Marcus Foster hopped on the fast train to fame, riding it for all it was worth from the first stop of high school obscurity all the way to "the best Kansas State freshman since Michael Beasley" hyperbolic platform.

Two-plus years and one school change later, Foster doesn't look back and ask, "What happened?"

There's no need. He knows exactly how his career went off the tracks. He steered it there.

"I got cocky. I thought I had it,'' he said.

Sadly, his is not an uncommon story. The zero-to-fame acceleration has ruined more than a few people in more than a few walks of life.

Marcus Foster transferred to Creighton after two seasons at Kansas State and is averaging 19.4 points per game for the 10th-ranked Bluejays. Photo by Eric Francis/Getty Images

Foster is just hoping for an uncommon ending.

It's not about redeeming himself, or anything so simple or trite. Because Foster doesn't feel compelled to prove he's changed to outsiders.

He has a much bigger challenge in mind.

He wants to show himself.

"I want to get better,'' he said, "as a basketball player, but also as a person.''

Frankly, Foster is right. He did have it as a freshman.

And no one saw it coming.

When Bruce Weber first spied Foster on the summer league scene, the Kansas State coach saw a blue-collar worker who mixed in on a team full of like-minded players. Foster was relatively unheralded, a top-150 recruit but not even top 10 in his home state of Texas. Weber thought he'd be good but not otherworldly good. When Foster arrived at Kansas State, he lived in the gym and in the weight room, working with such a vengeance that Weber started raising his own expectations, envisioning a player who could score upward of 20 points per game.

"I remember after one of our early games, a coach asked me about him, and then it was just boom! And he kind of burst on the scene,'' Weber said.

Foster had a breakout season as a freshman at Kansas State, but clashed with Wildcats coach Bruce Weber as a sophomore. AP Photo/Orlin Wagner

Foster scored 25 points in the second game of his college career and continued on a double-figures pace throughout his freshman season. In 33 games, he failed to reach double figures only six times. He scored 34 against Texas, dropped 29 against Baylor, connected on 79 3-pointers for the season and finished the year with 513 points.

The following summer, Creighton coach Greg McDermott saw Foster at the LeBron James Skills Academy. McDermott had recruited Foster hard out of high school, ultimately finishing as the runner-up to Kansas State and Weber. He knew Foster well, but the kid he saw working as a counselor that summer wasn't the same one he'd recruited. He phoned assistant Steve Lutz, who had developed a great relationship with Foster during this recruitment.

"I said, 'I'm worried about Marcus,''' McDermott said. "He looks like he thinks he's arrived.''

Weber had the same fears. The same kid he couldn't get out of the gym as a freshman didn't spend nearly as much time working on his game leading into his sophomore season.

The coach and star player butted heads throughout the season, Foster appearing sullen and downright pouty at times. A two-game benching temporarily rejuvenated him into a better version of himself, but by February, things were on the skids again. Weber suspended his best player for three games, and by the end of the season decided to sever ties altogether.

Foster was dismissed from the team.

"He just didn't take care of business,'' Weber said. "I've been at this a long time ... second chances, third chances, fourth chances, whatever I can do, I do. But he needed to learn how to take care of business.''

Foster admits at first he was bitter, placing the blame more at Weber's feet than at the man in the mirror. With his career and reputation in tatters, Foster reconsidered who really was to blame, recognizing that he had blown his chance at success.

"You go from high school and nobody is talking about you, to all of a sudden you're on SportsCenter and everybody is talking to you,'' he said. "It went to my head and I didn't handle it right.''

In desperate need of a second chance, Foster called the coach who recruited him during his sophomore season in high school. At the same time, Foster's mother, Alvita, called McDermott as well.

"I want my son back,'' she told him.

McDermott continued the phone chain, calling Weber to make sure McDermott understood all that went on at Kansas State, and also as a professional courtesy since he was considering bringing Foster to Creighton.

"I liked him,'' Weber told McDermott. "I didn't like what he had become.''

Armed with his own gut feeling for the kid he had known for years, and with as much new information as he could gather on the person Foster had become, McDermott decided to roll the dice.

"I knew exactly what I was getting myself into,'' he said. "And I decided it was worth the risk.''

Maurice Watson Jr. knows a thing or two about feeling out of place. After two years at Boston University, the guard transferred to Creighton, bringing his Philadelphia attitude into the Midwestern heart of Omaha, Nebraska. The two didn't necessarily jibe.

Watson didn't have basketball to close the gap, either, since he had to sit out a full season under NCAA transfer rules. Then he was sidelined by a broken foot.

So when Foster arrived at Creighton, Watson offered two things to his soon-to-be backcourt mate: advice and a clean slate.

"I didn't want him to think I was going to judge him on what I heard or word of mouth,'' Watson said. "People here will accept you with open arms, but you've got earn it. I also told him that second chances don't come around a whole lot.''

Maurice Watson Jr. is another transfer who has rejuvenated his career at Creighton. Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Foster heeded that advice, using his transfer year on the sideline not just to work on his game but also to readjust his attitude. Determined not to be a burden to either his coaching staff or his teammates, he shut out the other voices who had crammed their way into his head, the ones telling him he was NBA-ready before he had really become college-savvy.

He went back to what made him so good as a freshman, chasing basketball with a fervor again. When he arrived on Creighton's campus, his body fat had ballooned to 16 percent. Foster had quite literally become fat and happy with his success.

Now it's down to 8 percent.

"I realized, just like people can tell you that you're a good player, they very quickly will tell you when you're not good,'' he said. "I had success and then I didn't. You have to work to hold on to it.''

Weber isn't angry.

As his former player continues to rediscover his groove at Creighton, Weber is more philosophical than disappointed.

"There are a lot of different paths for a lot of kids,'' he said. "If my decision helps him in the long run to get his head right and do what he's supposed to, then I couldn't be happier for Marcus.''

It certainly looks to be case.

The numbers are familiar, to be sure. Foster is averaging 19.4 points per game for 10th-ranked Creighton (8-0), two 15-point nights against Wisconsin and NC State marking his season lows. He's shooting 51 percent from the floor and 43 percent on 3s, and he's the first player in 30 years to score 15 or more points in each of Creighton's first eight games.

Yeah, that includes a fella by the name of Doug McDermott.

Then there's this:

Just the other day, Foster pulled freshman Justin Patton aside. The freshman is averaging 12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and twice has earned Big East Rookie of the Week honors. He's also an Omaha native, and the city loves its Bluejays, so Patton especially is getting a lot of attention.

"He's doing even better early on as a freshman than I did,'' Foster said. "I told him, 'Whatever you do, don't let it go to your head.'''