The Athletic has live coverage of UConn vs. Miami in the Final Four.
HOUSTON — There is not a single former McDonald’s All-American in this Final Four, nor is there a player who was recruited in the top 30 after high school. More emblematic of where college basketball stands today, these four teams — San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, Miami and UConn — assemble their rosters in all sorts of ways, including transfers and under-the-radar recruits.
Here are some of the stories about how the players you’ll see on Saturday and Monday night got to their current schools…
State of San Diego
Jaedon LeDee, 6-foot-9 senior forward
When Andrew Mitchell first saw Jaedon LeDee in the TCU locker room, the strength coach thought to himself, “That’s an Aztec.” Before joining Jamie Dixon and the Horned Frogs, Mitchell spent a season at San Diego State, and knew exactly what the prototypical look looked like. At 6-9, 240 pounds, would-be linebacker LeDee might as well have come off the San Diego State assembly line.
When LeDee put his name on the transfer portal after two seasons of limited minutes for the Horned Frogs, Mitchell called his old pals in San Diego. “It helps to have friends in the business,” says assistant coach David Velasquez with a chuckle. Hard to argue. There is perhaps no other player in the state of San Diego who embodies Aztec physicality more than the chiseled Ledee, who has averaged seven points and 6.5 rebounds in this NCAA tournament and has pushed top-seeded Alabama around with 12 shots and six in regional semifinals.
Of course, what seems like a natural fit requires agreement from both sides; while it was easy to see LeDee as Aztec; he had to introduce himself like this.
LeDee, a four-star recruit, says he may have been chasing brand name popularity when he signed for Ohio State after high school. “As a kid, you take what sounds good,” he says. “Or what impresses people.” The Buckeyes then placed him more as a center winger than Kaleb Wesson’s backup. He played sparingly, and after a year, the Texas native (he hails from the Final Four host city of Houston) left TCU and was given an immediate leave of absence to play.
LeDee played more there – averaging 5.8 points, 3.9 and rebounds over 15 minutes – but he says he felt “boxed” with the Horned Frogs and, despite sitting out a transfer, lagged behind looking for a place that would allow him more freedom. He found it in San Diego State, a place that might not have had the same flashy name or conference as his other wards, but suited his game better. The Aztecs rely on his brute strength, but aren’t opposed to letting him hunt knights either. “It really comes down to maturity,” LeDee says as he sits back in his Final Four locker room. “It’s about growing up on life’s journey.” – Dana O’Neil
Nathan Mensah has provided rim protection to the elite of San Diego State. (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Nathan Mensah, 6-10 Senior Center
Matt Soria grabs a napkin from a post-workout lunch buffet, searches for a pen, and finally lands on a green marker. Kwaku Amoaku, he writes neatly. That’s how the state of San Diego rolls – efficiently, if not outlandishly.
The same applies to the recruiting approach. The state of San Diego doesn’t swear to a list by courting bluechippers to its sandy beaches. The Aztecs are grinders and lifers — Soria has headed the team’s basketball operations, usually a stepping stone position, for 16 years and has been with the team for 23 years — who rely on a web of contacts to find players to match them. “Everyone knows someone who played for Coach Fish (Steve Fisher) or Dutch (current head coach Brian Dutcher),” says Soria. “Someone always knows someone who can vouch for a player.”
Case in point: Nathan Mensah and the hastily scrawled name. “Coach Ku”, as Amoaku is better known, was born in Ghana but lives in San Diego. He runs a non-profit organization – the African Youth Basketball Organization, which aims to connect aspiring African basketball players with US high schools and ultimately colleges. Amoaku called San Diego State and suggested that they look at a talented kid coming to the States.
Although Mensah was originally parked at Redemption Academy in New York, across the country, staff still went and saw him. Eventually Mensah made his way west, first to Findlay Prep in Nevada and finally to Northern California to Prolific Prep. No hidden gem, Mensah only held his own as a three-star contender largely due to his raw offensive skills. But he was an ideal fit for the state of San Diego. Velasquez recalls watching him at Nike’s Peach Jam. “Usually high school bigs either block shots or take over attacks,” he says. “You never do both. He did both.”
Which, of course, was like ballet for a basketball team that prides itself on its defense. Recognizing his early defensive skills would not only make him attractive to San Diego State, but also get him on the court faster. Mensah made the simple decision to join the Aztecs. “I picked up some of the principles that the older guys shared,” says Mensah. “So I kind of fell in love with her.”
He has won the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year award two seasons in a row. — O’Neil
Micah Parrish, 6-6 junior guard
It helps to be the OG.
In 2000, well before the NCAA opened the door to the portal, San Diego State brought in Randy Holcomb from Fresno State and Tony Bland from Syracuse to lead early-era Steve Fisher-era transfers talent to success. In the 23 years since, the Aztecs have learned a thing or two about what makes a good transfer and what doesn’t.
The staff avoids dissatisfaction — “If you don’t listen to your high school or a high major Division I assistant who makes more money than I do, you’re definitely not going to listen to me,” Velasquez says of his Message. They’re looking for the right people who understand that defense isn’t optional, and most importantly, they explain that the state of San Diego isn’t here to make a star.
The knock on current players is that they don’t want to sacrifice their own minutes or fame that the portal lets the boys run away. It’s certainly true in some cases. It wasn’t for Micah Parrish. Easy would have stayed at Oakland University, just minutes from his hometown of Detroit, where he was guaranteed plenty of playing time and the responsibility of shouldering the team’s burden.
Hard left, choosing to go somewhere where he had to sacrifice game time and wait his turn. Hard played defense. He wanted hard. “It was about my future,” he says. “It doesn’t always happen right away, but I was willing to work for it and earn it.” The same player who started 57 games at Oakland has started just one at San Diego State; he has improved to 21 minutes from an average of 34 minutes a year ago. After staring, he willingly ceded the role to Cal transfer Matt Bradley, recognizing that after this year, when Bradley leaves, it will be his turn. “He’s very quiet, but he’s always in the gym,” says Velasquez. “Basketball is the most important thing in his life outside of the family. Everyone says it. Not everyone lives it. When we recruited him, he said he was looking for something special. That was the word he used.” – O’Neil
Florida Atlantic
Aliyah Martin, 6-2 keeper sophomore
Florida Atlantic isn’t a valiant mid-major relying on a group of seniors living out their final days. It’s instead a team built on a core of what its coaching staff calls its “COVID sophomores” — a group of four unranked, unrated, under-the-radar recruits who entered the school in the summer of 2020. Today they are there, have now spent three years together at FAU, average 41.6 points per game and have two years left to play.
In another world, maybe Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin, Nick Boyd and Giancarlo Rosado end up somewhere else after high school. Maybe they would have gotten other scholarship offers if they were more present.
Take Martin for example. The 6ft 2 guard always felt dramatically underrecruited. “I always knew I was a Power Five guy,” he says. He wanted a high-quality offer because “it’s easier there. You have more resources. You have more stuff.”
“The high-majors I’ve been waiting for, they’ve been waiting for other players, and they would come back to me. Once I understood what was going on, I just went to whoever was there for me.”
So in April 2020, Martin was ready to sign a McNeese State scholarship after considering Tulane and Southern Miss. Other grants on the table came from Jackson State, East Tennessee State, New Orleans, Alcorn State, and the like.
Florida Atlantic found a gem in easily recruited guard Alijah Martin. (Brad Penner / USA today)
Martin was also recruited by Florida Atlantic and was interested, but the Owls didn’t have an open scholarship for him.
That all changed on April 18, 2020, when Richardson Maitre, the Owls’ second-highest recurring scorer (9.7 PPG) and rebounder (4.1 RPG), opted to enter the transfer portal. On paper, it looked like a major blow to Dusty May’s program. However, it turned out that May picked up the phone, called Martin and asked if he was still available.
He was.
“I didn’t know much about the school,” says Martin, “but I liked the coaches and wanted to live in Florida.”
That was that. Martin reached out to McNeese State staff, apologized, and told them he was going to Florida Atlantic instead.
Last season, McNeese went 11-23, parted ways with coach John Aiken and hired Will Wade. Maitre, meanwhile, made the move to Samford and saw his minutes plummet. In his final college ball season in 2022, he averaged 0.7 points in 8.1 minutes per game.
And Martin is in the Final Four. – Brendan Quinn
Miami
Thomas Oosterboek, 6-8 sophomore forward
There are unusual ways to get to the Final Four, and then this two-wheeled journey begins in Amsterdam. “Kind of born on a bike,” says Thomas Oosterbroek. “Four years old, go to school with my older brother. It’s one of my fondest memories.”
Two continents and three moves over nearly 4,000 miles later, the Miami second forward sits in the Hurricanes’ locker room at NRG Stadium wearing oversized cream warm-up shoes and is still a little impressed by it all. Oosterbroek grew up in the capital of the Netherlands. A job change for his father led to a move to New York City when he was 9 years old. The birth of his younger brother led to a move from New York to Miami — “I don’t think my parents wanted him to be a little New York baby, so we went out in the sun,” he says — and his mother’s job change led to a move to Los Angeles two years later.
He was set to become part of the adidas grassroots after his junior high school season when a pandemic hit and wiped out the entire summer. California began its next high school basketball season in April 2021, which meant Oosterbroek’s recruitment didn’t begin until the spring of his senior year. He weighed a few scholarship offers against better academic credentials and walk-through spots, which led to a conversation with Miami assistants Chris Caputo and Bill Courtney that took him all the way back across the country. “My job is to prepare them for big games,” says Oosterbroek, “and we’ll see what the future brings.”
He says he loves geography. Loves to see and experience different places. Frequently travels back to Amsterdam to see the paternal side of the family and his older brother. But a Final Four in Houston? Prior to this week, it was a place a world traveler could only hope to visit. “It’s all still surreal,” says Oosterbroek. “We’re all just taking it in. Last year, my freshman year, we went to the Elite Eight and I felt like I’ve known what your team is capable of since then. Earlier this year everyone knew we wanted to go beyond the Elite Eight. We made sure that would definitely be part of our plans.” – Brian Hamilton
Norchad Omier, 6-7 junior forward
At first glance, Norchad Omier’s arrival in Miami isn’t all that outrageous. It was the first city he experienced after moving to the United States from Nicaragua. He played high school basketball at Miami Prep. He didn’t get a glimpse of the Hurricanes back then, thanks to a pandemic getting in his way. But after two productive years at Arkansas State and a leap into the transfer portal, Miami was Omier’s first and crucial stop.
His high school coach, Art Alvarez, connected his former player to the Hurricanes’ staff. They connected a few dots – Omier’s uncle and sister lived in Miami, and the city has the country’s largest Nicaraguan population – and invited Omier to visit the weekend after the Final Four. “I just saw the atmosphere,” says Omier today. “The way the boys treated each other. I thought, damn, I want to be a part of it.”
If only the Miami coaching staff were as clear as Omier. “I think he knew he wanted to come right after the visit,” says Courtney. “But he still went to Texas Tech and Florida State and all those places. He kept us on needles and needles. I kept calling him. I said, ‘Norchad, look, do I have to recruit another big guy? For example, tell me I don’t need to recruit another big guy. ‘Oh, you’re good, Coach. You well.’ Well, stop making all these visits.”
Miami went so far as to give Omier more or less an ultimatum — stop looking at other schools or we’ll move on — but Omier has a good explanation: He wanted the college basketball recruiting experience he did never had thanks to COVID-19. “I wanted to make the best of it,” says Omier with a smile. “[Courtney]texted me a lot, like, ‘Brother, just come. stop playing with me I just told him let me enjoy it man. Let me do my thing.” —Hamilton
Jordan Miller, 6-7 head guard
If Miami wins a national championship on Monday, Jim Larrañaga’s former colleagues and players will have provided an assist at George Mason. When super senior Jordan Miller entered the transfer portal two years ago, George Mason’s staff and former Miller players called to voice their support for Larrañaga.
The connections didn’t end here either. Courtney, Miami assistant head coach, was the first to make a call about Miller. Bryson Johnson, who had just been fired from George Mason, called Courtney to see if he was interested. Johnson played at Bucknell when Courtney was a coach at Cornell, and Courtney also played at Bucknell. Courtney pulled up a film and was intrigued.
He then got on the phone with Miller, who mentioned that he had played grassroots basketball for a guy named Clutch.
“Coupling?” asked Courtney. “Like Gary Collins ‘Clutch’?”
That was it. Collins was a graduate student of George Mason, with whom Courtney grew up playing pickup games in Northern Virginia. He also played pickup ball with Larrañaga during his time as George Mason. And the reason Miller was with George Mason in the first place was because he stayed with the D1SA Spartans, a grassroots team with no sneaker company affiliations, although in high school he had overtures from sneaker teams that were his profile would have strengthened .
The connection to George Mason led to Jordan Miller coming to Miami. (William Purnell / USA today)
“I’m a huge loyalty guy,” Miller said, noting that he had been with the Spartans since sixth grade and was the only player to end up playing in the team’s Division I. “You were with me before I was even heard of.”
Miller’s choices were Miami, Xavier or staying with George Mason to play for new manager Kim English. He decided he wanted to play at the high major level and with so many people telling him what a great guy Larrañaga was and all these connections, the universe was telling him something.
“Small world moment,” he said as he sat in the dressing room a day before the Final Four. – CJ Moore
UConn
Drab Newton, 6-5 senior guard
Two flights of stairs. That’s how long it took. Tristen Newton was at the athletics compliance office on the East Carolina University campus in Greenville, NC, shortly after his coach Joe Dooley was fired, where he officially put his name on the transfer portal. He walked out of the office, down two flights of stairs and out, and boom: his first call. National Coach of Wichita. Was Newton interested in becoming a Shocker?
Over the next 12 hours, until he turned off his notifications and went to bed, Newton heard from 30 to 35 schools, he estimated. The barrage was constant, and that was just the first day.
For players in the portal, this is not always the case; Some are waiting for high-profile opportunities that may never come. But Newton was a highly sought-after player, a three-year star at ECU whose development as a 6-foot-5 ball handler and playmaker, a sort of oversized hybrid guard, gave him real value for top-level coaches – and he intended to take hold of it. Newton had been largely overlooked as a high school kid in El Paso, Texas — he didn’t receive a star rating from 247Sports or Rivals — but he’d grown into the type of player he’d always thought he was.
“I always had the confidence that I could play at a really big level, but a lot of people don’t come out of El Paso,” Newton said. “I might not have been ready then, but ECU has helped me grow and develop to be who I am now.”
What he is now, of course, is a starting guard on the squad that will win the national title in Houston, a streak rising all season for one of the best teams in the country. After all the calls and pitches, Newton bonded with Dan Hurley and UConn’s strong recurring core, where he immediately felt “at home.” His bet on himself and it paid off faster than he could have imagined. – Eamon Brennan
Joey Calcaterra, 6-3 senior guard
You’d think a player who UConn fans now refer to almost exclusively as “Joey California” — Joey Calcaterra on his birth certificate — would be concerned about a move to Storrs, Connecticut, especially on short notice. After all, he had lived in the Golden State his entire life. That was true even as a kid, when he was always in one of the best teams of his age in California; it was true when he was averaging 30 points per game as a star at Marin Catholic High School in the Bay Area; and it stayed that way through his first four college seasons, when he was a busy scorer on a string of mostly underperforming San Diego teams.
But Calcaterra was ready for a change. “I mean, I’m one of the oldest players in college basketball,” Calcaterra said. “It was time to do something.”
The train that looked the most likely was Vanderbilt; the Commodores had been his main interest in the portal, and Calcaterra’s family had lived in Nashville for some time and liked the whole idea. While visiting Vandy, Calcaterra received a rather sudden call from Hurley asking if the player and his family would be willing to extend their stay abroad and visit UConn. “What the coaches were doing in training, really pushing the boys to their limits, I knew they would bring out the best in me,” said Calcaterra. “UConn is just an opportunity not to be missed.” Calcaterra – and his parents, who still fly to the Games from their home in Northern California – thoroughly enjoyed the trip. – Brennan
Nahiem Alleyne, 6-4 head guard
Nahiem Alleyne was a three-year starter at Virginia Tech who averaged nearly 10 points per game during his career. In his final season at Blacksburg, he played 31 minutes a game. When he entered his name on the transfer portal last offseason, dozens of schools came forward, including Kansas and Texas. Some offered him starting roles and lots of recordings.
But Alleyne was most impressed with UConn’s selling point despite having to share minutes in a crowded backcourt.
“I mean, it’s UConn,” says the guard from Buford, Georgia. Ray Allen, Rudy Gay, Rip Hamilton. Who doesn’t want to be part of something like this, be part of this story? You can go out there and make a name for yourself because it’s Connecticut, the basketball capital of the world.”
Alleyne has started eight games for the Huskies this season but is averaging just 17 minutes along with career lows in points (5.1) and shots (4.8) per game. And he totally agrees with that.
“I’ve looked at the team like there’s some really good tracks here, and if I’m added to that group, we’ll get even better,” he says. “Coming in here is all about excellence. And that’s what I want to take care of. I just want to walk around with UConn on my chest and say yes I played at UConn. At the end of the day, it’s all about winning.” – Brian Bennett
(Top photo by UConn’s Tristen Newton: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)