Alaska Sports Hall of Fame

When 18-year-old Iziah Sherman-Newsome of Anchorage used to daydream about playing college basketball, he always walked away with a degree in the end.

He values an education as much as the game itself.

“School is very important,” he told me. “Everybody wants to go Division I, but since I didn’t have the chance I think it made education even more important. Not getting what my heart was set on, I was determined to get the best education possible.”

That was the New York Institute of Technology.

The 6-foot-4 Alaska guard has signed with the NCAA D2 school on Long Island and will be eligible for his freshman season this fall. Last season he played at the nationally respected Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas.

“I got so much better playing at Impact,” he said. “In Alaska, I was a forward, but going down there they turned me into a perimeter player. From that standpoint, my game and my confidence have expanded leaps and bounds from where I was a year ago.”

Sherman-Newsome, of Bartlett High fame, had received interest from other schools, including some DI teams, but opted for New York Tech.

“The recruiting process was kind of long and worrisome,” he said. “Division I is just a label. A lot of guys see that D1 label and I’m not gonna lie, I did it too. But basketball isn’t going to be there forever. I guess at the end of the day the education and being close to my family was what really made it the best decision for me.”

He has family in Harlem and already knows his way around the Big Apple, which made him feel even more comfortable about going to New York.

“I didn’t get a chance to visit the school, but I was able to make my choice because I was familiar with the area,” he said.

Sherman-Newsome also liked the New York Tech coaches, who promised him a fair chance to compete for a starting job.

“I’ll be able to fight for playing time from the beginning,” he said. “I didn’t want to wait around.”

He is the younger brother of Damon Sherman-Newsome, a junior guard at Colgate University. Both brothers were all-state players in high school and now both will play college basketball.

“Iziah was a chubby kid and grew into his body and worked to become a very skilled played. Damon was always athletic and started varsity as a freshman,” said their father, Truman. “They both wanted to be the best they can be and realize the importance of education and family.”