With the lights low and 3,300 plus fans looking on at Carnesecca Arena, deep bass shaking the speakers on the sidelines and a palpable, stirring energy in the crowd, a thick smoke forms in front of the tunnel on the far side of the court. As the beat drops and his name appears in huge white letters on the jumb-o-tron above the court, a lanky 6’8” figure emerges from the smoke to a thunderous applause from the crowd.
And so begins the career of freshman Dwayne Polee as a member of the Red Storm.
Outside of his black team practice gear, he is going old-school. Wearing all red (a headband, wristbands, elbow pads, knee pads, and James Worthy-esque glasses) the Los Angeles, California native moves toward center court to greet his teammates. Seeing the smiles on the faces of sophomore guards Quincy Roberts and Malik Stith as Polee approaches, there seems to be something different about this 2010 team. It may very well have started with new head coach Steve Lavin and the first recruit of his tenure in Queens, Polee himself.
“We’ve kind of taken [Polee] under our wing and showed him the things he needs to do to succeed,” said senior leader DJ Kennedy.
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