PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Head men’s basketball coach Fred Hill announced today that guard Muhamed Hasani (Pristina, Kosovo) has signed a scholarship agreement to attend Rutgers University and compete for the Scarlet Knights. A member of the Kosovo senior national team since 2007, Hasani is slated to arrive on campus tomorrow.
“We feel very fortunate to add a player of this caliber to our roster at such a late stage,” said Hill. “We are confident that Muhamed can be a key contributor. He is a solid player with experience, who handles and shoots the ball well. We are very excited to welcome him into the program.”
Hasani (6-3, 190) has played for the KB Sigal Prishtina Junior team since 2005, winning two U18 titles and a pair of U16 championships with the club. Recognized in the summer of 2007 by the Basketball Federation of Kosovo as the best player under the age of 21, he recently competed with the Kosovo Junior National Team at the Friendship Games in Eliat, Israel. Fluent in four languages (Albanian, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian and English), Hasani attended Gymnasium Sami Frasheri in Pristina, Kosovo, where he was an honor student.
Hasani (born Dec. 5, 1988) becomes the fourth player on the Rutgers roster to compete at the senior national level. This summer, guard Mike Coburn (Mount Vernon, N.Y.), forward Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venzuela) and guard Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) all earned playing time at FIBA senior events. Coburn handled both guard positions to help Jamaica to gold at the 2009 Caribbean Basketball Championships in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Echenique played with Venezuela at the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was the youngest player to compete at the 10-nation tournament. Rosario played with Puerto Rico at the Marchand Continental Cup in San Juan and was the youngest player in the four-nation event. In addition, the Rutgers roster also boasts international students Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) and Brian Okam (Enugu, Nigeria).
The Scarlet Knights begin preseason practice on Friday, October 16.
