Photo courtesy of Michelle VanHee/Madelia Times Messenger Madelia’s Ja’Sean Glover drives to the basket in a game against Nicollet earlier this year at Madelia High School. Glover averaged more than 31 points per game and has become one of the best young players in the state of Minnesota. Just a sophomore, Glover already has 1,605 career points with two years to go.

MADELIA — Like all high school athletes right now, Ja’Sean Glover has been having a hard time with not being able to get in uniform and compete with his teammates.

At this time, the Madelia sophomore should be getting ready for the baseball season. But it’s basketball that has made him into one of the best young prospects in the State of Minnesota and there is no telling how good he will be when it’s all said and done.

Glover is an athletic and exciting player for the Blackhawks, who finished this past season with an 11-16 record and a first-round exit in the Section 2A playoffs to Mankato Loyola. He finished his 2019-20 season averaging 31.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Just a sophomore, he’s already the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,605 career points (he had 745 points in his sophomore season alone). In addition to him being named to the All-Valley Conference team twice, he has been named to the All-Journal team twice, finishing on the second team in his freshman year and the first team this past season.

From Minneapolis to Madelia

Glover moved from Minneapolis to Madelia when he was 11 years old with his mom and his sister. As a youngster, he would take daily walks to the nearest rec center to play basketball every day in Minneapolis. He was usually one of the youngest players, but that didn’t seem to bother him.

He went from a city with a population of more than 400,000 to one of about 2,200, quite a drastic change for anyone. He found himself looking for new ways to keep himself busy, but the game of the basketball was always there for him. It was just a lot tougher to find the pickup games he had played on a daily basis prior to moving.

“It was definitely an experience, because I’m used to being in city, it went from loud to definitely quiet, just as a city,” he said. “Usually I just keep a basketball around me at all times and I just dribble it with me wherever I go.”

While playing games up there, he challenged himself to play against the best players he could find and that often meant he was the youngest and the smallest. That also meant that he was constantly getting pushed and shoved around on the court, a physical style of play that he would later learn to love.

“They definitely taught me the physical aspect of basketball, I just stayed patient and keep working at whatever you’re going towards in basketball,” he said.

His current head coach Jeff VanHee first saw him play when VanHee was reffing a basketball game in a Madelia.

“We have a league that we play in down here and we had a game and some people say that there was a really good player and he was in fifth grade,” VanHee said. “I was reffing, he was just an average-sized fifth-grader but you could tell he was fairly athletic in warm-ups. And the first time he got the ball on the right wing, he Euro-stepped around somebody for a layup.”

He later carried that skillset over to the summer leagues in fifth and sixth grade, where impressed opposing coaches talked to him after the game.

VanHee recalled a time when he took him to a basketball tournament early in Glover’s career. There, Glover showed up without a bag, wearing the jersey and shorts underneath the clothes he had on over them. He also didn’t have a pair of court shoes for the game, showing up and playing in his street shoes.

After that, VanHee gave him an opportunity to earn some money so that he could buy a pair of Kevin Durant style game shoes. He also invited him over to watch the NBA finals since he didn’t have that chance to do so at home. The two formed a basketball bond and it remains tight to this day.

VanHee also noticed that Glover had a high, arcing shot because he had to shoot that way playing against the taller players in the rec center in Minneapolis. He worked with him to fix the shot and that hard work has paid off.

Glover recognized that VanHee played a very key role in his life early on after moving to Madelia.

“Jeff definitely saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and he just taught me to work hard and become the best player that you can be, you can go far in the basketball world,” Glover said.

While VanHee taught Glover so many lessons in life, Glover has returned the favor to his coach. VanHee has learned how to be more appreciative of each and every game and moment because it seems like just yesterday when Glover was a seventh-grader.

“I remember that he was working hard and it was satisfying seeing him put the work in,” VanHee said. “He’s a great kid, he had a passion for sports like I did, learning from him and coaching someone that is so talented, I want to be able to be appreciative of him being him. I just remember thinking ‘man do I bring this kid up as a seventh-grader’ and now he’s already done with his sophomore year.”

An early impact

Glover was called up to the varsity level as a seventh grader. Then, he was a pass-first player, playing one half of varsity and two halves of junior varsity each night.

Naturally, he was a little nervous at first, playing against athletes four or five years older than him. Despite being the youngest player on the court, he wasn’t intimidated. He made the transition from youth basketball to varsity and his goal immediately was to earn the respect of his older teammates. He did just that with his ability to bring the ball upcourt and distribute to open teammates.

“As a seventh grader, we moved him to the varsity level at the beginning of the season, so he never played junior high,” VanHee said. “About midway through the season, around Christmas maybe, we started him [on varsity]. For the most part, the players in the program knew that he could play, a lot of the guys had played with him in open gym and he was playing in the summer league. They knew he was an exceptionally talented kid. They enjoyed playing with him, he was a good player and good passer.”

Glover said it took him a little while to get used to the varsity game. But VanHee said his high basketball IQ made a big difference right away.

“I was definitely nervous because I was in seventh grade, it was definitely a change from youth basketball straight to varsity,” he said. “It was more fast-paced, but now as I get older, I’m getting used to it.”

VanHee started to notice that as Glover’s skillset grew as he got older, he needed his young player to become more aggressive with the ball scoring-wise. He started to challenge Glover to not be afraid to shoot the ball.

“He started to make that transition during his ninth-grade year,” VanHee said. “He came into that year a little bit more pass-first. He played for the Southwest Minnesota Stars (AAU team), he played up a level and his teammates there loved him.”

Glover took that challenge to heart. In his freshman year, he averaged 16.1 ppg and shot 45% from the field. He also pulled down 7.5 rebounds and dished out 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 32% from 3-point range.

“Everybody always told me that I make the team much better when I score,” Glover said. “Being aggressive and attacking the rim, doing whatever to score. Everybody just encouraged me to do it and I just went into attack mode.”

What’s next?

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered life as we know it for a while. In what’s a very crucial off-season for him and his fellow sophomore class, it’s not certain that Glover will even get to play competitive AAU basketball this summer. He’s determined not to let that be a setback should the summer season be canceled, but he’s already got a list of things he wants to work on this summer to take his game to the next level.

“Just leadership skills, communication skills, vocal skills, I want to be better at shooting consistently from anywhere on the court,” Glover said.

Since he’s not playing baseball and because the AAU season is in doubt, he spends his spring days watching basketball clips on YouTube or game film from this past season, anything to get him motivated to get back outside and keep working on his game. His favorite player is Durant and he’d like to model his game after him as much as possible.

“He’s a very good scorer all around the court, it’s ridiculous,” Glover said. “He’s probably the best player I’ve seen in the NBA.”

With his junior year coming up, VanHee sees plenty of potential for growth ahead.

“He’s already physical, but I think he wants to be more physical around the hoop, and be able to go through contact and finish strong,” VanHee said. “Some of that just comes with maturity, he was in the weight room now until the COVID thing. He’s still got the mentality to become a better free throw shooter and his jumpshooting ability, I’ve talked about working on his range. I told them to add that quick release so he can feel good about pulling up from 20 feet.

“Honestly, I just see a natural progression with him,” VanHee said. “When he starts to get his legs under him, he really just started dunking the ball this year. I just see him finishing over people and through people all the time.”