Wake Forest Athletics
My Basketball Journey: Nikita Mescheriakov
2/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2011
This article was originally published in the Feb. 19 edition of Wake Forest's basketball gameday magazine, which is given away at all men's basketball home games.
Q: When did you first start playing basketball?
A: I started when I was around nine years old, and when I started everyone in the group was a couple of years older than me, so I struggled at first. Slowly I started progressing and started beating them up, so I was the one who was laughing last.
Q: When did you first realize you were "good" at basketball?
A: Around 13 or 14, when I started dominating.
Q: Were you always one of the better and taller players on the court growing up?
A: Yes, I was the best player on my team and the best player at my high school when I came here, but I also was a team player so I don't want to say "I" a lot. I was looking for teamwork, and the first thing I was looking for was to win, not the personal statistics. I was actually pretty short until 14, and then from 14 to 16 I started growing a lot. I was almost playing point guard while I was growing up, but then I was moved to forward.
Q: What is the one area of your game that you have had to work the hardest on to improve?
A: I've been working on my legs a lot, because I'm not the fastest player on the court. I'm trying to become a little quicker.
Q: What is the one area of your game that has just seemed to come naturally?
A: Seeing the court; vision. And passing the ball, that's natural to me.
Q: What is the best memory of your high school basketball career?
A: When I was in high school here at St. John's Prospect Hall, we played against Towson Catholic and they had three or four guys who were going to go to big schools like Donte Greene, he went to Syracuse and got picked up by an NBA team, so I had to get mentally ready for this game. It was a great game for me, and it was my best memory from high school.
Q: What were you looking for in a college when you were being recruited?
A: Come out of high school after playing for only one year, I only had a few choices. I decided to go with Georgetown because it was the best one, and I always like to challenge myself. I went there because I knew they had a great program, I knew they had a lot of great players, and I would have to compete every day. At Wake, I really liked the community and traditions. We have a great coaching staff.
Q: What do you see yourself doing after your basketball career is finished?
A: After my college career I want to go professional. I'm also getting
my economics degree.
