Burnaby South graduate Jermaine Haley says he will be transferring his hoops skills to the University of Wyoming Cowboys men’s basketball team this fall.
Haley said he made the commitment last week confirming a report in the Casper Star-Tribune.
Earlier this year, Haley requested his release from New Mexico State after the Aggies lost their Canadian coach, Paul Weir, who recruited Haley.
Weir resigned to become head coach of the University of New Mexico’s men’s team.
“It’s a better step for the rest of my future,” Haley told the NOW. “I feel like this is a good move. I’m at peace with my decision, and I feel like I made the right choice.
“I didn’t want to stay at New Mexico with the coach (Weir) leaving.”
The six-foot-seven guard is fresh off participating in the NCAA March Madness championship tournament where the Aggies, who were a 14th seed, lost to the Baylor Bears in the opening round.
Haley redshirted in his first year at New Mexico State. He was a bench player for the Aggies to start this past season averaging 3.9 points per game and racking up 46 assists in 34 matches. He ended up starting 15 games and averaged 22 minutes of floor time per game.
Haley plans to work out every day at Fortius Sport and Health in Burnaby, and sometimes in Richmond, with the goal of getting better and stronger. That will be the goal even when he gets to Wyoming because the transfer means he’ll have to sit out a season.
“Even though I’m not playing it’s going to benefit me because I can get a lot stronger and get a lot better this year, and then hopefully be done once I spend one year of playing,” said Haley, who hopes to eventually play professionally.
“If everything falls in the right place this year, I’m going to work to try to make that happen. But if it doesn’t happen obviously I’ll have more years to play (at Wyoming).”
The Cowboys play in the Mountain West Conference against such familiar NCAA schools as University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Boise State.
Haley is the son of former pro football defensive lineman Jermaine Haley, who played three years for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts and five seasons in the NFL with Miami and Washington.
