A Florida State star hasn’t lived in Charlotte since middle school. But it’s his home
There was nothing more to explain.
As Florida State senior Darin Green Jr. was preparing for the upcoming season, his head coach told him he’d be one of two players representing the Seminoles at ACC media day Wednesday in uptown Charlotte.
“We didn’t have a discussion. He just told me: ‘You’re going,’ ” Green, a Charlotte native, said. “I think he already knew what it was going to mean to me.”
Green, who transferred to the Tallahassee-based program last season after three years at Central Florida, lists Charlotte as his hometown. He moved away from the Queen City after seventh grade, however, because of his father’s job in pharmaceutical sales, spending his entire high school career in the Sunshine State.
But he says Charlotte — where he’s found himself this week for the first time since his freshman year at UCF — will always be his home.
“Every time I come back to Charlotte, someone knows someone in my family,“ Green said. “It just feels like home. When I go to Florida, it almost feels like a vacation, still.”
Green’s father, Darin Green Sr., attended West Charlotte High and won two state championships for the Lions before playing college basketball at George Washington. Green Sr. has two brothers who went on to play football at Duke and N.C. State, respectively.
Green Jr., who averaged a career-best 13.4 points for the Seminoles last season, said he experienced a major transition when he moved to Tampa — more of a football and baseball hotbed — ahead of eighth grade and high school. The main basketball leagues there were through YMCAs. Green eventually joined a team out of Orlando, about 80 miles away.
His talents on the hardwood didn’t waver. A four-year varsity player at Wharton High School, about 22 miles from downtown Tampa, Green became its all-time leading scorer.
On Tuesday night, Green’s grandparents — who don’t fly as often anymore and he hadn’t seen for a long time — along with his uncle, cousins and a group of his childhood friends and their parents all came by his hotel.
“It’s all full-circle,” Green said. “It’s almost a blessing in disguise. I got to see my grandparents, some family, some friends — also get some work done while I’m here! This all worked out for me.”
Playing alongside him last year, Florida State sophomore forward Baba Miller said Green is becoming an all-around threat and has grown as a leader. He believes Green, now a fifth-year after starting at UCF in 2020, has a mature presence on the court, taking shots when he’s open and creating opportunities for his teammates.
Green has made 299 3-pointers throughout his career, or 2.8 per game — a mark that leads all active ACC players.
And he’s done it while representing his hometown — which he recently got tattooed on his back.
“I mean, he just got a tat on his back that says, ‘Charlotte,’ straight up,” Miller said. “That’s pretty much what it means to him.”
