In a decision that shocked the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on Tuesday, Nikolas Khamenia ’25, No. 35 on ESPN’s high school basketball Class of 2025 rankings, announced his commitment to Amherst College in Massachusetts. Khamenia, who had offers from every top Division I (D1) Program, had recently narrowed his list down to the University of Arizona, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Gonzaga University, University of North Carolina (UNC) and Duke University. However, a last minute push from Amherst Coach Marlon Sears convinced Khamenia to go the Division III (D3) route.

Khamenia, a recent three-on -three Federal International Basketball Federation (FIBA) gold medalist, said Amherst is a place he would grow the most intellectually and as a person. He also thought he would benefit from smaller classes at the rural liberal arts college, allowing him the chance to connect more with his professors as he looks to study art history and philosophy. Driven by his love for the humanities and dark academia aesthetic, Khamenia is now on track to pursue his PhD. Furthermore, the 6’8” forward said he was worried that at a big university like UCLA, he might get lost, but at Amherst, he would literally be the biggest man on campus. Additionally, Khamenia is looking forward to averaging 185 points per game with zero assists.

The great opportunity to travel abroad during his junior year also factored into the unexpected decision. At the D1 level, Khamenia
would have to stay on campus the entire four years. However, at Amherst, he would have the opportunity to travel to Eastern Europe during his junior year to connect with his ancestral roots. Instead of competing in March Madness, he will spend March backpacking through the Bialoqieża forest. In fact, there will be even madness in that.

Sears is thrilled to land the school’s first ever five-star recruit and has already start- ed drawing a game plan for Khamenia. He told ESPN that Khamenia will play 40 minutes a game. Offensive strategy will be to give the ball to Khamenia and have everyone else move out of the way.

While the D3 to NBA pipeline is much less common, it has been done before. Miami Heat guard Duncan Robinson started his college career at Williams College, an Amherst rival in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) conference. Khamenia said he is keeping his NBA dreams alive, but also is preparing for a life outside of basketball as he looks to become a true Renaissance man.

I look forward to seeing how far Khamenia will go on the court and in the classroom. Come back next week as we discuss where Cameron Boozer is committing. He has narrowed down his list to Duke, Virginia, Purdue and Bucknell.