Kevin Nascimento was a starter on a Rice basketball team that was among the best in the city, playing with future Division I players Shane Southwell, Jermaine Sanders and Kadeem Jack.
While his teammates have their college basketball futures set, Nascimento’s is much more fluid. Two months from graduating, the senior guard isn’t sure where he’s going to go yet, which is why he played in the seventh annual Big Apple Basketball Scholarship Games Saturday afternoon at Baruch College.
“I’m just trying to keep playing, get myself some exposure,” he said. “There are a lot of coaches here so it’s a great opportunity.”
Nascimento wasn’t alone. Thirty-nine other players who fell through the cracks for one reason or another competed in front of a number of Division II, III and junior college coaches in a pair of exposure games.
“A lot of the players didn’t know about their schools or their coaches, but right now we have a chance to showcase our skills,” said Bishop Ford guard Matt Hall, who has drawn interest from New Haven, among several Division II schools.
There are a few other exposure events throughout the city in April, but Big Apple Basketball founder Jason Curry believes the Scholarship Games stands out because of its academic requirements, it’s month-long tryouts, that it is free for its participants and there’s a structure some other events lack.
“One of the things I wanted to do was use this as an opportunity for kids who are academically sound and also for players who have basketball ability,” Curry said. “It’s more like an organized Combine.”
Curry said more than 200 players initially tried out and he and his staff whittled the number down to a select 40 who competed in a pair of games at Baruch Saturday.
“They have to show a commitment over a month, come in and work and bring in their transcripts,” Queens College coach Kyrk Peponakis said. “They have to earn it, which is good and the basketball is good. It’s not run and gun, they play zone, man, they get a lot out of them. It’s very structured, which I like.”
Among those on the court was Bishop Loughlin’s Mark York, who watched close friends Jayvaughn Pinkston (Villanova) and Branden Frazier (Hofstra) lock up Division I scholarships.
“I just want to make my mom proud and go to college for free,” said York, who is being recruited by Division II schools St. Thomas Aquinas, Dominican College, Southern Connecticut and New Haven. “Everyone is depending on me so I just want to make everybody proud.”
York’s squad, which also featured McClancy standout Brandon Rivera, won the second game of the afternoon. The 6-foot-5 forward has yet to decide on his college, but he said he’s leaning toward St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.
“Just to compete, play basketball, develop a friendship/family situation with a bunch of guys at a good school, there’s nothing better than that,” Rivera said. “I loved the campus, a good group of guys, the team is real good, the coach is a funny guy, he’s cool. They’re down to earth guys, that’s why I like it a lot.”
After they showcased their skills on the court, Curry addressed the players in the hallway outside of the locker rooms. He spoke about the importance of finding the right situation to play college basketball, about how he was recruited by a few low Division I schools before carving out a niche at Division II St. Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont.
“I know how you feel because I was in your shoes,” he said.
While it’s still too early to tell how the Scholarship Games impacted this year’s seniors who played, there have been some stunning success stories. Darren Duncan, who struggled for playing time at Christ the King because he was stuck behind Malik Boothe (St. John’s) and Erving Walker (Florida), found a home at Merrimack College, a Division II college in North Andover, Mass.
There Duncan excelled, finishing third on the school’s all-time scoring list with 2,049 points, second in Northeast-10 conference history with 825 assists and named a first-team Daktronics All-American last month.
Then there was St. Francis Prep’s Michael Panella, who made a remarkable impact in 2004 after getting limited minutes during his high school career.
“He came to our showcase and surprisingly made the top 40 and then was recruited by Manhattanville College,” Curry said. “He went there and played four years and is now an assistant basketball coach [there].”