#4 Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson (Combo Guard 2009)
His nickname said it all, earned long before his lone season in a Bearcats uniform ever came about. Lance Stephenson earned his nickname the way all NYC hoops legends did, by putting in work on the blacktop courts of New York followed by legendary performances in the high school gyms of every borough. Stephenson first hit the scene as a young fourteen year old in 2005 who crashed Adidas’ ABCD Camp, challenging then #1 overall high school prospect and future NBA lottery pick O.J. Mayo. After attending the famed Abraham Lincoln High School in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, NY he stood alone as NYC’s all-time leading scorer. Despite the 6’5″, 195 pound shooting guard being ranked by Rivals as the No. 11 overall high school prospect in the country, many schools backed off Stephenson due to some pending legal troubles he encountered as a prep star. Once cleared it was then head coach Mick Cronin who convinced Stephenson to attend UC, for what most knew would likely be his one and only year of college before jumping to the NBA.
Despite his somewhat mercurial nature, Born Ready’s swagger and confidence is exactly what the Cats’ needed headed into the 2009-10 season , as they looked to finally stamp the program’s return to relevance in the college basketball landscape. With Stephenson starting as a true freshman the Cats’ opened the season 4-0 with wins against ranked opponents Vanderbilt and Maryland, before suffering their first defeat to Gonzaga in overtime at the Maui Invitational final 61-59. When asked by an ESPN reporter prior to the contest why had UC started the season so much better than his previous three years on the job, Cronin simply responded by saying, “We have talent now again.”
Even with the most talent to that point in his tenure as head coach at UC, Cronin saw both Stephenson and the team as a whole endure a very up and down season finishing with a 19-16 record. Stephenson however did win the Big East Conference Rookie of the Year award averaging 12.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. More importantly he brought back the “coolness factor” and appeal to playing basketball at UC again. Something I know personally from speaking with fellow former McDonald’s High School All-Americans and Bearcats legends Kenny Satterfield & DerMarr Johnson, factors into an elite prospect’s decision making process when selecting a college to play for. Soon after a loss against the University of Dayton in the second round of the NIT, Stephenson did what he was born ready to do in declaring himself eligible for the upcoming NBA Draft. He was selected as the 40th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. Stephenson played nine NBA seasons for the Pacers, Hornets, Clippers, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Timberwolves, and Lakers before playing the 2019-20 season overseas in the Chinese Basketball Association for the Liaoning Flying Leopards.
