Miami coach Frank Haith's road rituals last season included checking in with Jack McClinton.
"I'd call him at 10 o'clock at night, and he'd be out of breath," Haith said. "I'd say, `Jack, what are you doing?' He had worked a deal with a guy at the gym, so he could work on his game late at night. That's the kind of kid he is."
Transfers can't travel with their new team, but last winter was not an idle one for McClinton, who made like an earlier standout at Calvert Hall. Maryland's national championship in 2002 was in part due to the after-hours work Juan Dixon did at Cole Field House, where he went on nights off to hone his shot and ball control. McClinton found himself doing the same at Miami's 7,000-seat BankUnited Center last season.
"There were too many people at the intramural gym, so when the team was on the road, I got a security guard to turn on the lights and let me in our arena," McClinton said. "I'd spin the ball to myself, work on my outside pivot, inside pivot, my step-back jumper. I didn't know that Juan had done that, but he's the reason I went to Calvert Hall."
McClinton acknowledges that his focus and motivation strayed when he played for the Cardinals and Mark Amatucci, but maturation has him in line to be a league's top-scoring newcomer for the second time in three seasons.
McClinton spent his freshman season at Siena, where he led all Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rookies with 16.4 points per game in 2004-05. He entered last night's ACC-Big Ten Challenge game at Northwestern averaging 19.3 points for the Hurricanes.
North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough and Wake Forest's Kyle Visser were the only players in the conference scoring at a greater rate. The only first-year player within shouting range of McClinton is Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Week Brandan Wright, who's averaging 16.6 for the Tar Heels.
Miami lacks a marquee win and has lost on a neutral floor to Buffalo and Cleveland State, but McClinton is doing his part. The Hurricanes need every point they can get from him, as Haith must replace the lost production of Guillermo Diaz and Rob Hite, who combined for nearly 34 points a game last season.
McClinton, whose parents live in White Marsh, came through the Cecil-Kirk Rec Center pipeline when his age groups included Rudy Gay, Josh Boone, Illinois guard Chester Frazier and Dontaye Draper, the top player at the College of Charleston.
