INDIANAPOLIS — Think there’s pressure in today’s Midwest Regional final? From the perspective of starting centers Goran Suton and Samardo Samuels, playing in front of 35,000 fans and with a trip to the Final Four at stake, it must feel like just another day at the office compared with what they’ve been through.
Michigan State’s Suton, a 6-foot-10 senior, grew up in Bosnia, that is, until he was 6, when the family escaped the war in 1992 by scurrying onto the last flight out of Sarajevo and relocated to Belgrade, Serbia.
Returning to Bosnia seven years later, he didn’t dare venture into the weeds and tall grass that surrounded the basketball court in the backyard of the family home. Land mines, live ones, were hiding there.
At age 12, Louisville’s Samuels played basketball for the first time in dress shoes on a concrete court in his native Jamaica. It was full of cracks, even potholes, so everybody quit when the sun went down rather than risk a sprained ankle. Samuels, now 6-9, wanted to be a soccer player, but the local team’s roster was full and he decided to give hoops a try.
“Third-world countries,” Suton said Saturday. “It’s different here. I think I appreciate things maybe more than some people do.”
Suton was playing soccer when he heard the first sounds of war in the distance.
“We were outside in a field and there were loud noises and gunshots,” he recalled. “All the parents ran out and told us to get inside. I was only 6. But obviously when a war starts, everybody knows what’s going on.”
When the family returned to Bosnia, their three-story home had been ransacked and nearly burned to the ground. Suton’s father Miroslav, a salesman in medical supplies, rebuilt one floor enough to be inhabitable. But the end of the war had not ended ethnic and religious divisions. His mother, Zivana, once was spit on. A Greek Orthodox Serb, she had entered into a mixed marriage (Miroslav was a Christian Catholic Croat), which was frowned upon.
It became an intolerable situation, and the parents decided to move the family to Lansing, Mich., where they could join relatives and begin a new life.
Suton starred at Lansing’s Everett High School and decided to follow the path of that school’s most famous pupil, Magic Johnson, across town to Michigan State.
Suton has become a naturalized American citizen. He returns to Bosnia to visit relatives about once a year.
“I think at one point my parents would like to move back and live in Croatia,” Suton said. “I don’t know about myself.”
Samuels grew up in a rural part of Jamaica, where people are outnumbered by chickens. And sometimes, it seemed like bad people outnumber good people.
“It was kind of rough growing up,” Samuels said. “There was a lot of crime and violence. You didn’t want to stay out late.”
Samuels played high school basketball at St. Benedict Prep in New Jersey, where he became a national top-five recruit last year. Louisville coach Rick Pitino also made a visit to Samuels’ home in Jamaica.
“His address was ‘Montego Bay,’ ” so you think it’s not going to be too bad,” Pitino recalled. “Once you get out of the resort area and get to the farmlands . . . the poverty is something to behold. It was eye-(opening) for me.
“Now, you understand why he’s so hungry to make it in this game, because of where he’s from and wanting to help his family.”
From hardscrabble beginnings to a hardcourt on the big stage. Goran Suton and Samardo Samuels appreciate this opportunity. Expect them to give it everything they’ve got today at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
