After two years as point guard with the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, Elfrid Payton knew he was making progress as a major college basketball player.
Now, after earning a gold medal as a member of the triumphant United States team in last summer’s FIBA U19 World Championships, Payton also knows he can take the court against some of the best players in the world.
A helpful word from Cajun coach Bob Marlin helped Payton to get his foot in the door, the last player invited to try out for the USA team coached by Billy Donovan, and he made the most of the opportunity.
Payton not only made the squad, but played in all nine contests and was the starting point guard by the time the USA met Serbia in the championship finals.
“I was trying to get into (summer) camps, and it just wasn’t working out,” Payton said. “Then it hit him (Marlin) that I was still just 19 – I started (school) early – and the trials were coming up.
“It was an opportunity to present myself. I was one of 26 to try out, and the only one from a mid-major. I just needed a shot to prove myself.”
Any doubts were soon quieted by Donovan.
“My second day there, coach Donovan called me to the side and said, ‘We know you can play point guard; we’d like to see you do other things, too,’ ” Payton said. “We were in 5-on-5 drills, for the most part, and he said, ‘This is a big day for you.’
“That’s when I knew I had a legitimate chance to make the team.”
Payton had game. He also already had a passport, after starting the summer in China as a member of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes tour to “talk about the Bible and play a few games.”
By the time the World Championship tournament began, Payton had earned his place among talented teammates.
He averaged 6.1 points, 2.1 assists, 2.3 steals and 2.3 rebounds per game, hitting 57 percent of his shots from the floor and making 9-of-10 free throws. In the 82-68 title game victory over Serbia, he had 9 points, 6 assists and 5 steals.
That championship game, in which a 13-1 surge widened the Americans’ lead from 57-53 to 70-54, was one of the few close ones. The USA flattened nine foes in 11 days by an average of 39 points per game, including 32 per game in three medal round contests.
“Serbia was the only team that really gave us any competition,” said Payton, who also helped dispense Serbia 71-62 in pool play. “The other teams were talented, but we had depth to go full court with everyone and just wore them down.
“There were no egos on the team. We all just wanted to win. Nobody cared about minutes played. Everybody had the same team goal. Our minutes were all the same. We were blowing everybody out.
“Billy (Donovan) did a good job of staying on us, telling us each game will get harder.”
The experience helped to accelerate the maturation process for Payton.
“There were a lot of good leaders on the team, and I think that rubbed off on me,” he said. “There were some great basketball minds there, and the coaches gave us some good little speeches.
“It was a good, insightful trip.”
Payton learned to adapt to different playing styles, different styles of officiating, different food and jet lag. Perhaps just as important, others have learned about him.
“This opened doors for Elfrid,” said Marlin, who is in his fourth year at the helm and is counting on Payton to lead the Cajuns. “It was a productive opportunity for him.
“He’s not anonymous any more. I’ve heard from a number of NBA teams. They’re really going to watch him and focus on what he does for the next two years. He’s on their radar now. They’re going to track him.
“They like what they’ve seen.”
Others are learning what Marlin already knew, that Payton takes all challenges head-on.
“He has answered the bell every time his name has been called,” Marlin said. “He’s been used to ‘playing up’ his whole life. He is the most opportunistic guy I’ve ever coached. He has the mental makeup to make his dreams come true.
“He creates opportunities for all of us. He can see his defender, and the other defenders, too. Magic Johnson had that ability.
“He’s got to get his shooting percentage up, and keep it up. That’s what scouts want to see. And, he will. You can see how he leads the team. He’s already a great lead guard with his defense and ball handling.”
Payton started 11 of 32 games as a freshman at UL Lafayette, averaging 7.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.16 steals per game.
He improved dramatically in 2012-13 and started in all 33 games.
Payton was the only player in the nation to average 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals per game. He ranked 12th nationally in steals.
The point guard ranks third in school history with 80 steals in a year and fourth in school history with 181 assists in a year.
As expected, his performance as a sophmore earned Payton UL Lafayette’s Most Outstanding Player of the Year and the Beryl Shipley Leadership Award. Shipley led the Cajuns in the 1960s and 1970s; he was the first coach to integrate a major sports team at a large public university in the Deep South.
Payton was named to the 2013 Lou Henson Preseason All-America team. That accolade is presented annually to the top mid-major basketball players in the country by Insider.com. It’s named in honor one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.
The national and school records and awards hint at more progress to come, and Payton’s not remotely satisfied yet.
“I want to improve my free throw percentage,” Payton said. “I want to better my shot – my mid-range shooting, let alone my three-pointers. I want to stretch my range even more.
“I want to do a good job in the paint, and look for more opportunities for the big men and for our other shooters. My defense has gotten better.”
The Gretna, La., native made a splashy debut in the Cajundome before he ever wore a UL Lafayette uniform, pouring in 23 points for John Ehret High School in a semifinal loss to eventual champion Scotlandville High in the LHSAA Top 28 Tournament.
“That was disappointing,” he recalls.”That was a game we felt we should have won.”
The Ehret defeat did nothing to change Marlin’s opinion of Payton, whose father, Elfrid, was a 2010 inductee into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame after a stellar career as an intimidating linebacker.
In fact, Canada was Payton’s only travel abroad until this year, which was capped early in the fall semester with a Cajun team trip to Spain.
“We spent two or three weeks there,” Payton said. “It was an important trip for bonding and team chemistry. It’s good to know this person is for you, that if you mess up, he’ll help you. Our gold medal team had that.
“That was good for us. That was something that Coach really pushed for.”
Marlin said his team managed to get in 10 practices and “was able to play some games, but the travel and bonding were the most important part.
“We learned a lot about each other,” he said.
In a revealing exercise, each member of the 33-person travel party shared his or her five H’s – history, heartache, highlight, hero and hope – with the others.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done as a coach,” Marlin said.
It ranks right up there with signing Elfrid Payton and watching him mature into a Cajun leader with a World Championship, Gold Medal pedigree.