Beasley makes everything look easy

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The satellite connection to Hollywood is established. The microphone is functioning properly. The lighting is in place. Everything is ready for Michael Beasley’s first appearance on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period.”

But minutes before the 6:30 p.m. taping, there’s a problem.

“I hear static every time you talk,” Beasley tells a producer in California.

A minor problem could turn into a major malfunction if college basketball’s best freshman can’t hear the questions from a panel that includes former NBA point guard Gary Payton.

As technicians work to fix the audio, the familiar cell phone buzz emanates from the right pocket of Beasley’s black Adidas pants.

“All cell phones off please,” the camerawoman says.

Out of Beasley’s pockets come four devices: an iPhone, a T-Mobile Sidekick, a Verizon LG phone and a Sprint BlackBerry. The static disappears, and he conducts the interview.

The number of phones is emblematic of Beasley’s life as he enjoys one of the best seasons ever by a freshman and his Kansas State team stands on the cusp of its first NCAA tournament appearance in 12 years.

Everybody wants a piece of Michael Beasley.

If it’s not ESPN or another network, it’s a request by a television program to offer on-air congratulations to the newly elected student-body president.

If it’s not Kansas State fans pleading for his return, it’s adult autograph seekers who secure his signature and post the items on eBay.

If it’s not teammates who want him to carry them to the tournament, it’s fellow students in Geology lab who want to know about his future.

And they all ask Beasley the same question: Staying or going?

Beasley spent his formative years in Gaithersburg, then embarked on an odyssey that took him to seven schools since eighth grade. Now he might be poised for another move: He likely would be the top pick in June’s NBA Draft if he chooses to enter.

“It seems like 100 times a day — too many random people are asking me,” Beasley says while standing in the runway at Bramlage Coliseum after last week’s 78-72 win over Colorado. “My family doesn’t know what I’m going to do, and I don’t know what I’m going to do, but they keep asking. Make that 200 times a day. It’s an everyday thing, but I’ve gotten used to it.”

Having a star like Beasley in this town two hours west of Kansas City isn’t an everyday thing for a football-first fan base.

Enter Beasley, 19. Named Big 12 player and freshman of the year yesterday, Beasley ranks third nationally in scoring (26.5 points a game) and first in rebounding (12.5). He is a candidate to join fellow D.C. area native Kevin Durant as the second freshman to be named national player of the year.

Betrayed by Bob Huggins, who left after one season for West Virginia, fans have embraced Beasley, plunking down $75 to buy his No. 30 jersey at Varney’s Book Store and causing season tickets to be sold out for a second consecutive year.

Chances are Kansas State will be another one-year stop for Beasley.

“It’s been an adventure,” he says. “God has a path for everybody, and mine was just a little crazier than most. But this year has been way beyond what I expected. From living in the dorms to being in class to the playing in the games, I definitely did not expect to enjoy it this much.”

B-Easy, not a beast

Kansas State coach Frank Martin, an assistant to Huggins last year, was positive Beasley would fill out his 6-foot-9 frame by adopting a strength and nutrition regimen and positive he would crash the glass. He was right: Beasley arrived at 218 pounds and was at 242 pounds by the regular-season opener. And he leads the nation in rebounding.

It’s the prolific scoring that has been unexpected. Beasley scored at least 20 points in 23 games and is shooting 53.7 percent from the field.

“I’m trying to think of a guy that when he catches it and gets the ball around the rim has such a soft touch,” Kansas coach Bill Self says. “He has that blend of strength, length, athletic ability and soft hands. He may not remind me of anybody. He may be the first.”

Martin and associate head coach Dalonte Hill, the Northeast D.C. native who recruited Beasley to Charlotte and then Kansas State, say Beasley had to adjust to being Option A on a team with older players.

Beasley averaged 30 points as a freshman at National Christian Academy in Fort Washington and 28 points at Riverdale Baptist. But at big-time Oak Hill Academy, Beasley deferred to a group that included North Carolina’s Ty Lawson and saw his average dip to 20. Last year at Notre Dame Prep, he averaged 28 points and 16 rebounds.

“Over the past year, he’s embraced the responsibility of being the lead character of a basketball team,” Martin says.

The most impressive thing about Beasley’s offensive game — other than its effortlessness (the kid barely sweats) — is the way he gets his points.

Kansas State planned to use Beasley as a back-to-the-basket powerhouse. But the more opponents tailored their defensive game plans around him, the more he began to turn and face the bucket.

“If you look at his shot chart, most of his field goals are 10 to 12 feet from the bucket,” Hill says. “We wanted to make him a dominant post player, and he was taking 1,000 shots after practice with that in mind. But that’s hard to love doing when three to four people are guarding him and limiting your attempts.”

Says Beasley: “I’ve played in so many systems — a guard system, a big man system, a slow-the-pace system, a run-and-gun system, and all of those have helped me adjust as I got into this new situation. I’ve added weight, but honestly, I feel the same way. I’m a little stronger, and I can move people out of my way a little better. But I’m still just out there playing.”

A friend recently asked Hill why Beasley wasn’t nicknamed “The Beast.”

“A beast is somebody who dunks the ball all the time,” Hill says. “Michael is ’B-Easy.’ ”

Support system

Beasley is adept at adjusting because he has had plenty of practice. Team Beasley says his parting with Oak Hill Academy was more an issue of eligibility than off-court issues, though Martin and Hill acknowledge some transgressions — writing on the principal’s car with a permanent marker, for example.

On one hand, Martin says, “It’s pretty petty stuff.”

On the other, he adds, “It was an immature thing to do. To his credit, he learned.”

Beasley arrived at Kansas State knowing mature behavior was a must.

“He’s had to grow up,” Hill says. “He knows he has to have those jeans pulled up and he can’t be writing on cars. Once he became the face of the program, I knew he would have to take on more responsibilities. One of the pros about coming here is that he has to deal with just the college life, not the college life and city life. In a downtown environment, people would be pulling at him. Here, they hug him.”

Beasley is at Kansas State because of Hill, who first coached him five years ago with the D.C. Assault AAU team. When Hill was an assistant at Charlotte two years ago, Beasley committed there. When Hill joined Huggins at Kansas State, Beasley followed.

Also living in Manhattan to provide support is Beasley’s mother, Gaithersburg resident Fatima Smith, and her four other children.

“To pick up and go to Kansas, it was like, ’Just go,’ ” Smith says. “We’re not around each other a lot. But it feels good to know that he’s here if I need him or I’m here if he needs me. This town is small but big. We have our own lives, and they intertwine when necessary.”

Smith is around Michael for the first time since he was in the eighth grade. She had her first child at 19 and doesn’t want her kids to follow her road.

“One thing parents want to do is provide to their kids what we didn’t have,” she says. “My mother tried to provide for the six of us growing up, but I wanted to break the trend of what was going on and not have history repeat itself. That’s the goal. I went to school and growing up in a situation that wasn’t necessarily poverty but an environment where college wasn’t talked about and the SATs weren’t talked about.

“I don’t want anything to prevent my children — I don’t want them to drop out of school, I don’t want them to become parents as young as I was. If I can sacrifice things so he can make it further than I did, that’s what I’ll do.”

The support has made for an enjoyable college experience for Beasley.

“It wouldn’t have been as smooth if she wasn’t around,” Beasley says. “She takes care of everything behind the scenes and provides support every day. Since my first day of AAU with the Assault, [Hill] has been behind me and taken on a role that I’m his responsibility.”

The big question

It all hit Beasley’s mother during a timeout in the Colorado game. The public address announcer informed the crowd that Beasley had broken the Big 12 record for double-doubles (26).

Watching her son run down the floor, reading the signs asking him for “One More Year” and seeing a crowd full of No. 30 jerseys, Smith thought about the road Beasley has taken from Gaithersburg to Manhattan.

“It was the first time in a long time I started thinking. His life flashed in my thoughts,” she says. “I grinned and thought, ’Wow, he might make it. He’s closer than he’s ever been before.’ ”

Having made it and starred at the college level, the next logical move is to go immediately to the NBA. The company line among Beasley, his mother, Martin and Hill is that a discussion will happen after the season.

“It’s not like he can’t wait to leave,” Hill says. “High school lasted forever for him because he had to keep going to different ones and keep meeting new people. It was always like, ’I have to do this again?’ He’s shown a lot of maturity this season by staying focused because he came here knowing he would be surrounded by the question. With the time comes, we’ll talk about it.”