former All Blacks assistant coach John<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Troy]()
Troy Plumtree is heading to the US after playing for the Wellington Saints in the National Basketball League over the past two years. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Plumtree told the Herald the opportunity to play college basketball for California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) arose after his selection in the New Zealand side at the 2024 Fiba Under-17 Basketball World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy performance at this tournament got me to college in America, as my now college team by chance watched my game against Argentina,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The small forward is making the move after playing for the Wellington Saints in the National Basketball League (NBL) over the past two years. In 2023, he also captained Wellington College to their first national basketball title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think NCAA will be a slight step up from the NBL,\u201d Plumtree said. \u201cI think there might be more skill in NCAA, but playing against older and grown men makes it difficult in the NBL.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plumtree said it was special being the only basketball player in a rugby-mad family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m helping my family branch out and not be known as only rugby … My parents were sad for me to leave but they know it\u2019s a stage I have to go through for my future in basketball, so they were happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The record-high Kiwi presence in US college basketball comes as schools can pay their athletes directly \u2013 up to a certain limit \u2013 for the first time in NCAA history.<\/p>\n
ESPN reported in June the annual cap is expected to start at roughly US$20.5 million ($34m) per school in 2025\/26, and the payments are in addition to scholarships and other benefits the athletes already receive.<\/p>\n
Some athletes have reportedly been offered multimillion-dollar NIL (name, image, likeness) deals with their respective schools.<\/p>\n
Plumtree confirmed Cal Poly is paying their athletes to play for them and called it an \u201camazing opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super happy and excited to represent Wellington alongside a few other D1 men\u2019s basketball players. Being able to represent my school and the clubs I played for makes me happy and I\u2019m honoured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiwis playing Division 1 College Basketball in 2025\/26 season<\/p>\n
Women:<\/p>\n
Dani Bayes (Senior) \u2013 Boise State UniversityElla Bradley (Senior) \u2013 Eastern Kentucky UniversityElla Brow (Junior) \u2013 Baylor UniversityIvy Brown (Junior) \u2013 University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyLayla-J Cameron (Junior) \u2013 University of TulsaMackenzie Chatfield (Junior) \u2013 Washington State UniversityFlo Dallow (Sophomore) \u2013 University of PortlandPania Davis (Junior) \u2013 Florida State UniversityBailey Flavell (Freshman) \u2013 University of HawaiiWaiata Jennings (Senior) \u2013 University of Alabama Maia Jones (Junior) \u2013 Santa Clara UniversityEvie Leeson (Freshman) \u2013 Utah Valley UniversityCharlisse Leger-Walker (Senior) \u2013 UCLATannika Leger-Walker (Freshman) \u2013 University of Nebraska OmahaArielle Mackey-Williams (Junior) \u2013 Brigham Young UniversityHelen Matthews (Senior) \u2013 UC DavisJess Moors (Senior) \u2013 Florida Atlantic UniversityRebecca Moors (Sophomore) \u2013 University of HawaiiShawnessy Nordstrom (Sophmore) \u2013 California Baptist UniversityHineaupounamu \u201cMissy\u201d Nuku (Junior) \u2013 Sacred Heart UniversityLilly Parke (Senior) \u2013 Fairleigh Dickson UniversityAmy Pateman (Freshman) \u2013 University of San FranciscoOphelia Powell (Freshman) \u2013 Cal State BakersfieldRafferty Powell (Freshman) \u2013 Gardner WebbShorna Preston (Junior) \u2013 Pepperdine University Izzy Pugh (Sophomore) \u2013 University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeAshlyn Rean (Sophomore) \u2013 Fresno State UniversityHanna Richardson (Sophomore) \u2013 Lipscomb UniversityZoe Richardson (Sophomore) \u2013 USC UpstateZenthia Stowers (Freshman) \u2013 Marshall UniversityEmilee Tahata (Senior) \u2013 Rider UniversityRitorya Tamilo (Sophomore) \u2013 University of HawaiiLilly Taylelei (Junior) \u2013 Iowa StateLauren Whittaker (Freshman) \u2013 Gonzaga UniversityOlivia Williams (Senior) \u2013 University of San FranciscoKodee Williams-Sefo (Freshman) \u2013 Xavier University<\/p>\n
Men:<\/p>\n
Hunter Adam (Junior) \u2013 Davidson CollegeTom Beattie (Junior) \u2013 UC San DiegoCarter Berg-McLean (Fresh) \u2013 Loyola University MarylandKaia Berridge (Sophomore) \u2013 University of EvansvilleNic Book (Sophomore) \u2013 USC UpstateWalter Brown (Senior) \u2013 University of Nevada, Las VegasIsaiah Chappell (Sophomore) \u2013 University of California, DavisLachlan Crate (Freshman) \u2013 Murray State UniversityAhmed Essahatay (Senior) \u2013 Southeastern Louisiana UniversityTafara Gapare (Senior) \u2013 Villanova UniversityBen Gold (Senior) \u2013 Marquette UniversityOscar Goodman (Freshman) \u2013 University of MichiganCarter Hopoi (Freshman) \u2013 Valparaiso UniversityJulius Halaifonua (Sophomore) \u2013 Georgetown UniversityKaia Isaac (Senior) \u2013 Tarleton State UniversityTama Isaac (Freshman) \u2013 University of California, IrvineHayden Jones (Freshman) \u2013 University of WisconsinFinn Lally (Senior) \u2013 College of William & MaryCory Lovell (Junior) – Stonehill CollegeAkiva McBirney-Griffin (R-S Junior) \u2013 University of California, IrvineTroy Plumtree (Freshman) \u2013 Cal PolyKael Robinson (Senior) \u2013 Northern KentuckyKiani Saxon (Senior) \u2013 Wyoming UniversityWill Shortt (Sophomore) \u2013 Niagara University<\/p>\n
Benjamin Plummer<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers sport and breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt also highlights the increasing visibility of Aotearoa talent on the global stage and the strength of our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[9490,10960,10323,64,63,726,101161,101163,21677,16875,101164,28543,8835,704,41050,101162,23918,38633,7820,8050,2552,4211,101160,85,21506,319,34467,2489,2969,3205],"class_list":["post-150626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-after","tag-as","tag-athletes","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-basketballers","tag-begin","tag-being","tag-colleges","tag-descend","tag-division","tag-kiwi","tag-ncaa","tag-number","tag-offered","tag-pay","tag-play","tag-players","tag-record","tag-scholarships","tag-schools","tag-sixty","tag-sports","tag-states","tag-to","tag-united","tag-us","tag-young","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}