Former Flyers on Red Scare roster in TBT now veteran pros

“It was pretty crazy,” Mikesell said. “When it first happened, I remember it was Shabbat, and my fiancée (Quincy Kellett) and I didn’t have anything going on. We were at the beach the night before. Then we woke up, and my coach called me. We were in the northern part of Israel. He said, ‘There’s some stuff going on in the south. But as long as you stay in the north you’ll be fine.’”

The situation worsened. Players on Mikesell’s team, Ironi Kiryat Ata, began exchanging updates in a group text message. They started looking for ways out of the country. Flights were getting canceled. They hoped to escape on a cruise ship. That didn’t happen.

Finally, Mikesell received a message telling him he had 40 minutes to pack his bags. A taxi would pick up him and Kellett and take them to the airport for a flight to Cyprus.

“One thing that kind of hit me when we were driving to the airport was there were tanks being shipped down to Gaza,” Mikesell said. “Then when we were at the airport our flight got delayed because there were bombs being shot from Gaza.”

That will be a story Mikesell remembers well from his overseas career. He told it Tuesday after the first practice of the week with the Red Scare. The UD alumni team starts play in The Basketball Tournament at 5 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena. Members of the team will gather at Milano’s on Brown Street at 6:30 p.m. Thursday for an autograph session with fans.

Mikesell is one of many former Flyers playing international basketball. Four who were at practice Tuesday talked about what they have learned in their pro careers and what advice they would offer to young players starting that journey.

Mikesell: The St. Henry graduate, a 6-foot-7 forward who played at Dayton from 2015-20, will play for MLB Academics Heidelberg in Germany’s top league this season. He will reunite with the coach he had in his first season in Germany.

Mikesell, 27, averaged 11.1 points for Chalon in France’s top league last season after his stay in Israel ended. He played the last two seasons in France after starting his career in Germany’s second division.

Mikesell said he would tell young players to not look too far ahead in their careers.

“You can have a plan and have all this stuff going through your head,” he said, “but there’s a lot of stuff that’s out of your control, such as a war. That’s something I didn’t have on my bingo card. The biggest thing is just take it a year at a time, focus on each day, each practice, each game and just go from there and then make the appropriate decisions — whether that’s business, whether it’s basketball, whether that’s family, whatever that is. I think everybody’s path is different, and everybody’s journey is different. It’s hard to compare yourself to this person or that person just because everybody has so many different things going on with their lives.”

Scoochie Smith: The Bronx, N.Y., native Smith, a 6-2 guard, has played in Greece, Serbia, Poland and Lithuania since his college career ended in 2017. He averaged 12.6 points for BC Juventus in Utena, Lithuania, last season.

Smith, 29, said his overseas career has been a good experience, though it’s difficult at times being alone in a foreign country. He would tell young players to prepare to make sacrifices to get to the highest levels of overseas basketball.

“Each decision really matters,” Smith said. “You can go somewhere for a lot of money. Or you could go somewhere for a little bit of money and you might not play. As Americans, we’re going overseas, and we’re just picking a team, but once you get over there, now you’re in a whole different market. It’s hard to get to that top market. You might have chased the money, or you might have chased EuroCup for less money and then you didn’t play. Sometimes you keep that stigma with you over there.”

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Josh Cunningham: A 6-8 forward from Chicago who played for Dayton from 2016-19, Cunningham played in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Bosnia before averaging 19.4 points for Bigua in Uruguay last season.

Cunningham, 27, would tell new pros to go into the experience with an open mind.

“In Europe, especially, you can’t go into it friendly,” Cunningham said. “You’ve got to go in and attack right away. You can’t be chill. Make your presence felt and let them know, ‘I’m here for a reason. I’m an American import on this team to help us go as far as we possibly can.’”

Darrell Davis: The 6-4 guard from Detroit is the only Flyer who has played for the Red Scare every year since the team was formed in 2019. Since graduating from Dayton in 2018, he has played in Hungray, the Netherlands, Kosovo, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Bulgaria. Last season, he averaged 14.1 points for AEL Limassol in Cyprus.

Davis, 28, said he would advise young players to stay consistent and dedicated in their pro careers. Like Smith and Cunningham, he has not decided where he’ll play next season.

“There’s going to be ups and downs,” Davis said. “You’re going to have rough patches. Always keep pushing through the tunnel. The light is always brighter at the end. And stay focused. That’s the main thing because wherever you go you have to start over. We start over in elementary, middle school, high school and college and in the pros. You’ve got to stay at it.”