positive influences,” Cunningham said. “I had to get my spiritual life right. I was praying, and I had a lot of positive people around me. I always had a group of supporters there who had your back.”