From gamer to Miami Hurricanes starter: The Wooga Poplar story
Wooga Poplar arrived at the University of Miami with all the confidence in the world. He wasn’t intimidated by being four years younger than some teammates. The 18-year-old was never fazed by a challenge. Poplar seemingly had no worries when he arrived in Coral Gables.
Then came practice No. 1. Poplar was assigned to go one-on-one vs. fellow freshman Jakai Robinson. Poplar thought he knew how good his game was … but got a rude awakening that day. Robinson dominated the one-on-one. Poplar couldn’t create separation, he couldn’t hit his shots, he couldn’t make a stop.
It was when reality clicked in.
“When I say he probably scored every single time…” Poplar said. “If Jakai’s doing this to me – he’s a freshman, I’m a freshman – what do you think the 22, 23, 24-year-olds are going to do to me?”
Facing Kameron McGusty or Charlie Moore? Before that one-on-one Poplar was confident. He didn’t sweat that he’d never seriously lifted weights before, had no nerves about playing in the ACC. In fact, he didn’t worry about much growing up in Philadelphia. He’d only picked up basketball as a hobby in 10th grade. Poplar’s main sport growing up was baseball – he played shortstop and pitcher, but his passions lay elsewhere.
“I won’t lie, I didn’t play baseball because I wanted to,” Poplar said. “I’m not going to say my parents made me, but they made me. My mom didn’t want me sitting in the house.”
If not for getting involved in sports, Poplar probably would have been doing just that. A huge gamer, he was logging hundreds of hours on Call of Duty and other popular games. His parents needed him to “get out of the house”, but while he tried baseball in eighth and ninth grade the coach wouldn’t take him until 10th grade. Then he picked up basketball one day and never looked back. He transferred to Math, Civics and Sciences Charter School roughly one month into 10th grade and tried out for the team.
Poplar had little idea what he would be able to bring.
“It was all academic, basically. It’s not a basketball school at all, I feel like I made it one,” Poplar said.
MCS’ basketball team didn’t have its own gym, they practiced and played at Bright Hope Baptist Church, a few blocks away from their main campus. He didn’t let the lack of a gym worry him; he was just there to enjoy it.
“He’s always been confident [in his game],” Lonnie Diggs, the head coach at MCS, said. “He came to us as a 10th grader, never playing organized basketball before. Even coming in with the older guys, he would challenge them.”
Diggs heard about Poplar’s basketball from a couple of MCS teammates. Poplar impressed off the bench and played a key role in winning MCS’ first Public League Championship his sophomore year.
Poplar’s first offer came after that. He even admitted he wasn’t fully sure what the offer meant when Mississippi Valley State reached out.
Poplar’s recruiting cycle began to really churn during that summer, leading into his junior year.
“My 10th grade year, I didn’t really care for basketball… I got that first offer,” Poplar said. “My 11th and 12th grade year… I started working out by myself, 6 in the morning, every day.”
It’s a habit Poplar carried over to Miami. He was spotted by reporters after games during his freshman year taking jumpers and practicing fundamentals.
Minutes were hard to come by for him that season – he only averaged a little over eight minutes per game. But Poplar’s work ethic in practice and beyond impressed Miami’s staff and his teammates.
“[Wooga]’s a talented player,” fellow sophomore Bensley Joseph said. “He puts in a lot of effort, he’s in the gym every day.”
Despite the effort, though, Poplar was putting on some “bad” weight.
“It was the road games… with all the buffets you just eat,” Poplar said. “When you’re eating, and not really playing, what do you think you’re going to get? I’d have two plates, take one when we have our team meeting, and then a to-go platter. I always would eat before I went to bed.”
Many chicken alfredo meals later, Poplar admitted he got a little “chubby” after Miami’s Elite Eight run at the end of his freshman year.
His mom used to tell him to get out of the house to avoid eating and getting chubby, and that’s what he did during this past summer. He took the lessons he learned his freshman year and moved into an important summer.
“That’s the natural production of guys. They played minutes and got their feet wet,” Miami associate head coach Bill Courtney said. “Over the summer, they took those lessons. [Wooga was] in the gym a lot, improving upon the things to make them successful and make us successful.”
Poplar has always done all the right things with expectation on him. Coach Diggs said Poplar worked “very seriously” once he saw the potential in himself.
Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga saw some of the same things from Poplar’s first year into his second year.
“Wooga moved into the starting lineup, he’s got so much potential,” Larrañaga said. “He’s improved dramatically with his defense. He’s becoming a better and better rebounder, and he can be a great rebounder with his strength.”
Poplar’s become an important contributor for Miami this season, scoring in double-figures five times and averaging 7.5 points while tying for the team lead with 30 steals as a full-time starter.
It’s all been a major step up from his first season.
Despite finding some level of success, though, there’s still an untapped sense of dissatisfaction within him. It’s something he battles against, and he calls it “overthinking.”
“I’d overthink it because I’d have to play well,” Poplar said. “I told myself ‘I have to hit this next shot’. But when I don’t overthink it, that’s when every good thing happens.”
The person who helped Poplar cope with “overthinking” was Diggs. He reinforced that it was okay when Poplar would miss shots, that it was part of the game. He supported Poplar through it all, and now the reward is seeing his former player succeed at the next level.
“(I’m) just seeing how much he’s matured as a player,” Diggs said. “Taking better shots, he’s being a good teammate, even when things aren’t going well individually.”
Poplar came to Miami with all the confidence in the world.
While that took some hits along the way, that confidence is now back.
It was a long road from a gamer sitting on the couch to taking up basketball in high school to earning a starting job at the University of Miami. Now Poplar is excited to see the next level of his development.
He’ll work hard to achieve it … and remain confident throughout.
