From Seattle to Somerville: KJ Garrett's journey to brown and blue

After finishing high school in Los Angeles, Calif., junior KJ Garrett went to the University of Washington to play Div. I men's basketball for the Huskies (9-21). After two years of frustration, however, he decided to transfer across the country.

Garrett's transfer was not just one from the University of Washington to Tufts, but one from the packed practice schedule of a Div. I athlete to the balancing act of schoolwork and workouts that comes with Div. III.

Garrett was born in London on Dec. 28, 1995. His family was living abroad at the time due to the career demands of his basketball-playing father. After attending the University of New Mexico, Tim Garrett was drafted in the sixth round of the 1984 NBA draft by the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards), and he spent the next 13 years playing basketball domestically in the now-defunct Continental Basketball Association and abroad for various European clubs.

Following Tim's retirement in 1999, three-year-old KJ, his parents and his sister moved to Los Angeles, where they have lived ever since.

“I’ve played since day one,” Garrett said. “Since I’ve been out of the womb, I’ve had a little basketball in my hand."

Garrett attended high school in Manhattan Beach, Calif. for three years before transferring to Rolling Hills Prep. When it came time to choose a college, Garrett traded the chance to attend competitive private colleges on the east coast for that shot at the University of Washington, a school with 31,000 undergrads, to play Div. I basketball.

“I had been looking at a bunch of Ivy League and NESCAC schools, but there was an opportunity as a walk-on at UW. That’s actual [Div. I] basketball, and kids get drafted to the NBA all the time. I wanted that shot," Garrett said.

Once in Seattle, he successfully walked onto the team as a true-freshman, an impressive achievement in itself. Subsequently, his priorities became clearly defined: basketball first, school later. Every other week, he would miss half his classes traveling for games. On several occasions, he even traveled to China and the Bahamas for tournaments while his non-athlete friends were all still in class.

The effort expended did not result in the desired outcome of more playing time, however. Garrett was competing against five-star recruits for playing time, and as a walk-on, he got frustrated with the amount of time he spent on the bench. Garrett appeared in just seven contests during his sophomore season, averaging a meager 1.9 minutes per game.

“I wasn’t developing as a human,” Garrett said. “I was sitting on the end of the bench, working hard in practice, not having a lot of fun. It was not a lot of reward in return for the effort that I was putting in. I was not seeing myself grow on and off the court.”

After two years of hard work and limited reward, Garrett knew it was time to start looking elsewhere. He had poured his entire life into basketball and was hindering his academics as a result. It was time to make a change. In the spring of 2016, he contacted his high school coach, who began reaching out on his behalf to members of the NESCAC and other small liberal arts schools that he had originally been in contact with in high school.

Intent on studying business, Garrett's top pick at the time was Babson; however, other schools like Hamilton and Tufts had both demonstrated interest.

Upon making visits to various colleges, it quickly became clear to him that he wanted to go to a school near a city, and the choice became between Babson and Tufts. Garrett visited both colleges over the same weekend with his mom. On Friday, he scrimmaged at Babson with the team and met the coach, Stephen Brennan.

That night, he went back to his hotel with his mom.

Saturday was a different story. He played at Tufts, playing better than he had the day before, and he bonded with both the coach and the team.

“I told him he could go to Babson because they had his exact major,” Tufts coach Bob Sheldon said. “He could go there and major in business and get a decent job, or he could come to Tufts and be that guy’s boss.”

That night, he went out with the Tufts players, and he was sold.

Garrett spent his summer trimester filling out the Common Application as a transfer student, doing homework and enjoying the Seattle spring knowing that he would soon be leaving it all behind.

Div. III Tufts (22-6) is a far cry from Div. I Washington. In recent years, the latter institution has proven itself as a locus of talented prospects. Currently, eight Huskies are members of NBA rosters, including two-time NBA All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas, 2015 NBA champion guard Justin Holiday and power forward Marquese Chriss, the eighth overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. Four of the eight NBA Slam Dunk Contests staged between 2006 to 2013 were won by Washington alumni -- thrice by guard Nate Robinson and once by swingman Terrence Ross.

Garrett enrolled in Tufts in the fall of 2016 as an economics major. He has made a significant impact on the basketball team, often spurring game-winning runs with dunks reminiscent of those performed by Robinson and Ross. Garrett also demonstrated his versatility when called upon to serve as an undersized center while senior tri-captain center Tom Palleschi was out with a dislocated knee cap.

“He’s a high-energy guy. He is skilled enough that he could be a starter, but we like what he gives us off the bench,” said Sheldon. “He’s going to play the same amount whether he starts or not, but we like when he comes into the game and gives us a boost. I wish we had him for all four years.”

Garrett has played in every game so far this season, and he is the second most reliable shooter on the team, shooting 55 percent from the field. On top of being a steady force off the bench, he has also scored 10 points or more 11 times so far this season, recording a season-high of 23 points against Pine Manor (16-10) on Feb. 7.

Junior guard Reed Thomas-McLean remembered when Garrett's individual contribution spurred the Jumbos to a key conference victory.

"He brings good energy to our team," said Thomas-McLean. "When we were struggling against Hamilton, he had two dunks on back-to-back possessions which really fueled our winning run, and is the reason we won the game."

Garrett recorded 19 points in the game, to go with four rebounds.

At UW, basketball took up over five hours a day during non-game days and almost 10 hours a day on game days.

“You cannot major in some things. I would have had to take classes at night or skip practice, but no one ever skipped practice,” Garrett said. “You had to be there, [even] if you were sick or dying.”

After arriving at Tufts, Garrett has already seen a huge leap in his grades while spending around half as much time on basketball. He has discovered a passion for East Asian culture classes and is currently enrolled in Foundations of Chinese Thought with Assistant Professor of Chinese Ning Ma. In lieu of a business degree, Garrett, intent on being his own boss one day, is also pursuing an entrepreneurial leadership studies minor along with his economics major.

While it is unlikely at this point that Garrett will go on to fulfill his old dream of playing professional basketball, his time at Tufts has allowed him to explore opportunities outside of basketball.

“I was [in an] athlete-first mentality, I wanted to play professional basketball, it was all I wanted and all I knew,” Garrett said. “But I’ve grown a lot and changed a lot, clearly. I went from Div. I to Div. III. I’m happy with the decision I made.”