(This is the seventh part in a series profiling this year's inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor, which will be posted every week at baylorbears.com.)
 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Twelve years later, Tweety Carter would love to "run it back" against eventual national champion Duke in a memorable Elite Eight game the Bears lost, 78-71, before a crowd of 47,492 at Reliant Stadium in Houston. 

            "Sometimes, you just wish you could have those games back just to restart it," Carter said. "Forget 'the call,' forget the shots. Just to replay that game, just to play that moment, that would be unbelievable. If I could have that moment, that would make my life."

            Not that those memories ever left him, but they will come flooding back when Carter is inducted into the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame on Nov. 18. 

            "I remember hitting a shot and just hearing the roars," said Carter, who was named to the South Region all-tournament team along with teammates LaceDarius Dunn and Ekpe Udoh and Duke's Nolan Smith (MVP) and Jon Scheyer. 

            "To be playing against Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) . . . and see us compete with a lot of guys I played with in camps coming up. Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, (Brian) Zoubek, I played against all those guys. Just to share that moment with them, and they knew we were the toughest team they had to play that year. I'm just thankful for that game, because it helped build Baylor into something different than a lot of people expected. And now we're here."

            And now, the 36-year-old Carter is back "here," joining Baylor coach Scott Drew's staff in March as director of player development. 

            "It's been amazing," he said, "just to learn from all of the coaches, even the players. That's a big thing for me, just learning and soaking up as much as I can. When you can get knowledge from guys that have done it before you, that's the best feeling in the world."

            A high school basketball legend in Louisiana, Tweety had his jersey retired at Reserve Christian while he was still in school. Baylor's first McDonald's All-American, he scored a national-record 7,457 career points, led his team to four state championships and was named the 2006 Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana. 

            With coast-to-coast offers, Carter committed and eventually signed with a Baylor team that was trying to rise from the ashes. 

            "I knew the moment they started recruiting me that it was different," he said. "Because they not only worried about basketball, they worried about my family, they worried about my faith. And they never compared me to anyone. All the other schools would compare you to this guy, that guy. I always believed in myself . . . and they said I could make my own name."

            Carter did just that, becoming a three-year starter that holds the school record for minutes played (3,973) and ranks eighth in program history with 1,457 points, third in 3-pointers made (274), fourth in assists (474) and fifth in steals (153). 

            During his four-year career, the Bears made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 20 years, reached the finals of the 2009 NIT tournament and made the unbelievable NCAA tournament run in 2010 that ended with the Duke loss. 

            As a senior, when he was a second-team All-Big 12 pick and fourth-team All-American by Sporting News, Tweety averaged 15.0 points and a Big 12-best 5.9 assists per game and led Baylor to a then-school-record 28 wins. But, his highest-scoring game as a Bear was 31 points in a 94-71 loss at Syracuse as a freshman, when he hit 7-of-12 from 3-point range. 

            "When you've got guys like Lace Dunn on your team, Curtis Jerrells, Henry Dugat, Ekpe Udoh, Quincy Acy, you don't need to score a lot," Tweety said. "I just did whatever they needed me to do. And it was unbelievable. I enjoyed my experiences every year at Baylor."

            Undrafted, the 5-foot-11 guard played for the New Jersey Nets in the Orlando Summer League and one season with the Oklahoma City Thunder's D-League team in Tulsa. But, the rest of his 12-year pro career was spent globetrotting, playing in Latvia, Israel, Croatia, Germany, France, Lithuania, Greece and Portugal, the last stop being in 2021-22 with Start Lublin of the Polish Basketball League. 

            "To be honest, it was hard at times, being by myself," Carter said. "Sometimes, I had to leave my family, putting up with different things that go on overseas. . . . When you go through those situations, you have to figure it out on your own. I battled it for a long time, and this year was one of my hardest years. 

            "I just didn't want to be away from my wife and kids anymore. I missed a lot, and I didn't want to miss anything else. It just felt like it was the right time to retire. I didn't even know this (job at Baylor) was sitting here, but God works in mysterious ways, and he made it happen."

            In his role as Baylor basketball's director of player development, one of his jobs is making sure "everybody's going to class."

            "The first couple of weeks was an adjustment for me, learning the guys, getting to know them," he said. "But, our guys are great. They really take care of business. When you've got guys like Jared Nuness, Coach (John) Jakus, Coach (Alvin) Brooks, even Coach Drew . . . it's a lot easier when you've got all those voices helping you."

            Tweety and his wife, Brittney Ann, have four children: Kiylah, Michael, Alani and Yilianna. 

            Joining Carter in the 2022 Hall of Fame class are Doak Field and Robert Griffin III (football), Quentin Iglehart-Summers and Gary Kafer (track and field), Jeremy Alcorn (men's golf), Josh Ludy (baseball) and Taylor Barnes Fallon (volleyball). 

            "You chase and you chase for certain things, and certain things may not happen," Tweety said. "But the relationships you build throughout the process are unbelievable. I'm very thankful for this because I get to be remembered. This Baylor family is unbelievable. Changed my life, changed my family's life. It's just a huge blessing."

            The Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, in the Cashion Building Banquet Room on the Baylor University campus. Tickets are $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available at the green ($600) and gold ($800) levels and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at tammy_hardin@baylor.edu.