Esa Ahmad enjoyed a strong four-year career at West Virginia and was an instrumental part of consecutive Sweet 16 teams in 2017 and 2018.
More than five years after Ahmad wrapped up his college career, he again has an opportunity to represent the Mountaineers through Best Virginia, the WVU-alumni based squad that will begin play in The Basketball Tournament on Saturday in Pittsburgh.
It marks Ahmad’s first time participating in the event and the 6-foot-8 forward is one of eight players with ties to the Mountaineers among the 10-man roster.
“It feels great playing in front of these fans,” Ahmad said Friday night at Buckhannon-Upshur High School following Best Virginia’s lone exhibition. “They’re the best fans in the world. Playing in different countries and coming back here to play in front of them, there’s nothing like it.”
While only seven of the team’s 10 players were present to participate in the exhibition, Ahmad was a force throughout, scoring a team-high 19 points in a 75-59 victory. He scored in each of the four 9-minute quarters, including six of the team’s 11 first-quarter points and seven more during the second period, which Best Virginia scored 31 points in to gain control of the matchup. Ahmad finished with eight two-point field goals as well as a three-pointer to serve as an offensive catalyst.
The 27-year-old Ahmad is 10 weeks removed from wrapping up his most successful season professionally as he averaged 14.2 points and five rebounds for BBC Bayreuth of the German Pro A League. For someone who was limited to 11 games over the previous two seasons as a result of a right knee injury, it was an encouraging sign.
“It was great. I’d basically sat two years,” Ahmad said. “I tore my meniscus and got back into Germany on a four-month contract. I was playing well and they extended my contract, so that was a good season for me.”
Ahmad, who also played professionally in Cyprus, Hungary and Argentina, is grateful to be back at full strength.
“I feel good,” he said. “We have trainers now and they can get me right.”
Ahmad, who averaged double digits in three of his four seasons at WVU and 9.3 points for his college career, says he’s working on signing another contract to continue his professional career overseas, perhaps in Asia.
For the time being, he’s focused on doing his part to help Best Virginia make a run in TBT, which the team will attempt to do starting at 3 p.m. Saturday against Brotherly Love at the Petersen Events Center.
With the return of Jonathan Holton to Best Virginia and the additions of Ahmad, Sagaba Konate, Devin Williams and Wesley Harris, Best Virginia has a surplus of size, and perhaps more importantly, length.
Ahmad, Holton and Harris have wingspans and enough athleticism to guard multiple positions comfortably.
“That’s good for us. We can switch a lot of things,” Ahmad said. “Whether we’re playing against big guards or other long guys, we can switch and make it a little tougher on them.”
The effectiveness of those switches and utilizing that length to the best of their advantage could be a key factor in determining how long Best Virginia sticks around in TBT, according to Chase Harler, a former teammate of Ahmad’s in Morgantown who has taken over head coaching and general manager duties for Best Virginia.
“We have to have a foundation,” Harler said, “and our foundation has to be defense.”