Catching up with Cole Long – the Pride of Newfoundland Basketball

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UMBC Commit Cole Long is the pride of Newfoundland Basketball.

Fresh off an impressive 32-point performance for Athlete Institute in a victory over Orangeville Prep, we caught up with the Atlantic Canada product.

Long is coming off a dislocated elbow injury which sat him out for three months. Since then, the smooth stroking senior has improved mobility, agility, and strength, which has taken his game to new heights. At 6’7, Long brings a diverse skill set with good hands and feet around the rim, accompanied with a feathery shooting shot from the outside. UMBC got themselves a steal, as Long will be an impact player in the America East conference.

We had a chance to catch up with former East Coast NPH Showcase MVP, to discuss his evolving game, injury, Newfoundland basketball and his NCAA career.

You have made a lot of progress since the first time was saw you at East Coast NPH Showcase — how do you feel you’ve developed in the last two years?

Cole Long, NPH East Coast Showcase Underclassmen MVP
Cole Long, NPH East Coast Showcase Underclassmen MVP

In the two years since you saw me at the showcase my basketball mindset really changed a lot, and I noticed that I was pretty slow and was really limited on offence with creating things off the dribble.

With this in mind, I started to train a lot more in the gym and develop more guard skills as well as my body, which has helped me become more guard like.
So now I feel like I’ve developed my game to be a three, who can guard multiply position, create offence, knock down shots and be amore athletic player.

 

Coming off injury, how have you been able to make strides with your body and movement? You look a lot more fluid on the floor.

With my injury I had a lot of time to get my body more flexible and stronger. Everyday I was in the weight room doing core and legs, which has helped me be able to become a more athletic player on the court. Even though I couldn’t train 100 percent, my injury gave me some time to work on a lot of my weaknesses, and now have turned me into a more effective player.

What does being from and representing Newfoundland mean to you?

Representing Newfoundland means everything to me, its the place I call home and is where everything started. The support that I get from there is unbelievable and I’ll forever be thankful for everyone back there. My goal is to start a trend in Newfoundland basketball and I hope I can help future players see its possible to make it somewhere with basketball even from such a small place.

I’ll always be proud to say that Newfoundland is my Home.

We will be back in the East this March for camp! Who’s got next outta there? Anyone we should keep tabs on?

Matty Mccrowe. Very quick and smart guard. Can really defend the ball and get tonnes of steals. Can shoot the ball as well. He has been dominating High school basketball in Newfoundland. Devin O’Leary is another one, can shoot it, good with the ball and quick hands on D.

What type of impact do you feel you will have at UMBC?

At UMBC I want to be that spark that comes in and really gets the team going. Someone that can bring the energy on the defensive end and contribute offensively. I think ill be able to bring size to the line up while maintaining quickness. I believe Ill help them stretch the floor and help the guards and post get room to do what they want while being available for kick outs and hurtingthe defence for cheating. Ulitmatly my hope is to bring something that they don’t have right now and help them be more successful.

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