Jeannette graduate Julian Batts relishes trip to NCAA's First Four

Julian Batts stood in front of a mural painted on the wall of a back hallway leading out of the Jeannette High School gymnasium.

Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr. were among numerous historical moments and figures portrayed on the collage, which served as the backdrop for the Jeannette graduate as he reminisced about some recent history of his own.

A sophomore at Long Island Brooklyn, Batts helped lead his college basketball team to the NCAA Tournament last week and, like the ultimate and-1 play, fulfilled a personal dream along the way.

LIU-Brooklyn toppled No. 1 seed Wagner, 71-61, to win the Northeast Conference championship and secure an automatic tournament bid for the first time since 2013.

The Blackbirds were placed in the “First Four” play-in round and traveled to Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday to face Radford.

A win would have sent 16th seeded LIU-Brooklyn to the East Region being played at Pittsburgh's PPG Paints Arena. While the plot did not thicken Batts after a 71-61 loss, the rush of elation and instant memories that come with “March Madness” instantly stuck with Batts, the syrupy smooth left-hander with the cool-mannered demeanor.

“It was like a dream come true,” Batts said. “From when I was a little kid I used to always watch March Madness and I'm like, I want to be there one day.

“After we beat Wagner ... It was like, wow ... I get to actually go there? Whether it was the First Four or field of 64, it was indescribable. If I would have been able to play in Pittsburgh, I would have never asked for anything else in my life; I would have been perfectly fine.”

Batts had 13 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

Finding his role

Batts started 34 games for LIU-Brooklyn (18-17) and led the team in 3-pointers (66) and steals (47). He averaged 10.1 points and 4.4 rebounds. He scored 27 against Bryant and had 21 against Wagner.

“He's a good all-around basketball player, and I think that's a testament to him growing up in a family that's been around the game for a while,” first-year LIU-Brooklyn coach Derek Kellogg said earlier this season after his team played Robert Morris at PPG Paints Arena. “He's the kind of guy who can sense who's got it going on the floor and get it to him. He has very good instincts.”

Support system

After an eight-point, five-rebound game in the NEC championship win that clinched the Blackbirds' trip to the Big Dance, Batts' cell phone needed recharged. Jeannette's proud sports fans collectively bearhugged one of their own.

“After we beat Wagner I had like 600 messages,” Batts said. “My Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat were blowing up. Then, when we were building up to the tournament, I had a bunch of people I haven't talked to in years calling me, ‘Hey, can you get me tickets to Pittsburgh?' And we didn't even make it there. It was just an awesome experience.”

Win or go home

Batts strongly considered leaving LIU-Brooklyn last spring after coach Jack Perri was fired after five seasons. He even requested his release. But after meeting Kellogg and warming up to him, he decided not to break the glass in case of emergency: he stayed and earned his keep.

Talk about survive and advance.

Now, he's enjoying the fruits of his labor in the Big Apple.

Kellogg helped Batts' progression into becoming a more well-rounded player.

“Coach Kellogg instilled a lot of confidence in me,” Batts said. “I always have confidence in myself, but coming from a coaching transition, sometimes you're not too sure how the new coach is going to be. He hit the ground running. They yelled at me more times to shoot the ball than to not, which was good. In my freshman year, I wasn't that aggressive. I said, I put all this work in, why not benefit on the court.”

Prep school proud

Overlooked by Division I colleges coming out of Jeannette, Batts, who also was a dual-threat quarterback for the Jayhawks, took the long way around to high-level college hoops. He played a year at prep-school power St. Thomas More in Connecticut.

Batts, who led Jeannette to a WPIAL runner-up finish as a senior, scored 1,769 points in high school, a total that ranks second on Jeannette's scoring list behind Terrelle Pryor (2,285).

“I remember him hitting the game-winning shot to send (St. Thomas More) to the (prep school) national championship,” said Adrian Batts, Julian's father and Jeannette's boys basketball coach. “He just kept raising his game and showing people how they missed out on him. I am proud of him. He worked extremely hard to get where he is.”

Early morning workouts and countless hours of extra practice helped chisel Julian Batts' game. He routinely went against other Division I-level players and held his own.

He wanted a Division I scholarship and went out and earned one.

“It brought me to appreciate basketball more because I didn't have what I wanted,” Batts said. “I was up every morning at 6 a.m. — my alarm would go off and I would hate it — but I had to get up and I eventually got to where I wanted to be. To look back on it and see I made it to the NCAA Tournament and have one of my life-long goals checked off, that's all I need.”

His inspiration, besides a free education and proving the doubters wrong, was the chance to do more than fill out a bracket in March.

“No disrespect to the other two levels or NAIA or anything, but there is nothing like playing in March at the Division I level,” Batts said. “That fueled me. I always felt like I was one of the best around, wherever I was at. Whatever room I am in, I feel like I am one of the best. Why not put your skills up against the best in the country?”

And now, he wants more next season.

“Your hunger goes up,” he said. “So you can get better. Hopefully, it works out. It's tough to get there, but hopefully we can do it. We have some good pieces coming in.”

Watching like a ‘Hawk

Batts traveled with Jeannette to Wednesday's PIAA playoff game at Farrell and plans to watch the team play Saturday against vaunted Sewickley Academy at North Hills.

He thinks Jeannette can make a run at a state title.

“They've got the pieces,” Batts said. “Now, hopefully they can beat Sewickley on Saturday.”

The madness continues.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.