European Prospects

The Netherlands are a country without any major basketball tradition but one of the nations on the rise currently in Europe. The youth National Teams showed some progress over the last years and more and more players are trying the American way by going to play College Basketball. Today, we talk about an additional Freshman for the Dutch basketball, Sam de Haas.

Sam de Haas is a 1992 born guard who comes originally from Den Bosch. He played with the different Dutch Youth National Teams and had an excellent U16 B Division Tournament back in 2008 where he scored 18.9ppg. In 2010, he only came up with 8.1ppg for the U18 National Team in Israel. His main forces are his shot, an interesting feel for the rebound and according to himself a good Basketball IQ. Additionally, he considers himself as a good team defense player but he needs to work on his athletic abilities and the 1-1 defense. These weaknesses are most likely the reasons why he chose the United States to continue his development.

I chose to play NCAA basketball because I felt like this would be a great chance for me to play at a high level and develop my game. And of course because basketball in the USA is way more important than back home. The fact that I can combine education with playing basketball at a really high level is one of the other reasons that I chose to play NCAA Basketball.

Why did you chose St. Bonaventure for your College career?

I got recruited because of my performance at the U16 European Championship. Somebody contacted me and asked me if I was interested in playing NCAA. We sent some game tapes and a couple of teams came back to me. Next to St. Bonaventure, I got some other schools that were interested but I don’t think it is appropriate to name them here.

Because there were a lot of other schools interested at that moment but I had to make a quick decision, I decided to go to SBU because they play in a good conference (A10), had really nice guys on the team (like Andrew Nicholson) and a great coaching staff. Besides that the academics were also really good (AACSB Accreditation).

What are your ambitions for the next years in St. Bonaventure?

I hope in the next four years to become a starter as soon as possible and be a really good A10 shooting guard with a high 3 point percentage and totals and a lot of assists. Besides that I want to become faster and quicker and more athletic as well as work on my 1-1 defense and on my transition offense. I want to contribute and make my team win a lot of game and make the big dance!

I think this is a great place for the next four years to develop because of the great coaching staff and the opportunity to lift a lot of weights.

How do you see your future career after St. Bonaventure?

I am majoring in Finance right now because I like to work with money and investing and I want to work at Wall Street one day after my playing career.

After the first games of the season, Sam de Haas averages 1.3ppg in 8 minutes on the court for the Bonnies. We wish him good luck with his career and hope that he can fulfill his ambitions both on and off the court.