At some point during the last two decades of the NBA Draft, four-year college players have entered the league with a certain stigma. Although several modern greats like Tim Duncan and Steve Nash and even Damian Lillard have entered the Association after their senior season, it’s the exception more than the rule in 2014.
But four years of school didn’t dissuade the Wine and Gold from tabbing Joe Harris with the 33rd overall pick in this June’s Draft.
So while it often pays off to jump to the NBA after a one-and-done run in college, Cleveland’s sharpshooting rookie comes into the league with a Championship contender and a degree from one of the East Coast’s most prestigious universities.
It’s what Mathematical Statistics and Probability majors call “a win-win.”
Born in Chelan, Washington – about three hours east of Seattle – Harris originally hoped to play for Washington State. But when Tony Bennett took the head coaching position at Virginia, Joe made his way east.
Harris was one of the main reasons for UVA’s success. The 6-6, 225-pounder was a First Team All-ACC performer as a junior and was named to the Second Team as a senior, leading Virginia to the Sweet 16 in New York. Harris averaged double-figures in each of his four years in Virginia and ranked 11th all-time in school history with 1,698 points scored.
Harris also left school as Virginia’s all-time leader in games played at 135 – a dozen more games than the previous No. 1 overall picks played combined.
While starring on the hardwood, Harris also earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. And in today’s second installment of our Westfield Insurance Straight-A Student series, we asked the recent grad about the importance of education …
Aside from Coach Bennett, was it important to pick a strong academic school like Virginia?
Joe Harris: The decision of where I wanted to go to school was very important to me. You can play basketball – if you’re lucky – for about 10 years. So, you’re going to have to have something to fall back on. It was really important for me to get a degree that carried some weight, something that I really wanted to do.
I loved going to a place like Virginia, making a connection and meeting the people that are outside of the whole basketball realm, and earning my degree from there.
Getting an education was something that was really, really important to me; it’s important to everybody at Virginia. There isn’t a whole lot of leeway for athletes coming in; they really honor the student-athlete commitment. It’s important to everybody affiliated with the program and everybody affiliated with the university. You go there to be a student and everybody treats you that way.
What was your major and how did you choose that?
Harris: Sociology. I really wanted to get into education when I first got to school there, but it unfortunately didn’t coincide with the basketball schedule. And the business school was actually one of the best. The undergrad business school at UVA is one of the best in the country – very difficult to get into with a pretty intense application process. And again, it wouldn’t coincide with basketball.
So I kind of had to fall back on the back-up to the back-up plan – which ended up being sociology. I really enjoyed my sociology classes and professors. It helped me think of things in a different light; a way of thinking about issues in a way I normally wouldn’t.
Was education something your parents stressed?
Harris: Oh yeah, definitely. They were obviously very supportive of (my sisters and I) playing sports, but they never put any pressure on us to play sports. But the one thing that they always made sure was that we were focused on our schoolwork and taking that seriously. They put the importance of getting into a good university over the idea of being good at high school sports.
Did the stigma of being a four-year player ever bother you?
Harris: It’s interesting, but that stigma is there. It makes sense, though. If you’re a GM or an executive of an NBA team, you’re obviously going to try to take a chance on a younger player rather than someone who’s been around the block for a while.
But at the same time, those guys who’ve been around the block are just more knowledgeable about the game and handle things in a more ‘professional’ way and usually conduct themselves that way, whether it’s on the court or off the court. You hope to have that in the younger guys that you draft, but sometimes it’s difficult to ask that of a 19- or 20-year-old.
You’re still a kid at 22 or 23, but it’s a pretty significant difference in how much you’ve changed or grown as a person (and as a basketball player) in that short amount of time.
Virginia is known for having “secret societies.” Did you ever join one?
Harris: (Laughs) You didn’t really have time for much else, but I took a lot of pride in just trying to get involved in different avenues, stuff outside of sports – just so I can make a lot of connections that way, meet a lot of different people. I was lucky; I was brought into a couple of those societies.
They’re called secret societies, but it’s nothing bad. It’s basically philanthropic groups looking to do good for the university and community. It was fun being a part of all that and getting to know people that weren’t affiliated with the basketball program or athletics.
How tough was it to leave home and travel – literally – across the country for college?
Harris: It was really tough, but at the same time, the way I looked at it – you’re going to have to deal with being homesick no matter where you go to school – whether you’re an hour or two from home or you’re across the country. But when you’re playing a sport, all your time and all your commitment is on that. You don’t really have time to go back even if you had been close.
Obviously, it would have been nice for my parents and my family members if it was an easier trip. But also it was good for me growing into becoming an adult. You go into college as a boy and come out a man. And I know it’s cliché that people say this, but it’s definitely true.
Straight 'A' All-Stars
Presented by Westfield Insurance
Straight “A” All-Stars rewards students for high scholastic achievement. The program is open to all elementary and middle school students, grades K-8, in Cuyahoga, Lorain, Summit, Medina, Portage, Geauga, Lake and Ashtabula counties. Students who receive straight A’s at the end of the first and second grading periods are entered into a contest to win two (2) tickets to a Cavaliers home game! Three hundred entrants will win Cavaliers game tickets and a t-shirt, and everyone receives and official Straight “A” All-Star certificate and gift.