ST. LOUIS — Mizzou will meet some old friends when it matches up with Miami (Fla.) in the NCAA Tournament.
Charlton “C.Y.” Young, now an assistant coach for Jai Lucas at UM, spent three seasons as an assistant under Dennis Gates at Mizzou. Miami (Fla.) guard Tre Donaldson was teammates with Anthony Robinson II at Florida State University High School in Tallahassee, Fla., while UM guard Tru Washington played with Trent Pierce at AZ Compass Prep in Phoenix.
But Mizzou will also be facing another one
of its former players in Marcus Allen, who transferred to Miami (Fla.) after one season with the Tigers. It was a homecoming for the sophomore, as Allen grew up in Miami and graduated from Miami Norland High School about 30 minutes north of UM.
Allen, who’d only averaged 9.2 minutes per game at Mizzou, was averaging 19.2 through Miami (Fla.)’s first eight games this season. After playing more than 20 minutes just once last season, Allen did so four times with the Hurricanes.
Near the end of UM’s non-conference slate, however, Allen’s world turned upside down. On Dec. 19, Miami announced that Allen would miss the rest of the season, as he’d been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
“It was scary,” Young said on Thursday.
While survival rates for diseases vary by age and other factors, the overall 5-year relative survival rate for people with NHL is 74%, according to the American Cancer Society. (A 5-year survival rate is the percent of people in a study who are still alive five years after being diagnosed with cancer).
“God works in mysterious ways for something like this to happen,” Young said. “It’s better to be home when you’re dealing with a serious health issue like he’s been dealing with.”
Luckily, NHL is a treatable disease, and being home, Allen said, helped a lot during chemotherapy.
“Having that support allows me to understand that you’re not in this alone,” Allen said. “Despite what you may be going through, you have support.”
Allen said he can practice anytime his body is “up for it”. When Miami (Fla.) held its public practice at the Enterprise Center on Sunday evening, Allen was going through drills with everyone else.
“(The doctors) told me to do as much as my body can, but mentally, I feel like I can go out there and play,” he said.
“I’m excited all the time. I tell coach, if he needs me, I can put on a jersey and go out there and play.”
While Allen will remain on the bench for however long Miami (Fla.) remains in the Big Dance, Allen and Young both confirmed that he’ll be back on the court next season. Allen said that he has one more round of treatment left — the former Tiger will soon be one step closer to beating cancer.
“It’s been a long journey,” Allen said. “But it’s gonna come to an end soon.”
The link to Allen’s GoFundMe can be found here.
