Beasley and Bacon found basketball, found each other and found a fit at Florida State
Malik Beasley doesn’t have an IMDB page like his parents do, but he does have some acting chops.
As a kid, he appeared in a few commercials for Delta airlines as well as Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman — he, along with his sister, is running around in the background of the cookout scene, according to their father.
But sports appealed to Beasley more than acting, and he eventually fell in love with basketball and starred on the court instead.
Dwayne Bacon could be on the gridiron, an explosive athlete, maybe still playing quarterback or receiver somewhere in college. But he traded in football for hoops in middle school — “I was tired of getting hit,” he said. “Football got old to me.” — and developed quite quickly into one of the nation’s most promising basketball prospects.
They ultimately found each other, and Florida State found them. Together, the freshmen Beasley (17.1 ppg) and Bacon (16.7 ppg) lead the team in scoring and make up the young, talented Seminoles backcourt — along with sophomore Xavier Rathan-Mayes — that’s led the team to a 12-5 record.
New NCAA men's basketball rules having intended effect
Florida State is coming off a pair of wins at North Carolina State and against then-No. 11 Virginia that snapped a three-game losing skid. The Seminoles play at No. 16 Louisville on Wednesday night, another opportunity to add to a résumé that they hope will be strong enough to lead to the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2012.
It’s not terribly surprising that Beasley and Bacon are making an impact together. The pair took official visits to Tallahassee the same weekend, and both committed to Florida State the same evening. Bacon, a 6-7 five-star wing player, and Beasley, a 6-5 four-star shooting guard, became the pillar of what would ultimately be the nation’s 13th-best recruiting class, per Rivals.com.
“We knew it was a good fit for us,” Bacon said. “We knew we could come in with veterans, and it would just mesh together.”
So far, that’s what happened. But it didn’t happen without conscious effort.
Because both freshmen hoped and expected to contribute right away, they knew this past summer would be critical. So they got to campus as early as possible.
For Beasley, that meant finishing his high school finals quickly and asking the school’s administration if he could go to Florida State, begin classes, and come back to walk in graduation. He started summer classes in May, giving him a leg up on even his fellow freshmen in terms of adjusting to campus, getting used to college-level classes and being around teammates. Throughout the summer, both Beasley and Bacon got to know their teammates and what makes them tick.
Concerns, questions remain about new NCAA men's basketball rules
“We always made sure we were always talking to the team, always talking to the coaching staff, watching film on past games and just learning the system,” Beasley said. “We knew everybody's role, and they knew that we had to come in and lead and score and do what we had to do, be leaders on the team.”
Said head coach Leonard Hamilton: “They’re coachable and have great personalities, which make them great teammates.”
Upperclassmen appreciated their eagerness to learn and listen. The team bonded over video games and the Nae Nae. Players grew comfortable with each other and gained confidence that if a game’s outcome came down to either Bacon or Beasley, the ball would be in good hands.
They complement each other and provide needed firepower for the Seminoles in what’s already turning out to be an intriguing year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The typical top teams, like Duke, appear eminently beatable, and Clemson has three top-25 wins.
What will make the rest of conference play a bit challenging for Florida State’s freshman duo, though, is that it had such great early-season success. Hamilton said opposing defenses are keying on both Beasley and Bacon no longer are secrets, and teams are keying on them more now.
But that’s the kind of challenge both players chase. Both have NBA aspirations and the work ethic to get there.
Ranking the top 10 players in college basketball
And in Beasley’s case in particular, there’s a backup plan. Both his parents are actors; his father, Michael, appeared in the Denzel Washington movie “Flight” and HBO’s “Eastbound and Down,” among others, and his mother, Deena, has modeled and appeared in various roles, too, including one in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” Beasley’s grandfather, John, continues his own acting career that has spanned movies like Rudy and television for more than 25 years. He currently appears on TV Land’s The Soul Man.
Beasley and his sister, Micah, grew up on and around sets.
“They come from that family, and why not do it?” said Beasley’s father Michael, who played international basketball professionally before he entered the entertainment industry. “Whenever they wanted to audition, or whenever they wanted to be on the set, we let them be on the set. Otherwise we didn't force them. I think with Malik, if he invests to get to the next level (the NBA) it's going to help out a lot outside of basketball. You get another avenue.”
COLLEGE BASKETBALL HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK
