There's been some more great news for Irish basketball in the last 24 hours as Lucan's Max Amadasun has committed to play college basketball at Division 1 university Pitt next year.
Amadasun attended Colaiste Bride in Clondalkin before moving to America in 2016 to advance his basketball career. In Dublin, he played with the Dublin Lions alongside Irish basketball phenom Aiden Harris Igiehon. Amadasun followed in Igiehon's footsteps by attending an elite American high school with an eye towards being recruited for the college ranks. Last autumn, Igiehon announced he'd be joining Louisville for the 2019-20 season. Yesterday, Amadasun revealed that he'd been offered a scholarship from Pittsburgh University.
The ACC is a hotbed for college basketball and it means Amadasun will play in some of the most famous college venues in America, like Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. It also means Amadasun could play against his former Dublin Lions teammate at some stage. Pitt finished 14-19 last year.
Amadasun is 6'10" with a 7'1" wingspan. He plays center and is described as 'a three-star recruit' by Rivals, who said Amadasun had six other offers from American universities. In 2016, he moved to the US to enroll at Our Saviour Lutheran high school in the Bronx. He also played AAU basketball, a feeder programme for promising teenage basketball players, with the New York Lightning on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball circuit.
Speaking to News12 in New York last night, Amadasun talked about his journey from Dublin to New York as a 16-year-old.
'I was just a kid from Dublin, Ireland. I didn't know what I was doing here at first. I stuck with it. Hard work pays off."
