Top Recruit Chooses Harvard

At the tender age of 14, Temi Fagbenle swapped her tennis racket for basketball shoes in order to increase her chances of gaining admission to a top university. So, she relocated for the fourth time—having previously moved to London from Baltimore and Nigeria—to Blairstown, New Jersey to attend Blair Academy and focus on her on-court game.

Almost four years later, the current high school senior’s sacrifices paid off: Fagbenle has attracted her fair share of Division I offers from the likes of Duke, Boston College and Georgetown, but settled on Harvard with ease.

"Well it's Harvard," she said during her athlete of the week interview for SportsIllustrated.com. "There really wasn't much competition."

The 6’4” forward averages 16.6 points and 9.3 rebounds, and is known to be defensive threat too. Along with her current SportsIllustrated.com Athlete of the week honor, Fagbenle earned a variety of other accolades including the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year, McDonald's All-American honors, and an invitation to train with England for the European Championships.

Now that she’s committed to Harvard, Fagbenle looks forward to maintaining solid grades—like her 3.4 GPA in high school—, and a close relationship with her 11 siblings, but also looks forward to the opportunity to help the women’s basketball team to their first Ivy League title since 2007.