His father, Ron, set the bar pretty high, teaming up with a couple other college all-stars to form the fabled "Triplets" - and they led Arkansas to the 1978 Final Four. So Ronnie Brewer was staring history directly in the mirror when he signed to play college ball for the Razorbacks.

"My dad didn’t push me too hard - he didn't want to burn me out on basketball. And it really just made me grow to love it. He saw that I was passionate about the game and to this day he still gives me advice about things on the court - and off the court, too. Not everybody's fortunate enough to have a mom and a dad that’s still in their life and I was blessed to be in that situation."

But blessings didn't stop the comparisons.

"Fayetteville's a small town, so you're always going to get compared to somebody. I was compared to my sister Candice - a two-time all-state basketball player - first, and then once I improved my game I was compared to my dad. Then I went off to the same college where he had an extraordinary career, and I think I was just OK. It was tough, but I think it made me mature a lot faster and deal with stuff a lot better."

Ronnie even wore his father’s uniform number: 10.

"He didn't put any extra pressure on me. And the newspapers or the media didn't really get to me, either. When they compared us, I just thought it was awkward. I mean, I was playing in the 2000s - he played in the 70s. That's 30 years ago. So every time I stepped on the court at Arkansas - even though we wore the same number - I just played my game."

And Ronnie was more than up to the task, earning 1st Team All-SEC (the first Razorback to do so in more than a decade) and Honorable Mention All-America honors while leading Arkansas back to the NCAA Tournament.

"In high school, I was just thinking about maintaining and improving my game to take it to the college level. So around my freshman and sophomore year in college, I realized that if I really put in the work and focused on school, gave that 110 percent and gave athletics that same amount, I might be able to play basketball for a living."

Putting in the work resulted in a lot of extra hours.

"I was in the gym lifting weights, getting shots up, doing extra conditioning work. And I continue to do that today back at Arkansas, because I feel like that pretty much put me over the hump to put me where I'm at today."

For Ronnie, this was really nothing new. He's been living up to his family name for as long as he can remember. And it all started at Fayetteville High School.

"We don’t have professional sports in Arkansas, so high school and college athletics are huge. Fayetteville High School is right down the street from the University of Arkansas. We played right on the hill and had sellout crowds every night. It was a blast. My sister went there and she was a great player, had all the scoring records. I enjoyed it a lot - if I could do it again, I would.”

Before Ronnie became a Fayetteville Bulldog, he was looking directly uphill at a basketball career that didn't seem likely to happen.

"I'm a product of not coming from a (nationally-known) basketball hotbed type of place. Fayetteville, Arkansas didn’t produce any NBA players until I came. So I knew I had to put in the work and do something every single day. Ball-handling, shooting, defense, one-on-ones, if you can work on something every day it's going to make you better in the long run. A lot of hard work will pay off in the end.”

But even with that hard-working mindset, the odds were still really long.

"I would never have thought when I was in junior high or high school that one day I would be playing in the NBA."

And short.

"I was 5'7 1/2" all the way up to the 9th grade. And I grew to a whopping 5'9" and thought maybe I could start at point guard. I didn't hit my growth spurt until my sophomore year, and then my body started developing. But at the same time, when I was small I was already working on my jump shot, working on my ball-handling, working on my defense, just trying to get myself ready and prepare myself to be a better basketball player."

As a senior, Ronnie busted out for 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Fayetteville finished 24-5 and reached the Class 5A semifinals. For his efforts, Ronnie was named the Arkansas Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Parade put him on their All-America team.

"My motto is - and always was - you can't really determine how many shots you're going to make in a game. Or if you're going to have a beautiful (shooting) stroke like some of the best guys in the NBA. Or if you can play the best defense or dish out the most assists. The only thing you can control is playing hard all the time. And that's what I try to do. So if you're not gifted to be able to jump and dunk or dribble and shoot better than somebody else, if you go out there and play as hard as you possibly can, well, that’s something you can control every night."

And three years later - after leading the Razorbacks to the front of the SEC pack - Ronnie was a first-round draft pick of the Utah Jazz.

"I always just tried to go out there and relax and remember that it's just a game. Just play hard and have fun. You're not out there to really impress anybody or force anything. Bottom line: however many years you've been playing the game, if a college coach or an NBA scout is coming to watch you, the ball's going to bounce the same way it always has and the rim is always going to be 10-feet high."