After "Final Four" Run, Law School May Have to Wait Another Year for Port

Tom Port decided to put off law school for a year, opting to use his final season of athletic eligibility and play basketball for The College of Wooster in 2006-07, not exactly a commonplace decision when it comes to NCAA Div. III athletics, especially in a sport like basketball, which means two more semesters of tuition bills. However, with his parents’ blessing, Port came back, and what a decision that turned out to be for the Fighting Scot basketball program and himself.

“I hadn’t decided going into winter break last year. It was a tough choice,” reflected Port, who transferred to Wooster after spending an initial academic year at Miami (Ohio) University. “My parents were behind me and I looked at the personnel coming back … I came back because of basketball.”

If Port had moved on from Wooster after the end of his “first senior season,” he would have with a legacy as one of the top players to ever don the Black and Old Gold. The 6-5, 215-pound athletic forward was an All-North Coast Athletic Conference honoree each of his first three years as well as two-time all-region, and already the 12th-leading scorer in program history (1,236 points). Academically, he was in very good standing, on track to graduate last May with a G.P.A. above 3.0 and with a summer internship lined up at the law firm of Wickens, Herzer, Panza, Cook, and Batista, Co., in Avon.

But, there was a feeling of some unfinished business gnawing at him – the Scots’ recent performances in the NCAA Tournament. While he was not only a starter but the team’s leading scorer during his first year with the program when Wooster advanced to a sectional final (national quarterfinal), Port couldn’t shake heartbreaking losses at Albion College in 2005 (59-58) and Transylvania University in 2006 (91-88).

“We were the winningest team in the country and had lost in the second round back-to-back seasons. We were getting a stigmatism as a team that couldn’t get it done in the postseason,” he explained. “That was definitely a motivation for the whole year.”

With that firmly planted in his mind, Port put the Scots on his back several times during 2006-07, leading them to North Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships, and a record of 25-3 heading into the NCAA’s. Once in the national tourney, he continued to set the tone for the team, making 7-of-9 3-pointers over an opening weekend that saw Wooster roll to 26- and 17-point victories at Timken Gymnasium. Then, Wooster was sent on the road, where traditionally, it has not fared very well in NCAA Tournament games, but past history nor double-digit deficits were about to phase Port, as he helped engineer comeback wins with back-to-back double-doubles in the sectional semifinals and finals, sending the Scots into the “Final Four” for just the second time in school history.

For his efforts, which included career highs in nearly every statistical category – scoring (16.1 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg), field-goal percentage (.534), 3-point percentage (.441), and steals (1.3 spg) – Port collected a variety of hardware, with the most coveted being named a first-team All-American by the National Assoc. of Basketball Coaches. He’s just the second in Wooster’s tradition-rich program to earn that honor, with Bryan Nelson being the first when he also led the Scots to the national semifinals in 2003.

Port described it as an “honor to even be compared to Nelson,” but the former is in a category by himself. Port finished as the only player to rank among the top-10 in Scot history in the five main statistics – scoring (3rd; 1758 points), rebounding (9th; 758 rebounds), assists (4th; 399), blocks (5th; 116), and steals (10th; 117).

“Those statistics speak for themselves. Tom has been such a versatile player, a guy that can do all of the different things. He’s a unique player in Div. III, I believe,” head coach Steve Moore commented. “The fact that he (could) shoot so well, handle the ball like a guard, and able to defend big players, you don’t find players like Tom in Div. III very often.”

Port’s characteristics, honors, and statistics, and Wooster’s run to the “Final Four” have garnered him enough attention that law school might have to wait another year or longer, as he was one of 60 seniors nationwide from NCAA Div. II and III and NAIA invited to take part in the Collegiate Basketball Invitational. The prestigious five-day event consists of a six-team, double-elimination tournament April 19-21, culminating with an all-star game, which will be televised live by ESPNU on that Saturday at 8 p.m. Twenty players will be chosen for the all-star game.

Since his Scot career ended, Port has become interested in playing overseas, and the exposure from this event should certainly help, as several agents and scouts are expected to be in attendance.

“I’ve been talking to Coach Moore about the possibility of playing overseas next year. He’s been making some contacts and this invitational will be great,” said Port.

He continued, “I love basketball … It’s every kid’s dream to get paid to play the sport that they love. I’d just love to keep playing, and if there’s something that’s offered, it’s not something I could turn down. Quite honestly, I’d like to be able to pay for law school when I come back.”