Canadians basketball recruits having way to NCAA through NBA Academy
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00:00Hey everyone, Aaron Rose here from Sports Illustrated.
00:03The other day I did a story on the Canadians at the NBA Academy in Mexico City and their
00:07journey home when the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America in mid-March.
00:11I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into the story of the two Canadians graduating
00:15from the program.
00:16Benedict Matherin and Olivier Maxence-Prosper have really been Canadian pioneers for the
00:20program and that's something the program's director, Chris Ebersole, says he takes pride
00:25in.
00:26They both came in with a goal to play higher major college basketball.
00:32So to see them kind of be very clear and upfront with us about what their goals were going
00:37in and committing to those goals and all the work they put in and the development from
00:43where they started with us to where they finished with us, we're extremely proud of them and
00:47just excited now to be able to watch them at the next level.
00:52I think a lot of folks will be surprised just by how quickly they're able to contribute.
00:58Maxence-Prosper is a four-star prospect committed to Clemson next season.
01:02He's an extremely talented power forward, but it's his maturity that he showed in moving
01:05to Mexico that really impressed Tigers coach Brad Brownell.
01:09I think what it shows is a certain level of maturity.
01:16To move away that far away from your family, you've got to be a mature young man.
01:20You've got to be driven.
01:21You've got to be focused.
01:22You've got to be hungry.
01:23And he's certainly all of those things that I mentioned.
01:28That's one of the reasons Maxence-Prosper chose the academy.
01:31I feel like going to the NBA Academy is really different than going to any other high school
01:38because over there, they really prepare us to not only as basketball players, but becoming
01:46men and mature men.
01:49I feel like going away from home helps us also mature because we don't have our parents
01:54around.
01:55We don't have our family around to tell us what to do or to help us do everything.
01:58We have to develop that for ourselves.
02:01For Mathurin, a four-star prospect committed to Arizona, going to the program was one of
02:05the best decisions he says he's ever made.
02:08It's one of the greatest things to be in.
02:11You're playing in front of college scouts and NBA scouts, so just being in the NBA Academy
02:20is a great thing because the coaches know what they're doing.
02:24We're having a lot of time.
02:25We're focusing on basketball and obviously school, but I feel like the development in
02:31the NBA Academy, it's a great one.
02:34Entry into the academy is extremely difficult, but Ebersole says if you're interested in
02:38the program, you should follow them on social media and just keep working on your game.