The road to a professional basketball career, whether it’s the NBA, Europe, D-League, or anywhere else, is always a tough one. There may be no tougher part than the period from the end of a player’s college career to their signing their first professional contract. Over the next couple of months, Louisiana Tech guard Raheem Appleby is going to take readers through the experience.
Appleby, a 6’4 shooting guard, was a key member of a Louisiana Tech team which won 101 games over the past four seasons, and made three straight trips to the NIT post-season tournament. This past season, Appleby led the Bulldogs in scoring at 15 points per game, while being named Second Team All-Conference USA.
For his first entry, Appleby gives a quick introduction to his college career for those who may not be familiar with what he has accomplished. Over the coming weeks, Appleby will provide insight into his preparations for workouts, meeting with teams, and much more.
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Coming into my first year of college, I was a little nervous, which I’m sure most players are going from high school to the college level. The fact that I had a lot of negative talk, besides my family and friends, going into my college career did not help either. I was 140 pounds tops, and Louisiana Tech was my only division one offer on the table. Once I got to Louisiana Tech for my freshman year, the off-season was tough because I wasn’t used to all the conditioning and weights they put us through. Of course they had a close eye on me, and a different weight and conditioning plan from the rest of the team. The season starts and about 10 games in, I earned a starting spot at the shooting guard position, which I kept throughout my career here. We had an alright season; we made it to the championship game of our conference tournament that year, but lost badly. That year, I earned freshman of the year, WAC-All-Newcomer Team, and Second-Team All-WAC.
The next year is when things seemed to start to come together, after getting the program system going well. We became a pretty good team, and we went 16-2 in conference, earning a share of the regular season championship. That season, I earned First Team All-State, District, and WAC, while making a post-season tournament. Both of these years, I was the team’s Co-Player of the year, and led my team in scoring.
My junior year, I played 13 games, and then suffered an ankle injury which caused me to miss all of conference play. When I went out with the ankle injury, I was leading the team in scoring and was the Pre-season Player of the Year. I was able to come back during the conference tournament, and we played in another post-season tournament that year. I didn’t earn any individual awards this year, but we did win another share of the Conference USA regular season championship.
This past year, I was fully healthy and back in the starting line-up after my injury. We broke more than eight school records, including the winningest class in school history. I earned Second Team All-State, District, and Conference USA, and the team won an outright Conference USA regular season championship.
I finished my college career with 1,770 points, sixth most in program history.
Check back soon for more from Raheem on his journey to the pros.
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