Who the Buc are You? With Azeez Ganiyu

By COOPER RATHMANN

On this week’s edition of Who the Buc are You, I got to meet with Azeez Ganiyu’24 and learn more about his unique student-athlete perspective here at Beloit College. Azeez is currently a fifth-year student who has graduated with a degree in biology and is participating in his fourth season for the men’s basketball team.

Azeez is quite literally the hometown hero for the team and student body since he grew up in the city of Beloit and attended Beloit Memorial High School. He told me that “Beloit was my first offer – halfway through my senior year I thought it was just going to be normal…until one of the assistant coaches who’s heavily involved in the community came to one of my games, saw me play, told the coach, and then said they were interested in me playing and I’ve been here ever since”. It’s always nice to see hometown athletes staying involved in the community they were brought up in and Azeez is the perfect exemplar of that. Within the sport itself, it’s very common for an athlete to have a core memory of something either on or off the court, to which he said his most memorable moment playing was “when we beat Grinnell last year to solidify our place in conference…that was our second time beating them in my career and the first time in conference since around the 2000s”.

On a sillier note, the men’s cross country and the men’s basketball team shared a locker room for the first semester and I always heard people calling Azeez “The King of Beloit” before we head out for practice. A cool nickname like that definitely has a type of backstory, to which he told me “it really just came from the fact that I was born and raised in Beloit. I think it was either my sophomore or junior year. Someone on our men’s team just called me that once because I’m from here and alright at basketball-it’s honestly gone so far now”. Royalty or not, it’s quite the title to be walking around with and as a follow-up I asked him what a royal portrait would look like and he gave the very kind and wholesome answer of “Just me with my team any picture with and the guys laughing and smiling”.

Going further down the rabbit hole, I asked some fun questions about his teammates and the sport itself. I asked who on the team has the least hops, he said “even though he’s the tallest guy, I’d say our big guy Olin [Olin Emerson’28]. He’s like 6’ 10” but he’s got the least hops.” Sorry Olin, I’m sure you can still dunk though, which is a plus in everyone’s books. 

Following that, I threw out the hypothetical if the basketball itself was never invented, what sports item would be the next best alternative for shooting, which he said was “a volleyball or soccer ball. I feel like a soccer ball would be less bouncy”, which is a very reasonable option if all basketballs were to one day disappear.

I’ve heard in interviews from professional athletes like John Wall and Drew Gooden that dunking can cause an immense amount of pain, and Azeez takes a similar approach, saying “It hurts if you slam it too hard but it depends. If I do a two-hander no but with a one-hander it might”.

Finally, I asked him how many points a non-varsity athlete scores on you in a 1v1 and he told me “Maybe like one bucket if they shoot something crazy but that’s it like if I’m locked in you’re not scoring”. Very well stated, I wouldn’t want to try to defend someone who’s 6’ 5” in the first place but who knows maybe I’d get a three-pointer or two.

Outside the odds and ends questions thrown his way, I asked him about advice he’d give someone looking to join athletics on campus, whether that be recreational or for the varsity teams. “As much as people think of it as cliquey, and speaking on behalf of the basketball team it’s truly like a family atmosphere. We’ve had transfers come in at semester and [initially] they might not feel entirely like it’s their place since it’s new, but we always try to include them. It’s going to be scary at first but when you’re with your team every day you’ll get more comfortable and you’ll never feel pushed out”. Thus, there’s no need to feel anxious about trying something new to stay in shape, having good old-fashioned fun, or letting athletic skills be displayed in team-setting competitions.

I ended the interview with my signature question: asking his message to the youth and future Beloiters, which was “Don’t stay in your own comfort zone. Be able to spread out, talk to new people, explore new things. I think one of the things I’m most blessed with for my freshman year was that I didn’t just talk to people on my team. I talked to people on my floor and in classes and that’s what allowed me to be more comfortable talking to other people and making connections that weren’t just sports related. Especially going to a small liberal arts campus like we do, it’s easy to stay in the groups you have, but your college experience will be that much more enjoyable if you’re able to branch out”.

We wish Azeez and the men’s basketball team the best of luck in the season ahead, and that everyone stays healthy and doesn’t dunk so hard that they break the rim.