Inside Scottsdale Duo's Arrival, Emergence at USD

When Xavier Fuller and Boogie Anderson arrived on campus at the University of South Dakota last summer, there were many challenges to deal with. In the days since then, they’ve proven themselves to be up for it.

Both of these transfers from Scottsdale Community College in Arizona were subjected to long periods of quarantine because of the presence of COVID-19. It’s a common issue these days among athletes but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Obviously, it takes away time from teammates and time away from basketball. But it also made it more difficult to acclimate to the campus at a school they’d only seen online prior to making it part of their life.

They’re past those sacrifices now, but it hit them at a time when that level of isolation was going to make an impact.

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” said Anderson, summarizing that predicament. “Mentally, I’ve just been keeping strong. You just have to keep going every day. Yes, it’s been a challenge. But nothing we can’t handle.”

Anderson estimated his time in quarantine to be “about 58 days”. Unfortunately, that is not a reckless exaggeration. Much more important is that he and his teammate, friend and roommate, Fuller, have emerged from that unfortunate part of the present realities of life essentially undamaged. More to the point now is that it’s time to play ball, be a good teammate and help the Coyotes win games.

Fuller is a 6-5 guard who was a junior-college All-American from Mesa, Arizona, and is coming off a great weekend against the Denver Pioneers at the start of the Summit League schedule. Back-to-back wins gave the squad something to build on and Fuller was in the middle of it. Not so much with the points, but it was a conspicuous effort defensively. Denver’s Jace Townsend was Fuller’s job. The Pioneer standout was averaging 20 points per game, but came up with a total of 15 points in two games in Vermillion.

In short, Fuller, who is from a basketball family, knows how it works. You want minutes and you're a new player? Play defense at a high level. It’s the shortest distance between those two points.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes for our team to come out on top,” Fuller said. “So it was great that we started off on the right note. It was all preparation. Our coaching staff prepared me for how it was going to go. I felt like they had my work all laid out for me.”

Fuller’s father, Craig, played basketball at UC-Riverside and his older brother played at Iowa and USC and is now playing professionally overseas. His sister was a junior-college All-American.

“We battled each other a lot growing up,” Fuller said. “That definitely helped me. It probably gave me a little bit of an edge.”

This would be “edge” as in a competitive attitude. It’s an attitude that was definitely on display in the wins over Denver. He plays hard.

“I have no problem going out there and defending the other team’s best player,” Fuller said. “As long as we win the game, who cares? I’m not worried about anything else. If you play good defense, a lot of the other things take care of themselves.”

Anderson, a 6-3 guard who averaged 15.5 points a game at Scottsdale Community College, has had a bit of a slower start based on quarantine issues. He’s not lying though, about adversity making him stronger.

“We really expect him to be one of our best defenders,” Lee said. “He’s had to miss a ton of practices, but he might be the best athlete we have. He’s just going to have to get used to the system, but we’re looking forward to getting him in there.”

Like his buddy Fuller, he didn’t get the opportunity to really check out the campus in the traditional ways a recruit might some other year. In that regard, South Dakota was nevertheless a good choice.

“I like this place,” he said. “It’s great because everyone on the team grew up in different situations. We have a lot of different cultures. You have the guys from other countries and I’ve never been overseas. I’ll ask them a bunch of questions. And I have teammates from the Midwest. That’s cool for me too because I’ve only really been in the western part of the United States and a little bit on the east coast.”

When Anderson is struggling some, he calls his dad, Mike. Mike Anderson was a running back for the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens, earning the AFC rookie of the year award in 2000. He was a former marine who went to college after leaving the service. He was a 27-year-old rookie after playing collegiately at Utah.

“When I call my dad, he’ll always pick me up,” Boogie said. “He helps me get through it because he’s been through it. The marines, starting late in college, playing for a juco – he was a football player and I’m a basketball player, but he knows how it works.”

So what was it like having a professional athlete as a father?

“Everybody’s parents went to work so I really didn’t see it was any different,” he said. “He’d leave in the morning and come home at night just like everyone else. But then I’d see people going crazy over him and I’m like ‘What? That’s just my dad.’”

His favorite memories? Well, after games they had a pretty good spread in the locker room.

“Cakes, cookies – whatever you want,” Anderson said, laughing. “Gatorade, gum – they had it all. Sometimes I’d get to go out to the facility. They had a chef who would cook whatever you wanted.”

His real name is Michael but his family didn’t really think it fit. When the tunes were playing when he was a youngster, he’d start shaking and baking. Now no one calls him Michael.

“When I was a kid, when somebody turned the music up I’d walk into the room and start dancing,” Anderson said. “So my family started calling me ‘Boogie.’ They’ve been calling me Boogie ever since.”

It’s part of the world of college sports this year but it bears mention: The meter is not running on their eligibility this season thanks to the pandemic. It means both of them will have two years at USD starting next year. Normally it’s two years and that’s it.

In this case that means two well-liked and hard-working players from Arizona are going to get an extended opportunity to show the Coyotes what they can do.

“It’s been great getting them into the program,” Lee said. “And both of them are essentially going to have three years here. With junior college kids, you basically think you’re going to get a year-and-a-half out of them. That first six months, they’re picking things up. But these guys are getting three years. They’re both going to be very good players.”