BEN HUTCHENS Iowa State University beat reporter
AMES — Fourteen seasons after he graduated from Iowa State, Diante Garrett is getting his first taste of the NCAA tournament.
It’s hard to believe Garrett, ISU point guard from 2007-11, never played in the big dance.
By his senior season, Garrett established himself as an All-Big 12 Second-Team pick and conference assist leader. He ended his career as ISU’s all-time leader in games played. The Cyclones made the NCAA Tournament the next six seasons following Garrett’s departure for a professional career that included stints in the NBA and in Croatia, France and Japan.
On Dec. 26, ISU coach TJ Otzelberger announced he’d hired Garrett as an assistant coach. The two have known each other since Otzelberger played college basketball with Garrett's older brother Damon at UW-Whitewater.
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Friday, ISU plays Lipscomb in the NCAA Tournament (12:30 p.m. TNT) and Garrett will get to experience March Madness for the first time.
Garrett said he thinks that’s pretty cool.
“Oh hell yeah,” Garrett told The Quad-City Times. “Being able to experience the NCAA Tournament in the way, how this team is built, and how good they are, it just feels real good to be a part of it.”
In Garrett’s playing career, ISU never even won a game in the Big 12 Tournament, so he is getting to experience the successes of college basketball like never before. It makes it worth a difficult decision to give up professional basketball.
Garrett said it was tough putting his 12-year professional career to bed. He had more opportunities to play overseas but had previously communicated his desire to coach at ISU with Otzelberger if an opportunity ever came up.
“I've been talking to Coach TJ for a while, and I told him I wanted to come help the guys and join whenever the opportunity opened up,” Garrett said. “It just came faster than I thought. And I was like, you know, why not?”
The basketball itch hasn’t vanished completely. ISU’s student-managers recruited Garrett to join them in competitive pickup games against managers/team personnel at other schools. He is known to score 40 points. After a 74-59 manager games win at Kansas, the group’s social media account pointed out it’s their turn to be “unfair,” considering it has played against former Big 12 greats like West Virginia point guard Jordan McCabe and Oklahoma State guard Keiton Page.
Playing pick-up and occasionally dropping 40 is part of Garett’s easy-going style. He goes by coach DG and keeps it loose, sometimes listening to music through headphones and putting up some shots before games. He’s only 36, so there is an older brother type relationship with players — something Garrett embraces.
“You could say he’s a mentor because he’s been through it,” guard Curtis Jones said. “He’s been here, played overseas, NBA for a little bit, seen a lot of basketball. He’s always positive, telling me to stay aggressive or you could look at this or that. DG was a great addition to the (team).”
Garrett will never get to play in the NCAA Tournament, and he’s OK with that. As long as he’s helping ISU succeed, he’s happy.
“It’s another path for me to just take advantage of it and be blessed to be able to come back and help these guys and be in the NCAA Tournament,” Garrett said. “So, I’m good.”
Ben Hutchens is an Iowa State University beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at Ben.Hutchens@lee.net.
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