Everyone's road is different.
And Teddy Allen's road to Lincoln has been, to say the very least, a winding one.
It started with a difficult childhood in Arizona and continued with two years at Boys Town in Omaha, during which he lost his mother after a battle with cancer. There was one season at West Virginia, and a stop at Wichita State, with Allen all the while fighting the demons that have followed him much of his life.
This year, the road led to Scottsbluff. And Tuesday a new path opened to the Husker men's basketball team.
Allen, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound wing, announced he was committed to Nebraska on Tuesday afternoon. He'll join the Huskers in 2020 and have two years of eligibility remaining.
"I think Teddy's excited about Coach (Fred) Hoiberg and what he can do to help Teddy continue to grow as a player and as a man. I think he's really excited about the opportunity to play at Nebraska and play in front of a lot of people who will show him love and support," said Cory Fehringer, Allen's coach at Western Nebraska Community College. "And most importantly, Teddy's continued to try and put himself in a position to use basketball as a tool to help his life become more comfortable."
People are also reading…
When one door closes ..another door opens. I wanna thank for trusting in me & what I can do & wanting me to be part of the family. I know what that N stand for in this state, I swear to rep & leave my heart out there for y’all!
— Teddy - TMC (@JussHoopTeddy)
Allen leads the nation in scoring at the junior college level, averaging 32 points per game at WNCC. He's shooting 54 percent from the field and nearly 43 percent from three-point range, as well as making nearly 90 percent of his free throws and grabbing 7.2 rebounds per game.
His skill set was already well known. He was the Nebraska Gatorade player of the year in 2017 after averaging 31.6 points and 13 rebounds per game at Boys Town.Â
Allen spent his freshman season at West Virginia in 2017-18, where he averaged seven points and 2.7 rebounds per game to help the Mountaineers make the Sweet 16. He averaged 11.3 points per game in West Virginia's three NCAA Tournament games, and had a 20-point performance against a top-10 Oklahoma team earlier in the season.
But off-the-court issues have followed Allen as well. He was benched for two games in the middle of the season at West Virginia for disciplinary reasons before playing well at the end of the year.
Allen transferred from West Virginia to Wichita State after the season, and sat out last year after not getting a waiver for immediate eligibility. With neither Nebraska nor Creighton showing much interest, it was a chance for Allen to get closer to Boys Town, the place that gave his life structure. And there was a line of thinking at the time that Allen would be a strong candidate to receive a waiver from the NCAA.
That waiver never came. Allen sat out the 2018-19 season, and was dismissed from Wichita State’s team in June of this year, less than a week after he was arrested and later charged with a pair of misdemeanors — domestic violence property crime, and petty theft.
Fehringer welcomed Allen to Western Nebraska's campus not long after that. And surely Allen has heard his share of criticism from opposing crowds who think they are well aware of his indiscretions.
"When it comes to young men growing up and getting exposed for poor choices, I just typically think about — they probably don't deserve that criticism or that microscope. Because if that was turned around on the person stating or saying it, they'd probably have a real big issue in their own life," Fehringer said.
"So we try to view every young student-athlete who's made a poor choice as an opportunity for grace and mercy, and an opportunity for success through what may not be considered a great story."
Nebraska assistant Matt Abdelmassih and head coach Fred Hoiberg have been keeping tabs on Allen since the school year began.
"They've been evaluating the situation from the beginning. Which, they are intelligent coaches; that's why they have the jobs that they have," Fehringer said. "Teddy being from Nebraska, (it was) a no-brainer for them to make sure that they check in on him, develop a relationship and a rapport with him, and then also communicate the expectation. "
So Allen will return to a part of the world that helped him get his life in order when he was a younger man. Certainly, his story isn't done being written, and there is work still to do to go forward with a life that has moved in fits and starts since Allen was a child.
"I think, whether it’s media, society, whoever may be on the outside looking in, is really forgetful of the 99% of the things that they don’t see. And we’re really thoughtful of the 99% of the time that we get to spend with these kids outside of a competition; 30 games in a 365-day calendar year," Fehringer said.
"So I think the time we get to spend with Teddy on academic planning, on athletic improvement, on continuous improvement, Teddy’s been as enjoyable as any young student-athlete has been as far as accepting criticism and understanding that there’s flaws that have to be improved."
Allen's commitment gives the Huskers two players in the 2020 class, along with Donovan Williams of Lincoln North Star. NU currently has one open scholarship remaining for 2020.
Fehringer said he has "no clue" what Allen has worked on to improve his game on the court. The focus, the coach said, has been away from basketball.
"I think the biggest emphasis we have in our program for Teddy as well as every young student-athlete in our program is, character really counts. And it really adds up, and when you lack it, it can destroy you and harm you," Fehringer said.
"For Teddy, we've focused in on his leadership skills and his day-to-day activity as a student, as an athlete, and as a young man who's trying to make the best life as he grows up."