Los Alamitos Grad and Basketball Star Ready for Homecoming

Los Alamitos High School grad Camryn Crocker has had Dec. 10 marked on his mental calendar every since the freshman arrived on campus at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Now, he only has a few more days to wait. 

This Saturday, Crocker gets to join his Quaker teammates for a road game that will be a home game for the Cypress native, when they take on UCLA at the Honda Center.  

"That's like 10-15 minutes from my house," Crocker said in a recent interview. "I'm really excited about being able to go home and play in front of family and friends. There are lots of people telling me that they are planning on coming out and my mom has been organizing a big group of people to come down. I'm looking forward to seeing them and playing in front of them."

Through Penn's first ten games, the freshman has seen action in all but two, averaging nearly a rebound and an assist per game while playing a backup role to two-time All-Ivy League selection Zack Rosen. Crocker is averaging nearly 10 minutes per game off the bench for the 5-5 Quakers in his first season. 

"I feel like I can help the team offensively by making the right plays. With my court vision, one of my objectives is to be offensively aggressive and create things for others or even myself," Crocker says. "Defensively has been the biggest thing as a freshman coming in trying to earn minutes. You have to come in and learn very quickly the speed and intensity has changed (from high school). 

Penn coach Jerome Allen, a four-year starter during his playing days, enjoys the versatility of having a player like Crocker at his disposal. 

"He has a high basketball IQ and has such a great feel and great ability to defend," Allen says. "He's a 6-3 guard with a 6-7 wingspan so he disrupt the passing planes a little bit and as a guard, if we need him to bring the ball up or play off the ball, he can. It's great to have a player who can fill multiple roles and he really has done that early on."

Adjusting to college life has been easier than Crocker expected, where he seems to have found a family away from home to provide a strong support system. Whether it's the students in his dorm bringing signs of support or the camaraderie of his teammates to who share their experiences, he says he's doing well 3,000 miles from home. 

"It hasn't been as tough as I thought it would be because we have so many great resources and people to help you out," Crocker says. Through the process, if you need a tutor, you can get one or if you need any type of help, you can get it. It's different from high school but the guys on the team are good with helping out us freshman adjust to college life."

Crocker had narrowed his decision to Penn, University of Denver and UC-Irvine before selecting the Philadelphia University. He claims the options that Penn provided were just too hard to pass up.

"Penn just had the total package as far as the academics, and then being able to come and play for a guy like coach Allen as a freshman, being able to learn from a guy like Zach Rosen. Philadelphia is a great city with a lot of sports energy.

The freshman points out that Philadelphia doesn't have "my mom's cooking" or the weather that he misses in California, he can vouch for the city's reputation as being a little crazy about its sports teams. Whether it's playing another city team in the Big 5 or packing the Palestra for home games, natives aren't just ravenous about professional teams.

"It's really a sports city. Everyone is so invested into how the sports teams are doing. I think that's amazing and it's transitioned into our games," Crocker says. "In our home opener we had a Big 5 match up with Temple. It was loud and the gym was shaking. It was a pretty incredible experience."

He is looking into communication and commerce academically but still is uncertain of what he'd like to do for his career. He does still have a few years to decide that. For now, he's just working hard in the classroom and on the basketball court.

"Coming in to Penn, nothing is guaranteed but I wanted to come out and prove my worth and earn anything I got. I thought I could earn minutes and happy to help out in any way I can."