Flint - One drive through the city tells a story that few want to hear.

Each abandoned house has a tale to tell, and each neglected business is yearning to shout out about what Flint used to be.

While the city has tried to move on from the exodus of the automotive industry that sucked much of its life away, one true love remains: basketball. While Buick City is gone, and other spots in Flint appear like a ghost town, featuring empty lots with protruding weeds, the only places that rarely have any vacancy are the city's basketball courts.

Throughout the past two decades, with the rise of poverty and unemployment, the hope of Flint's youth has turned from the United Auto Workers union to sports.

As an escape from the stale reality of life with few jobs and a city known for violent crime, Flint has turned to basketball.

The result has shown up throughout the basketball world, but there also has become a laundry list of talent that never quite made it away from the city's black hole of poverty.

The struggles and successes of Flint's basketball world are now the focus of a documentary film by former MSU students Marcus Davenport and Anthony Barnes, entitled "Flint Star."

"Basketball is more than just a game here; kids play it with passion and purpose," Davenport said. "In some ways, it is beautiful, but in other ways, it is not, because there are other ways to be successful.

"That is another big reason that we made this film, to show kids that there is another way and that basketball isn't the only road to take."

Now, Flint players can be seen in almost every league around the world. Players such as Chicago Bulls guard Eddie Robinson and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Latrell Sprewell have made their presence in the NBA. Meanwhile, players such as MSU guard Kelvin Torbert and Arkansas forward Olu Famutimi are making waves, with MSU recruit Marquise Gray not far behind.

The filmmakers

What started as a comedy show on MSU television has turned into a passion for Davenport.

Starting with his first check from his job as a teacher at Detroit's Columbus Middle School, Davenport has invested everything he has made and more into his documentary.

In the fall of 1998, when both Davenport and Barnes were MSU students, they began their show, "Big Thangs Productions," on campus television. It was a comedy show that sometimes drifted into improvisation, but it lit a fire under the pair and helped them to dream big.

Davenport graduated in 1999 with a degree in elementary education and then came back and earned his master's degree in curriculum in 2000. Barnes earned his undergraduate degree from MSU in communication in 2000.

Starting with a video camera that he financed at Best Buy, Davenport spent nearly every night driving from his home in Detroit to Flint to get interviews or watch games.

By the time they finished filming on May 11, 2003, Davenport had more than 60 hours of game film, along with countless hours of interviews.

"Part of it was wasted tape because this was our first project, but most of it was hours and hours of tape that I had to choose from," Davenport said. "I would never do something like this again. Basketball was too much."

From former MSU guard Mateen Cleaves to Robinson, Charlie Bell, Jeff Grayer and Justus Thigpen Sr., many of the stars of Flint show up in the film.

From here, the pair are looking to continue their filmmaking, now that they own all of the equipment. On their plate is a documentary on the National Football League called "Life in the League," and Barnes' pet project, temporarily titled "Hood Rich," a motion picture featuring comedians from around the state.

All of the 10 projects they have planned have one thing in common - reality.

"You want to give something positive, but you don't want to sugarcoat it," Davenport said. "True talent is delivering what you want and doing it tastefully."

Spartans' success

While Flint basketball stars have played throughout the basketball world, the hotbed of late has become MSU.

Led by Cleaves, Bell and Morris Peterson, Flint players helped MSU bring the national championship to East Lansing for the second time in 2000.

Begun by former center Antonio Smith, "The Flintstones" became national stars at MSU and helped head coach Tom Izzo bring the team back to its highest level since Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Greg Kelser led the Spartans to a title in 1979.

Now, Torbert reigns at MSU, winning the MVP at the Spartan Classic this past weekend, and soon Gray will join him.

"I played with them (Cleaves, Bell, Peterson and Smith) almost every day as a young guy," Torbert said. "I was probably 10 or 11, and they were 17 or 18, when I stayed just down the street from Mateen.

"Those guys coming here started it all. Everyone saw what they did, so everyone felt like they could come here, and they could go and do that and play for a top-notch program."

In the documentary, Cleaves explained why he made the decision to come to MSU over other national powers that were recruiting him.

"I got recruited by all the big schools," Cleaves said. "The thing about Michigan State that I liked is that coach Izzo was there, and they had a lot of down-to-earth people. I'm not going to say the school's name, but I was offered money and all kinds of things to go to other schools, but they kind of reminded me of myself, hard-working."

Izzo realizes that he has found a gold mine of talent and would love to continue to have Flint players boost his team's status.

"I think they're good players who have some toughness," Izzo said. "I think that's the case in Detroit and other places in the inner city, too.

"We've had some success going with those guys up there, and we want to keep that streak going as long as we could."

The present

With Bell, Cleaves and Smith long gone, the new wave of college stars from Flint is headed by Torbert and Famutimi, who is starting as a freshman at Arkansas for former MSU assistant coach Stan Heath.

While many will try to group Torbert in with those past players, Izzo made it clear that Torbert is his own player with his own prerogatives.

"The only thing different is KT is so different than those guys in a way or two," Izzo said. "He's hard-working, he's driven, but he's not obsessed with just becoming a pro. Those guys were a little more obsessed with it.

"What you could say is that he is a more well-rounded person, but he still has the mental toughness."

Many people have overlooked Torbert's human side, looking instead at the talented player as only a basketball star.

"I think you wanted to see the persona of this guy with this manchild body that he had as a sophomore and junior in high school, and so you could never see the heart through the muscle, but the heart is pretty big," Izzo said.

The future

The next big thing from Flint will be Gray, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound forward from Flint Beecher who has signed a letter of intent to join MSU next season.

Gray is ranked as the No. 15 recruit in the country by Rivals.com and the No. 8 forward in the country.

"He's a great player, young guy, real athletic, and he can do a lot of things for us," Torbert said. "So, hopefully, he'll be able to help us out next year as soon as he gets here."

In the future, MSU will look to maintain its stronghold on the basketball talent from the city that lies just down Interstate 69.

"There's a little connection between Flint and MSU 'cause a lot of guys grew up in Flint," Torbert said. "Being only 30 minutes away from State, you grow up wanting to play there at a young age. People see it as a top program for basketball or football that they want to play in and be a part of."

Staff writer Kirsten Nielsen contributed to this report.

"Flint Star" is available for $19.99 by calling (888)478-7153 or by visiting bigthangsinc.com.

Jon Styf can be reached styfjona@msu.edu.