Nae’Qwan Tomlin always had a basketball in his hands.

At home, in the Harlem, New York, apartment he shared with his mother, 13-year-old brother and 8-year-old sister, who is “going on 48,” their mother, Aisha Ishmael, quips. On the playground – the famed Rucker Park, located directly across the street from where he grew up. During school – the Urban Assembly School for Green Careers, situated on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

If Tomlin was awake – sometimes even when he wasn’t – the faded orange basketball with “Naequizzle” magic-markered across it was by his side, a nod to his one-time PlayStation account handle. Like Linus and his blue blanket, creature and creature-comfort were inseparable.

Until they weren’t.

This is the part of Tomlin’s story where his future veers dramatically. Because, in a gleaming example of an ironic twist, it was perhaps the moment his beloved basketball was forcibly removed from his clutches that his vast potential was unlocked.

Before his prized possession was taken away — because he refused to stop dribbling it up and down the halls — Tomlin had not played even a minute of organized basketball, because he was not meeting the required academic benchmarks. Even after the ball was confiscated, in a scene principal Kerry Decker still remembers as "a little dramatic," Tomlin never played for his high school and never played on the AAU circuit, instead making his bones the hardscrabble way, playing pickup streetball wherever he could get next.

More than five years later, Memphis’ 6-foot-10 do-everything powerhouse has already scored junior college All-America honors and led Kansas State to the Elite Eight. Now, he's blossoming at the perfect time for Penny Hardaway and the Tigers as they fight for their NCAA tournament lives while drawing increasing interest from NBA scouts.

“If you’d told me when I was in Harlem (that) I’d be a high-major Division I player, I would’ve said, ‘Get outta here with that nonsense,' ” Tomlin said recently.

Nae’Qwan Tomlin a hidden gem

Born in Brooklyn, Tomlin's family moved to Harlem in 2011.

Leonardo Blackman, currently the athletic director and a guidance counselor where Tomlin went to school, began there as an assistant coach for the boys basketball team. He remembers when the lanky youngster caught his eye. Blackman, before approaching him, did his research and learned he was struggling academically and behaviorally.

“Not like he was getting into fights or causing mischief,” said Blackman. “Just a silly, goofy high school teenager type of thing. In other words, he needed to reevaluate his priorities.”

But that would take time, which Tomlin was short on. So, in the fall of his junior year, Blackman turned to Steve Barnett, by all accounts one of the pivotal figures in Tomlin's story, even now. A fast-talking, no-nonsense Harlem native, Barnett specializes in ensuring young people like Tomlin, who unfailingly refers to him as “Uncle Steve,” don’t fall through the cracks.

Barnett saw promise in Tomlin, so he set up a workout for him with Tom McTernan, co-founder of Big Apple Sports and a respected talent evaluator. But things got off on the wrong foot.

“When (Blackman) brought him to the gym, I said, ‘First thing, you’re 15 minutes late. That’s unacceptable,’” Barnett said. “We’ve got to change the way you think.’”

Barnett, Blackman and McTernan, known as "Tippy," weren't the only ones trying to get through to Tomlin. Decker worked extensively with him, hoping his grades would improve enough to play basketball and graduate.

But there was too much work to do for Tomlin to play on the high school team. He earned his diploma a couple of months after his graduation ceremony, and Decker is still proud about it.

To this day, though, Decker admits she second-guesses herself. She wonders whether blocking Tomlin from participating in sports was the right move. Decker’s friends and colleagues still have to reassure her that she had his best interests at heart. But it doesn’t stop her from wrestling with the notion she could have done more to help him.

“Did I provide Nae’Qwan enough opportunities to get the support he needed to play basketball?” she asks rhetorically. “Did I do enough? I don’t know. I still feel really bad.”

Which is partly why Decker goes harder now, striving to give her time and energy to those facing hardships like Tomlin's.

“I never want to look back and feel guilty like I do with Nae’Qwan," she said. "And, I have to say, I do feel guilty."

Rucker Park and being discovered

Determined to sharpen Tomlin’s skills, Barnett spent hours every day over the course of years with his young protégé at Rucker Park.

A basketball mecca of sorts, the outdoor court has become hallowed ground for many. A who’s who of NBA icons have graced the playing surface, from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Kobe Bryant to Kevin Durant and many more.

It's an integral part of Tomlin’s origin story. Barnett incorporated the notorious “100 steps” – a steep staircase on the 155^th Street side of the park that, as locals tell it, acts as the ultimate test for those hoping to make it to the NBA.

“They say, if you’re gonna go pro, you’ve got to be able to run those stairs,” Blackman said.

But running them wasn’t enough for Barnett. He had Tomlin run them daily – while holding a medicine ball above his head all the way up.

“I had him do 10 of those every day,” said Barnett.

By the fall of 2018, Tomlin was ready. He enrolled at Strength N Motion International, a prep school in San Antonio, Texas, run by Hall of Famer George Gervin. But it wasn’t a good fit. Barnett quickly turned to Davon Jackson, then an assistant coach at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y.

“He’s like, ‘I got the guy for you,’” Jackson recalls of his conversation with Barnett. “I’m like, ‘I’ve heard that before.’”

Jackson, still skeptical, showed up with high expectations. Tomlin exceeded them.

“You knew instantly he was special,” Jackson said. “I get back in the car and called my head coach (Jerry Burns). I said, 'I got one that’s gonna be a stud for us.’”

On the fast track

Tomlin spent one season at Monroe Community College, averaging 13.3 points and 8.8 rebounds. But Barnett wanted more of a challenge for Tomlin, so he found a landing spot for him at Chipola Junior College in Florida, playing for former Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall.

Tomlin flourished there, too, helping Chipola reach the NJCAA Tournament in back-to-back years. There, he caught the attention of first-year Kansas State coach Jerome Tang. Tomlin committed to the Wildcats before taking an official visit.

“When they visited me in my dorm, I knew I was coming to K-State," Tomlin told the KSU athletics website in 2022. " I just felt the bond. I liked Coach Tang's passion and what he saw in me.”

Tomlin, an unlikely star during the Wildcats’ Elite Eight run, burst onto the national scene. His success pushed him to test the NBA draft waters last offseason. But he opted to take advantage of his final season of eligibility. The only problem was Tomlin landed in hot water following an October disorderly conduct arrest stemming from a bar fight. Despite being granted diversion in the case, Kansas State decided to cut ties and dismissed Tomlin in December.

“That was hard,” said Ishmael, a former daycare worker who is now going to school to be a financial advisor. “He tried to be strong for the both of us, trying not to dwell on it. Because, he knew if he did, it would make me more upset."

Enter Penny Hardaway. Memphis had it all: an open scholarship, the desire for another star and a connection to Tomlin – in director of scouting Jordan VerHulst, a member of Tyndall’s coaching staff at Chipola. All of that was enough to convince Tomlin to pick Memphis over Houston, the runner-up for his services, he said.

It took some time for Tomlin to find his footing with the Tigers. But he has become another go-to guy for Hardaway, next to All-American candidate David Jones and point guard Jahvon Quinerly. Tomlin is averaging 11.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 17 games at Memphis. Last week, he broke out with 21 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks in a big win over FAU in front of 19 NBA scouts at FedExForum.

Blackman still has that faded orange basketball, the one with “Naequizzle” in big letters. He took a picture of it and sent it to Tomlin recently. To which Tomlin replied, “Nah no way,” in delightful disbelief. Blackman and Decker still use it as a tool. A tangible reminder to students in Tomlin's former position that the harder you work, the better off you’ll be.

“He just needed a break,” said Barnett. “Everybody in life, we make mistakes. But we learn how to get up off the floor and make the best of it.”

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Nae'Qwan Tomlin beat odds to rise to Memphis basketball