By: Ben Dickson
Justin Moss knows the feeling of devastation.
Nearly 11 years ago, he was told that he could never play basketball again. It was the first of many challenges to come for Moss, but it set up an unforeseeable rise to the top, just for him to fall back down again.
Blast Off
Hailing from Romulus Senior High School in Romulus, Michigan, Moss committed to play for Tod Kowalczyk and the Toledo Rockets out of high school. Tabbed as a two-star recruit and the No. 109 power forward in the class of 2011 per the 247Sports Composite, the six-foot-eight Moss signed with Toledo over offers from Bowling Green, Central Michigan and others.
Before Moss could ever rock the midnight blue and gold threads, his Toledo career was cut short. In the summer before his freshman year, the Rockets’ medical staff diagnosed him with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart muscle becomes unusually thick.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Why me??</p>— Justin Moss (@Just1nTime__) <a href="https://twitter.com/Just1nTime__/status/111878397805867008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2011</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Moss was told he could never play basketball again. The emotions started to sink in. His greatest joy was stripped from him in a blink of an eye. How would he move on?
“It was devastating,” Moss said. “Having something taken away from you that you love with your whole heart, it’s crazy. I was crying, I felt depressed, like I didn’t want to do anything else, like this is my game. I didn’t want to say I was suicidal, but it was like to that point, my love was so deep and they’re trying to take this away from me.”
Though Toledo’s July 29, 2011, press release states that “the disease was discovered by the Rockets’ sports medicine staff,” that did not align with the truth. Moss had lived, and played, with the condition for as long as he could remember.
“Honestly, I’ve been living with it my whole life,” Moss said. “It was kind of under wraps until I got to Toledo, they just made it a bigger deal.”
Moss was not going to accept defeat, and he was determined to play high-level basketball again, despite what the Toledo staff told him. He underwent successful surgery for an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator in November 2011, and he was going to continue his journey from there.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hf274NOisMA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Just 18 years old at the time, Moss went through months of rehabilitation. He was not able to lift his shoulder for a few months, and his time away from the game was filled with despair. With time, though, he was back to normal and started playing at open gyms in Toledo. Kowalczyk was planning on honoring Moss’ scholarship as a student assistant for the rest of his undergraduate career, but Moss knew he could still play.
For Moss, getting back on the court was more of an “exciting” and “fun” process as opposed to a nerve-racking one. It took loads of courage for Moss to even step on the hardwood again, but being a spectator was gnawing at his spirit.
“I missed the game,” Moss said. “I missed being out there. Watching from the sidelines is not something I wanted to do. Even going to Toledo games, I was kind of upset. Like I wanted to cheer my team on, but at the end of the day I’m a player.”
So Moss did what a player would do; he transferred from Toledo in hopes of getting his basketball career back on track.
Overcoming the Odds
Indian Hills Community College plays its home games at the Hellyer Student Life Center in Ottumwa, Iowa. It would be Moss’ home for the 2012-13 college basketball season.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Only the beginning <a href="http://t.co/ZRRFucXD">pic.twitter.com/ZRRFucXD</a></p>— Justin Moss (@Just1nTime__) <a href="https://twitter.com/Just1nTime__/status/266661394756284416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2012</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Twelve of the other 13 players on the 2012-13 Indian Hills roster would go on to play Division I college basketball, including four players whose next destination was at the high-major level. Following about one year away from competitive basketball, Moss would have his hands full with some legitimate talent.
The adversity did not seem to faze Moss, though, who averaged 9.5 points per game on 64.9% shooting from the field in 13 games for the Warriors. For someone who was told they would never play basketball again just months before, it was a remarkable achievement.
Nevertheless, there were still greener pastures ahead for Moss. Proving he could play at the junior-college level, the former NCAA Division I signee once again received Division I looks, and the choice was not hard. His former high school basketball coach Nate Oats had just been named an assistant coach at Buffalo, and he wanted his old star player to suit up for him.
“It was an easy choice for me,” Moss said. “Nate Oats is one of my biggest supporters, he’s been with me since high school, so having him in my corner was an easy choice. When he said he got the job, he wanted me to come to Buffalo with him and I told him, ‘Yeah…easy, hands down.’”
The transition to playing with the Bulls was not all that glorious from the jump. Moss had to pay his dues behind forward Javon McCrea, who enjoyed a sensational senior season in 2013-14. McCrea averaged 18.5 points and 9.9 rebounds during the 2013-14 season en route to being named the MAC Player of the Year and an AP All-America Honorable Mention. Those are honors that Moss would soon become acquainted with, but they seemed far-fetched at the time.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iDM6y6YeZlQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Moss averaged just 3.8 points in 9.1 minutes per game during his first season at Buffalo. However, he credits McCrea’s game for helping him find his footing with the program.
“No, I had some pretty big shoes to fill honestly,” Moss said of if he foresaw how his second season at Buffalo would go. “Playing behind Javon McCrea, who was a beast at Buffalo, he pretty much set the path…for me to step in. I just took kind of a little bit what he was doing and added my game to it and just went out there and dominated.”
Dominated, Moss did. Moss saw an incredible increase in basically every statistic the following season. Moss averaged 17.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 30 minutes per game during the 2014-15 season. Like McCrea did one year before, he earned MAC Player of the Year honors and was named an AP All-America Honorable Mention.
Just three and a half years removed from the darkest of times, Moss was on top of the world.
“I don’t really like people to see, like ‘no, I have a heart problem,’” Moss said. “I want them to see me as normal. So I always knew I could do this and be a great player. I’m just glad to see it come to light.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Me and <a href="https://twitter.com/nate_oats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nate_oats</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BuffaloLife?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BuffaloLife</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UBBasketball?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UBBasketball</a> 🏀 <a href="http://t.co/30nPe2baOd">pic.twitter.com/30nPe2baOd</a></p>— Justin Moss (@Just1nTime__) <a href="https://twitter.com/Just1nTime__/status/393922448225497088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>It was the fulfillment of a calling that Moss knew was possible, defying what anybody else told him he could or could not do. The reigning conference player of the year was set to return to school and make even bigger things happen for his team and himself in his senior season. But, those plans took a major hit.
A Bull No Longer
As of August 24, 2015, Justin Moss was no longer a member of the Buffalo men’s basketball team nor a student at the University at Buffalo.
According to a police report obtained by The Buffalo News, Moss, along with two other Buffalo players, was hired to work in a university apartment complex in the summer of 2015. Moss, who was already on probation at the university due to a “prior theft,” per the report, was found stealing $650 from Buffalo football players. Even though Moss had eventually returned the money, it was too late. He was expelled and would not suit up for Buffalo in 2015-16, a team looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.
“I was hurt about it, but it was a lesson I learned,” Moss said. “[I] definitely regret my actions, but it set me on a path to where I am now, and I met some great people along the way. But, I miss Buffalo. Buffalo was like another milestone in my memory bank.”
After former Buffalo head coach Bobby Hurley moved onto Arizona State for the 2015-16 season, Oats was promoted to be the head man at Buffalo. It would have been a full-circle moment for Moss to finish his collegiate career under Oats, but the latter has still been an influential figure in the former’s life.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Everything can be taken away in a single moment <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayHumble?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StayHumble</a></p>— Justin Moss (@Just1nTime__) <a href="https://twitter.com/Just1nTime__/status/341359661389328384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>“Oats has helped me out a lot,” Moss said. “He’s one of the big parts of the reason where I am today. Just his culture, he’s taught me a lot about the game and just life in general.”
Moss played professionally for the Orangeville A’s following his dismissal from Buffalo, and he dominated there as well. He averaged 19.6 points per game in Canada’s National Basketball League, and he was immediately one of the best players the league had to offer.
“It was hard, but you move on, you roll with the punches,” Moss added. “And I went out to Canada, and I dominated out there. I continued what I was doing on a professional level. I think I was top five in scoring, Rookie of the Year. I did pretty good [for] two years there and went out to France for another two years. Couple of places in between – Panama, Mexico – just doing what I love.”
Moss may have been left without a chance to do something greater and solidify a Buffalo legacy, but TBT gave him another opportunity.
Blue Collar Moss
Blue Collar U had a magical first TBT appearance in 2021. Placed as a No. 6-seed in the Columbus region, the Buffalo alum squad exceeded all expectations, making a Cinderella run to the semifinals before falling to Team 23.
Returning this summer, Moss makes sure to cherish the times spent with his fellow Bulls. Former teammate Lamonte Bearden and younger former Buffalo players will also be back in the Blue Collar U uniform.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/POHhAMVtq2Q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>“It was amazing,” Moss said of TBT 2021. “Probably one of the best times of the summer right there. Just get back with the guys, you know what I’m saying, being around them, hanging around them, that’s probably the best part. The games are fun, too.”
After appearing in three games in last summer’s tournament, Moss hopes to be a key cog en route to Blue Collar U taking home the $1 million, winner-take-all prize. He says that the team has a chance to win it all this summer, and it is hard to dispute that claim based on last year’s showing.
Like many players slated to play in TBT 2022, Moss plays professionally. He is currently with the Syracuse Stallions of The Basketball League, meaning he will not have to move too far for Blue Collar U’s date at this summer’s Syracuse Regional.
“You can do anything you put your mind to,” Moss said. “Even if they try to take something away from you, you can always just stay determined, dedicated. Follow your dreams. Anything is possible.”