Raising the Guard; St. John's graduate Hughes has come a long way for UW

Posted: Jan. 30, 2008

Wisconsin Badgers basketball fans probably feel like they're watching Trevon Hughes mature right before their eyes.

The 20-year-old guard, a graduate of St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, went to the Badgers with plenty of fanfare after a standout senior season in 2005-06, but the turning point has come in his sophomore campaign.

ON POINT - University of Wisconsin basketball player Trevon Hughes, a graduate of St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, leads the Badgers in scoring this year at greater than 15 points per game.

"So now he knows it's his turn," Badgers coach Bo Ryan said in November after a preseason game. "So sometimes in life when you realize it's your people, you approach the day differently. You feel differently about yourself. And that's not in a cocky way, it's in a way of, 'I've got responsibility now.' It happens to all of us when we're growing up."

Hughes has grown up plenty. A transplant from Queens, N.Y., when he enrolled at St. John's as a high school freshman, Hughes' evolutionary process has been a long time coming, far longer than the past year.

People person

Hughes offers no secret to his sudden emergence as a go-to player for the Badgers, entering their crucial meeting tonight with Indiana as the country's No. 13 team.

BO KNOWS - Badgers coach Bo Ryan (right) has given Hughes more playing time this season, and the guard has responded by scoring 13 points per game.

It was a learning experience that took place as much off the floor as on it.

"I'm more of a people person now," Hughes said. "Back in high school, I wanted to keep things to myself, I wasn't open or anything. Coming here, I have to be open and talk to everybody, even to the media. I have to be that guy. The discipline from St. John's, that helped. That's the most important thing I got from St. John's - discipline and learning how to incorporate other people into my surroundings."

Brian Richert, Hughes' old high school coach, has been a guiding light along the way.

"I told him, 'The day you become a young man, not a basketball player, but a young man, is a day that you're going to be something special,' and he was," Richert said. "'You don't have to listen to anything but one piece of advice - become a better person.' He has become so much better as a person.

"Now he knows how to treat others, the other kids, my wife, my family and everyone. He would never open the door up for a woman two years ago. He's learning that."

Culture shock

Coming to Wisconsin proved to be an adjustment for the eighth-grader from Queens.

"From big buildings in my neighborhood to big trees in Wisconsin, that was culture shock to me," Hughes said. "There's a lot of green out here, a lot of farms. I had never seen a farm. People might say, 'look at that barn,' and I would say, 'It's not red, so it's not a barn.' "

Richert said Hughes was a troublemaker academically and socially in New York, but the experiences at St. John's turned his life around. Hughes admitted he kept unfavorable company in New York.

"The kids I was with weren't basketball players; they didn't have anything going in life," Hughes said. "They were in trouble. ... My mom didn't want me around that, and she figured (St. John's) was the best place for me."

As Hughes ascended through the high school ranks, college scouts took notice. He earned all-state accolades as a sophomore and junior before a first-team All-State nod as a senior and a state tournament appearance. The high-profile recruiting process was something Hughes said he hated.

"When Tom Crean and Bo Ryan were both in the gym at the same game ... afterward, they talked to him, and Trevon was real quiet with them and wasn't real sociable with them," Richert said. "He wasn't a confident kid in communications.

"I said, 'Here's my problem. Your attitude and character and image is going to determine how many college coaches are going to come through these doors. If you're a jerk or have an attitude, you're going to ruin it.' "

Richert said he did his best to serve as a surrogate parent, taking Hughes to sporting events and offering his own home as occasional harbor for Hughes, who still communicates regularly with his mother and stepfather back home. Plenty of his phone calls still go to Richert, who was the primary contact during recruiting.

"He's a very humble kid," Richert said. "He had three shoeboxes full of letters that he hasn't even opened. Any other kid would say, 'Oh my God, North Carolina sent me a letter. Let's open it.' He knew what he was looking for in a school. He knew Wisconsin would be at his top, but he wanted other options to compare it to."

Hughes considered Georgetown, Marquette, Connecticut and Iowa, among many others, but Richert said the ultimate decision to attend Wisconsin was an emotional relief.

"It was painful; because when you're top 50 in the country, everyone wants a piece of his time, to call him, talk to him," Richert said. "But here at the military academy, you can't call him. There's no mom to talk to, no dad to talk to; it's just him."

The forward march

The maturation process hasn't been lost on Badgers top basketball assistant Greg Gard.

"He's come as far from a freshman in high school to a senior in high school to a freshman (in college) in terms of maturity and personality as anyone I've been around," Gard said. "He had a lot of growing up to do through his first three years of high school.

"Just how he deals with people, how he talks to you - he looks you in the eye and communicates very well," Gard continued. "Brian did a great job with him at St. John's, and that whole St. John's environment gives people a dose of what reality really is. High school kids right now can do whatever they went, they're not held accountable. ... How many juniors and seniors are getting up at 6:30 a.m., marching and hearing the national anthem as they raise the flag? It's very uncommon. When Trevon is done with basketball, years down the road, I think all those experiences will help him."

In the meantime, Hughes' experiences have been translating onto the floor. His crucial 3-pointer helped Wisconsin stave off an upset by Valparaiso earlier this year, and he picked up a key assist on Marcus Landry's game-clincher against Michigan in Big Ten play last week. When the Badgers recorded their signature win, a road win over Texas, much was made of how the team rallied without Hughes, who missed the game because of an ankle injury.

Hughes credits Richert for how far he's come.

"Brian was a really good coach; he showed me a lot, and he's a good person," Hughes said. "He was putting me before himself, treating me like I was his son. I respect him for that."