TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING

So this past week, it was my birthday, and it reminds me of how grateful I am for everything and everyone the universe has presented, including how thankful I am for you listening to this right now and sharing it with your friends and family, rating and reviewing and downloading the podcast wherever you listen, and for following us on social media @drabhaydandekar. Now for the majority of these past 52 years, I have been a true follower of sports, and basketball at the center. This past week, after a month of madness and a women’s and men’s championship being awarded to LSU and UConn respectively, it was really terrific to catch up with college basketball athlete, Ryan Agarwal. Ryan was born outside of Dallas, TX, and as the child of immigrant parents, grew up loving and excelling at basketball, especially idolizing and being inspired by Satnam Singh, the first and only player of Indian origin selected in the NBA draft. Now for the child or teen who’s out there playing high school and competitive basketball or globally in a basketball academy or program, mind you already at a high level, the odds of getting a scholarship to a division 1 school in the US is over 110:1, and even less if you think of the 65 schools in the main power 5 conferences. This past year, Ryan a 6’6” shooting guard joined Stanford University as a freshman appearing this season in 17 games, and was one of only a handful of players of Indian or South Asian background, men or women, playing on a Division 1 basketball roster. We caught up to talk about being a college athlete in 2023, being an Indian American with very little company in this space, and of course, and in a year of significant surprises in the recent men’s and women’s tournaments, I asked Ryan about parity and competition in this era from a players perspective.

Thanks so much, Ryan, and a reminder to everyone out there, that even with me being a fan of Ryan Agarwal, TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I’m DOING is squarely in Bear Territory and a hearty congrats to new Golden Bear Coach Mark Madsen - lets get this thing turned around! 52 trips around the sun for me and enjoying the ride everyday. Till next time, I’m Abhay Dandekar