Philadelphia – Josiah Harris did not have to make any visits or make offers to find out where he would play his last season of College Basketball.
On the very first day that the transfer portal was opened, Harris announced his dedication to La Salle, and together with his head coach Darris Nichols tagged the transition to the Atlantic 10 from the Big South and Radford, where he spent the last four seasons.
For Harris he not only thrive for Nichols, but his connection with his coach has enabled him to have stability in a university career that has soon seen him play as five different schools.
The attacker embodies what it is when people say a late bloomer. In fact, he only started to play organized basketball as a second -year second -year student – but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t find him somewhere in a court.
Instead of playing in a high school gym, Harris always played street ball on the outdoor courts in his hometown Wilmington, el., Less than 40 miles from where he will now play in Glaser Arena on the La Salle University campus.
It was an adjustment for Harris who played from outside to his hardwood in high school, while playing as a junior in the JV team. However, he points out that junior season as a crucial time for his development when he got valuable repetitions and began to pick up concepts.
“I have learned a lot since my junior year until now,” he said. “I felt that if I had played before, my IQ would probably have been higher.”
There was a lot for Harris to learn, much that playing on sidewalk couldn’t teach him.
“I didn’t really understand things and had to get used to a lot,” Harris said. “What a challenge was, remembering set -tone pieces and knowing how to communicate on the floor … One of the parts I was stuck with and did not know was how to rotate on defense and things of that nature.”
While Harris got representatives on the field, he played in the Varsity team as a senior, and he felt that he was ready to come into his own. Even if that meant that it played a role and the team lifted when they needed him. The buy-in for playing a role made him a team captain for his last season at William Penn High School in New Castle, del.
“I started playing my last year and I thought I could be a good player,” he said. “I felt that I had done it from the bank a few times. I fueled the team with a lot of energy.”
While Harris graduated from high school, he wanted to play basketball at a collegial level, the feeling that he just scratched on the surface of the player he could become. There were a few offers from Division-III schools, but not much else. He and his high school coach then sent his film around, where it landed in the hands of Tommy at Cowley College in Arkansas City, Kan., Just north of the border of Oklahoma.
Harris took the opportunity to continue to grow as a player, but also saw it as an opportunity for personal growth to leave home and to be alone.
“I wanted to be able to grow up a bit myself,” Harris said. “Go to Cowley, coach [DeSalme] Did me help a lot to grow my career. “
Harris did all this while the COVID-19 Pandemie was underway. He had to adapt to an ever -changing way of life, just like the whole world. Masks, sitting six feet apart and playing games in gyms where it was just his Cowley College -tigers were and their opponent was different for everyone, but Harris experienced all this while he was halfway through America from his hometown.
Harris had treated many changes and novelty in the children’s phases of his basketball career. After the season -passed season at Cowley College, he picked up and moved again. Nevertheless, the main job took on at Hutchinson College, just under a two -hour drive from Cowley. Harris followed him to Hutchinson, and although he changed locations, the first time in his basketball career would follow that he would have the same head coach for two seasons in a row.
Harris doubled his playing time and made 16 starts in his year at Hutchinson. He helped the Blue Dragons to earn a bid with the NJCAA tournament.
Harris continued to grow on the field and then wanted to look for an opportunity to go to Division-i. Just as it was in high school, opportunities were scarce for Harris, but all he needed was a chance.
He received one and only one, from Saint Francis University in Brooklyn Heights, NY again, he packed his suitcases on his way to another place. This time, for the bright lights of New York City, far away from the Kleine Kansas cities where he had spent over the past two years.
Harris immediately became an important gear for the terriers, which made his presence on the shelves and on the edge. St. Francis had the highest block percentage as a team in the NEC thanks to Harris who patrol the paint. Only he had the fourth highest block percentage in the competition.
He was also a vacuum for rebounds, finished third in offensive rebound percentage and first in defensive rebound percentage. There were not many boys who cleaned the glass in America better than he did.
Towards the end of the season, Harris had in mind that he would switch to use another chance. However, he did not get a choice after receiving an e -mail from school administration, where he called an All Athletes meeting on the same day. Harris and his colleagues were told that the school would close their doors at the end of the semester. Although Harris intended to leave, he had to go now.
So again, he opened his computer, ready to send his film to other Division-I programs.
He sent his tape to three or so schools.
Then he was sent back by Nichols in Radford.
He stopped sending films and no longer responded to other schools that are interested in him. He gave up at Radford University to play for Nichols.
“When coach Nichols responded to me, I never went back and I responded to e -mails,” said Harris. “I just felt a connection and that I could really do well there.”
For Harris he felt that the small school on the banks of the New River was the best place for him basketball. His relationship with Nichols outside the field, however, was an important factor for choosing Radford (and ultimately La Salle later).
“I would go to the coaching office almost every day to talk about the ball, to talk about life,” Harris said. “In addition to coaching, coach Nichols is one of the really people I have ever met.”
Harris admired that for a man who would hold his players responsible on the field, he was approachable and was relaxed.
However, when it was time for practice or a game, Nichols was really with his players and she told what to hear, not necessary what they always wanted.
He remembered a team meeting during a losing streak during the Big South Conference game, where Nichols had each player written down what his role in the team was, and announced to the room. If Nichols didn’t hear what he was looking for, he would let you know.
Given the connection of Nichols with his players outside of basketball, the players knew that he had their best interests in the heart, and that every refutation of nichols came from the right place.
In two years of playing for Nichols in Radford, Harris remained dominant blocking shots and rebound. He finished Top-Five in the Big South in Rebound percentage on both ends and finished the 2024-2025 season in the top five in the block percentage.
The 6-foot-9 post showed the toughness that Nichols demanded from his team, and it appeared in the Statblad. Ask Harris where that comes from, and he will tell you that it is from his home and his father, who played his university ball at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC
“It’s from Wilmington,” he said. “My father has that dog in him and I got that dog in me. I understand him from Delaware.”
After Nichols was appointed head coach in La Salle in March, Harris felt that it was time to move again. Only this time it was not necessary to send his film somewhere or to be his own personal recruiter. Harris did not have to make any visits or to place an image of his last pair schools about which he decided. Where Nichols decided to call home, Harris would do the same for his last season of suitability.
Harris focused on the explorers on the first day that the transfer portal opened. He never thought a second different and gave his coach the honor.
“It says a lot [about Nichols]Harris said. “That’s how much I trust him. I wouldn’t want to go to a new coach and learn a new system.”
Now Nichols and Harris stand on 20th and Olney, for their first season with the explorers, and Harris’ Last as a college basketball player.
The basketball trip of Harris brought him on a winding road, one who could have introduced someone who was outside in Wilmington, del, could never have imagined it.
“I come from a small state and not many people get it out,” he said. “If I had thought back to where I was as a junior in high school, I wouldn’t think I would be here today.”
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