The Internet and YouTube never fail to bring the 9-year-old with the wicked crossover, the seventh grader who can windmill and the 14-year-old all-around phenom to our computer screens and into our living rooms.

But scour the web for middle school highlights of Nick Madray, and you will return empty-handed. You won’t find his high school statistics, either.

“I don’t know much about Madray,” Vermont head coach John Becker said.

He’s not alone. Basically, Madray, the most hyped player in Binghamton’s freshman class, is more myth than man as the 2013-14 season tips off.

The 6-foot-9-inch stretch four did not play organized basketball until his freshman year at Stephen Lewis Secondary School, a small, family oriented institution in Mississauga, Ontario. A goal-focused program, Stephen Lewis did not record player statistics.

“The coaches, we’re teachers. We play to compete, but our goal is to develop,” said Ashoak Grewal, who coached Madray in each of his three seasons at Stephen Lewis. “We don’t keep stats. Our goal was always to become a better player and become a better person.”

That philosophical approach helped Madray, eased him into organized basketball for the first time after injuries sidelined him throughout middle school.

But it also stunted his development as a basketball player. Grewal, who said Madray could always shoot, rarely placed his star forward on the block. He feared the basic tenet of his philosophy would be compromised.

“I could have thrown him in the post, and he could have scored 20, 30 points,” Grewal said. “But going against guys that are 6-foot-3, he wasn’t going to learn anything.”

Therefore, Grewal persuaded Madray to spend his junior year at Findlay Prep, a basketball powerhouse that perennially sends players to prestigious college programs. He would compete against Anthony Bennett — a former AAU teammate and the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft — and Brandon Ashley every day. The goal: Learn as much as you can.

Madray described Bennett and Ashley as fast and aggressive, two traits he needed to develop before playing Division I basketball.

“If you go up for a layup against them, it’s going to be swatted,” he said. “You always have to go to the rim hard.”

Playing behind Bennett and Ashley — who would eventually sign with UNLV and Arizona, respectively — pushed Madray to a new level of exertion in practice.

“Playing in that role definitely helped me because I had to work for playing time,” he said. “I had to work to play against them so that I could play in the games.”

Madray’s soles met the hardwood sparingly enough to return to Canada still relatively under the Division I recruiting radar. Syracuse, Virginia and Boston College would all express interest — especially the Orange, according to Grewal — but none persisted like Binghamton head coach Tommy Dempsey and associate head coach Ben Luber.

Grewal said he encouraged Madray to pledge to Binghamton because he could play significant minutes as a freshman.

“Nick needs to play,” Grewal said. “He’s going to become a tremendous player but he needs to play.”

“He could be Binghamton’s first NBA player,” Grewal added. “He has NBA potential. Any coach that came said that the potential’s there. It’s in him.”

Dempsey tempered those expectations. Madray, a pure shooter, still has to develop a post game to succeed at the college level. He needs to add weight to his 215-pound frame and become assertive on the court, too.

“Nick has a chance to be great, but I think people have to be patient,” he said. “It’s a big transition to the next level.”

Madray said senior forwards Alex Ogundadegbe and Roland Brown have mentored him, offering advice on every aspect of life as a Division I post player. But the forward has also taken tips from a guard.

“I kind of set footprints for a freshman with talent coming into this program,” said sophomore Jordan Reed, who averaged 16.7 points per game in his first collegiate season. “So I feel like I can guide him somewhere throughout the road, road games, stuff like that. Give him pointers because I’ve seen it.”

Madray, meanwhile, has seen nothing more than an exhibition game against Bloomsburg, a Division II school in Pennsylvania. But if his appreciation of his high school coaches and teammates serves as any indication, Madray won’t let the teaching efforts of his fellow Bearcats and Dempsey’s staff go unnoticed.

“After every single workout, whatever workout I did with him, and we spent a lot of time together, he always says, ‘Thank you,’” Grewal said. “He really appreciates the extra time people put in with him, and he really appreciates the support.”

There’s always more to learn, especially when you’ve played organized basketball for just four years.

Madray has a long road ahead, one that first will take him through the inherent ups and downs of a freshman season. He needs to learn, but he’s prepared to do so.

“It’s going to come down to if it clicks or not,” Grewal said. “Mike George, Anthony Bennett’s agent, told me, ‘Once it clicks, people are going to be talking about Nick.’”