Harvard men’s basketball has been on an incredible rise over the last couple of years, but recent recruiting efforts indicate the best years are still far out in front. Symbolic of the good times to come is Zena Edosomwan, the 6’9” bruiser of a power forward who was Harvard’s first-ever top 100 recruit. Although it’s still a little bit difficult to determine what role he’ll exactly have on the team, one thing is clear: he’s an absolute beast on the court. Built like a young stag, he’s the type of player who will try go through you rather than go around you.
The first time I remember hearing of Zena was when I saw him in his very own BallIsLife mixtape. The biggest question after watching this video is whether he can really dunk, right? The mixtape, however, isn’t purely a highlight reel of alley-oops and one-handed jams. At 0:19, Edosomwan displays a pretty sick up-and-under move. At 0:13, he displays a turnaround jumper, perhaps inklings of a budding varied post game. Surprisingly, at 0:29 you even see Zena hit a long-range jumper.
That this is Zena’s only shot outside of 10 feet tells me that he’s probably not going to be a Kyle Casey-esque power forward who can stretch the defense out to three-point land. The best play, with no doubt, and the one that gets me the most excited, is the last play in the entire highlight reel. At 1:45, Zena absolutely throws it down two-handed on an unsuspecting defender. Number 13’s Deandre Jordan-type face shows it all: surprise, discomfort for his teammate, and a little bit of awe.
The BallIsLife mixtape’s a little outdated, however, as Zena spent his last year at NMH, as so many players do, doing a post-high school graduation year at a prep school. NMH catalogs the highlights of all their players, and this mixtape shows his improvement over the past year. In the first play of the mixtape, he puts a defender on his back by simply backing him down. He then goes on to show a little finesse at 0:51, where he lets both defenders fly by and then lays the ball up nicely with the left hand, though he probably could have dunked it. At 1:46, we see a vastly improved jumper from the BallIsLife reel. Rather than a set shot, he is able to drive right, step back, and pull up, which for righties is very difficult to do successfully.
Probably one of the best gauges to show both his strength and skill is this last mixtape, where there are numerous clips of him performing at the Pangos All-American Camp, a three day invite-only camp for the best high school players in the nation. Zena was still able to complete an impressive array of dunks, but what was the most exciting about this highlight clip was the host of post moves in his arsenal that he displayed against these taller, but probably not stronger, players. It’s easy to think that a 6’9” power forward might be a little undersized to play in a team that could be potentially ranked in the top 25, but his athletic ability and basketball finesse indicate that he should have no problems.
It’s no surprise that Zena received 39 total offers from schools such as UCLA, Texas, and Wake Forest. These videos indicate why Harvard basketball fans are incredibly excited to see what he’ll bring to the team this year.
