Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Benchseriesthat takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
Radhika Garapaty ’29takes center court in our next installment in the series. After nearly a full year away from basketball due to injury, the rising Yale women’s basketball sophomore has found inspiring answers to the hardest question an athlete has to answer: Who am I without the game? And as she finds her way back into the lineup at Payne Whitney Gymnasium with her teammates, she is bringing strengths she may not have known she possessed before.
From left to right: Radhi; her mother Bindu; brother Kunaal; and father, Rahul Garapaty at a wedding reception in southern California in July 2025. (photo courtesy of Garapaty family)
The Franklin family, at the Colosseum, in Rome, Italy, on a 2016 vacation (left to right: Miles’ mother Marina, brother Elliot, sister Amelia, brother Tristan, Miles and Miles’ father Dereck. (photo courtesy of Franklin family)
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Benchseriesthat takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
For Miles Franklin ’29, a political science major from Vienna, Va., and rising sophomore guard for the Columbia men’s basketball team, a disciplined approach to nutrition, sleep and mental health began in childhood. Now the boy who brought homemade pickles to the party is getting the last laugh, powering his basketball career, making music and taking care of business wherever he goes.
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Benchseriesthat takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
Cate MacDonald ‘27, a rising senior on the Dartmouth women’s basketball team from Lynnfield, Mass., shares a particularly inspiring journey to the Ivy League. A learning difference made school a challenge for her early on. Basketball was a comfort and a constant. With persistence and clarity about what she needs to thrive, there seems to be no stopping her.
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Benchseriesthat takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
Izzy Wesley ‘29, a rising sophomore on the Brown women’s basketball team, is the second twin we have featured in this series. An innate teammate and ultimate family person, she brings “gioia di vivere” to the Bears, and she is channeling it in all the ways that make a team better:
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Benchseriesthat takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
This time we are introduced to Lucas Lueth ’27, a rising senior on the Penn men’s basketball team from Ames, Iowa. While he aspires to take on a leadership role in healthcare down the road, he has his eyes on a pro basketball career, and a lot more, along the way. For this multi-talented Penn player, basketball is art, and art informs the way he sees the court as well as the world:
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents the latest edition of our Off the Bench seriesthat takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
Next, we get to know Sarah Lessig ’29, a rising Princeton women’s basketball sophomore from Seattle. A probable anthropology major and also a member of the Tigers softball team, Lessig is a study in fluidity — flowing seamlessly across sports, music, film — and West Coast to East Coast:
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and multi-dimensional humans off it. Ivy Hoops Onlinepresents a new series, Off the Bench,that takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or via your screen.
Next up is Mataya Gayle ’27, a rising senior on the Penn women’s basketball team, and a psychology major from Woodstock, Ga. While our previous installment highlighted the relationship of two brothers attending Princeton together, here we delve into the experience of a sibling with nine brothers and sisters at home! Through her eyes we see how her birth order and family system have prepared her for the key role she has played, and will play one more season, in the Palestra and beyond:
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Onlinepresents a new series, Off the Bench,that takes fans inside the stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
Next up is Mary Hollensteiner ’27, a rising Harvard women’s basketball senior from Bethesda, Md. A psychology major with a minor in economics and a guard for the Crimson, Hollensteiner spoke with us as she prepared for a summer internship as a analyst at Hoffman & Associates in Washington, D.C. Hollensteiner reflects on legacy, leadership and laughter as the daughter of a former Harvard men’s basketball player and as a team leader making her own way at Lavietes Pavilion and beyond:
Ivy League hoopsters are Division I athletes on the court and exceptionally accomplished and eclectic humans off it. Ivy Hoops Online presents a new series, Off the Bench,that takes fans inside their stories that you might not otherwise know from the stands or through your screen.
We begin with Jeannot Basima ’27, a rising Yale men’s basketball senior from Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, a political science major, and guard for the Bulldogs. As Basima completes his undergraduate studies and prepares for his final season taking the floor at John J. Lee Amphitheater, he is motivated by a personal passion — creating educational opportunities for the children of his home country.
Jeannot Basima is surrounded by the students of Promo Jeune Basket during his camp in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 24, 2023. (courtesy of Key Castofas)
Jeannot Basima began his basketball journey as a six-year-old at Promo Jeune Basket (PJB), a local academy near his home in Goma. Near his home country’s border with Rwanda, PJB isn’t just about basketball. It’s a pathway to education, emphasizing the values of discipline, team, hard work and respect. As Basima sees it, he has been the beneficiary of several brotherhoods — his six siblings, PJB, the high schools he attended and the Yale basketball program.
Through a random connection between PJB’s president, Dario Melo, and Daniel Arnaud, a Belgian basketball parent who had travelled through Goma, 13-year-old Basima and one of his teammates found themselves selected for a summer camp in the United States. The camp got them on to the Global Squad AAU team, which led to scholarships to New York Military Academy for eighth grade and the John Carroll School for high school.
Basima had no idea when he left home at age 13 that he would not see his family again for five years.
