Kitchener hoopster Olembe ready for NCAA attention

Promising guard entering biggest year of hoops career as recruiting period nears

KITCHENER — Jahsemar Olembe is in the midst of a quarantine.

And that’s a good thing, because the Kitchener guard is tough to pin down.

The 17-year-old just returned from a hoops tournament in Tennessee where his Nashville Youth Basketball Association Elite club was crowned champs.

“Right now, I’m going back and forth,” he said. “I’m hoping to stay down there for a month next time so I don’t have to keep quarantining.”

It’s a long commute for the Grade 10 student, who is studying remotely at Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate.

But it’s the price he’s willing to pay to gain the exposure and experience needed as he heads into the biggest basketball year of his life.

“Right now is the most critical time of my career,” he said. “This is when college coaches really start recruiting.”

Four years ago, at just 13 years old, the Global Grassroots scouting service had Olembe rated as the second-best prospect in North America for his age.

Since then, the six-foot-five, 205pound versatile guard has continued to develop and remains a hot target for NCAA schools.

Olembe played soccer and football as a kid but was recruited to play on a house league team for the Kitchener-Waterloo Vipers in Grade 2 where he joined — and often outscored — his teammates, who were two years older.

He moved on to rep ball with the Vipers and continued to shine and that’s when his court career really took off.

There have been stops with elite programs such as CIA Bounce in Toronto, Grassroots Canada, Uplay Canada and DCA 2.0 in Atlanta. He attended Resurrection Catholic Secondary School for a year and is pegged to suit up for Oakville’s Halton Prep in the fall.

And, of course, he’s still tied to his team in Tennessee.

“They go to a lot of good tournaments,” said Olembe. “There are good players on the team and it’s good for me to play with them. There are more college recruits watching their games down there so that’s good too.”

And securing an NCAA scholarship is the next goal. This summer, college coaches can finally start recruiting the Kitchener kid they’ve heard about for years.

Olembe has a checklist when it comes to his next step.

He wants to find a school with a family culture, one that has a coach that runs a good system but will also foster his desire to develop at both guard positions. Legacy is nice, but he’s open to any school, big or small, as long as it’s a nice fit.

Further down the path, his dream is to play in the NBA. Seeing fellow Kitchener hoopster Jamal Murray become a star with the Denver Nuggets has only fuelled his fire.

“It motivates me and keeps me grinding,” he said. “To see someone from Kitchener make it makes me feel like I can too. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work so it’s time for it to start paying off.”

Josh Brown is a Waterloo Region-based reporter focusing on sports for The Record. Reach him via email: jbrown@therecord.com