Over winter break, the Garfield basketball team traveled to Muncie, Indiana to play in a tournament with three of the most dominant high school teams in the nation. The tournament was directly in the wake of the Tony Wroten residence drama and several games canceled due to snow. To Garfield, it was both an opportunity and a test, a chance to legitimize their top rank in Washington 4A and prove they could compete with bigger and more athletic teams. Lawrence North, Ind., ranked 22nd in the nation, a team featuring five players over 6’9”, provided the first such test.

Hours before gametime, the Seattle Schools District contacted Tony and informed him that he could not play in the Lawrence North game because, due to the unexpected snow days, he had not officially been reinstated at Garfield.

Without Tony, Garfield lost its only real chance against Lawrence North. North offered both height and speed, and outrebounding and outrunning them became truly impossible without Tony’s athleticism. Garfield resorted to launching threes, and despite cutting the second half deficit to eight at one point, it was clear they were overmatched. The final score: Lawrence North, 61 – 37.

Garfield played preseason national number one Duncanville the following day. This time Tony was in the lineup. After the Lawrence North game, the judge who initially granted his injunction clarified that Tony could, in fact, participate in school activities despite not being officially enrolled. Nonetheless, things did not look particularly optimistic, for Duncanville, despite having lost five games at this point, was still ranked 12th by USA Today.

The Duncanville lineup was significantly bigger than that of Garfield. Despite playing poorly, they waded their way to a ten-point lead with three minutes left in the second half. Then the tide turned.

Garfield turned on the full court press. Duncanville missed their free throws, and committed turnovers. With thirty seconds left, Garfield got an offensive put back off a missed free throw, cutting the lead to two. Tony stole the inbound and whipped the ball to senior Dre Taylor, who hit the go-ahead three. Ten seconds remained, and Duncanville put the ball in the hands of their beefy star player. He drove to the basket and drew a hard foul with one second left. He missed the first free throw, barely scraping the front of the rim. The second free throw rimmed out. Ballgame. 57 – 56.

This Duncanville victory embodies the mettle, defense, and overall potential of Garfield basketball. It is clear that the ability to stage a run at State is there, yet there is a touch of uncertainty about Tony, who loses his injunction on January 20th. The decision to reinstate him was a highly publicized and controversial decision, and the future is hazy. The talent is there. The depth is there. The coaching is certainly there. The character is there. But come the state tournament…will Tony be there?