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Darnell Archey says he remembers the night vividly, shooting basket after basket in the pouring rain.
Four years later, living by his never take no for an answer motto, and Archey was raining on the rest of the basketball world.
Growing up in New Castle, Archey says he dreamed of being an Indiana All-Star like local poster-boy turned Indiana University hoops star and now Iowa coach Steve Alford.
It was Archey's dream, and it stayed just that. After what he called a bad shooting performance at the top 40 workout, the player who was told time after time he was too short didn't get a phone call to let him know he was on the team.
Archey's answer to not getting the call? He shot basket after basket in the pouring rain that Friday night.
Now 23 years old, Archey told his story yesterday at Tiger Basketball Camp at Warsaw Community High School.
Though it hurt him at the time, Archey says not getting that phone call made him better, it made him work harder.
And his story is all about hard work paying off.
After graduating from New Castle High School, the 6-foot-1 Archey went to play basketball at Butler University in Indianapolis.
After three years of coming off the bench for the Bulldogs, and still being told by opponents and critics he couldn't do this and that, Archey cracked the starting lineup.
Along the way he set the NCAA record for most free throws in a row at 85, eclipsing the old record of 73. Over his senior season at Butler, Archey made good on 71 of 73 free throw attempts.
Solid from the three-point line as well, the smooth shooting guard nailed 8 of 9 three-pointers in the NCAA tournament as the underdog Bulldogs knocked off Rick Pitino's highly regarded Louisville Cardinals.
All told, he drilled six treys in the second half of that game and led Butler to the Sweet 16.
Not bad for a player whose name appeared in Sports Illustrated as the article's author said the majority of the girls on campus were bigger than him.
"You'd be surprised what you can do with hard work," Archey said in an interview before he told the Tiger Camp pariticipants and coaches his story. "I'm not the biggest guy or the tallest guy, but I put in time and effort. A lot of it has to do with my father, Dennis. He would rebound for me everyday. I would shoot for 45 minutes a day, six days a week and then go play games later on in the day."
Archey said his free throw shooting ability came from of course repitition which led to muscle memory, but also a routine.
Archey said he shot each and every free throw the exact same way - three dribbles, a bend of the knees, fingers on the ball the same way, a deep breath and then, well, in more cases than not nothing but net.
He said he shot free throws as close to a game situation as possible, not shooting them until he was winded, noting a player wouldn't be shooting them in a game when they were fresh.
"I shoot 50 to 100 free throws a day, six days a week," Archey said. "It becomes muscle memory. I'm to the point now where I could shoot them with my eyes closed and tell you if it was going left or right or if it was going in."
Just shooting until he missed - not a game situation - Archey said he made 96 straight free throws once and 35 consecutive three-pointers.
"Darnell has an inspirational story," Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said. "In high school he was just hoping to make the team, and then he kept getting better and better. He's a very skilled basketball player and a perfect example of what I'd like our players to be. He's a very hard worker and he also went and got his degree, got it done in the classroom as well. He was a key component on a very good Butler team that made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament."
Ogle met Archey this spring at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis at the top 100 underclassmen showcase.
Ogle was there with Warsaw point guard Michael Moore, and Archey, only 5-foot-9 and 115 pounds as a freshman in high school, spoke to the crowd.
Archey said after he got his degree in marketing he realized he still wanted to play basketball. Last week he had a try out with the Indiana Pacers, and scouts told him after a couple years of European League play fans may see him in the NBA.
Not bad for a guy who was tabbed as nothing more than a spot-up shooter, and who was described as smaller than the majority of the girls on campus.
Told all of his life he was too small, Darnell Archey is the one standing tall now.
