Former Neuqua Valley basketball star John Poulakidas is on the cusp of turning his dream into reality.
The Yale senior guard completed his college career by scoring 23 points in a loss to Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday and intends to declare for the NBA draft.
“If you would have told me my senior year at Neuqua that by the end of my Yale career I’d have an opportunity to play in the NBA, I would have told you you were crazy,” Poulakidas said. “I had a handful of Division I offers, and playing in the NBA was always my biggest dream, but at that point in time it was really just a dream.
“That’s why I wanted to play in the Ivy League because I valued my education very significantly and I knew that would carry me farther than basketball ever could.”
But the 6-foot-6 Poulakidas, who will graduate in May with a degree in political science, is focused on the path to a professional basketball career. He expects to work out for NBA teams in May.
“There have been a handful of scouts from various teams that have come to practices this year expressing some interest in me,” he said. “If they’re taking the time out of their day to come to New Haven, Connecticut, to watch a practice, there’s definitely something that they might be checking out.”
There is a lot to like about Poulakidas’ game. He has always been an elite shooter.
“I take absolutely no credit for John’s success because when he came to camp as a kindergartner, he was a knockdown shooter,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. “You could tell he was a natural from day one. Smoothest shot I’ve ever seen.
“He was a born shooter. I had nothing to do with it.”
But Poulakidas said Sutton did have a huge influence on him on and off the court.
“Coach Sutton ran Neuqua like it was a college basketball program,” Poulakidas said. “I’ve heard a lot about various high school programs and how a lot of it is similar to AAU travel ball, where there is not really a system, and coaches are kind of just throwing the ball out and letting the kids play.
“Our playbook at Neuqua was probably bigger than my playbook at Yale. As far as having to learn a system and learn plays, I was terrifically prepared for Yale just because of the way coach Sutton ran the Neuqua program throughout my entire tenure there.”
Poulakidas was a rare four-year starter at Neuqua Valley. He held the program’s career scoring record until Luke Kinkade, who plays at William and Mary, broke it last year.
But Poulakidas didn’t start the season opener in his freshman year. He still remembers why.
“Coach Sutton was always super hard on me,” he said. “In a practice, I had messed up just one out-of-bounds play, and coach Sutton pulled me out of that starting lineup for missing an assignment on an out-of-bounds play.
“As a freshman, I kind of think he was being harsh for no reason, and it’s not until later on that I could fully understand and appreciate him being hard on me like that because it really molded me into a better player as my career went on. He made me focus on the little things, on the intangibles, becoming a smarter basketball player in that regard. I think coach Sutton saw a potential in me that I didn’t see in myself, and I think that’s why he held me to that high of a standard. He’s a fantastic coach, a fantastic leader of young men.”
Poulakidas took his work ethic to a new level at Yale, adding muscle in the weight room and working to upgrade his defense and other skills like ballhandling and creating shots for himself. It paid off.
Poulakidas led the Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history. As a junior, he scored 28 points in Yale’s 78-76 upset win against Auburn in the first round.
This season, Poulakidas led the Ivy League in scoring, averaging 19.4 points while shooting 40.8% from 3-point range and 89.7% from the free-throw line. He finished his career with 1,362 points, which includes 243 3-pointers.
Sutton, who watched all of Yale’s games on ESPN+, continues to give Poulakidas constructive criticism.
“I’m still mad he doesn’t rebound enough,” Sutton said. “I chewed him out last summer because of free throws.
“As I told him, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t shoot 95% from the line. Last year, he was probably 77, so I got after him. I noticed the other night he was close to 90%, so I’ll live with 90.”
After playing against the likes of Auburn, Kansas and Kentucky, Poulakidas feels he’s ready for the rigors of professional basketball. He would be the third former Neuqua Valley player to reach the pros, joining 2005 graduate Mike Rose and 2010 graduate Dwayne Evans, who is playing in Japan.
But Poulakidas would be the first to reach the NBA if he gets there. What would that mean to Sutton?
“It just means that I get to watch more basketball,” Sutton said. “I really enjoy watching him. I have kind of worked my schedule around Yale basketball.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
