England Under-18 and Ipswich Tomcats’ Ben Mead has committed to NCAA Division 2 school Franklin Pierce University.
The 6’7″ forward, who was part of the both the England Under-16 and Under-18 promotion winning teams from the past two summers, is looking forward to heading to the US for the next stage of his development.
“I’m really really excited to be heading to Franklin Pierce,” he said, when talking to Hoopsfix. “It’s a fantastic school and great basketball programme that made it to the D2 elite 8 this year, and won their conference the year before, so they have a history of winning which is something I can’t wait to be a part of.”
Mead joins a number of other Brits who have attended the school in New Hampshire; former GB U20 Nigel van Oostrum was part of the conference championship team last year, and GB Senior Women’s star, Jo Leedham, became the all-time leading scorer in Division II women’s college basketball in her four years there.
“Hopefully I can be a guy that comes in straight away as a freshman and contributes as much as possible as soon as possible,” Ben continued. “I can stretch defenses and use my versatility any way the team needs me to, so I hope I’m a guy that’s going to make an impact, be a good teammate and contribute to wins.”
The Tomcats and Copleston High School player also had interest from some mid to low major D1 programmes but chose to go a route where he can contribute right away.
“Most said I needed a year of high school in the states or that I wasn’t going to play much my first couple of years in college. Whilst I explored the high school route I just felt that I wanted to go to college.
“I want to go into a programme where I can play, learn and get better and I feel like I can really do that at FPU!”
Hoopsfix wants to wish Ben Mead all the best for his college career!
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