By Mike Vorkunov

When Austin Freeman and No. 22 Georgetown come to the Louis Brown Athletic Center Saturday, Tyree Graham will have a chance to see one of his many friends across the vast college basketball landscape. But there will be no friendly trash talking between the two because Graham doesn’t feel it is right to talk if you can’t play and back it up.

While Freeman will try to lead the Hoyas out of their Big East tailspin, Graham will be on the end of the Rutgers bench. His first year in Piscataway, when he was expected to provide a scoring punch for a team that has often needed it, had a wrench thrown into it when he learned over the summer there was a torn ACL in his left knee.

It was news that blindsided Graham. However, it was not the first time in his collegiate career that his plans have gone awry due to unforeseen circumstances.

For a time last spring, Graham was all set to play basketball at Alabama-Birmingham. He had committed to the school after playing a year at Brunswick Community College in North Carolina.

Then a call came from Rutgers associate head coach David Cox. The two had known each other since Graham was 15 years old and played for the Washington D.C. based AAU team DC Assault, which Cox had coached.

It was hard not to take Cox’s offer to play at Rutgers.

“I just feel like he did so much when I was growing up and motivate me, keep me on track,” said Graham with a Southern twang to his voice. “I just felt like if I’m going to give my last two years and work hard for somebody in college, I want to work hard for somebody like him. Somebody that I really trust, I love and I care for.”

What no one knew was that he was coming as damaged goods. Graham had felt a pain in his knee last January and took about two weeks off to recuperate. When the knee felt good enough to play on again, he did. There was a D-I scholarship to win and no one had told him any differently.

There was no mention of a possible major injury until he got to Rutgers and took his physical. Only then did he find out that he had spent the last eight months playing on a bad knee.

“It really hurt me because I don’t understand,” said Graham. “I played for this junior college last year and I did everything I said I was going to do: graduate, get good grades and win a championship. But at the same time I tore my ACL and they didn’t even let me know.”

Graham has taken it in stride, spending this season recovering and keeping himself part of the team. He lends a voice and does his best to give advice, though it is difficult when you can only speak but not do.

Not surprisingly, the hardest part has been the inability to play and just watch.

“If you’re a real basketball player, yes that will hurt,” he said. “At times I wish I could just go out and help the guys because I can see myself being helpful for them. It hurts at times.”

The injury was an unforeseen blow, but one of several he has had to deal with.

Coming out of high school, Graham committed to Texas Tech with the intent of playing for legendary coach Bobby Knight. His assistant coach at Village Christian Academy was Michael Jordan’s older brother James. When Graham had a chance to speak with Michael Jordan, all he heard was the basketball great rave about Knight. From then on, he was sold.

But Knight retired in February of Graham’s senior year of high school and left his son Pat in charge. The guard stayed committed to the school and played 13 games there during the 2008-09 season.

He decided to leave and go back home when he learned that his mother needed open-heart surgery.

“When she got sick and had open heart surgery, at one time they were saying my mom may not live anymore,” said Graham. “My family not having the financially benefits to fly back and forth from Texas to North Carolina, it really hurt me. So I felt I just needed to get closer to home for a year and just make sure her health is good. Even earlier this year I had a scare but I’m right here. I’m a 45 minute flight instead of being a three-hour flight.”

Graham had the chance to transfer to Virginia but passed it up to go back to square one with his recruiting process. In the meantime he would spend summers playing basketball with his large cadre of friends that included Raymond Felton, John Wall, Rashad McCants and other college and professional players.

“I didn’t take it as I want to be like those guys,” he said. “I want to be better than those guys.”

Although he hasn’t had a full opportunity to pass on what he’s learned from the pros, he has spent ample time listening to and learning from his coach Mike Rice.

In fact it has been easy to do so because in Rice, Graham sees a little bit of all the authoritative figures he has known before him. From his father to his AAU coaches to Knight, there is a reminder of them in Rice. And in turn, Graham knows that he and Rice are a match.

“Coach Knight and Coach Rice are so alike because they are so competitive,” said Graham. “Competitive in everything. That’s why I love Coach Rice as much as a I do because I’m a competitive person too. I don’t want anybody to beat me in nothing. If you wake up in the morning at 6:15, I want to wake up at 6:14. That’s just me. I feel like I want to win in everything I do. That’s how my dad brought me up. I feel like Coach Rice is the same type of coach.”

That is why, in the end, Graham is happy with how everything has worked out for him. Why, despite all the travails, he is reminded of what his mother tells him. Why a career that started out with the hope of playing for Bobby Knight will end with him playing for Mike Rice all worked out for the best.

“My mom always tells me that everything happens for a reason,” said Graham. “So I just feel like I signed to play for Bobby Knight and it didn’t happen but now maybe I can have his little son. His junior.”

Follow Mike Vorkunov on Twitter: @Mike_Vorkunov