On a basketball team with one of the county’s top scorers, the sharpest assist-minded big man and a soccer standout who pleads his case on the hardwood as he blows past defenders, sometimes the intangibles can go overlooked.
As Clarkston’s round ball season draws to a close, one player not making the biggest dent on paper has a great deal to do with the outcome.
Clarkston senior Kevin Badgley, three months removed from his role as a standout wide receiver on the Wolves? regional champion football team, has taken on a backbone type role on the basketball team setting screens, picking up rebounds and handling tough defensive assignments on the best scorers in the Oakland Activities Association.
On the gridiron, the 6-foot-3 Badgley was the intended target on many passing plays. His scoring average in the fall is similar to the one he now has in the gym, about seven points per game.
‘It’s different making the adjustment to basketball season. The common fan notices you more in football than they do in basketball, but I like working hard and doing all the dirty stuff in basketball because there is something about it that gives you a good feeling when you know that even though you might not get the attention, you helped your team win,? Badgley said.
He might not draw the fans? eye, but coach Dan Fife notices him.
‘He acknowledges me a lot in practice about my defense or my screens that I set. He knows that I help get other people involved and might not always score the baskets, but I help put points on the board,? Badgley said.
‘He really understands his role on the floor and what his job is and he’s a steadying influence out there,? Fife said.
‘He knows who he is as a player and he doesn’t try and do things he can’t do.?
Badgley relishes his role and has stopped the likes of West Bloomfield’s Josh Eichelberger and Pontiac Central’s Dameon Abram.
‘That’s what keeps me playing. Earlier this season, we really didn’t have anyone step up on defense to force their toughest player to work harder to get to the basket. I saw an opportunity the first time we played Pontiac Central, I got matched up on Abram. I knew if I worked harder than him our team would have a better chance of winning,? Badgley said.
‘If you take their best player out of the game, a lot of times you can take their team out of the game.?
After several games this season, teammates have complimented Kevin’s defensive skill as well as the mind games he can play with opponents.
Against the Lakers, as the first half drew to a close, Eichelberger dribbled the ball around mid-court and proceeded to taunt Badgley by gesturing for him to step forward repeatedly.
‘I was in his head at that point,? Badgley said.
‘I’ll let him do that as much as he wants if we win the game.?
Badgley has been on the varsity squad for two-and-a-half seasons, stepping up from the junior varsity due to injury as a sophomore. On the JV, Badgley was used to averaging 25 points as the team’s main scoring option.
‘When I got to varsity, I realized it wouldn’t be as easy to score. I realized I’m going to have to do the other things (coaches) talk about in order to get some playing time,? Badgley said.
He stayed determined to play his way onto the court.
‘If you listen to (Fife) and do what he is saying, he’s going to get you onto the court and I realized that last year, so I started screening, playing all-out defense and rebounding and I knew that I would get my minutes somehow,? he said.
In the time he has earned, Badgley has made himself irreplaceable, Fife said.
‘He does so many things for us that go unnoticed. It’s very hard for us to sub for him because he’s a great communicator on the floor and that’s unbelievably important,? Fife said.
Kevin started playing basketball as many of Clarkston’s best have, as a third-grade student playing on Saturdays in the McGrath basketball league at the school. He now coaches the area’s future basketball players, along with his Clarkston teammates.
‘It’s a great program where kids just grow up dreaming to be Clarkston basketball players. I’ve wanted to play varsity since that,? Badgley said.
Growing up as Clarkston began its streak of state quarterfinal playoff appearances, Badgley is aware of the standards set by teams before his.
‘You don’t want to be that first team that doesn’t win the districts. You play to keep the pride up. The bar is set at the quarterfinals and to be considered one of the best teams, you have to get past that mark,? Badgley said.
Badgley was being recruited to play football from schools in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference where many of the schools are close to home. Ivy League schools such as Columbia and Dartmouth also showed interest in Badgley playing wide receiver for their programs.
However, Badgley will be headed to Michigan State University in the fall, where he hopes to parlay his 3.8 GPA to get into the political science department and, one day, into law school.