Arizona's Talbott Denny living his childhood dream, with a sad twist

The lottery winner who suddenly starts hearing from the lost third cousin; the honeymooners whose bags get lost somewhere between one Bora and the other.

As the confetti rained down on the Arizona basketball team Saturday in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, forward Talbott Denny looked up toward the sky at the red, white and blue snow coming down.

 

Never in his wildest dreams did he picture this.

 

OK, so maybe in his wildest dreams, but, he said in the postgame locker room session, “I never thought about this as a reality.”

 

In an alternate reality, maybe he even gets a few minutes, picks up a rebound and a foul, thrills mom and dad.

 

Guess that’ll have to wait.

Part I of the dream began last April, when Denny — a Tucson native and Salpointe Catholic High School grad — found himself without a home, and Arizona found itself with a roster light on scholarship players.

 

UA coach Sean Miller knew the game going in: Recruit enough first-round picks, and supplement those with enough grad transfers, and the Wildcats might end up light at the end of the bench.

 

What Denny didn’t know, though, is that Miller even knew who he was.

 

For that, he needed an assist from Pima College coach Brian Peabody.

 

“I ran into Sean at a recruiting event, asked if there was any interest in Talbott and Sean said definitely,” said Peabody, who once coached Denny on a club team. “I explained to him what Talbott was about, the kind of kid he is, and the response was, you can’t have too many of those guys. It was on the back burner at that point, so I asked Talbott, ‘Would you have any interest?’”

 

Denny’s response: “Oh, God, yeah.”

 

At the time, Miller said Denny could at the very least walk on to the team, but after a three-year run at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, Denny knew he had full-time offers. His Bisons career was cut short by a shoulder injury after Denny averaged six points and five rebounds as a junior. Denny had a degree in hand, a desire to play — and options. He was getting ready to head out on a visit to Ball State when his phone rang.

 

“Sean called back, and it got more serious,” Peabody said. “He said, ‘I’ll take it from here.’ They offered him a scholarship and the rest was history.”

 

Added Denny: “I was freaking out, but not thinking much of it. There was no way. I didn’t even think it was a possibility, and then Arizona coaches asked me to come in town for a visit.”

 

Denny jumped at the chance.

 

This was back when Denny could still jump.

Denny was playing basketball in the UA student rec center a week before school started when his dreams came crashing down. All he wanted to do was run out of the McKale Center tunnel to the screams of his friends and family. He’d still hear them, but he wouldn’t be playing.

 

A simple drive into the lane, a foot-plant like he’s done 10,000 times before, only this time, a pop.

 

“I had no idea,” he said. “I knew it was bad, but I’d never had a knee injury before.”

About 24 hours later, Arizona doctors examined his knee, and it didn’t take long to confirm the initial fears.

 

Torn ACL, season over.

 

“I was devastated for him; when he first got here on campus I was one of the only guys here for pre-session, and I got to know him and spend a lot of time with him before he got with the team,” said Arizona guard Allonzo Trier, who was on the court playing with Denny when it happened. “I was really excited for the guy, a hometown kid, to have a chance to represent. When it happened, I was really sad and really frustrated for him.”

 

Denny worried that his career was over.

 

“I was depressed — you almost feel like you’re letting your team down, your coach down,” he said. “I felt really bad about that. But after the coaches picked me up as best they could, that lightened my mood a little. When they said I might be able to come back, I was OK.”

 

Denny hadn’t considered appealing for a sixth NCAA season, but Miller and his staff encouraged it. Trainer Justin Kokoskie — “J-Rock,” Denny calls him — said the injury looked mostly like a freak accident. Denny didn’t have any loose joints, meaning a return to full strength was likely.

 

Denny’s parents got in his ear, too.

 

“You don’t want to give it up just like that,” they told him. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime.”

And to be truthful, Denny still couldn’t shake the visions. This was a kid who grew up loving the Wildcats. He was just a toddler in 1997, when the Lute Olson-coached Wildcats made a miracle run to the national championship. Denny still imagines running onto the floor like his UA heroes did.

 

“The first time when I step on the court as a player, I’m gonna be shocked,” he said. “It’d be so amazing. When I was a kid I thought about it, thinking of all the guys I idolized when I was younger, it’d be so crazy to just even be out there. McKale is a place filled with such tradition, the center of the town. It gives it such a small-town feel, like UA basketball is the sport of Tucson.”

 

It’s not like Denny was coming to Arizona to be the next Wooden Award candidate. He knew that.

 

But he wanted that chance. Bad.

Peabody sums it up best.

 

“Most of the guys Sean recruits are chasing NBA dreams, and Talbott knew he was chasing the MBA dream,” the Pima College head coach said.

 

Having his master’s degree paid for while living in his own backyard? Getting to practice every day with one of the best teams in the country while still getting mom’s cooking? Denny isn’t getting everything he wanted, but, still, things aren’t too bad.

 

Denny now spends his time soaking in every memory, every nugget from every coach. They just sent his Lipscomb medical transcripts to the NCAA compliance office, and he’s got his fingers crossed. If Denny is granted a sixth year, he’ll treasure it and try to repay Miller and the Arizona coaches for their faith.

He’s already started to, the best he can.

 

At 22, he’s one of the elder statesmen on the team. Denny knew his role was that of a sounding board for his teammates, someone to body up during practice, but also to ask for advice about selecting a major, or finding an apartment. He doesn’t want to coach after his playing days, but he loves basketball, and he adores his teammates.

 

“As a grad transfer, coming in from a mid-major, I didn’t know if I’d get the respect of a well-known guy coming in,” he said. “I tried to do it in subtle ways, maybe not in ways everybody’s going to notice it, or feel like they’re getting called out.”

That’s not his way, anyway.

 

“He just does things the right way,” Peabody said. “He’s a high-character kid, and I think he carries himself the right way and plays the right way.

 

“He wants to will his team to win, and that’s all he cares about. You can’t have five Richard Jeffersons. You’ve got to have the guy, and then some players who sacrifice for the good of the team, and guys like that, from a coach’s standpoint, you’d do anything for them.” Read more.