Marcus Foster hopped on the fast train to fame, riding it for all it was worth from the first stop of high school obscurity all the way to the best Kansas State freshman since Michael Beasley hyperbolic platform.Two-plus years and one school change later, Foster doesnt look back and ask, What happened?Theres no need. He knows exactly how his career went off the tracks. He steered it there.I got cocky. I thought I had it, he said.Sadly, his is not an uncommon story. The zero-to-fame acceleration has ruined more than a few people in more than a few walks of life.Foster is just hoping for an uncommon ending.Its not about redeeming himself, or anything so simple or trite. Because Foster doesnt feel compelled to prove hes changed to outsiders.He has a much bigger challenge in mind.He wants to show himself.I want to get better, he said, as a basketball player, but also as a person.Frankly, Foster is right. He did have it as a freshman.And no one saw it coming.When Bruce Weber first spied Foster on the summer league scene, the Kansas State coach saw a blue-collar worker who mixed in on a team full of like-minded players. Foster was relatively unheralded, a top-150 recruit but not even top 10 in his home state of Texas. Weber thought hed be good but not otherworldly good. When Foster arrived at Kansas State, he lived in the gym and in the weight room, working with such a vengeance that Weber started raising his own expectations, envisioning a player who could score upward of 20 points per game.I remember after one of our early games, a coach asked me about him, and then it was just boom! And he kind of burst on the scene, Weber said.Foster scored 25 points in the second game of his college career and continued on a double-figures pace throughout his freshman season. In 33 games, he failed to reach double figures only six times. He scored 34 against Texas, dropped 29 against Baylor, connected on 79 3-pointers for the season and finished the year with 513 points.The following summer, Creighton coach Greg McDermott saw Foster at the LeBron James Skills Academy. McDermott had recruited Foster hard out of high school, ultimately finishing as the runner-up to Kansas State and Weber. He knew Foster well, but the kid he saw working as a counselor that summer wasnt the same one hed recruited. He phoned assistant Steve Lutz, who had developed a great relationship with Foster during this recruitment.I said, Im worried about Marcus, McDermott said. He looks like he thinks hes arrived.Weber had the same fears. The same kid he couldnt get out of the gym as a freshman didnt spend nearly as much time working on his game leading into his sophomore season.The coach and star player butted heads throughout the season, Foster appearing sullen and downright pouty at times. A two-game benching temporarily rejuvenated him into a better version of himself, but by February, things were on the skids again. Weber suspended his best player for three games, and by the end of the season decided to sever ties altogether.Foster was dismissed from the team.He just didnt take care of business, Weber said. Ive been at this a long time ... second chances, third chances, fourth chances, whatever I can do, I do. But he needed to learn how to take care of business.Foster admits at first he was bitter, placing the blame more at Webers feet than at the man in the mirror. With his career and reputation in tatters, Foster reconsidered who really was to blame, recognizing that he had blown his chance at success.You go from high school and nobody is talking about you, to all of a sudden youre on SportsCenter and everybody is talking to you, he said. It went to my head and I didnt handle it right.In desperate need of a second chance, Foster called the coach who recruited him during his sophomore season in high school. At the same time, Fosters mother, Alvita, called McDermott as well.I want my son back, she told him.McDermott continued the phone chain, calling Weber to make sure McDermott understood all that went on at Kansas State, and also as a professional courtesy since he was considering bringing Foster to Creighton.I liked him, Weber told McDermott. I didnt like what he had become.Armed with his own gut feeling for the kid he had known for years, and with as much new information as he could gather on the person Foster had become, McDermott decided to roll the dice.I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, he said. And I decided it was worth the risk.Maurice Watson Jr. knows a thing or two about feeling out of place. After two years at Boston University, the guard transferred to Creighton, bringing his Philadelphia attitude into the Midwestern heart of Omaha, Nebraska. The two didnt necessarily jibe.Watson didnt have basketball to close the gap, either, since he had to sit out a full season under NCAA transfer rules. Then he was sidelined by a broken foot.So when Foster arrived at Creighton, Watson offered two things to his soon-to-be backcourt mate: advice and a clean slate.I didnt want him to think I was going to judge him on what I heard or word of mouth, Watson said. People here will accept you with open arms, but youve got earn it. I also told him that second chances dont come around a whole lot.Foster heeded that advice, using his transfer year on the sideline not just to work on his game but also to readjust his attitude. Determined not to be a burden to either his coaching staff or his teammates, he shut out the other voices who had crammed their way into his head, the ones telling him he was NBA-ready before he had really become college-savvy.He went back to what made him so good as a freshman, chasing basketball with a fervor again. When he arrived on Creightons campus, his body fat had ballooned to 16 percent. Foster had quite literally become fat and happy with his success.Now its down to 8 percent.I realized, just like people can tell you that youre a good player, they very quickly will tell you when youre not good, he said. I had success and then I didnt. You have to work to hold on to it.Weber isnt angry.As his former player continues to rediscover his groove at Creighton, Weber is more philosophical than disappointed.There are a lot of different paths for a lot of kids, he said. If my decision helps him in the long run to get his head right and do what hes supposed to, then I couldnt be happier for Marcus.It certainly looks to be case.The numbers are familiar, to be sure. Foster is averaging 19.4 points per game for 10th-ranked Creighton (8-0), two 15-point nights against Wisconsin and NC State marking his season lows. Hes shooting 51 percent from the floor and 43 percent on 3s, and hes the first player in 30 years to score 15 or more points in each of Creightons first eight games.Yeah, that includes a fella by the name of Doug McDermott.Then theres this:Just the other day, Foster pulled freshman Justin Patton aside. The freshman is averaging 12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and twice has earned Big East Rookie of the Week honors. Hes also an Omaha native, and the city loves its Bluejays, so Patton especially is getting a lot of attention.Hes doing even better early on as a freshman than I did, Foster said. 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LOS ANGELES -- After an offseason cluttered by contract negotiations and surgery, Rickard Rakell returned to the Anaheim Ducks lineup just in time for a rivalry game.The Swedish forward hit the ice in full stride.Rakell had a goal and two assists in his season debut, and John Gibson stopped 30 shots to earn his seventh career shutout in the Ducks 4-0 victory over the Kings on Tuesday night.After he scored a career-high 43 points last season, Rakell missed training camp and the first nine regular-season games while holding out for a new contract and recovering from surgery related to appendicitis. Rakell agreed to a six-year, $22.8 million deal on Oct. 14 -- and a few days after securing his U.S. visa, he posted his first three-point game since Jan. 11, 2015.Im just trying to find the timing and everything, said Rakell, who scored more points than he managed in his first 10 games combined last season. I think I just was in the right place at the right time today. Of course, it gives you confidence to be able to build off this.Coach Randy Carlyle, who left the organization before Rakells rise, is counting on the wing to be a consistent scorer this season.You saw his hands and his vision tonight, Carlyle said. Were fortunate to have a player like that on our side.Antoine Vermette and Ryan Kesler scored power-play goals 31 seconds apart in the second period before Joseph Cramarossa scored his first NHL goal for the Ducks, who emphatically won the first Freeway Faceoff rivalry game of the season.Cramarossa scored on a wraparound that deflected off two Kings midway through the period. The 24-year-old former third-round pick got his first goal in his fifth NHL game.I got a lucky bounce there, but it feels good, Cramarossa said. I dont even know what I did after. I think I put my hands up? I saw it cross the line. It was just amazing. I wont forget today.Vermette and Kesler scored two points apiece, while Corey Perry added two assists for the Ducks, who have earned points in five of six after an 0--3-1 start.dddddddddddd.The Kings have been shut out in three straight games for the first time since 1968-69, their second NHL season. Los Angeles is on its second three-game skid of the season, with a four-game winning streak sandwiched between them.When asked how to turn around the losing streak, coach Darryl Sutter replied: Score a goal.Peter Budaj made 12 saves in his seventh straight start for Los Angeles before Jack Campbell replaced him in the third period.He wasnt very good, Sutter said of Budaj. I mean, did you look at the shots and scoring chances? He wasnt very good. Thats clear. I dont pull goalies very often, but theyre expected to make some saves.Anaheim went ahead late in the first period when Ryan Kesler won a faceoff to Rakell, who alertly shot the puck through the legs of two Kings.The Ducks added two more shortly after Jake Muzzin took a double minor for high-sticking. Vermette got his first goal for his new team on a setup from Rakell, and Kesler tipped home a pass from captain Ryan Getzlaf.The rivals had a prolonged brawl midway through the third after Getzlaf held the stick of Jordan Nolan, who responded with a punch. Three players from each team got major penalties for fighting.Game notes Campbell made five saves in his second career NHL appearance. He was the No. 11 pick in the 2010 draft by Dallas. ... Kings D Drew Doughty doesnt turn 27 until next month, but the Norris Trophy winner pulled even with Mark Hardy for the 10th-most games played in Los Angeles franchise history with his 616th appearance. ... Anaheim LW Nick Ritchie went to the dressing room in the second period after a big hit from Los Angeles D Tom Gilbert. Ritchie spent the third being evaluated for an undisclosed injury. Carlyle had no update of his condition.UP NEXTDucks: Host Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.Kings: Host the Penguins on Thursday night. Cheap NFL Womens Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Wholesale NFL Womens Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys NFL China Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping ' ' '