Sept 28, 2016 - At 6-foot-9, Oshae Brissett is right around the height of his favourite NBA player Paul George. Yet the 18-year-old knows he still has growing to do – literally and figuratively.

“I want to develop a more consistent jump shot, and my ballhandling definitely,” Brissett said.

One of the top-ranked high school talents in North America, Brissett enters his senior year at Athlete Institute Prep with an impressive list of NCAA suitors that includes Syracuse, Maryland, Oregon, USC, and Memphis.

“The schools that call me … I definitely appreciate what they’re doing for me, how they’re recruiting me,” Brissett said. “(I’m) humbled by it and know that a lot of people don’t get this opportunity.”

Brissett is the latest pro-touted prospect in Orangeville, looking to follow in the 1-and-done NCAA footsteps of Jamal Murray, now a rookie with the Denver Nuggets.

As such, being well-grounded is crucial in the situation Brissett finds himself in, and the timing couldn’t have worked out any better this year as the Mississauga native comes home to Ontario after two years at Findlay Prep in suburban Las Vegas.

You could certainly say there are some cultural differences between Vegas and Orangeville, but they suit Brissett perfectly.

“It’s definitely different,” he said. “One, because I’m at home finally … I don’t have to wait for holidays to see my parents – I can go home every weekend here.”

In essence, Brissett’s story embodies the mission of Athlete Institute and Orangeville Prep: giving Canadian prep basketball talent a chance to thrive on their home soil – which when push comes to shove is where most of them want to be. While he enjoyed his time at Findlay and the program that helped produce the likes of Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph, he’s taken to the structured, tight-knit environment of the Institute.

“I feel as an organization and as a team we’re much closer here – we all stay in the same rez, and we can go the gym whenever we want to work out,” he said.  “When it’s school it’s school, when it’s basketball it’s time for basketball.”

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