Kelvin Deion Torbert (born May 24, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player.

High school career

Torbert was born in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

to Climmie Torbert and Florine Green. His mother died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

when Torbert was 5 years old; his father, an

Opelika, Alabama Opelika (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is ...

native, was employed at

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and also had developed health issues, specifically to his kidneys; he died in 2005. After attending Holmes Middle School, Torbert enrolled at Northwestern High School in Flint in 1997 and during his 4-year career he became the best player of the varsity team, gaining state recognition starting from his sophomore year. He was considered an all-around player, capable of scoring in the post, the midrange and on dunks and 3-point shots. Torbert became a starter for the team in his freshman year, and averaged 15.5 points per game; he improved to 18 points in his sophomore year. He started to be nationally ranked during his junior year in 2000, and he was selected in the ''Parade'' All-American Third Team after averaging 25.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. His senior year at Northwestern was very successful. He was ranked among the top 5 players in the nation by the major recruiting services, and he was considered the top

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

of the class of 2001. He averaged 26 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in his final year of high school basketball, ending his career with 1,978 points, that placed him second in Flint city history behind Charlie Bell. He played a total of 95 games at Northwestern and finished his high school career with 4 All-City and All-Valley nominations, he was 3 times

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All-State First team and once All-State honorable mention, and won 3 city championships under coach Grover Kirkland. His convincing performance at Northwestern earned him many awards and All-American selections: he was named the

Gatorade National Basketball Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' ...

, ''

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'' Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball of Michigan, he was part of the

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All-America First team, and he was selected as a First team ''Parade'' All-American and as a McDonald's All-American. In the 2001 McDonald's All-American Boys Game he scored 21 points shooting 50% from the field (6 for 12) and went 8 for 11 from the free throw line. He was the second top scorer of the West team, tied with David Lee and behind

Eddy Curry Eddy Anthony Curry Jr. (born December 5, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Coming directly out of Thornwood High School in South Holland, Illinois, Curry was selected fourth overall in the 2001 NBA draft by the Chicago B ...

(28 points). 2001 game and rosters at page 81.

College career

Torbert was recruited since his junior year in high school, and received interest from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. Torbert committed to play for Michigan State, for which he had signed a letter of intent. He chose not to declare his eligibility for the

2001 NBA Draft The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001 in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizards, ...

despite several of the top ranked players of the 2001 class doing so. He was considered one of the best recruits to commit to Michigan State in several years. Under coach

Tom Izzo Tom Izzo (, ); born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo has led the Spart ...

, Torbert was immediately considered a starter, and he started 26 of the 31 games played in his freshman season. He was given significant playing time, averaging 25.1 minutes, and ended the season with averages of 8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He started his first game at MSU on November 12, 2001, against Detroit and recorded a then career-high 18 points on January 16, 2002, against

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. He was named the Best Defensive Player of his team together with Alan Anderson. In October 2002 he underwent

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular join ...

surgery and missed the preseason games, and during the season-opening game against UNC Asheville on November 22 he did not start. His sophomore season saw him getting increased playing time and he became a regular starter (34 out of 35 games), and he averaged 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds. He recorded a new career high scoring 22 points on February 15, 2003, against Northwestern, and contributed to reach the Elite Eight during the

2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 18, 2003, and ended with the championshi ...

: the Spartans were defeated by

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in the South Regional finals. At the end of the season he was named Michigan State Most Improved Player and Best Defensive Player. Before the 2003–04 season started, Torbert worked on his shooting, and his percentages increased significantly: he shot 53% from the field and 48% from 3-point range on 2.1 attempts per game, and his scoring average reached a career high of 10.7 points per game. He ranked in the top ten of the Big Ten Conference in all the shooting categories, and he led the conference in 3-point field goal percentage. His performance during his junior year earned him All- Big 10 honors: he was selected as a Honorable Mention by the coaches and in the Third team by the media. He started 26 out of 30 games, and recorded a season-best 21 points against

Coppin State Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...

on December 30, 2003; he was also second on the team in rebounding average, and third in assists. At the end of the season he received the team Most Improved Player award, and his third consecutive Best Defensive Player award, sharing it with

Maurice Ager Maurice Darnell Ager (born February 9, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played at the collegiate level for the Michigan State Spartans from 2002 until 2006, and earned a spot on the 19-and-under USA basketball team ...

. Torbert's senior year at Michigan State saw him losing his spot in the starting five, and he took the role of

sixth man The sixth man in basketball is a player who is not a starter but comes off the bench much more often than other reserves, often being the first player to be substituted in. The sixth man often plays minutes equal to or exceeding some of the sta ...

, being the first option off the bench. He played 33 games but only started 2, and he had the lowest minutes per game average of his career with 22.6. His overall stats declined and he averaged 9.5 points and 2.9 rebounds on .509 shooting (.345 from three). Torbert was considered a very good defender during his senior year, and he scored a total of 1,195 points for the Spartans during his 4-year career in college basketball.

College statistics

, - , align="left" , 2001–02 , align="left" ,

, 31 , , 26 , , 25.1 , , .399 , , .316 , , .806 , , 3.4 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 8.2 , - , align="left" , 2002–03 , align="left" ,

, 35 , , 34 , , 29.3 , , .420 , , .323 , , .747 , , 3.8 , , 1.7 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 8.7 , - , align="left" , 2003–04 , align="left" ,

, 30 , , 26 , , 28.8 , , .534 , , .484 , , .800 , , 3.6 , , 2.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 10.7 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

, 33 , , 2 , , 22.6 , , .509 , , .345 , , .827 , , 2.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 9.5 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 129 , , 88 , , 26.5 , , .462 , , .373 , , .792 , , 3.4 , , 1.7 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 9.3 , -

Professional career

After the end of his senior year of college Torbert was automatically eligible for the

2005 NBA Draft The 2005 NBA draft took place on June 28, 2005, in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players f ...

, but he was not selected by an NBA team. He played for the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

during the 2005 Minnesota

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. He then signed for French team

JL Bourg Jeunesse Laïque de Bourg-en-Bresse, commonly known as JL Bourg or simply Bourg, is a basketball club based in Bourg-en-Bresse, France that plays in the Pro A. Their home arena is Ekinox, which has a capacity of 3,548 people. History In 2014, J ...

, where he played 34 games, averaging 12.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists during the

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

regular season. His team also participated in the playoffs, where they were defeated by Le Mans Sarthe in 3 games: Torbert averaged 7.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in the series. For the 2006–07 season he signed for

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

club

Euphony Bree Bree B.B.C. is a former professional basketball team based in Bree, Belgium. The club was dissolved in 2010, after going bankrupt. The club played multiple years as a professional team in the Ethias League and played its home games in the Tilman ...

, where he had a successful stint: he scored 15.9 points per game, and contributed to bring his team to the playoffs, where he played 7 games and averaged a career-high 21.3 points. After that he went back to France, this time signing for Paris-Levallois, but he had limited playing time and despite appearing in 30 regular season games, he only averaged 7.0 points. After the 2007–08 season he transferred in Belgium again, joining Mons-Hainaut where he played 2 seasons. He then played in Greece for Iraklis, but ended the season in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, playing 31 games in the second level for Ural Yekaterinburg scoring 12.5 points per game. After a brief stint in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he played 3 games with Toros de Nuevo Laredo, he again signed with a Belgian team, Okapi Aalstar, but he only played 2 games there. Torbert then moved to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

: after a 1-month trial at

BBC Bayreuth Medi Bayreuth, official stylized as medi bayreuth, is a German professional basketball club that is based in Bayreuth, Germany. It was re-founded as BBC Bayreuth in 1999. The team plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the highest division of ...

, after which he was released, he signed with Ratiopharm Ulm where he had 4 appearances, averaging 4 points per game.

References

External links

Career stats at ProBallers.comStats at BGbasket.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torbert, Kelvin 1983 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American men's basketball players Basketball players from Flint, Michigan BC Ural Yekaterinburg players Belfius Mons-Hainaut players Bree BBC players Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. players JL Bourg-en-Bresse players McDonald's High School All-Americans Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Okapi Aalstar players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Metropolitans 92 players Ratiopharm Ulm players Shooting guards Small forwards Toros de Nuevo Laredo players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people