In one of the most significant moments for Bermudian sport in years, highly-sought after basketball prospect Ralph Scott has committed to the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Scott chose the Volunteers on Tuesday afternoon, selecting them over a final list that included Houston, Purdue, and Texas A&M.
Scott’s journey to becoming a blue-chip recruit—and potentially the first Bermudian men’s player in NCAA Division I basketball history—is anything but traditional.
Born in Connecticut but raised in Bermuda, an island where cricket and soccer dominate, Scott’s passion for basketball was cultivated not by a formal system, but by family history.
“My family has always been into basketball,” the 6-foot-8 wing told RTI. “My grandfather coached the Bermuda National basketball team. I’ve always been around him, watching basketball like that and seeing him in that environment.”
Scott’s early basketball experiences were limited by the scale of the island, which is so small that its entire population couldn’t fill a single major US arena. “There’s not a lot of people in Bermuda so I didn’t play organized, in a proper gym basketball until I was like 10 or 11,” he explained.
