Texas Tech commit Viané Cumber fulfilling star potential after early setback at Sandia
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (BVM) — It was evident well before Viané Cumber reached Sandia High School that she was destined to be a basketball star.
“Frankly, in fourth or fifth grade she probably could’ve played on the varsity team,” Sandia head girls basketball coach Lee Kettig said. “I’ve known for quite a few years how special of a player she was.”
Cumber received scholarship offers from five Division I college programs before she had even played a game at the high school level, and she’s made good on the promise of her potential. As a junior, she was named the 2019-20 Gatorade New Mexico Girls Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 22.5 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 3.2 steals and leading the 21-5 Matadors to the Class 5A state tournament.
But it hasn’t exactly been easy for Cumber to meet the sky-high expectations she’s been faced with since before her high school career began at Sandia. She lost her entire freshman season after she tore her ACL just two weeks before she was set to make her highly-anticipated debut for the Matadors.
“It was really hard at first,” Cumber said. “As a freshman, there was a lot of noise about me coming in having offers (already), so expectations were really high for me and when I got hurt that obviously hurt our team as well. I just kept my faith and kept moving forward with the rehab, working hard every day and before I knew it, I was back stronger than ever.”
Kettig eased the 5-foot-10 guard into the fold as a sophomore, limiting her minutes during the first half of the 2018-19 season as she continued to recover from the injury. But Cumber was already dominating when she was on the court, and it quickly became clear how big of an impact she was going to make when she was back playing full games in the second half of the season.
“Since then it’s just been a joy to watch her every single day,” Kettig said. “She’s well past the point of any sort of recovery. Now she’s just getting better and better.”
Knowing she was going to lose her freshman season, Cumber said she was still able to make the most out of an unfortunate situation, and it helped with her growing into the star she’s become for Sandia.
“I knew the season was going to be over for me, but you have to look at it on the bright side,” Cumber said of her freshman season, “(and that’s) helping the team in any other ways that I possibly can, building my leadership skills off the court and just seeing the game differently.”
Cumber has seen the game a little differently than most of her peers for a while now according to Kettig, who first noticed her special potential when she was in elementary school.
“Her vision and knowledge of the game goes well past the Xs and Os,” Kettig said. “She understands the nuances. She has the physical ability. She’s strong and fast and can score from anywhere and rebound and do whatever she needs to do. You watch her play even as a young person and she just consistently makes the right play over and over again. She sees the game several steps ahead.”
Texas Tech really liked what they saw from Cumber during the Nike national showcase held in Chicago last July. Just two days after the tournament, the Red Raiders called and offered her a scholarship. Cumber picked Texas Tech over six other schools that had made official offers.
“They see who I can be,” Cumber said. “They see how I can fit in their system and contribute to their wins and how I can become a better player. They have a good academic system and their basketball program is on the rise and it was just a better fit for me and what I want to do.”
Even as highly skilled a player as Cumber already is, Kettig sees her improving even more over the next year before she heads to college in Lubbock, Texas.
“She’s going to be absolutely incredible next year; there’s no question,” Kettigg said. “I’m really looking forward to having her as a senior captain and just allowing her to lead. Her leadership is amazing and she takes her captainship very seriously. … It’s going to be exciting to see her as a senior taking that next step.”
