Yesterday he was in Oakland.
Tonight he's in Seattle.
Tomorrow he'll land in China.
Marcus Schroeder will go wherever he has the best chance to continue his basketball career.
"I'm trying to play next year. Overseas, anywhere - it doesn't really matter," Schroeder said from a hotel in the Emerald City. "I do not have an agent. I've been trying to represent myself, using different contacts that I've developed throughout my college career."
While Schroeder, who averaged 5.2 ppg running the point his four years at Princeton and finished his collegiate career fourth all-time in the Tiger record book for assists and fifth all-time in steals, had been focusing his attention on potential opportunities in Europe and Asia, his high school coach Frank Allocco from De La Salle brought an open tryout with the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Developmental League to Schroeder's attention.
For four hours yesterday afternoon at the Golden State Warriors' practice facility in Oakland, Schroeder and several dozen free agents competed for a small number of training camp invites.
"There were probably about 60-70 guys there and they did two different cuts. They dwindled it down to 25 with about an hour to go and then they dwindled it down again to 10 guys and I was in that last 10," reported Schroeder modestly. "It went well. I played well. I'm pretty sure they're going to take five of those guys for their training camp. There will be 15 guys in the training camp [including current members of the Bighorns roster] and then they'll pair it down to 10 for their team."
"They told us 10 yesterday 'look, we have seven guys that we really like, we can only get five,'" Schroeder added. "I think there's a chance that if I don't make the five I would get entered into the D-League draft pool and have a chance to get drafted."
Schroeder did not know when Reno would make their final decisions or what the Bighorns' time frame was, he was pleased with how the experience had gone.
The prospects ran through a packed morning of individual drills and skill work, before progressing to one-on-one full court competitions, a bit of two-on-two and an extended period of three-on-three before playing full court five-on-five for the day's last 90 minutes. Schroeder felt his performance in these two-on-two and three-on-three games is what helped him snag a spot in the final 10.
Before this NBA-DL opportunity presented itself, Schroeder already had plans to visit three provinces in southeastern China over the next two weeks, invited by Bruce O'Neil to play for the United States Basketball Academy Select Team.
The 10 player squad coached by Jim Halm flies to China tomorrow and will play as many as 10 games across a fortnight versus Chinese, German and Australian national teams. Schroeder will suit up alongside two high school teammates: Ethan Niedermeyer, who played for the Portland Pilots and Paul Roemer from UC Santa Barbara. Joining them will be Oregon State alum Josh Tarver.
Schroeder, who spent time in Hong Kong over the summer but has never been to mainland China, has been informed that a lot of Asian pro league scouts will be in attendance looking as these USBAST players.
Whether it is the Reno Bighorns, the Dongguan Leopards or somewhere in the 9,800 miles between, Schroeder is keeping on the move, determined to secure a roster spot and become the most recent Princeton graduate to play basketball professionally.
