Canada’s Chris Egi Heads To Harvard

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– Just when it looked like Ivy League basketball was about to drop off the map in college basketball, Tommy Amaker arrived at Harvard to change the dynamics.

Amaker, the one time Duke star and former Michigan coach, has taken the Crimson to new heights in the past two years, winning the Ivies twice and advancing to the third round of the NCAA tournament the last two years with victories over third-seeded New Mexico and fifth-seeded Cincinnati.

But the best is yet to come as this building process continues.

Amaker is starting sign the type of elite players who are being recruited by high major BCS schools and could help Harvard get to the second weekend. His biggest coup this year was signing 6-9, 200-pound forward Chris Egi from Markum, Ont., the second ranked prospect in Canada’s Class of 2014 behind 6-9 Trey Lyles, who will enroll at Kentucky. Egi is a a physical player who played for Nike travel team power CIA Bounce where he spent a summer playing a supporting role with Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Ennis, who both will be NBA first round draft picks.

He has been busy polishing his own resume these days, scoring 20 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking four shots as Roy Rana’s U18 team defeated Purerto Rico, 90-71, to finish unbeaten in the preliminary round of the FIBA Americas world championship qualified tournament at the Olympic Training Site here. Forward Dillon Brooks, a rising senior at Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., scored 26 for the Canadians, who were among the four teams to qualify for the U19 World Championship next summer in Greece along with the United States, Argentina and the Dominican Republic..

Amaker has had success recruiting Canada in the past, convincing Laurant Rivard, Aguna Okolie and Patrick Steeves to attend Harvard.

Egi was more than happy to listen to his pitch.

Egi’s parents Anthony and Christiana both immigrated to Toronto from Nigeria. “My mom and father have always put a huge emphasis on education and working hard every day,” he said. “My father went to the University of Toronto. My mom went to nursing school in Nigeria. My older brother William went to Princeton so when it came for me to decide, that played a big role. He actually wanted me to come to Princeton with him. and I have a little sister Alexandra who is thinking about Yale. That would be quite an accomplishment for our family.”

Harvard was Egi’s dream school. It didn’t take long for him to fall in love with the aura of America’s most prestigious university once he arrived for his official visit in Cambridge. “It kind of left me speechless,” he recalled. “It was like– I’m really at Harvard right now.”

He was comfortable with the players and the direction the basketball program was headed and developed a strong bond with junior point guard Siyani Chambers– the best returning player in the league– during his official visit.

“Harvard represented who I was,” he said.

”When I committed, my parents couldn’t stop smiling,” he said.

Egi plans to major in economics or government and hopefully contribute on a team that has upgraded its non-league schedule to include Virginia and Arizona State.

“I wasn’t really sure about the basketball but once I went on my visit and saw the direction the program was headed and I was sold. This is not a typical Ivy League situation. The program was winning games in the tournament wants to play a strong non-league schedule. I want to help build on that.”

The last time Harvard was able to recruit players like Egi was in 1969 when Bob Harrison swooped into the Washington, D.C. area and signed 6-6 forward James Brown,who is currently the host of CBS NFL pre-game show; and 6-8 center Floyd Lewis, a successful lawyer in the district. Both could have played anywhere in the country but chose to play in the Ivies, which was a legitimate league at the time and produced seven players– John Hummer, Geoff Petrie, Brian Taylor and Armond Hill of Princeton, Jim McMllian of Columbia and Corky Calhoun and Bob Bigelow of Penn– who were NBA first round picks from 1970 through 1976.

Brown still holds the school record for field goals in a game (18) and Lewis holds the school single season record for rebounds (343).

No one knows if Egi will have a similar impact, playing for the deepest, most talented team in the league.

But Egi prepared for his future by transferring from St. Andrews of Aurora, Ont. enrolling at Montverde Academy for his senior year so he could play against better competition at a national prep school power located near Orlando, Fla. Egi played a big role defensively for Kevin Boyle’s top-ranked high school team, which featured 6-6 McDonald’s All American De’Angelo Russell, who signed with Ohio State; and 6-9 rising senior forward Ben Simmons, an Australian import who is a rising senior and a Top 5 recruit nationally who has already committed to LSU.

He blocked four shots in the fourth quarter as Montverde defeated Oak Hill Academy last spring to win the powerhouse Dick’s National High School tournament for prep schools at the Garden. Egi was recruited by high majors like UConn , California and Florida. “But I really wanted to go to Harvard,” he said. Egi was originally scheduled to graduate in 2015, but reclassified so he could graduate and play college basketball for his dream school this upcoming season.

Comments (1)

[…] Despite the loss,  Egi looked dominate in the paint, as trend Harvard could get used to as thats where the Canadian big man will be suiting up next season. With Canadian Ivy league star Dwight Powell graduating to the NBA draft this season, it looks like the league will be getting a new Canadian star to carry the torch.  […]

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