Monmouth's Justin Robinson: Ultimate Underdog Leading CBB's Most Lovable Team

Justin Robinson's body is an ink-stained tapestry. He tells his journey with every tattoo. More than anyone else, he appreciates how winding his road to college basketball stardom has been.

At 5'8", he is the heart and soul of the wonder boys at Monmouth. The mid-major that has invigorated the sport with its takedowns of UCLA and Georgetown, among others, and its celebration savants on the bench is driven by a point guard who is averaging more than 20 points per game and was ready to forgo college for a year out of high school because no Division I school wanted him.

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Like Robinson's, Monmouth's rise is a heartening tale. Hawks coach King Rice saw his coaching career nearly derailed by alcoholism before he finally got a job along the Jersey shore. And when his team clinched its first MAAC title of his five-year tenure, King crowed by hearkening back to the nights just a few years ago when fans openly talked about his failures and recruits were told by other schools that he'd be fired after starting off with three straight 20-loss seasons.

Even the end of the bench has found stardom. The Bench Mob's in-game antics are legendary in social media. Not only is Monmouth good, but it's also entertaining.

But none of it would be possible without Robinson. Not the 25 wins, conference title or likely NCAA tournament bid. The smallest man on the court is the biggest underdog leading a team full of them.

"He's an amazing talent that has the biggest heart," Rice told Bleacher Report. "Just don't doubt him. If you doubt him, you're going to regret it."

Rice never doubted Robinson, but it took a while to get Robinson to the school. He was offered a scholarship on April 12, 2013—his 18th birthday. It was also the day he got his first tattoo.

"Love the game" appears over a basketball on his left pectoral. He pats it before every free throw—a reminder to himself of his devotion.

The tattoo on his right calf, however, carries greater meaning. It is his mother's, Stephanie Blackmon-Miller, favorite: "Blessing in disguise."

It's a reminder of how his life started and why his right calf is smaller than his left. Robinson was just six pounds, four ounces when he was born with a calcaneovalgus foot. The disorder left his right foot bending in and upward, like a frog's.

"It was terrible," Blackmon-Miller said. "They didn't know if he was going to be able to walk right. They didn't know if he was going to be able to run. It was kind of devastating."

As a newborn, Robinson wore a cast on his right leg. He was the youngest patient in physical therapy, as his right foot was massaged to get it to bend the correct way. Doctors told her that Robinson would not be able to walk until he was nearly 18 months old.

Robinson outpaced that prognosis. He was walking by the time he was one year old, and by the time doctors said he might be walking, he already had a basketball in his hands.

He learned to put on a show even as a toddler, astounding people in a local food court in Kingston, New York, as he dribbled around with one hand.

Those skills would flourish as he aged. At Kingston High School, he set the school record in assists and racked up awards, winning sectional and division titles as a senior. But Robinson could not draw a Division I offer. Syracuse, Siena and Wichita State showed interest but nothing more. A Division III school offered only a partial scholarship, his mother told Bleacher Report.

"Everyone in our city was always like, 'Yeah this kid is good, but that doubt that was in the back of everybody's mind was, 'He's small, he's way too little,'" Tyler Robinson, Justin's younger brother and Monmouth teammate, said. "You could tell that really hindered him and really agonized him. But he definitely fought through it. … He loves the doubt. It fuels him."

Rice first noticed Robinson during an AAU tournament the summer before his senior year. The coach disavows scouting services and prefers to recruit based on what he sees. At the tournament he noticed a small guard constantly stealing his attention, even as he focused on other courts.

"Who's the little guy that's killing it?" Rice asked.

Monmouth kept an eye on Robinson during the year but did not make an offer. Still, Robinson was intent on playing somewhere in Division I. He eschewed all other options and readied himself to go to prep school in hopes of drawing the type of big-school offer he felt he deserved.

"I was driven to always strive for the best," he says now. "Why settle? I knew I was a Division I talent, regardless of what other people said."

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The phone call on his 18th birthday changed his course. Robinson was waiting for at least one opportunity, and this was it. But the first few years at Monmouth were not easy.

The Hawks went 11-21 during his freshman year. Suddenly, his explosiveness off the dribble disappeared late in the season. Robinson kept playing through it until Rice pulled him and made him visit a doctor. He had a stress fracture in his right foot and scar tissue dating back to his childhood. Robinson missed the final four games that year.

An 18-15 season during his sophomore year was an improvement but didn’t suggest the leap Monmouth would take this season. It’s already slain four power-conference teams, and Robinson has been a standout. He scored 22 to beat Notre Dame on Thanksgiving and then scored 27 to beat USC three days later. Now, Monmouth is a strong candidate to pull off an upset in March.

"I like being the underdog because I've been an underdog my entire life," he said. "It doesn't really bother me too much. Cinderella—whatever. Hoopla, hoopla, whatever people are talking about. I know at the end of the day my team is going to play hard and we're going to do whatever to win a basketball game."

For Robinson, this success is validation of Monmouth's choices and his own. He points to his latest tattoo, the one he got last year after a tragedy.

In August, two high school friends, Jeff McQueen and Dante Crump, died in a car accident.

He's memorialized each one. "Lightning McQueen" is on his left forearm in memory of a friend who was always on the go. And as Robinson looked over the last text messages he had shared with Crump, he read one that stuck: "In order to live, you must take risks." Now, that line sits on the side of his torso, hovering over a pair of dice.

"It resonates with me as well because Monmouth was my only Division I scholarship offer," Robinson said. "I took a risk and it panned out. So in order to live, you must take risks."

Mike Vorkunov is a freelance writer in the New York City area. He can be found on Twitter at @Mike_Vorkunov