Why South Carolina MBB signee Hayden Assemian left home to prepare for college ball
A couple of years ago, Hayden Assemian caught Moravian Prep head coach Jeremy Ellis’ attention in an instant.
Ellis was scouting another player at a Team CP3 game on Nike’s EYBL E16 Circuit when the 6-foot-8-inch Assemian made an introduction he wouldn’t forget — one dribble, one post move, one monster poster dunk — a play the other kid would like to forget.
Ellis sure didn’t.
He knew right then: He needed to get Assemian over to Moravian Prep in North Carolina. But recruiting him was a process.
Ellis tried to land him in AAU, but Assemian was locked in on the Nike circuit. He tried again while Assemian was at Powdersville High in South Carolina’s Upstate region, but the big man had a state championship on his mind.
That title changed things. With a ring secured, Assemian set his sights on the next level. College ball was coming fast, and he needed time to prepare.
He couldn’t get that in a traditional high school setting. Eight hours a day plus after-school activities. Where’s the time to lock in and hoop? Maybe an hour or so, but that wasn’t enough.
Ellis had the recipe Assemian needed to reach his goals.
“I think he knew, if you want to play, you got to make that move,” Ellis said.
“Knowing that I need to be prepared for college and be just a better player,” Assemian said when asked about his motivations to transfer. “Being at Powdersville, I wasn’t playing against anybody, playing against 5-foot-6 kids every day. So just coming here, playing against the best and trying to be the best.”
At Moravian Prep and with YNG Dreamerz in Overtime Elite in Atlanta, Assemian would face high-level competition daily. No more waiting to face a rare SEC-caliber player on the schedule — he’d battle them in practice every day.
That would make him college-ready from Day 1.
“We don’t promise (recruits) playing time, don’t promise them offers,” Ellis said. “We just promise them that they’re going to be the best freshmen in the country. ... I’m probably the worst recruiter in America, just because I don’t promise him anything except a lot of work.”
It wasn’t just the competition that sold Assemian on the move. The workload at Moravian mirrors what he’ll see at South Carolina. Film sessions. Strength training four days a week — even on game days. Recovery routines designed for the grind of high-level basketball. Ellis designs that workload to be similar to what his players would experience at Power 5 school.
Sure, Assemian misses playing in front of his hometown family and friends. But getting the opportunity “to get better every day” was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.
Plus, he’ll get to play right down the road for the Gamecocks next year. And he’ll get better there, too. South Carolina’s player development under head coach Lamont Paris sealed the deal for Assemian. Seeing how Paris help mold GG Jackson and Collin Murray-Boyles made it an easy decision.
With the YNG Dreamerz, Assemian isn’t stuffing box scores — he’s embracing his role. He’s averaging 6.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and a league-leading 2 blocks per game as a defensive anchor.
The numbers may not jump out, but that’s because Assemian’s role for the Dreamerz isn’t to be a prolific scorer. Ellis has players meant to do that, like fellow Gamecock signee Eli Ellis.
Assemian’s role is to hold down the fort down low — get rebounds, run the floor, protect the paint. That’s a challenge Assemian has stepped up to, Ellis said.
“He’s just very compliant and very teachable, which a lot of kids aren’t, especially in playing a role that maybe they hadn’t played,” Ellis said.
And Ellis believes Assemian’s best is yet to come.
“He loves the game — I think there’s another level of loving the process of getting better, and very, very few people get to that level,” Ellis said. “And that’s a hard decision, because you got to make it every day. But he’s fallen in love with it. I think that’s as much of a skill as anything nowadays, just loving the game.”
