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Rose’s first dream was to become a coach. This concerned his father. “I said, ‘What you should do is go to law school first,’” Zev Rose, a commercial-real-estate lawyer, recounted. They compromised: Leon became an assistant at his old high school while enrolled at Temple’s law school. After graduating in 1986, he became a Camden County prosecutor and moonlighted as an assistant coach at Division III Rutgers–Camden. Wes, meanwhile, was carving out a path of his own. South Jersey had become a wellspring of athletic talent with future pros seemingly on every corner. College coaches flocked there; one of the first was Wade Houston, a Louisville assistant. “On my first trip to the gym, everyone told me that if I wanted to really learn about these kids, then I had to go see this guy at the shoe store by the mall,” Houston said. Wes was in the stockroom when he heard someone asking for William Wesley. His first instinct was to hide. “At least until he realized I wasn’t someone looking to hurt him,” Houston said. Houston was impressed by Wes’s eye for talent, but what he liked most was how much Wes seemed to care about the recruits: “He was almost like their protector.”
The University of Hartford cut the ribbon on its new athletics complex named after NBA All-Star and graduate Vin Baker on Thursday. The complex will allow the university to expand its club and intramural sports along with adding training facilities for the Division III sports.
The photo epitomized much of what their own upbringing was like in the West Bank before they moved to Minnesota in August 2024 to pursue their basketball dreams in America at the collegiate level and maybe even beyond. The brothers are entering rare territory, paving the way for the next generation of Palestinian hoopers. Ibrahim, 20, is blazing a trail as the only Palestinian-American born in the West Bank competing on a men’s college basketball roster at any level. He’s a 6-foot-6 sophomore at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minn.) who helped the team make the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 last season as a freshman. Omar, 17, who is 6 feet 9, has a chance to take the mantle even further. He’s a senior at DeLaSalle High (Minneapolis) who helped lead his team to the Class AAA state championship game. He is currently receiving interest from a handful of college programs, including several low-major Division I schools. Omar also has shown promise on the AAU circuit this summer, giving hope to the next generation of Palestinian-American players in the diaspora that competing at the next level is possible.
When I asked draft experts about young players who stood out for traits like kindness, curiosity, and emotional IQ—their niceness—Coward’s name kept coming up. He didn’t have a straight shot to the pros; he started his college career at a Division III school and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury right after he transferred to Washington State for his senior year. Coward’s mix of thoughtfulness and empathy in interviews conjures the picture of an “old soul.” He says that his parents and grandparents impressed on him the value of emotional maturity. It’s why he comes across as so grounded and why, even as a rookie, he’s been such a mood stabilizer for the Grizzlies. “For me, I’m always conscious of being emotionally aware but, at the same time, not forcing anything to happen,” Coward says.
It’s mostly a coincidence that the younger Allen, a junior guard at Emerson, landed at a college in downtown Boston, across the street from Boston Common. Though he plays his home games in the shadow of TD Garden, one mile from the Celtics’ arena, his Division III program is a far cry from the big leagues, illustrated by the attendance of 293 for the 71-67 win against Western Connecticut. He is forging his own basketball journey, one he calls an “unorthodox path.” After playing for his father at Gulliver Prep, a high school in Pinecrest, Fla., he started his college career as a preferred walk-on at Rhode Island before transferring to Emerson before the start of his sophomore season.
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To Spoelstra, the Robinson story is about the journey, not the financial machinations, with Robinson thriving in the role in Detroit that he cultivated with the Heat. “That just doesn’t happen, where you come from Division III, then transfer, be a sixth man (at Michigan), and then to come into the league and get to 1,000 threes as quickly as he did and break our record for threes, and then he’s going to continue to go. “That’s just a credit to his fortitude and grit, just an amazing super power. So I do root for him, but it looks strange, him in that uniform, it really does.”
Cedric Coward was just like countless other kids then and now who dream the longshot NBA dream. This vision to become one of the NBA’s select few players was farfetched three years ago when he was playing NCAA Division III college basketball. But in what he even describes as a “one-of-one story,” Coward’s NBA dream has come to life. “I’m super blessed to be in the position that I’m in,” Coward told Andscape prior to Monday’s 131-118 road loss to the Golden State Warriors. “Not a lot of people get to experience this. It’s like 450 of us [NBA players] in this whole thing. I’m one of them, which is great. So, I never take a day for granted. “I always take each day and make it count as much as possible. But there are times where I’ve got to pinch myself and be like, ‘Damn, I’m really here.’”
Drew Hill: The Memphis Grizzlies are hiring Rob Sanicola as the head coach of the Memphis Hustle, per league sources. Sanicola was a Division III head coach from 2003-2024. Lead assistant for the Hustle last season.
Finch had been coaching the Sheffield Sharks since 1997 and wasn’t sure where it was all going. As he bounced from England to Germany to Belgium, coaching teams like the Giessen 46ers and Euphony Bree, Finch was also applying to Division III coaching gigs in an effort to return home. He missed out on several opportunities but eventually coached the British National Team at the London Olympics and returned stateside with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Houston Rockets’ developmental league affiliate.
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The 53-year-old Finch credits some of his early coaches with instilling his mentality, as well as basketball fundamentals and strategy. While in middle school, Dave Stafford, then an assistant at Wilson High School, “took me under his wing and drove me all over, from Harrisburg to Philly,” to play against the best available competition. Reggie Weiss, Wilson’s head coach, taught Finch that basketball is “a simple game that has to be played really, really well.” The legendary Glenn Robinson, who became Division III’s all-time winningest coach while guiding Franklin & Marshall for 48 seasons, allowed for freedom and creativity within situational basketball. Weiss, meanwhile, described Finch as a small forward who could shoot, get to the basket and be a sometimes-too-unselfish distributor.
I've nonetheless believed for much of the season, like some in Spurs circles closer to the situation than me, that Pop will return for at least one more season, because he still loves this job and needs to be in the gym. These Spurs are the youngest team he's had since was coaching Division III college ball. And Pop loves teaching so, so much ... even more than he detests in-game visits to his bench from sideline reporters.
After a season leading the nation in scoring and his Yeshiva University team into the record books, Ryan Turell declared for the NBA Draft Tuesday, formalizing his intent to become the first Orthodox Jewish player in the history of the league and one of the few Division III stars to make the leap.
Even now, the party continues. Because as Thompson barrels toward one of the most anticipated comebacks in Bay Area history, he’s still singing the praises of those who added some finishing touches to what looks like the end of his two-and-a-half-year rehabilitation odyssey. And no NBA prospect makes Thompson more animated, more talkative, than a 28-year-old former Division III point guard whose pro career topped out with a junior-league team in Spain. David Fatoki, now a rising executive, is the general manager of the Santa Cruz Warriors. Thompson ranks among his biggest fans. The Warriors star agreed to this interview simply because of the subject matter. “Anything for ‘Toki,” Thompson said as he settled into his seat. “Thanks for writing about Dave,” he said as he departed.
