Real College Basketball

There are always a bunch of talented players to come play college basketball in the US every year. This one is one of the best, guy can flat out shoot the lights out of the gym, he just doesn't miss. The 6'2" point guard is from Canada but is prepping in the US at New Hampton Prep in New Hampshire. He is teammates with one of the premier small forwards in the country, Evan Smotrycz. Did I mention that this guy can just flat out shoot? That guy, is Brady Heslip. Now if your thinking that all Canadian players play hockey, here is your exception. "Never really played hockey" said Heslip. It turns out that most of Heslip's family played a lot of basketball, and even had some connections to the Raptors.

As for Brady's recruitment, he was fairly unheard of until the "Adidas It Takes 5ive Classic". Coming into the tournament, Brady had 0 offers and very little contact with college coaches. After it, "I had 3 offers," Brady said, "and I was talking to about 15 college coaches" including schools like Boston College, UCLA, and Georgetown, high D1 schools. "After the next tournament in Minnesota, that's when I started getting some major offers". He had offers from schools like Cincinnati, Georgetown, Fairfield, East Carolina, Utah State, Louisiana Tech, Uconn, and Boston College. You can tell that his recruitment was starting to heat up.

"My final group was UCLA, BC, Cincinnati, Uconn, and Fairfield" Heslip said, "I had an offer from all of them except UCLA, UCLA didn't offer. After my visit, they wanted to see what I did". Heslip picked Boston College. "On my first visit their, I was thinking it would be hard to top UCLA, but they completely blew me away". Brady's family played a role in his decision. "My dad just love the school (BC)". BC had a lot of things to offer that Heslip liked.

As for his relationship with Coach Al Skinner, Brady had plenty to say about that. "We've gotten a lot closer recently but I mean when I went out there, we talked a lot. I really liked the way he ran the team. Like how he's laid back but like he's just a ridiculously good coach. I like everything he does". Skinner is one of the most successful coaches of all time to coach at BC. His career record is 313-234 including winning Big East Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2005 and National Coach of the Year in 2001. Skinner is the most winningest coach in Boston College history surpassing Jim O'Brien in the 2005-2006 season with 186 wins.

Heslip joined Kevin Noreen as the second commit in the BC class. BC currently has 3 commits with Papa Samba Ndao coming after Heslip. Noreen is a 6'11 wing player who can play in the post and has been called one of the best scorers in the entire 2010 class. Samba Ndao is a 6'9 wing that can rebound with about any post player and can shoot from the wing. BC is still looking for that true post player that every championship team needs.

As for Brady's opinion on his game, "The best thing about my game is my leadership qualities. Being able to find every body on the court and keeping everyone happy. Making sure everyone is involved and Being able to shoot it and just knock it down". He also pinpointed one player that he is like. "Ah, in the NBA... I would probably say Mike Bibby. A point guard that runs the show but can really knock it down". Bibby is best known for his non-stop 3 point shots and when you look for a 3 point shooter in the class, Heslip has to come to mind somewhere in your thoughts. Very good comparison.

At New Hampton Prep, Brady plays along side another star, 4 star, 6'9 combo forward Evan Smotrcyz. Evan is a Michigan commit and offers from Northwestern and Oregon State among others. When asked what it was like to play along side other top D1 talent, Brady quickly responded: "I mean, you can't really ask for much more. I'm coming off ball screens, and he's rolling back up and I can just hit him for a 3. He just knocks it down. Its just really fun to play with him. We make it easy for each other"

I would like to personally thank Brady for doing this interview and thanks from everyone from RCB.