Prospect Spotlight: Michael Fortune (2019)
There’s always players who are going to fall through the cracks and teams who don’t get the recognition they deserve, and on the West End of Richmond in Henrico County it’s about time Douglas Freeman starts to get their recognition. The Rebels have boasted winning records the past two seasons and are sitting in good position to qualify for the Class 5 Region B tournament for the second year in a row.
Their leader the past two seasons has been a 6’4″ wing named Michael Fortune. There’s not too much fancy about Fortune, but he’s a guy who puts up numbers and plays the game the right way. Earlier this season I saw him score 30 points, grab 9 rebounds and dish out 6 assists in a win over George Wythe, and he scored 18 points in a close loss to John Marshall who is rated the second best team in the Richmond area by the Richmond Times Dispatch.
While Freeman has been successful the past few years, Fortune thinks this may be the year that they make a run at things and finally get some credit they’ve worked so hard for.
“What’s different about this team is that we have a lot of size,” Fortune said. “We haven’t been shooting as many threes as we have in the past, so it’s easier for us to be more consistent because you have nights where the three-pointers won’t fall but we’re getting to the basket and getting to the free throw line a lot more and it’s easier to be consistent from there.”
“If we just take it one game at a time and keep winning we’ll get the recognition we deserve, eventually,” he continued.
As far as the team’s success goes, it all starts with Fortune. The senior leader, he’s leaned upon to do a little bit of everything and he’s answered. While he isn’t a great ball handler, he’s been serviceable and he makes good decisions, even when he’s on the wing. He shoots the ball well from behind the arc and finds his way to the free throw line often. He’s also a tough kid who will bang in the paint and sacrifice his body for his team.
It’s something he’s been building toward for years.
“This is my third year on the team, I’ve been with Coach George for all four years through JV and varsity,” he said.” So as the leader, I try to keep my guys composed. We have some new guys getting a lot of minutes on the team this year, so if I have to go bring the ball up the floor, or if I just play the wing I try to facilitate and make things as easy as possible for everyone else.”
With the lack of recognition for the team comes the lack of college coaches knowing much about Fortune. According to him, some have been in contact but the school he sees the most is the closest small school about 20 minutes up the road.
“I have been looking at a couple of schools, we had a Randolph-Macon coach looking at a couple guys from our team a few games, I’ve spoken with them a few times and been to a few camps but I’m just going to keep playing my game and if coaches want me they’ll come find me.”
Fortune has the size, touch and work ethic to be a guy at a small school program, but it’s passion that separates him. He says his love of the game is what will drive him to play at the next level, for the simple fact that he isn’t sure how he’ll let the game go.
“It’s certainly an opportunity I’m looking into. I’d be very grateful for any options and would take them into great consideration. I have an extreme love for the game of basketball, it’s my senior year and I’m starting to think I don’t want this thing to end, I really love this game and I would just love an opportunity to play this game for four more years.”
Coaches, take notice! If you come and watch the Douglas Freeman Rebels play, you will like what you see out of Michael Fortune.