.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
UCLA basketball is one of the best stories anywhere in college basketball. A team which missed the NCAA Tournament altogether last year currently sits at No. 3 in the AP Poll as they pursue the school's first national championship in over 20 years.
But while countless words have been written about spark plug freshman Lonzo Ball, what has gotten lost in the shuffle is that another UCLA freshman is actually leading the team in points and rebounds with just under 17 and 9 a game. That player is TJ Leaf.
Frankly, Leaf’s story might be more interesting than Ball’s. While Ball has been projected as a “one-and-done” type talent for years, no one saw TJ Leaf being this good, this quickly. Yes, Leaf had a decorated high school career at Foothills Christian High School just outside San Diego (which included a McDonald’s All-American berth last year). But even those who know him best are surprised at the impact he’s had with UCLA – who hosts Washington on FS1 Wednesday night - this season.
“We just always knew he was a good basketball player,” Troy Leaf, T.J.’s older brother said. “We didn’t know it would translate to this level of success, this early in his career.”
Lonzo Ball and TJ Leaf
It has. And while Leaf’s rise to the top of college basketball is a bit surprising, his route to get there isn’t all that different than so many other budding basketball stars his age.
The younger Leaf grew up in a basketball family. His father Brad played professionally for 17 years in Israel, before returning to the States to coach high school basketball. Troy was actually their father’s first protégé, a 6’2 guard who is still the most prolific scorer in San Diego county high school basketball history.
Troy eventually played college ball at both UC-Santa Barbara and Azusa-Pacific, but it was pick-up between the two where T.J.’s basketball experience really began.
“I would just get murdered out there,” TJ Leaf, who is six years younger than Troy. “But it absolutely made me a lot more competitive and a lot better.”
According to those closest to him, Leaf’s game began to round out around the end of his middle school years, and like his brother, TJ Leaf’s career actually began on the perimeter as a guard. It was during that stretch that he developed the ball-handling and shooting skills that stay with him today.
But then Leaf just kept growing. And growing. Eventually he sprung up to 6’10, and unlike so many others, never really lost the agility, skill or athleticism he had as a younger player. Once the post skills came with it, the TJ Leaf you see today was born.
“We were really still on the perimeter his freshman, sophomore year,” Brad Leaf, TJ’s father and high school coach said. “His ball-handling, perimeter game, taking guys off the dribble [were already there]. And then we just slowly integrated the post-game with him. Really slow. By the time he was a senior I thought he had the best post moves of anybody.”
And it was right around the start of his senior year where, after initially committing to Arizona, he flipped and signed with UCLA. Leaf’s reasons for picking the Bruins were simple. There was an opening in the starting lineup at Leaf’s position and the opportunity to play with a pass-first point guard like Ball as well talented upper-class teammates like Bryce Alford, Isaac Hamilton and others was too good to pass up.
Once he did arrive in Westwood, he hit the ground running. Leaf tallied 19 points and 12 rebounds in the Bruins’ exhibition opener against Master’s University (where Troy Leaf is an assistant) and he hasn’t really slowed down since.
Those who know him best credit a non-stop work ethic for his quick success.
“A lot of guys want to post every time they work out on social media,” Troy Leaf said. “Or every time they workout they want to text their friends ‘was just in the gym, sorry.’ TJ has never been like that. He’s just one of those guys who goes, works, gets it done, moves on.”
Etop Udo-Ema, who coached Leaf since he was in the sixth grade with the Compton Magic AAU program, echoed that sentiment.
“That’s what the guys in the NBA are starting to find out,” Udo-Ema said. “The reason the kid is shooting the hell out of the ball… is because he works out all the time.”
Udo-Ema brings up the most interesting discussion about Leaf: What’s next? A kid who wasn’t on any NBA Draft boards to start the year has sprung up across them over the last few months. Some see him as a potential lottery pick, with FOX’s Evan Daniels ranking him 20th overall on his big board.
Despite the new found draft hype, everyone around Leaf says there’s been no discussion on Leaf’s future. Even when he was pressed on it following a recent practice, T.J. insisted he was only focused on the present.
“At this point we’re just trying to win as many games as we can now and we’re just shooting for a national championship,” TJ Leaf said. “I haven’t even really thought about it.”
Eventually though Leaf will end up in the NBA, and when he does, the league will get a talented player. What’s crazy to think about though, is that at just 19-years-old and still relatively new to his 6’10 frame, his best basketball is still ahead of him.
“There’s not one thing that he’s better at than everyone in the country,” Troy Leaf said. “And he works so hard that he can still grow in every area of his game. Whether that’s athletically, whether it’s being a little bit more consistent jump shooter, whether it’s free throws which we all know he can work on, whether that’s jump hooks with both hands. There are so many things that TJ can get better at that he hasn’t fully tapped into yet.”
That’s a scary thought going forward. And a scary thought for anyone who has to face him at UCLA the rest of this season.
