Marquette’s Chase Ross had a long journey back home to Dallas for March Madness

Chase Ross was standing at a crossroads, with boxes of his worldly possessions all around him.

Back in 2020, he was a ultra-athletic guard in Plano, Texas, hoping to attract attention from college basketball coaches. Then the world shut down that March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it didn't look like his Plano West High School team would be playing hoops any time soon.

Thanks to some connections, Ross ended up at Cushing Academy in the Boston area. After arriving on campus, Ross and his mother, Marnecha Johnson, wondered if they had made the right decision.

"It was very hard for me taking him up there," Johnson said. "Because at the time, Massachusetts was really, really, really strict with the COVID.

"I couldn’t even go in with him the day I dropped him off moving in. I just had to unpack him right there on the curb. That was really hard, to leave my only child and he was going to be thousands and thousands of miles away from me.

"We talked every day. But it’s worked out for the best. He started getting exposure up there and he had a great summer after his first year of being up there in AAU. And that helped him even more. It was no looking back from there."

Four years removed from that fateful decision, Ross will be back in the Dallas area this weekend. He landed at Marquette in the 2022 recruiting class, and the sophomore guard has become an X-factor as the second-seeded Golden Eagles (27-9) look to keep their NCAA Tournament run going in the Sweet 16 against 11th-seeded North Carolina State (24-14) on Friday at American Airlines Center.

Ross went a long way from home, only to end up back there playing under the brightest of lights.

"It means a lot," Ross said. "Especially on this stage. In high school, it was different, it was just high school. Now that we’re in March Madness, I feel like it means a lot."

Chase Ross will be playing in front of friends and family at American Airlines Center

Johnson has been trying to concentrate at work this week, but there is a constant buzz with Ross returning home.

“Everybody is wanting to come," Johnson said. "Actually, I am not from Dallas. I’m from Mississippi and I have a lot of family coming down from Mississippi.

"Everybody is trying to get tickets, get to the game. His dad has so many people as well. So we’re just trying to figure it out."

Johnson knew Ross was a gifted athlete at a young age.

"He actually started playing basketball at 3 years old," Johnson said. "We kind of just did all sports − baseball, basketball and football − all the way up until he got to high school.

"We were just like, 'OK, now that you’re getting older, you kind of got to narrow it down. Which one do you really want to focus on?' And he first dropped baseball. He just wanted to focus on football and basketball.

"Then he had a few injuries in football and he decided, 'I just want to play basketball.' And I felt like, well, let’s just go for it. That’s where we started putting everything, all our focus, his training, extra practices, everything. All into basketball. Probably around his 10th-grade year."

He was off to New England not long after that.

Chase Ross had best game of season vs. Colorado

Ross has looked like a banged-up football player this season.

He missed five games with a separated shoulder, and has been playing through a left leg injury.

Ross had one of his best games of the season against Colorado in the second round in Indianapolis. He had 12 points, five rebounds, two blocks, two steals and knocked down the go-ahead three-pointer.

"I take pride in my defense," Ross said. "When I get in, I'm not really looking for the offense.

"I just want to have contagious energy on defense to get these guys energy on offense, and having plays like that, steals, blocks, all that, just get out and run."

Watching from the stands at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Johnson thought back to those days in Texas.

"It’s amazing," Johnson said. "Because I just think about all the work and all the time that we put in. Between the both of us.

"I go to work, he goes to school, as soon as I get off and as soon as he’s out of school, we’re going to training with someone else. To skills. Constantly working all the time. I just told him, just keep going, stay focused, keep working, it’s going to happen one day for you."

It's happening now.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dallas-area native Chase Ross in NCAA Tournament with Marquette