Darius Carter comes home for Sweet 16 (VIDEO)

Get up, son.

Darius Carter Sr. pushed through the crowd at the CenturyLink Center last Friday in Omaha.

Just get up.

It wasn’t that his son, Wichita State senior forward Darius Carter, had gone down on the court against Indiana that bothered them so much as the looks on the faces of WSU guards Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet.

If they looked concerned, well, Darius Sr. thought, then he should be, too.

Remember what you promised.

By the time he got down to the court with Darius’ mother, LaShawn Williams, they began to pepper security guards with questions.

Where was Darius? Was he going to the hospital? Where had they taken him?

Someone pointed to the scorer’s table. There was Darius, back from the locker room and checking back in the game. Minutes later he was dunking, then hitting a jumper as he helped lead the Shockers’ to another NCAA Tournament win. His tooth had been smashed in, then pulled back into place.

Painful, sure, but nothing close to what could keep Darius off the court.

Darius Sr. smiled, a mix of relief and pride.

You kept that promise, son.

Akron doesn’t stay down for anybody.

Passing notes

Darius Sr. was the big man on campus at Akron North High back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Akron’s 30 minutes south of Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, where WSU and Darius, a 6-foot-7 honorable mention All-Missouri Valley Conference selection, will take on Notre Dame on Thursday in the Sweet 16.

That star status was part of the reason why Williams had her best friend, Lavina Hale, pass Darius Sr. a note one day on the way to class.

“He was this big basketball star, so of course I had a crush on him,” Williams said, laughing. “The note just said, ‘I like you’ or something like that. You know how kids are.”

He liked her right back. And the two of them ended up raising a family in Akron — Darius first, in 1992, then younger sister Darian five years later.

Like many kids in Akron, Darius Sr. raised his kids as athletes. Darius played football and basketball and got an early glimpse of what it meant to be great by watching his cousin, Maverick Carter, win state championships at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High alongside future NBA Most Valuable Player and Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James.

“We have a really supportive family, a really supportive network of people in Akron,” Darius Sr. said. “The kids grew up around Maverick, around LeBron, so they got to see pretty early on that all that hard work could pay off in a really big way.”

Darius Sr. was the MVP of the 1991 Greater Akron Boys Basketball Coaches Assocation All-Star Game in 1991 — the same game Darius would play in after his career at Akron’s Firestone High, facing off against future Wyoming star Larry Nance Jr. in 2011.

From early on, Darius was quiet and dutiful, doting over his little sister from the day she was born. Often, if he did something wrong, it would wind up with him confessing to his parents before they found out.

“Such a guilty conscience,” Williams said. “And such a good big brother. Some kids, they fight, they go after each other. Never with those two. He always protected her, always looked out for her. He still does.”

And, from early on, it was Darius Sr. who looked out for his son’s athletic career.

The promise

There was no coddling, no new-age approach with Darius Sr. running things. So, when Darius was 10, his father made him make a promise.

“I was always tough on him, coaching-wise ... I always knew he was going to be need to be tough enough to deal with anything, tough enough to take whatever was going to come at him,” Darius Sr. said. “So, when he got to be 10, I made him make me a promise. I said, ‘It’s going to get tougher, and I’m going to be hard on you, but you have to promise me you’re not going to get angry. You’re not going to talk back. You’re going to work. You have to take it in and turn it into something positive. And it’s going to be really, really hard.’

“After that, he was in it for the long run. I feel like I was grooming him to play for a really tough coach in the future. It was never trying to demoralize, it was trying to bring out the best in him.”

Darius grew to 6-foot-7 in high school and turned into a star at Firestone, a performing arts school that’s best known for alumni such as Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) and Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders).

“We’re a school for the performing arts, but we’ve had our fair share of good athletes come through,” said Firestone basketball coach Dave Milo. “And Darius is one of our favorite sons. Everyone here keeps up with the Shockers, everyone watches their games.”

Milo first noticed Darius his freshman year at tryouts — “All elbows and knees, like a baby giraffe” — and noticed something about him right away.

“You knew right away that the work ethic was there, and he was totally coachable,” Milo said. “You knew he was going to be good, you knew he was going to be a player. He was always athletic, always coordinated. And his family, they’re good people. His dad was a great ballplayer, and his mom is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. They were hard on him, but I think that’s why he’s so disciplined. That’s why he’s like he is.”

Carter went to national junior-college power Vincennes (Ind.) University after high school, where he averaged 15.8 points and 8.3 rebounds as a sophomore. He helped Vincennes finish fourth in the NJCAA tournament, averaging 19.5 points in four games.

He also came under the wing of a notoriously tough coach in Todd Franklin, a Kentucky native who isn’t much for small talk or praise — hard work and results are preferred.

It was at Vincennes where Darius started to finally understand why his father made him make that promise so many years ago.

“My dad kind of had a tough-love thing,” Darius said. “When I was little, you know, he was hard on me. I appreciate that because eventually when I went to Vincennes, my junior college coach was the same way. And now I’m (at WSU), Coach (Gregg) Marshall is the same way, so he kind of prepared me to take tough coaches when I was young.”

Darius, courted by Western Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Ball State, West Virginia and Miami (Ohio), among others, picked WSU after the Shockers’ Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2013.

“He’s still the same Darius and obviously we’re proud of him ... we just would like to see (the referees) not blow the whistle on him all the time,” said Franklin, alluding to Darius’ much-dissected foul trouble. “A lot of guys that come to our level, it’s because they need to take the classroom stuff more seriously, they need to develop their games just a little more. He did both of those things. By his sophomore year he was in pretty high demand, and I think that WSU making it to the Final Four kind of did it for him.

“We take a great deal of pride in him and what he’s accomplished around here. It’s funny that they’re playing a team from the state I coach in with Notre Dame, then possibly a team from the state I’m from if they play Kentucky. And I guess I’ll have both states pissed off at me, because I’m cheering for Darius and his guys to beat ’em all.”

The payoff

Darius was in the rotation from the moment he stepped on campus at WSU, a much-needed frontcourt replacement for Carl Hall and Ehimen Orukpe.

As a junior, he averaged 7.9 points and 4.5 rebounds on the way to being named to the All-MVC newcomer team and All-MVC bench team. The Shockers went 35-0, sweeping the MVC regular season and tournament titles before losing a close game to eventual NCAA runnerup Kentucky in the third round of the tournament.

“My decision to come to Wichita State was really based on the success they have with the junior college players,” Darius said. “I’ve seen that they had a lot of junior college players come and succeed, so I wanted to come somewhere where I could go and succeed and graduate, get my degree and also develop as a player.”

He took the offseason to develop his body in the weight room, and his game, working out with James, who will reportedly attend Saturday’s Elite Eight game should the Shockers’ win. Darius also traveled to Europe with Athletes in Action and earned a spot at the Nike Big Man Camp.

This season, despite battling foul trouble at times and playing out of position at center, he’s third on the team at 11.1 points and leads the Shockers with 5.3 rebounds. He scored nine points in the second-round win over Indiana, then 10 points in a 78-65 win over Kansas on Sunday.

“Darius is a great young man, got a wonderful family growing up in the Akron area,” Marshall said. “His dad still plays ... I loved when (Darius) came in on their official visit, his dad talked about still playing and working with Darius and helping him. He comes from a basketball background with Mav, being with LeBron’s camp, and the whole deal.

“Darius is a hard worker, he’s really developed his body ... he can score in a multitude of ways, he can score facing the basket, with his back to the basket, and he’s actually stepped out a bit and hit some threes this year. He can put it on the floor a little bit.”

And he’s a big deal back home, where Milo saw him quietly standing against a wall after a Firestone game last year — Darian is a senior there and a two-time Akron City Series Player of the Year.

“I didn’t even notice him until after the game was over, and I went over and asked him if he wanted to come in the locker room and he said, ‘Are you sure?’” Milo said. “Are you kidding me? The kids went nuts over it.”

It’s a similar refrain from his current teammates.

“Darius is still the same dude as when he showed up (at WSU) the first time,” WSU point guard Fred VanVleet said. “He’s a real guy, a genuine person. That’s what I respect the most about him.”

It all goes back to the promise. To always be tough. To always be coachable.

It’s what got him to this point.

“It means a lot because my family gets to come see me play, a lot of my family and friends have never seen me play a college game in person,” Darius said. “My parents usually have to drive 15, 16 hours just to come watch me play. It means a lot just for them to be able to come and I can see them because I haven’t been home in a while. This arena is amazing. I know the atmosphere is going to be crazy and it’s just a beautiful place to play. I’m just happy to be here with my teammates and contribute and try to win this thing.”

You kept that promise, son.

Akron doesn’t stay down for anybody.

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Darius Carter comes home for Sweet 16 (VIDEO)."