IU basketball’s roster of Academic All-Big Ten players is likely to grow in 2024-25.
New big man Dallas James posted on his Instagram account he’ll pursue a Masters Degree in Intelligent Systems Engineering at Indiana.
In case you’re like me and don’t know what that means, here’s what IU says about the program:
“Engineering is all about problem solving. Intelligent systems engineering (ISE) offers the next generation of solutions, powered by computing and artificial intelligence.
In ISE, you’ll create systems that sense and react to their environments. You’ll build computers into devices large and small. And you’ll learn to gather, interpret, and use data for everything from smart devices and robotics to environmental sustainability and medicine.
We see what tomorrow can be, and we shape it every day.”
In his post, the 7-foot James revealed he didn’t go to South Carolina State on a full athletic ride. Instead, he was “on a full academic scholarship from the Emily England Clyburn honors college at SCSU.”
And although the top of his IU bio says he went to Inglewood High School in Southern California, he really didn’t go there as a senior.
As a high academic achiever, James spent his senior year of high school at City Honors International Preparatory Academy, which did not have a basketball program. The school’s students played sports at nearby Inglewood.
James credits his mother for his academic success.
‘She raised me to be a scholar for as long as I can remember. Without her my life would be completely unrecognizable and if she hadn’t taught me how to be a student then I wouldn’t get to be a Hoosier now,” he said.
In a release last week, the first thing IU coach Mike Woodson said about James is that he is an “incredibly intelligent young man.”
That becomes obvious the more you learn about the son of former NBA player Jerome James.
The younger James graduated from South Carolina State in May with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in electrical engineering.
“It wasn’t exactly difficult. It was a lot of work, but it wasn’t difficult because it was what I wanted to do,” James said in a profile of him on the S.C. State website. “I don’t like going anywhere and not giving it my absolute best and full focus. So, it was really easy to choose basketball and to choose school over any other distractions that might have come my way.
“I didn’t refuse to have fun, but school and basketball always came first, and I’m happy I chose what I did,” he said.
James said he wanted to major in computer engineering as an undergraduate, but the school did not have that program. Now he’ll have that chance at Indiana.
For more background on James and highlights, GO HERE.
For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE.
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