On Tuesday afternoon, Green Bay announced that forward Kerem Kanter had joined the program for this upcoming season. Kanter is the younger brother of Utah Jazz center, Enes Kanter.
Kerem Kanter, the native of Istanbul, Turkey, was well traveled in his high school career. He began at the MacDuffie School before transferring to another Massachusetts prep school, Wilbraham & Monson, for the 2012-2013 year. He spent last season as a postgraduate at IMG Academy in Florida. The lefty power forward had received interest from high-major teams.
“I decided to come to Green Bay because of their winning attitude,” Kanter said in a statement. “The program is about winning and improving their players. Another reason is the relationship I built with the coaching staff. They did an amazing job recruiting me, and I felt like this place is where I want to be. I know they won the Horizon League last year and had a great record. Coming to a team which has a chance to win their league again and go to a tournament and make some noise is a great opportunity.”
Kanter joins one of the top mid-major teams for the 2014-2015 season. Green Bay won 24 games, and was the top team in the conference before having its NCAA title hopes dashed by Milwaukee in overtime of the Horizon League Tournament semifinals. He will join a frontline that needs to account for the graduation of Alec Brown. Luckily the Phoenix has the majority of its core back, led by leading scorer Keifer Sykes.
“We are very excited to add Kerem Kanter to our program,” Green Bay head coach Brian Wardle added. “To have a young man come over from Turkey and represent our program is exciting not only for Green Bay Basketball but also for our entire University. Kerem is a skilled forward that brings an ability to score from the inside and out. He has a great bloodline of basketball in his family, and we know he is extremely excited to get to Green Bay to pursue his dream of getting a college education and being a Division I player.”
Kanter joins guards Daeshon Francis and Khalil Small and JuCo center Henry Uwadiae in Phoenix’s Class of 2014.
