Jensen: Chris Clover has waited his turn at St. Joe's

Waiting your turn? In college basketball? These days? One and done, baby! A Diaper Dandy easing into college ball? How old- school.

Chris Clover showed up at St. Joseph's last year as the MVP of arguably - or inarguably - the top high school league in the state, the Philadelphia Catholic League. A terrific recruit for the Hawks.

St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli mentioned several times last season how Clover was good enough to earn minutes - there just weren't minutes to be had, not that season for a 6-foot-3 wing player. A former St. Joseph's Prep star, Clover never played double-digit minutes. In 16 games, he didn't play at all as the Hawks won the Atlantic Ten and racked up 28 wins.

"Think about it," Martelli said ticking off the wing players the Hawks had in DeAndre' Bembry, Aaron Brown, and James Demery. "He was behind a pro, a fifth-year player, and [a player] who started as a freshman. And he was a little bit happy-go-lucky. At the end of last season, he got zeroed in. He was on the scout team at the end of the year and he was really playing good basketball. He put in a lot of work. He's always in here working."

He deserves some kind of award for waiting your turn without disrupting your team. Catholic League MVP turns it up while on scout team? Can it get more impressive than that?

"I think it was a really big hit to his ego," said Hawks assistant Dave Duda. "But he never let it show. He was a bright enough kid to know he was on a really good team. I thought he was a marvelous teammate last year."

There were minutes for a couple of other freshmen, but they played other positions.

"We had a good team, an A-10 championship team - I had to wait my time," Clover said. "I had to do what's best for the team. We had seniors on the team. I'm not upset at all. I had to put my ego to the side."

Did he realize coming in he would have to do that?

"I didn't really know what was going to happen," Clover said. But as soon as last season ended, "I talked to Coach right away. 'What do I need to do to see minutes on the floor?' "

Early mornings, late nights, the gym is there for him. Whatever his role this season, he'll be a big part of the rotation.

Martelli often says it's a challenge for a Philadelphia kid to play at a Philadelphia school.

"Especially when you don't play," Martelli said. "Because when you go home - the fellas are all saying to you, 'I remember when you played in ninth grade and you did this. . . . That coach must be dogging you.' So now this kid is torn between self-evaluation and it would be easy [to say], 'Yeah, Coach is doing me wrong.' Chris never, never - and his family never, ever [did that] - so I'm really anxious for him to be successful."

He'll see meaningful minutes this season. Martelli said Clover has already done "some really nice things," including at a scrimmage last week.

"I'm not allowed to tell you we were in Baltimore for a secret scrimmage," Martelli joked. But he gave some clues. It was at Towson. The scrimmage had just ended. Clover saw his coach and wanted to know what he thought, what Clover had to do from there. Martelli told him he had to process his numbers, that kind of thing.

"But I'm going to give you this," Martelli remembers telling Clover. "Last year you would shoot because you thought you were shooting. Now you're shooting to make."

"This team, we need shot-makers," Martelli said.

"We've done a lot with Chris in terms of some of the stroke, and really taking as many shots as he can," Duda said. "Don't be a reluctant shooter. Shoot the ball. Don't try do stuff he can't do. He's not necessarily the best off the dribble, that kind of thing. But in practice every day, if he has an open shot, we're all yelling, 'Chris, shoot it, shoot it.' "

Not a terrible thing for someone to hear? No, Clover said with a laugh.

"In high school, he was used to taking 20 shots a game," Duda said. "You come here and get two, it's different. The final piece of the puzzle, he's got to do it against somebody with the lights on. His confidence will go up. Until, he gets that, I think he'll still have a little doubt in his mind."

Clover indicates that he agrees.

"Knowing that you can take that shot, that you worked on it all summer," Clover said. "That's all it is, the confidence part. I've been scoring since high school."

This weekend, starting with Saturday against Toledo on Hawk Hill, the lights are on. Save a little applause for the guy who waited his turn.

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus