👋 Welcome to Recruit to the Real World, the go-to source for reliable information on D3 athletics recruiting & admissions.
This week, we caught up with two D3 Allstars (one current & one former) fresh off of a basketball trip to Europe:
* Adam Brazil (Hampden-Sydney '25) is coming off an All-American season and trip to the National Championship game
* Nate Shafer (Swarthmore '20) is a current pro basketball player in Ireland 🇮🇪
They share their takeaways on how to build a successful D3 program, how to land a pro contract abroad, and much more. Enjoy!
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Bonus Content for Subscribers
As a compliment to the full podcast episode above, we are including two extra features for our newsletter subscribers:
* Adam Brazil’s reflections on the Summer including his trip to Europe and another hoops adventure he embarked on.
* Q&A about the Euro trip with Nate & Adam
Let’s dive in 👇
The Summer of a D3 All-American
This summer, I was fortunate enough to enjoy two international trips with some awesome teammates and coaches.
In mid-July, I joined Richie Schueler and the PHD Hoops crew for a trip to Barbados where we played against a collection of the Barbados premier league teams. Coach Palombo from Guilford College was the head coach of the team and the team also consisted of 4 Guilford players: Ty Dearman, Julius Burch, Luke Proctor, and Gabe Proctor. Instead of being my rivals, they were my teammates for the week and we had such a blast.
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Just this past week, my Hampden-Sydney teammate, Shane Fernald, and I joined a squad created by Arthur Jackson of 1on1Basketball for a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands. We played against a handful of teams from the top professional league in that region called the BNXT League. We went sightseeing in Brussels, Leiden, and Amsterdam. It was incredible. I had never seen anything like these cities in my life. Best of all, the team was comprised of spectacular players and people.
* Nate Shafer, Swarthmore
* Teo Rice, Yale
* Ryan Cornish, Dartmouth
* Harris Jackson, Emory
* Tanti Felli, Johns Hopkins
* Zane Adnan, Albany
* Charlie Jackson, Johns Hopkins
* Shane Fernald and myself, Hampden-Sydney
* Coach Bruce Kelly, Bullis School (MD)
Thanks to Richie and Arthur for inviting me and organizing these trips. I am eternally grateful for you guys. Thanks to Coach Palombo and Coach Kelly— you both were so fun to play for. I’m truly blessed.
Q&A With Adam & Nate
Why did you decide to go on the trip and what were your expectations?
Adam: Arthur Jackson approached me at a D3 Jamboree this summer in DC and said he would love for me to join the team. We kept in touch and after speaking to my parents and my coaches at Hampden-Sydney, I knew it would be great for a few reasons. It would be an opportunity to see the world and travel. I could test myself against pro level talent and learn about the FIBA game. I could form connections with players and coaches from all over the east coast. And I could potentially come one step closer to fulfilling my basketball dreams, which is to play professionally.
Nate: My decision to join the trip was quick and simple. In late July I got a call from Bruce Kelley, the head coach of the prestigious Bullis HS basketball program in Potomac, Maryland. He invited me to make the journey, and I knew right away that an awesome opportunity had fallen in my lap.
For the last three years I have played professionally in Ireland. I’ve made some outstanding friendships and I’ve grown quite fond of the country, but I’ve also become eager to tackle a new challenge. This trip gave me the chance to get my feet wet in a whole new environment. The opportunity to explore new countries and to make connections in new leagues was more than enough to get me on board.
What was the highlight of the trip?
Adam: Choosing just one highlight is difficult, but our night together in Amsterdam was fantastic. We laughed and told stories and connected like a real family even after just 2 weeks together. Beating a professional team was sensational. We all played so well that game and contributed to the win against a team that consisted of some D1 guys (from Utah, Vanderbilt, and Duquesne). But my favorite part was the day off we had in Den Helder. The guys gathered in the hotel lobby and walked across the street to do a cold plunge in the North Sea. The Sea was rough and rocky. It was between 50 and 60 degrees outside with 30 to 45 mph winds. But we all dunked our heads and then ran inside and jumped in the indoor pool, which just so happened to be heated. It was a thrill.
Nate: My memory of our trip has a lot in common with my memory of my four years at Swarthmore. The trip was a flood of new experiences and adversity, and it went by in the blink of an eye. And like my time at school, my favorite part of the trip wasn’t a particular moment, day, or game. It was the people I was with. I never expected to have a stake in basketball at Yale, Hampden-Sydney or UAlbany, and now I’ve got friends to follow at those programs and more.
How was the competition and did the trip help you get closer to signing a pro deal in Europe?
Adam: It was the best competition I had ever played in my life. A combination of elite talent, size, athleticism, skill, fundamentals, ball movement, coaching, and teamwork made these teams nearly unbeatable.
I think the trip helped me get closer to signing a pro deal in a way that hasn’t been revealed to me yet. I know I am good enough to play over there… but there are some areas where I definitely have to improve.
Nate: This trip presented the best competition I’ve ever played against. The Irish leagues I’ve played in could match these Dutch and Belgian teams in terms of top individual talent. But the teams we faced on this trip boasted a combination of size, skill, depth, and coaching that I’ve never seen before.
As an undersized DIII center there has always been a limit to the level of professional competition that I could play at. This trip showed me the limit. I did not have the talent, pedigree or passport status to get picked up by one of the teams we faced (contracts for American passport holders are usually the rarest and most difficult to earn in any overseas league). However, I did make some new connections that may prove fruitful, and I found a more informed idea of where I could play in the future.
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