The final weekend in July was an eventful one for D.C. hoops, as Mountain Dew and the NBA combined for a 3-on-3 showcase that hosted local talent on a national stage.
Among those locals was former Morgan State University basketball standout Corin “Tiny” Adams, who milked the opportunity for all it was worth — and then some.
Adams, who is originally from New York City’s Brooklyn borough, found the DMV area to be “comparable” to her hometown during her Morgan State recruiting visits. After her stellar career at Morgan ended in 2010, she ventured overseas to play professionally in Greece, visiting over 15 countries throughout the years.
As a young adult, she said she made mistakes, but used them as motivation to propel her into T3 Sports and the publishing of her book, “Tiny Setbacks, Major Comebacks.”
“I enjoyed playing but my ignorance led me to make mistakes, even with the clearinghouse for Morgan State,” she said. “I mishandled dealing with agents and was scammed overseas — it’s a lot that I’ve been through.
“Now, I aspire to encourage everyone to be informed about the little things that contribute to being successful that I learned the hard way,” Adams said. “I don’t regret anything, but I wish I made better decisions … [but adversity] makes you stronger and now you have experience.”
For a primarily male-dominated sport like basketball, it was a somewhat novel idea for the Mountain Dew competition to include a women’s tournament as well, but Adams said she deeply appreciated the opportunity. She stressed the importance of being able to display her skills and leadership to young ladies in attendance at the July event.
“There’s a lot of money tournaments for the men’s tournaments, but usually not women’s,” Adams said. “Ultimately, I was honored to showcase our talents. For Dew NBA 3X to showcase women basketball, it was a great ordeal and inspiring to other youth, you could feel the vibe.”
An opportunity to compete in the national spotlight is rare, but Adams made her opportunity a worthwhile experience, so much so that she halted her overseas endeavors to pursue professional 3-on-3 competition.
Outside of competing in the upcoming Federal International Basketball Association (FIBA) World 3-on-3 tournament — a reward for winning the Dew NBA 3X tourney — Adams’ next goal is to develop her own Amateur Athletic Union program.
“I’ve been looking to get into coaching at various collegiate programs, but first I want to develop an AAU program,” Adams said. “I’d prefer to coach men’s basketball and be the first woman to take a men’s team to the Final Four. I always want to do things that people have never done before, so I’m grinding right now to make these opportunities possible for me.”