Marcus Jordan, budding star?

Before Wednesday night, Michael Jordan's sons -- Jeffrey and Marcus -- have been known less for their basketball ability than their ties to their father and their occasional forays into the world of the unwise tweet. The latest example came this offseason, when Marcus got into hot water for tweeting that he and his brother had spent "$35k" at a posh Las Vegas Nightclub; Marcus, being under the legal drinking age, should probably not have been in a nightclub in the first place.

Anyway, the Jordan brothers have to this point been seen as solid but not great college basketball players. Jeffrey was a defense-oriented walk-on guard at Illinois; Marcus, a more highly touted recruit, took his talents to UCF. Neither are likely to reach the heights their father scaled.

Still, for one night, Marcus Jordan showed the bloodlines in fine form, and believe it or not, he's creating a real buzz around Central Florida basketball. True story! UCF upset Florida 57-54 in the Florida Citrus Sports Shootout at the Amway Center Wednesday night, and the fans are taking to their newfound star in a way you might not expect from a building program like UCF. From the Orlando Sentinel:

You're not going to get anyone within the UCF basketball program to come right out and say this is�Marcus Jordan's basketball team. But Wednesday night at the�Amway Center, it sure felt like it.

The crowd swayed as Jordan swayed. They fell to the floor, groaning each time Jordan did. And when he scored, the roar was louder than it was for any other player.�Marcus Jordan has arrived at UCF.

Jordan even had a singular Jordanesque moment, one that made "SportsCenter" and -- yes -- looked all too similar to his father's famous double-clutch move against the Lakers in the 1991 Finals. Marcus caught the ball at the top of the key, crossed two defenders, leapt, felt Vernon Macklin behind him, switched the ball to his left hand in mid-air and finished the layup in grand style. There are a handful of college basketball players that could have finished that play. Apparently, Marcus Jordan is one of them.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/19149/marcus-jordan-budding-star

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