Work Samples

Contrast: D3, D1 Products Face Off In Poland

April 30, 2023

By David Driver
Used with permission

WARSAW - Marcus Azor grew up near Boston and played college basketball at the Division III level. By contrast, Kaheem Ransom was raised in Wichita and was a hoop standout at Sam Houston State in Texas.

Ransom is a veteran of the pro game overseas with earlier gigs in North Macedonia and Georgia, where he played for several seasons. By contrast, Azor has just begun his pro career with his first stop in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

The careers of the two Americans crossed paths here on a Saturday evening in the Polish capital of Warsaw, a place more than 1.5 million call home. Thanks to a new rule in the second-best men's basketball league in Poland, teams here were allowed one foreign player this season - thus Ransom was the only American for Radom while Azor was the only hoopster born in the USA for host Dziki in a playoff game before a few hundred people at a small arena in the northwest corner of Warsaw.

"I am blessed to be here," said Azor, standing courtside after he scored nine points with seven assists off the bench as his team rallied to win 80-74.

Azor noted that his hometown of Brockton, Mass., has produced several Division I college players. Many of those players left the city for private high school, but Azor noted that he stayed and played for Brockton High.