Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Justin Bufford - Hometown Hero
12/27/2023 5:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Selma, Ala.—If you've ever paid close attention to Justin Bufford on the basketball court, it doesn't take long to notice how he plays the game with a chip on his shoulder. Yes, he has dazzled the Murphy Center crowd with many catch-and-shoot threes from the corner late in tight games, but it's the little things that he does throughout the game that go largely unnoticed that really define who he is as a player.
Diving for loose balls, setting screens, fighting under the basket over a larger player for a rebound, they represent that blue-collar, hard-work mentality that Bufford gets from his hometown: Selma, Alabama. Life in Selma isn't easy. People have to work hard for the things that they have. It's an old civil war town bordered by the Alabama River to the south. It's a town that unfortunately has a violent past, but one that always has stood up and fought for what it believes in despite the rough and tumble aura that surrounds it.
For Bufford, unfortunately, he saw friends killed due to gun violence and grew up in a household where his mother, Beverly Smith, had to work many hours to support him and his siblings. Those hours enabled him to not only stay focused in school, but to fall in love with the game of basketball.
"Basketball and my mom played a big role in my life growing up," Bufford said. "My mom, Beverly Smith, helped keep me in a straight line. Basketball was the center point of my life that kept me out of trouble."
Originally a football player going through elementary school, Bufford picked up basketball when he was going into middle school after one of his mentors and close friends, Jeremiah Whitt, realized the potential he had. Bufford started playing for his teacher and coach, Calvin Marshall, whom he is also close with to this day, in the YMCA league in Selma and didn't know at first if it would work out.
"Jeremiah is in my life to this day," Bufford said. "He saw the potential in me, and ever since fifth grade we've been putting in the work and I can really say that those early summers that he kept me in the gym with no breaks really developed my game."
The now 6'6" guard was tall as a youngster, but often found himself on the floor tripping over his own feet in transition. Sure, it wasn't pretty, but it was a lot better than some of the alternatives that he could've slipped into.
Selma has some good men that are leaders in the community and work hard to help the next generation on the right track and help them accomplish their dreams. As Bufford continued to grow older and got more involved with basketball, including EYBL and AAU, he began to form that identity of a blue-collar player that was going to do whatever his team needed to win, the same way that his mentors and mom worked hard to help him become that type of player and person. Without even knowing it, Selma was shaping Bufford to become who Middle Tennessee state fans know him as, today.
Bufford stayed in the gym and focused on his craft in high school and quickly became one of the top players in the Montgomery area at Ellwood Christian and later transferred to Montgomery Catholic where he was identified as one of the best players in the state.
"I met some really good men playing ball in high school," Bufford said. "Pastor Gary Crum (at Ellwood), Coach Willie Shears and just the brotherhood we had. We had state championship aspirations and it helped me realize how much I loved the game. When I transferred to Montgomery Catholic and played for Coach Michael Curry, that's when my career really started to take off. He's one of the best people I've ever met. He's like a godfather to me. He helped guide me to the college level."
Perhaps one of the biggest things basketball game Bufford early on was the perspective of getting to see what the game had to offer around the country. It's not often that people from Selma travel outside of the Montgomery metropolitan area, so a lot of Bufford's friends were often excited to hear about his trips to Indiana or Florida. Bufford also realized that his scrappy style of play that he earned in the gyms of Selma growing up would serve him well along the EYBL and AAU circuits.
"Playing AAU and EYBL, I got to travel a lot, which really didn't happen for most people in Selma," Bufford said. "When I'd get back, my friends would always ask me 'How was it?' They were always so excited to hear about my experience because they've never seen anything outside of Selma. Seeing that showed me that there was more to life and made me want more out of life and basketball because of what it was doing for me and my family."
College was the outlet that was ultimately going to get Bufford to what he ultimately wants from life. Originally a Northwest Florida commit, Bufford ended up at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa just an hour and a half northwest of Selma. Though he was still close, it was his first time ever being away from Selma on a full-time basis. The travel and being away for up to two weeks at a time away from his mom and family helped him get more comfortable with being away from home before college ball.
As a senior at Montgomery Catholic, Bufford averaged nearly a triple-double per night with 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists per game and when he got to Shelton State his points per game output dipped with the increase in talent he was playing against, but the intangibles were there and helped him carve a role as the guy who was often guarding the other team's best player and he worked hard to average a respectable 12 points and six rebounds per night while also contributing on the offensive end as one of the more consistent three-point shooters.
"I feel like God put me in the right place," Bufford said. "At Shelton, I grew a lot. It brought out some of my best basketball and it led me into getting to Middle Tennessee."
If you look at MTSU Head Coach Nick McDevitt's style of basketball, there's nobody that philosophically fits his scheme more than Selma's own Justin Bufford. He's a guy that can guard out on the perimeter as well as battling down low with guys that he shouldn't have any business fighting under the basket with. On offense he can drive and kick the ball out to teammates or spot up and shoot from outside as well as in the mid-range.
Bufford isn't afraid to take on any challenge thrown his way and plays the game with a huge chip on his shoulder and always goes 1,000 miles-per-hour whether the Blue Raiders are ahead or behind. He's a scrappy player, does the little things and doesn't have to be the guy scoring 25 a night. He'd rather win the game and see teammates succeed. That comes from the work-hard mentality he got growing up in Selma. He will do whatever it takes to succeed, no matter what the odds stacked against are.
"Selma molded me," Bufford said. "I've always been counted out. People always said I'd never be good. Selma gave me a chip on my shoulder and my family believed in me. With God on my side and the people I grew up around, it just stands for something in itself. A lot of people don't understand how hard it is to grow up there. It gave me that chip on my shoulder. It wasn't easy to grow up there, but it makes me want to win because I've seen the losing side of life, so I put my all into winning."
Whether Bufford goes on to working or even playing professional basketball following his final few seasons with Middle Tennessee, there's no question that he has become the same type of man that some of his role models were to him when he was a kid playing horse or working on free throws during the long, hot Selma summers with Coach Marshall or Coach Whitt. Sure, Bufford's story of his time growing up along the banks of the Alabama isn't as pretty as some other athletes that come from small towns in the south, but the junior guard wouldn't have it any other way. He has a tough skin and an appreciation for his family and friends back home and even if just one kid can draw inspiration from his story, it'll be another great example of a great man that came from Selma, Alabama.
"When you look back at what me and family went through, and how much my mom and coaches pushed me, it made me realize now how much they could see in me," Bufford said. "I came to MTSU to play basketball and get a degree, but it's also to finish out what I started and be a role model to the next generation of kids in Selma. I want them to be able to look at me and see that if I can do it, so can they."
