THE EASIEST WAY to stump Josh Sharma is to ask him to rank his dunks.
That's not an easy request. He has 54 this season.
Sharma is a 7-foot athletic marvel, with the agility, dexterity, and hops of a smaller player. Stanford's senior center is in the midst of his best season -- a potentially historic one -- as he readies for his final regular-season basketball game at Maples Pavilion on Thursday against Cal at 8 p.m.
Dunks have not only been his trademark this season, but in his days at Northfield Mount Hermon School in the Western Massachusetts countryside, where he filled recruiting videos with one-handed catch-and-slams off inbounds passes, assorted lobs and baseline throwdowns.
"My first dunk was in the eighth grade," Sharma said. "I was definitely trying the entire year. I could never get it with one hand, I would just lose the ball. We were shooting in the gym after school, and I finally got it with two hands on the very last day."
Just about half of his 120 field goals this season are dunks, aiding a shooting percentage of 68.9, which would be the highest in the conference in 22 years and a school record.
After limited time his first three seasons, the graduation of three-year starters Michael Humphrey and Reid Travis gave him an opportunity to provide a post threat to complement the team's shooters and drivers. Sharma's confidence has grown by the game and so has his production. He's averaging 9.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks.
"We did not see it coming," said his mother, Henrietta Cooper.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.
The world of competitive basketball was an eye-opening experience for his father Jayant, a native of India, and Henrietta, from England.
Jayant's family was from Bihar, a rural state in northeastern India, and the ancient home of Buddha. He heard stories of his mother's small village: How the family opened the front and the back doors during the rainy season so that snakes could slither unabated through the house. How they had no electricity until 1975. When a truck knocked down a power pole, they were without it for five more years.
Sharma plans to seek a pro playing career, and if he achieves that, he will be among the few of Indian descent to play in the upper reaches of the game. Only one, Sim Bhullar for Sacramento in 2015, ever has played in the NBA.
Basketball seemed a longshot when Josh was cut from the William Diamond Middle School seventh-grade team in his hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts.
"I couldn't shoot a free throw," Sharma said. "I couldn't really make a layup. I was really bad."
But his athleticism served him well. He grew up as part of a neighborhood pack that loved sports and competition. It included his twin older brothers and Chris Shaw, a first-round draft pick outfielder who played 22 games for the San Francisco Giants last year.
An aside: Jayant and Henrietta now live outside Lexington in an 1820 farmhouse they are renovating (horsehair plaster anyone?). Legend has it that it was built by a man whose father may have fired the first shot in the Revolutionary War.
As for basketball, when he made the eighth-grade team, the 6-4 Sharma was on his way. A year later, at Lexington High, he tried his first dunks in a game.
"One was a fastbreak, and I took off from way too far … missed that one," he said. "The second one, I caught it, got too excited and took three steps. I actually dunked it but they called a travel. My first one in an actual game came my sophomore year."
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.
Sharma was an unknown when he attended the Elite 75, a regional showcase in the fall of his sophomore year.
"We figured, for $75, we'd splurge," Jayant said. "Drop him off, pick him up. Simple.
"I come back at the end of the afternoon and there was a swarm of people around him. AAU coaches wanted him on their teams. Private school coaches wanted him on theirs."
The way Sharma moved for his size – then about 6-10 – caught their eye. For the first time, Sharma imagined a future in basketball. He joined an AAU team, the Mass Rivals, and transferred to a boarding school, Northfield Mount Hermon, the Hoggers.
"As parents, we were interested in the academics, not so much the basketball," Henrietta said. "We said, 'Fine, if this is going to get you into a school like Stanford … go for it.'"
Sharma will graduate with a degree in science, technology, and society, with a focus on innovation and organization. After some thought, he concluded that his favorite dunk was a putback against Arizona State two years ago.
A lot to choose from. And more to come.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.