We should hope that the admissions department didn't waste too much time on Andre Logan.
Logan has all of the avenues to Princeton admission covered. Some might claim he is here only for sports, but if ever there were a student who gained admission for his well-rounded resume, it is Logan.
Princeton basketball fans, however, are not interested in his acting experience or language ability. They are perfectly happy hearing that his board scores were 14 per game in his senior year of high school.
But, as head coach John Thompson '88 would argue, the mythical one-dimensional jock is not the typical Princeton athlete.
"All of our guys have other interests," Thompson says, "so I don't think he's unique in that regard."
Long and winding road
If not unique, the freshman forward's history is certainly fascinating. His father, also named Andre, played basketball at the University of New Mexico and moved on to play professionally after school.
The elder Logan's professional career was not one for the ages, but it certainly produced results. After a brief stint in Ecuador, he moved to Argentina. Though his playing days wound to a close there, he met his wife, Sylvia, in the process.
So it came to be that the younger Andre Logan left his home in Brooklyn during elementary school summers to go to South America. He stayed with his mother's family in Argentina for three months at a time, taking classes and picking up the Argentine culture and the Spanish language, which he now speaks fluently.
"It's a totally different culture," Logan says. "It has been a really big part of my life."
Among the elements of Argentine culture Logan absorbed was soccer. And soccer, not basketball, was his primary sport until his sophomore year in high school. Eventually, however, American influences would have him ignoring his feet in favor of his hands.
"You can get a lot more out of basketball in this country," Logan says.
Logan's high school, Poly Prep in Brooklyn, specializes in making students appealing to universities. The massive Poly Prep athletics resources allowed Logan to cultivate his basketball abilities, which tend to be more attractive to American universities than soccer skills.
"School was great," Logan says. "There's a real emphasis on sports there. It was kind of like a college itself. It was a big campus for a high school."
Foreshadowing
So much like a college, in fact, that it competed in a conference called the "Ivy League." Logan's team won the Ivy League his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, finishing 27-3 in his final year. Logan drew the attention of college recruiters, including former Princeton head coach Bill Carmody and then-assistant John Thompson.
"He's a Princeton player," Thompson says. "He has a very good understanding of how the game should be played. He's similar to the way [senior forward] Nate [Walton] used to be at that age."
Though well-suited for the Princeton basketball program, Logan made his decision, as so many Tigers do, based on the school's balance of athletics, academics and assorted extracurriculars. He hopes to find time to act in the spring after basketball has ended.
New style
Meanwhile, however, Princeton fans will find him taking an ever-expanding role on the hardwood of the basketball court. Logan is currently occupied with adjusting to Princeton's offense, which tends to ignore mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket — on which Logan thrived in high school.
Thompson downplays this difficulty, however, explaining that "our offense is such that you can cater to any player's strengths and weakness.
"Like the other freshmen, he's still bumbling along right now. [But] I don't see his offense right now and definitely in the very near future being limited. I think he's very talented on the offensive end," Thompson added.
The "bumbling" has slowed lately, particularly in the Tigers' recent upset win over Xavier. Logan provided a much-needed inside presence against the Musketeers, blocking away two shots in an electrifying sequence in the second half.
"Last game, he was really aggressive on the boards, and that really helped us out a lot," junior guard Ahmed El -Nokali said.
After this summer's departures, the Tigers needed a player with some size, capable of clearing the boards. The man they found turned out to be just what Princeton wanted.
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