Okam Takes Talents to Daytona Beach

Two years after leaving the Harvard men’s basketball team, Ugo Okam ’14 has transferred to Bethune-Cookman. Okam graduated Harvard last year but was granted extended athletic eligibility and will be eligible to play basketball immediately after enrolling in Bethune-Cookman’s graduate program, the school announced Tuesday.

Okam joined Harvard in 2010 as a two-star recruit coming out of Monteverde Academy—the first of three players to come from Monteverde to Harvard over the next five seasons. He played in 14 contests as a freshman, highlighted with a six-point, three-block effort in a Nov. 17 game against Holy Cross.

The center played in only three games his sophomore year and left the team his junior season. Okam told The Daytona Beach News-Journal that after leaving the team he continued to practice with Harvard coaches and played summer league basketball.

Okam is not the first player to obtain an extra year of eligibility after leaving Harvard—where the College’s eight-semester rule precludes athletes from staying on campus extra years, as is possible at other Division I universities. Andrew Van Nest ’12 went to Boston College following his four years at Harvard, appearing in 25 games and making three starts.