The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Incoming class has local, international flavor
In recent years the Yale men’s basketball coaching staff has left no stone unturned in the recruiting process.
Paul Atkinson, the reigning Co-Ivy League Player of the Year, came from Florida, Mr. Versatility Jordan Bruner from South Carolina while California native Miye Oni preceded Atkinson as the Ivy League Player of the Year.
Yale head coach James Jones and his staff took things to a new level in putting together its current recruiting class.
Stateside there is Ellington native Matt Knowling who was the 2019-20 GameTimeCT.com and Gatorade state player of the year following his senior season at East Catholic. Another of the newest Bulldogs is New Jersey native Luke Kolaja but after that, Yale went international. Yussif Basa-Ama was born in Ghana, Yassine Gharram is a native of Morocco while Emir Buyukhanli is from Turkey.
“It wasn’t anything by design, it just happened to work out that way,” Jones said. “We think that we have some good pieces and we are always dedicated to going anywhere we have to make sure we get the kids who can help us.
“There is certainly a different way of life [for international recruits]. In Turkey, thinking of Emir, for example, he kind of has a throwback game where he kind of plays like an old Boston Celtic so to speak where he is very savvy and he understands how to use his tools to his advantage, not the quickest, the strongest or fastest but he utilizes what he has to be really good.”
Basa-Ama, a 6-foot-9 forward, was Florida’s Class 3A Player of the Year and a Florida Mr. Basketball finalist after averaging 15.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 blocked shots as a senior at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton.
The 6-foot-5 Buyukhanli was a
double-digit scorer in the Turkish League’s U-16 and U-19 championships before heading to St. Thomas More.
Gharram, a 6-foot-1 guard, opened his senior season at Foothills Christian in El Cahon, Calif. by scoring more than 30 points three times in the first four games. He posted triple-double as a junior and made 40 percent of his 3-pointers as a sophomore and junior.
Kolaja, a 6-foot-8 forward who spent the last two seasons at New Jersey powerhouse Blair Academy, was a member of Mid Atlantic Prep League and NJSIAA Prep A championship teams in his first season at Blair and more recently, led the team to a 19-3 record with two losses to St Benedict’s Prep by a total of five points.
Speaking of successful high school careers, Knowling’s East Catholic teams went 101-5 over the last four seasons including an undefeated season and Division I state title as a junior.
“He is super,” Jones said of Knowling, who averaged 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists as a senior. “He is a tough kid, he really learned the game from [East Catholic head coach] Luke Reilly. All he wants to do is win, all he wants to do is make his teammates better so he is a coach’s dream, he is what you look for in young men when you go out and recruit. I am excited about him, he is athletic, tough, strong and I think he has all the qualities to be a really good player.”
Yale is coming off its third Ivy League regularseason title including second outright in the last five seasons. The Bulldogs are set to return its top two scorers in Atkinson and Swain as well as Jalen Gabbidon, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, as six of the eight Yale players who averaged at least 10 minutes per game a season ago will return.
The Ivy League was the first conference to cancel its postseason tournament due to COVID-19 and the league said that “The Council of Ivy League Presidents intends to announce a final decision regarding the status of intercollegiate athletic activity for the fall term [on Wednesday].”
The Ivy League made quite the splash in March with the decision to cancel the Ivy League basketball tournaments. Before long, other conferences did the same. Wednesday’s announcement could become a major step in determining the short-term future of fall and winter sports.