PHILADELPHIA – Josiah Harris didn\u2019t need to take any visits, or entertain any offers to figure out where he would play his last season of college basketball.<\/p>\n
On the very first day that the transfer portal opened, Harris announced his commitment to La Salle, tagging along with his head coach Darris Nichols making the transition to the Atlantic 10 from the Big South and Radford, where he spent the last four seasons coaching. <\/p>\n
For Harris, not only has he thrived playing for Nichols, but his connection to his coach has allowed him to have stability in a college career that has seen him play at soon to be five different schools.<\/p>\n
The forward epitomizes what it is when people say a late bloomer. In fact, he only started playing organized basketball as a high school sophomore – but that doesn\u2019t mean that you couldn\u2019t find him on a court somewhere. <\/p>\n
Instead of playing in a high school gym, Harris was always playing street ball on the outdoor courts in his hometown of Wilmington, Del., less than 40 miles from where he\u2019ll now play at Glaser Arena on the campus of La Salle University. <\/p>\n
It was an adjustment for Harris moving from playing outdoors to his high school hardwood, as he played on the JV team as a junior. However, he points to that junior season as a crucial time for his development as he gained valuable reps and started to pick up concepts. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot since my junior year to now,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like if I had played earlier, my IQ would have probably been higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a lot for Harris to learn, a lot that playing on pavement couldn\u2019t teach him. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t really grasp things and had to get used to a lot,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWhat was challenging was remembering set plays and knowing how to communicate on the floor\u2026 One of the parts I was stuck on and didn\u2019t know was how to rotate on defense and things of that nature.\u201d <\/p>\n
As Harris gained reps on the court, he played on the varsity team as a senior, and he felt like he was ready to start to come into his own. Even if that meant playing a role and giving a lift to the team when they needed him. The buy-in to playing a role made him a team captain for his final season at William Penn High School in New Castle, Del.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started playing my senior year, and I thought to myself that I could be a good player,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like I did a terrific job coming off the bench a couple times. I sparked the team with a lot of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Harris graduated high school, he wanted to play basketball at the collegiate level, feeling that he was just scratching the surface of the player that he could become. There were a couple offers from Division-III schools, but not much else. He and his high school coach then sent his film around, where it landed into the hands of Tommy DeSalme at Cowley College in Arkansas City, Kan., just north of the Oklahoma border.<\/p>\n
Harris jumped on the opportunity to continue to grow as a player but also saw it as an opportunity for personal growth to move away from home and be on his own. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to be able to grow up on my own a little bit,\u201d Harris said. \u201cGoing out there to Cowley, Coach [DeSalme] helped me a lot to grow my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris did all of this while the COVID-19 pandemic was going on. He had to adjust to an ever-changing way of life just as the whole world did. Masks, sitting six feet apart, and playing games in gyms where it was just his Cowley College Tigers and their opponent was different for everyone, but Harris was experiencing all of this while halfway across America from his hometown. <\/p>\n
Harris had dealt with a lot of changes and newness in the infant stages of his basketball career. Following the pandemic-riddled season at Cowley College, he picked up and moved again. DeSalme took the head job at Hutchinson College, just under a two-hour drive from Cowley. Harris followed him to Hutchinson, and although he changed locations, following DeSalme would be the first time in his basketball career that he\u2019d have the same head coach two seasons in a row. <\/p>\n
Harris doubled his playing time and made 16 starts in his year at Hutchinson. He helped the Blue Dragons earn a bid to the NJCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019 continued to grow on the court, and then wanted to seek out an opportunity to move up to Division-I. Just as it was in high school, opportunities were scarce for Harris, but all he needed was a chance.<\/p>\n
He got one and only one, from Saint Francis University in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Once again, he packed his bags on his way to another spot. This time, for the bright lights of New York City, a far cry from the tiny Kansas towns where he had spent the last two years.<\/p>\n
Harris immediately became a key cog for the Terriers, making his presence felt on the boards and at the rim. St. Francis had the highest block percentage as a team in the NEC thanks to Harris patrolling the paint. He alone had the fourth highest block percentage in the league.<\/p>\n
He was a vacuum for rebounds as well, finishing third in offensive rebounding percentage, and first in defensive rebounding percentage. There weren\u2019t many guys who cleaned the glass in America better than him. <\/p>\n
Towards the end of the season, Harris had in mind that he would transfer to pursue another opportunity. However, he wasn\u2019t given a choice after receiving an email from school administration, calling for an all athletes meeting that same day. Harris and his peers were informed that the school would be shutting their doors at semester\u2019s end. Although Harris planned on leaving, now he had to.<\/p>\n
So once again, he popped open his computer, ready to send his film around to other Division-I programs. <\/p>\n
He sent his tape to three or so schools.<\/p>\n
Then he got his message returned by Nichols at Radford. <\/p>\n
He stopped sending out film, and stopped responding to other schools interested in him. He was set on Radford University to play for Nichols.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce Coach Nichols responded to me, I never went back and responded to emails,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI just felt a connection and that I could really do well there.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Harris, he felt that the small school on the banks of the New River was the best place for him basketball wise. However, his relationship with Nichols off the court was a major factor for choosing Radford (and ultimately La Salle later on). <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d go to the coaches office almost everyday to talk about ball, to talk about life,\u201d Harris said. \u201cBesides coaching, Coach Nichols is one of the realest people that I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris admired that for a guy who would hold his players accountable on the court, he was approachable and relaxed off of it. <\/p>\n
However, when it came time for practice or a game, Nichols was real with his players, telling them what they had to hear, not necessarily what they always wanted to.<\/p>\n
He recalled a team meeting during a losing streak during Big South Conference play, where Nichols made every player write down what his role on the team was, stand up, and announce it to the room. If Nichols didn\u2019t hear what he was looking for, then he would let you know. <\/p>\n
Given Nichols\u2019 connection to his players outside of basketball, the players knew he had their best interests at heart, and that any rebuttal from Nichols was coming from the right place. <\/p>\n
In two years playing for Nichols at Radford, Harris remained dominant blocking shots and rebounding. He finished top-five in the Big South in rebounding percentage on both ends, and finished the 2024-2025 season in the top-five in block percentage.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-9 post displayed the toughness that Nichols demands of his team, and it showed up in the stat sheet. Ask Harris where that comes from, and he\u2019ll tell you it\u2019s from his home state and his father, who played his college ball at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s from Wilmington,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dad has that dog in him, and I got that dog in me. I get it from Delaware.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Nichols was named the head coach at La Salle in March, Harris sensed it was time to move again. Only this time, there was no need to send his film anywhere or be his own personal recruiter. Harris didn\u2019t need to take visits or post a graphic of his final couple schools that he was deciding on. Wherever Nichols decided to call home, Harris would do the same for his final season of eligibility. <\/p>\n
Harris committed to the Explorers on the first day the transfer portal opened. He never for a second thought otherwise and gave the credit to his coach. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt says a lot [about Nichols], Harris said. \u201cThat\u2019s how much I trust him. I wouldn\u2019t want to go to a new coach and have to learn a new system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Nichols and Harris are at 20th and Olney, gearing up for their first season with the Explorers, and Harris\u2019 last as a college basketball player.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019 basketball journey has taken him on a winding road, one that a someone who spent his days hooping outdoors in Wilmington, Del., could have never envisioned. <\/p>\n
\u201cI come from a small state and not a lot of people make it out,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I would have thought back to where I was as a junior in high school, I wouldn\u2019t think that I would be here today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA – Josiah Harris didn\u2019t need to take any visits, or entertain any offers to figure out where…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[5350,70322,1339,70321,2563,2871,1542,70320,1627,381,204,25232,70319,2961,3251,3857,20386,1317,1337,1338,1539,64457,21477,62,37585,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-110606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-at","9":"tag-atlantic-10-conference","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-big-south-conference","12":"tag-career","13":"tag-college","14":"tag-exclude-from-stn-video","15":"tag-fifth","16":"tag-final","17":"tag-for","18":"tag-front-page","19":"tag-harris","20":"tag-josiah","21":"tag-la","22":"tag-madness","23":"tag-major","24":"tag-mid","25":"tag-ncaa","26":"tag-ncaa-basketball","27":"tag-ncaabasketball","28":"tag-of","29":"tag-salle","30":"tag-set","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-stop","33":"tag-united-states","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114954275807311177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}