Bolingbrook's Yesufu Leaving Drake, Gets 'One Shining Moment'

BOLINGBROOK, IL —A whirlwind few weeks continued for former Bolingbrook basketball star Joseph Yesufu, when his dunk for Drake against Wichita State in the NCAA Tournament was featured in the annual "One Shining Moment" highlights montage after Monday's NCAA Tournament championship game on CBS.

The dunk took place in Drake's 53-52 win over Wichita State in the NCAA Tournament First Four matchup on March 18 and involved the 6-foot Yesufu slamming the ball over Shockers' 6-7 Clarence Jackson in the first half of the game.

Yesufu, a point guard, ended up scoring a team-high 21 points to lead the Bulldogs (who finished 26-5) to the program's first NCAA Tournament victory since 1971.

Current Bolingbrook boys basketball coach Rob Brost at Purdue's Mackey Arena for the game.

"(Yesufu) had the big dunk and a great game. He took over down the stretch, and he did some pretty amazing things" Brost told Patch last week. "We knew he was capable and know about the time he puts in (practicing) in the gym. No one was expecting for him to score over 30 points (which he did in back-to-back games vs. Evansville in February) and take over games. But all of our guys (former Raiders) are hard workers and understand how to prepare themselves to be ready for those things."

Two days later, Yesufu scored a game-high 26 points, including hitting six of 11 from three-point range, in Drake's 72-56 loss to favored Southern California.

Yesufu's late-season rise was swift. Inserted into the starting lineup after his 32-point outing against Evansville on Feb. 21, Yesufu averaged 22.4 points and 3.0 assists in the final seven games of the season.

Clearly Yesufu's performances, not to mention his highlight-reel dunk, caught the attention of those around college basketball. On April 1, when Yesufu announced his intention to transfer from Drake, he quickly had plenty of suitors.

Just two days later, Yesufu told the Des Moines Register that he had been contacted by Power 5 schools like Kansas, Wisconsin, USC, Nebraska, Arizona State and Minnesota about joining their program.

The NCAA is expected to approve a policy this month that gives athletes the right to transfer once without having to sit out a season, which previously was the rule. Additionally, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA decided athletes would not be charged with a year of eligibility during the 2020-21 season. So, Yesufu would be able to play for his new school next season, and have three more years of eligibility.

Yesufu clearly is an athlete getting it done on and off the court. In addition to being named the Missouri Valley Conference Sixth Man of the Year, he was named to the MVC’s Basketball Scholar Athlete Second-Team for carrying a 3.56 GPA as a finance major. At Bolingbrook High, Yesufu was a member of the National Honor Society.

"I'm proud of the type of person he is," Brost said about Yesufu, "With his play, opportunity met his preparation and he was prepared for the moment. And the moment became moments. He really broke out during his sophomore season for one of the best teams in the county."

Yesufu is one of several former Bolingbrook basketball players having success in the college and professional ranks.

• Brodric Thomas became the second Raider in history to make the NBA earlier this year, and even started a game for the Cleveland Cavaliers in late March. The rookie from Division II Truman State is averaging four points and 12 minutes per game in 10 games for Cleveland after playing four games for the Houston Rockets earlier in the season.

• Ben Moore, who played two games for the Indiana Pacers in 2017-18, currently is averaging 11 points and seven rebounds for the South East Melbourne Phoenix of the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia.

• Prentiss Nixon, who played collegiately at Colorado State and Iowa State, currently is playing for Aanekosken Huima in Finland.

• Nana Akenten averaged 9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds as a redshirt junior at Southeast Missouri State.

• Darius Burford averaged 8.9 points and 3.3 rebounds as a freshman at Elon.

• Tyler Cochran (15.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg, team leader in both categories) and Kaleb Thornton (5.4 points, team-high 50 assists) were both sophomores at Northern Illinois.