As parents, we always want the best future for our children. It’s gratifying to see our kids excel or receive reward for their accomplishments.

Saturday was a morning filled with smiles for the family, teammates and friends as they celebrated MaLik London’s signing to play basketball for Cleveland State.

The shot blocking center for the Cavaliers made a new home in Chillicothe when he left everything he knew in North Carolina for a new life in Ohio’s first capital.

A middle school aged London recalled his first sight of Chillicothe “I remember seeing this whole field and asked ‘Where’s the rest of the town?’… and my dad explained a lot to me, he kept me understanding what was going to happen, and it came true."

That message was a new home which would not only groom his basketball skills, but also be a positive experience academically reinforced with good role models.

MaLik’s father Michael expressed thanks first to his mother for allowing him to move the Chillicothe. Then he shared his gratitude for the people he surrounded his young son with from educators to surrogate “basketball moms” and Coach Gary Kellough’s coaching staff, all of who London credited for making MaLik’s dream of playing college ball a reality.

So, what’s a kid with roots embedded in Tobacco Road, surrounded by the Duke-North Carolina-Wake Forest triangle, doing going to Cleveland State? London says while getting a call from Tar Heels coach Roy Williams was enticing, he felt Cleveland was the place for him. “When I was younger, my mom said we’d try for North Carolina, but sometimes you gotta wake up and realize… I felt more comfortable with Cleveland State.”

London says he wants to major in engineering at CSU.

But first, he plans on engineering a post season tournament run for his Cavaliers.

The Cavs (12-6) play at Ironton Tuesday.

CLICK HERE to hear Dan Ramey's interview with London