Forget ghosts and goblins: the scariest thing I can think of this Halloween is trying to make a shot in the paint against Ben Lammers, the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year who was recently named to the preseason All-ACC 1st team and is on the watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. He already ranks 5th in school history with 176 BLK, and after getting 125 of them last season he has a good chance to reach 300 for his career before he graduates next spring. Not only a defensive presence, he scored 14.2 PPG last year while shooting 51.6 FG%, and how many centers do you know who are majoring in mechanical engineering?! HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Ben about blocking shots and almost winning the NIT. We also wish him a happy early birthday a couple of weeks in advance!
1 reason you chose Georgia Tech over schools like Miami/Stanford was its mechanical engineering program: how much importance do you place on academics? It was a key point when I was looking at schools: I did not want to go somewhere and take a business class that I would have a terrible time in. I take engineering seriously and get a lot of enjoyment out of it.
You play for Coach Josh Pastner: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him? He has a very good knack for the game and knows that we will have success by playing the hand he was given. He arranges us to get the maximum out of each player.
On 11/14/16 you had 13 PTS/15 REB/9 BLK in a win over Southern: even if winning is more important than individual stats, do you think that you can get a triple-double before you graduate? I hope so! I am not good at keeping track of my own stats so I did not know how close I was until there were a few minutes left in that game.
You finished the season by being named ACC DPOY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was a great honor that recognized how hard I have worked during the past 3 years. It also shows that I helped my team a lot and is a great accomplishment.
Your 125 BLK last year were the 2nd-most in school history: what is the key to blocking shots? A lot of people ask me that but I honestly do not have a solid answer. I have a good feel for it and know when guys are ready to go up for a shot.
You had 8 PTS/7 REB in the 2017 NIT title game before losing to TCU: what did you learn from that game that will help you this year? We did quite well during the NIT so we kind of walked in there assuming we would not have to give it 100%…and they just knocked us in the teeth. We need to give 100% effort every single game.
Your non-conference schedule includes games against UCLA/Northwestern/Tennessee/Georgia: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? I would say UCLA because it is in China and is the 1st game of the season. Everyone will be in a different time zone so it will be our most mentally-challenging game.
You are 1 of 2 seniors on the roster: how much pressure is there on you to be a leader this season? There is a lot of pressure. I have been in most situations before so I try to help out the young guys when they make a mistake. Everyone needs to keep their heads about themselves.
Your father Chris played football at Texas A&M and your brother Nick played soccer at Colorado College: who is the best athlete in the family? My dad would probably say him but we never had the argument because we all played different sports. My brother was a 6’8” soccer player so I will take the smart answer and say…everyone!
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? I expect us to build off our success last year and our main goal is to make the NCAA tourney.
Doing the Right Thing is Wrong – The Braxton Beverly Decision
Braxton Beverly is a four-star point guard from Kentucky that attended Hargarve Military Academy in Virginia. As a sought-after recruit, he ended up being a big addition when Thad Matta recruited him to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes starting this season. Braxton did everything right, and now, thanks to the genius of the NCAA, he has to pay for it.
Braxton graduated high school and committed to Ohio State. He decided to get a jump on his college career, enrolling for a pair of summer classes in Columbus. This has the signs of nothing other than a hard-working kid (hey, he did go to a military academy!), who committed to a head coach and decided to get ahead of the game in his academics.
Then came the firing. Thad Matta was terminated at Ohio State and Braxton, for reasons that are between him and new head coach Chris Holtmann, decided that he did not want to attend Ohio State. His separation from the Buckeyes was amicable, and he signed to play his career for Kevin Keatts at North Carolina State. He had started a pair of summer courses but did not finish them, thus gaining nothing other than a few hours in the classroom from Ohio State.
The NCAA has now declared that Braxton cannot play at NC State this season, but must sit out the entire year as a transfer (he will have all four years of eligibility left at least). The reason for this decision was that, due to his enrollment in two summer course, Braxton is now a transfer student. Regardless of whether you feel that transfers should even have to sit out a year, to apply this rule in Braxton’s case, where he did absolutely nothing wrong, is utterly ridiculous. He wanted to play for Thad Matta – it was not his fault Ohio State fired him. He wanted to get ahead in his coursework — he did the right thing and now has to sit out a year. The worst part is that it is our understanding he isn’t even getting credits for having completed those courses — all he did was enroll in them for a few weeks.
The last time I checked, the NCAA Core values were as follows:
“The Association – through its member institutions, conferences and national office staff – shares a belief in and commitment to:
[Source: http://www.ncaa.org/about/ncaa-core-values]
Braxton Beverly is a student-athlete. The word “student” comes first in that term. He tried to get ahead of the game and take a few summer courses, using the “supporting role that intercollegiate athletics play in the higher education mission” the way it was intended. Instead, he is now being unfairly penalized. He was acting in “pursuit of excellence in both academics and athletics”. For this, he has to sit and watch his teammates from the sideline this year.
The message being sent by the NCAA in denying Braxton’s application for a waiver and subsequent appeal of that waiver is clear. Don’t enroll in summer courses. Don’t try to get ahead. Don’t put academics first. Combine this with the recent rulings from the North Carolina investigation and it becomes “we would rather you take fake courses that you do not even need to attend than actually put in the work.” Why do we even bother sending these kids to classes at all? Let’s just let them play basketball for four years and, if they don’t become pros, there are plenty of minimum wage jobs available. Maybe I am naive to believe that the term student-athlete means something, but if it does, the least the NCAA could do is reward those that put student first instead of punish them.