This past Saturday, Kansas guard Malik Newman scored a team-high 24 points, including 12 of his team's last 14, to help the Jayhawks overcome a six-point deficit with less than three minutes left to down Baylor 70-67 at home and extend the Jayhawks' streak to five games before they fell against Oklahoma Wednesay night. Less than 24 hours prior to Newman's late heroics in Lawrence, Kan., the Suns' Devin Booker gave the Nuggets 30 points on 47.8 percent shooting from the field in a 108-100 victory on the road to snap a three-game losing streak.
For Newman, who turns 21 in less than a month, it was just the third 20-plus point performance of his college career, but a much-needed addition to an undersized Jayhawks team looking to make a national title push. Booker's display in Denver is what's become expected of the 6-6 shooting guard. He's the NBA's eighth-leading scorer at 25 points per game, ahead of the likes of reigning league MVP Russell Westbrook (24.9) and five-time All-Star Kyrie Irving (24.6) despite just becoming able to legally purchase alcohol the day before Halloween.
The careers of Newman, who signed with Mississippi State before transferring after the 2015-16 season, and Booker, who played one season at Kentucky before turning pro, will forever be linked and thus compared, serving as a potentially cautionary tale and success story. Their decisions could also shed light as to why 2018 five-star prospect Zion Williamson chose to take his viral talents to Duke, jettisoning in-state options South Carolina and Clemson.
DeCOURCY: Duke adding Williamson doesn't guarantee national title
Both Newman and Booker hail from the state of Mississippi. Both were McDonald's All-Americans. They're even both the progeny of former Division I college standouts. As they matriculated on opposite ends of the Magnolia State — Newman at Jackson's Callaway High, and Booker, a year his senior, at Moss Point High, some three hours and nearly 200 miles away — it was the former who was the more decorated prospect.
In high school, it was Newman who won four straight state titles. Booker whiffed in three seasons in Mississippi after transferring down south following one year in his native Michigan. It was Newman who was named Mr. Basketball a state record three consecutive seasons, including Booker's senior season when he averaged 30.9 points per game. It was Newman who was a first-team Parade All-American. It was Newman who played in the prestigious Nike Hoop Summit. It was Newman who won a pair of gold medals and earned MVP in honors in FIBA U17 World Championship and FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
The Jackson Clarion-Ledger produced an award-winning video docu-series, "Beyond the Game," chronicling what then looked like his inevitable path from nation's top prep player to one-and-done NBA lottery pick.
MOCK DRAFT 2018: Trae Young flies into top five on latest board
Moss Point and Callaway never met on the court, a matchup that would've undoubtedly gone down as one of the most significant in Mississippi high school basketball history, leaving pundits left to ponder if Newman was the greatest player the state ever produced, and who between he and Booker would enjoy a better career in the NBA.
"Malik had better teammates and better coaching for one thing," said Creg Stephenson, a sports writer for AL.com who worked in Mississippi and covered both Booker and Newman in high school. "Devin’s Moss Point team might not have won a game if he had not been there. He never got to the state final four, whereas Newman was there every year from his freshman year on. But Newman’s school, Callaway, won championships before Newman and continues to win since he left."
Booker took official visits to Michigan and Missouri, where his dad, Melvin, earned Big 8 Player of the Year honors in 1994, but Devin ultimately chose Kentucky. In Lexington, he was joined by highly-touted recruits Tyler Ulis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Trey Lyles. Devin hit the ground running under coach John Calipari.
Booker was able to play shooting guard, his natural position after having to play point guard at times in high school, and he benefited from the intense practice sessions against top-flight talent. He averaged 10 points per game, shooting 41.1 percent from 3-point range and earned SEC Sixth Man of the Year honors while helping the Wildcats reach the Final Four. He forewent his final three years of collegiate eligibility and entered the 2015 NBA Draft, where he was taken No. 13 overall.
He established himself as one of the premier players in the league at his position in 2016-17, when he averaged 22.1 points per game and became the youngest player in NBA history to score 60 or more points in a game, going for 70 in a 130-120 loss against the Celtics.
MORE: Billy Preston ends debate about Kansas eligibiity, turns pro
When Newman rendered his John Hancock onto a scholarship offer from Mississippi State in 2015, the same school his father once attended, he was celebrated as the savior of the 'Sip. He broke a trend of talented statesmen before him, including Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Mo Williams, Jonathan Bender, Al Jefferson, Monta Ellis, Antonio McDyess and Booker to sign with an out-of-state school or skip college altogether. It was the stuff dreams are made of.
It wound up being all but a nightmare.
First-year Bulldogs coach Ben Howland, the man often credited with developing Russell Westbrook at UCLA — he also didn't choose to start Westbrook until Darren Collison was injured during Westbrook's sophomore year — didn't have the same success with Newman.
Amid a backcourt crowded with tweener guards, including Craig Sword, Quinndary Weatherspoon and point guard I.J. Ready, all more adept at playing one-on-one then feeding off one another, Newman averaged 10.4 points and 2.1 assists against SEC competition as Mississippi State's season ended after just one game in the conference tournament. His role in the Bulldogs' last five games was greatly diminished. He tested the NBA Draft waters but was given a second-round grade, withdrew his name from consideration and fled Mississippi State, a move he made a season too late.
"While I appreciate Newman’s in-state ‘loyalty’ in originally signing with Mississippi State, he might go down as a cautionary tale as to why that’s not always a good idea," Stephenson said. "He’s proof that one player cannot ‘make a program’ (as is Ben Simmons, to an extent). Had Newman gone to Kansas or Kentucky out of high school, he might already be in the league."
McDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN GAME: Rosters, college choices, date, location
Now, after a year out of the spotlight he'd always been in and almost three years removed from high school graduation, Newman is still looking to make his once can't-miss potential kinetic. He's averaged 17.6 points in Kansas' last three games and recently took home Big 12 Newcomer the Week honors while playing DMC to SN Mid-season All-American Devonte' Graham's Run. After next season, Booker will be a restricted free agent, undoubtedly garnering a max contract under the NBA's collective bargaining agreement.
Which brings us back to Williamson.
When asked why he didn't choose to stay in South Carolina, he offered the following:
"My mom said it best. I have to follow my heart and go to where my happiness is. I just felt like it was Duke," Williamson said. "I still have a lot of love for my state. I don't want people to mistake that. I love my state to death and I'm gonna always represent it."
Of course, he wasn't cheered like Newman was when he put his own best interests to the side to appease his fellow Mississippians. Williamson was jeered much in the same way Hornets rookie and Lepanto, Ark. native Malik Monk was when he spurred Arkansas for Kentucky more than two years ago. He, like Booker, is now a millionaire.
Williamson, with the sage advice of his parents, stood tall and made a mature business decision. At Duke, where he's set to play alongside wings R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish as well as point guard Tre Jones (all ranked among the 247 Sports' Class of 2018 player rankings), Williamson will be able to practice against elite competition every day under the tutelage of an all-time great in coach in Mike Krzyzewski.
No one can ever take away where he's from, regardless of where he chooses to play college ball. Everyone loves a success story, and his name will roll off the lips of South Carolinians with pride if he goes onto greatness. Everyone likes to be associated with excellence.
They weren't with you shooting in the gym, anyway.