Perfect spot': Top recruit Gus Yalden healthy, settling in at Asheville School basketball
James Crabtree-Hannigan
Asheville Citizen Times
ASHEVILLE — It was already August, and Gus Yalden didn't know where he would be spending his junior year.
His high school career already had taken numerous turns — two-and-a-half schools, a fractured foot that was only partially healed by a surgery, followed by a more severe break and going back under the knife.
All of it unfolded with the backdrop of heavy expectations of being one of the top Class of 2023 recruits in the nation, raising the stakes of phone calls such as the one Yalden made to Asheville School basketball coach Nick Whitmore with less than a month before the start of the school year.
"There happened to be one bed left," Yalden said. "I got the final bed here."
With that, Yalden landed at Asheville School for a second time, though the basketball team was relatively low on his list of reasons to become a Blue. He wasn't even certain he'd get to suit up for Whitmore because of the injured foot, but a quick rehab has allowed the 6-foot-9 center to take the floor and complete the final piece of the puzzle at a school he describes as a "perfect spot" for his junior season.
"When I was first subbed in, hearing the crowd cheer and my mom being in the stands, seeing everyone here made me feel part of the community," Yalden said. "To be a Blue officially, it was really cool. Really special."
It was a moment nearly 18 months in the making.
Big schools, small roles
Yalden grew up in the Midwest, and when his mom, Freddy Yalden, moved to Colorado before his freshman year, they knew his first season of high school basketball would be played out of state. A former professional player and college coach, Freddy Yalden knew Colorado's high school basketball scene well enough to know it wasn't up to snuff.
So off went Gus to Southern California powerhouse Mater Dei High School, joining a roster stacked with high-major talent. He didn't play much, a combination of the crowded depth chart and a program philosophy of limiting freshman minutes.
High school basketball: Rakease Passmore catches fire, leads Reynolds to triple digits in 103-83 win over Enka
He planned to come to Asheville School for his sophomore year, when his mom would be getting a job in the area. But as his profile rose even higher and Division I offers poured in during the summer, the pandemic threw the North Carolina 2020-21 high school season into doubt and delayed Freddy Yalden's job prospects.
They decided to take the peace of mind offered by Florida's IMG Academy, the sports-focused boarding school unmatched in the nation and one of the only athletic programs even more prestigious than Mater Dei.
"They were not only guaranteeing me a season, but if something were to happen, they were going to be able to shut down the campus," Yalden said. "I'd (still) be able to play against the post-grad team and the four other teams that were there. So I would've been playing no matter what."
Yalden's minutes were still limited at IMG, again playing behind multiple four- and five-star upperclassmen.
But the rocky trajectory of his next 10 months was set in motion by a foot fracture in December 2020.
An injury-filled 2021
Yalden during his time at IMG Academy.
It wasn't diagnosed until January, and the surgery he underwent in February was revealed to have failed when another fracture of his fifth metatarsal appeared in April, during his second week back on the court. He played on it for about two months, until it was broken much more severely by an opponent landing on it in late July.
Already having been out of action for 12 weeks and hampered for more than two other months of 2021, Yalden had no choice but to have a second surgery.
"My heart sank," Freddy Yalden said. "Nobody wants their kid to have a second surgery. The probability (of success) becomes less and less."
College hoops: How a childhood friendship turned into a historic game for UNC Asheville's Drew Pember
Martin O'Malley, a surgeon in New York City who specializes on feet and ankles of professional athletes, gave the Yaldens confidence the second surgery would be effective. He also laid out a plan for Yalden's return to play, which was tentatively scheduled for Spring 2022.
That put Yalden at a crossroads. He wasn't keen on returning to IMG, nearly 2,000 miles from his mom, unable to take the court and working with a different strength and conditioning coach than the one he knew as a sophomore. And he had sat in enough online classes to know that wasn't for him, either.
"My mom and I are sitting in my grandparents' house in Nebraska, looking at what to do ... knowing full well in two weeks, I have to go to school, and I'm just recovering from surgery," Yalden said. "That night, Mission Hospital here had called my mom and offered her a job."
'Return' to Asheville
With his mother now planning to relocate to Asheville to be a surgical services director at Mission, there was suddenly an obvious choice for his junior year. Yalden already had a relationship with Whitmore, and he could be near his mom as he worked back to full health.
"It was a nice moment to reach back," Whitmore said. "We were excited, and I think him having some familiarity with us helped that second go-round."
He had been enrolled in the summer of 2020 but never moved to Asheville, and he wasn't initially certain how long his stay would be this time, depending on his injury progression and where things stood as he neared a return to the court.
In the meantime, he got acclimated to his third high school in as many years, and the first that he didn't feel placed athletics ahead of academics.
"Mater Dei and IMG are built around sports," Yalden said. "Basketball was our goal. There weren't very many challenging academic classes ... Your community was your team more than your school."
At Asheville School — and unable to play in the early months — Yalden got the closest thing to the experience of being a nondescript high schooler he's ever had or likely will have. Being asked to do more academically than ever before, his mother said, Yalden's willingness and adeptness in the classroom even caught her off guard.
"It's so different, (the school) is not solely about basketball. ... Everything's knit together, you're not [in] your own pod of campus," Yalden said. "Here, when I go into my English class, that's my English family. And then I have a basketball family. That's why I like it so much
"They care about the person I am, what my character is. They don't care if I have 20 offers or no offers."
As he hit the books, he also attacked the rehab process. The X-rays showed a progression much faster than the six-month timeline originally laid out for his recovery, and soon, the Blues would be getting a game-changing addition to their roster.
Return to the court
Yalden is averaging more than 15 points a game for the Blues.
The headaches, moves and costs of his first three years of high school were all worth it because of what Yalden can do on the court.
His mobility, vision and shooting at 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds is exceptional, a rare skill set Freddy Yalden explains is a result of the numerous sports — tennis, hockey, golf, swimming — her son played before gravitating toward basketball around middle school.
"I'm a modern-day big guy," said Yalden, whose YouTube highlights don "Baby Jokic" taglines, references to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, widely considered the greatest passing big man of all time.
Yalden can run his own fast break and operate the offense from the post or by setting screens on the perimeter.
The Blues didn't get to use those skills in their first four games, but Yalden's presence elevated their practices and locker room. With experience at the highest levels of high school basketball, he increased the competitiveness within the program without overstepping his bounds — the limited playing time in his first two seasons also taught him to be a "glue guy," he said.
"He's played against really good players. He knows what it's like to compete at that level and practice at that level," Whitmore said. "He pushes other guys."
He didn't play until Asheville School's fifth game, and even then had to be eased back into the rotation, both for his fitness and for the benefit of a team that had to adjust its play style to fit its best and most unique player.
But there's a reason he entered his junior year with 25 Division I offers, mostly from Power Five conferences. He wouldn't be held down for long, and is averaging more than 15 points for the Blues, who are 12-5 and 3-1 in conference play, even as he still regains trust in his right foot.
On the heels of greater uncertainty than he had ever faced, Yalden has settled into one of the happiest periods of his budding career.
"I never thought I'd end up back here," Yalden said. "But by God's grace, and by everything that happened and sending me back here, Coach Whitmore giving me a second chance and then getting in through the school, it was the perfect opportunity.
"The perfect spot."
James Crabtree-Hannigan
Asheville Citizen Times
ASHEVILLE — It was already August, and Gus Yalden didn't know where he would be spending his junior year.
His high school career already had taken numerous turns — two-and-a-half schools, a fractured foot that was only partially healed by a surgery, followed by a more severe break and going back under the knife.
All of it unfolded with the backdrop of heavy expectations of being one of the top Class of 2023 recruits in the nation, raising the stakes of phone calls such as the one Yalden made to Asheville School basketball coach Nick Whitmore with less than a month before the start of the school year.
"There happened to be one bed left," Yalden said. "I got the final bed here."
With that, Yalden landed at Asheville School for a second time, though the basketball team was relatively low on his list of reasons to become a Blue. He wasn't even certain he'd get to suit up for Whitmore because of the injured foot, but a quick rehab has allowed the 6-foot-9 center to take the floor and complete the final piece of the puzzle at a school he describes as a "perfect spot" for his junior season.
"When I was first subbed in, hearing the crowd cheer and my mom being in the stands, seeing everyone here made me feel part of the community," Yalden said. "To be a Blue officially, it was really cool. Really special."
It was a moment nearly 18 months in the making.
Big schools, small roles
Yalden grew up in the Midwest, and when his mom, Freddy Yalden, moved to Colorado before his freshman year, they knew his first season of high school basketball would be played out of state. A former professional player and college coach, Freddy Yalden knew Colorado's high school basketball scene well enough to know it wasn't up to snuff.
So off went Gus to Southern California powerhouse Mater Dei High School, joining a roster stacked with high-major talent. He didn't play much, a combination of the crowded depth chart and a program philosophy of limiting freshman minutes.
High school basketball: Rakease Passmore catches fire, leads Reynolds to triple digits in 103-83 win over Enka
He planned to come to Asheville School for his sophomore year, when his mom would be getting a job in the area. But as his profile rose even higher and Division I offers poured in during the summer, the pandemic threw the North Carolina 2020-21 high school season into doubt and delayed Freddy Yalden's job prospects.
They decided to take the peace of mind offered by Florida's IMG Academy, the sports-focused boarding school unmatched in the nation and one of the only athletic programs even more prestigious than Mater Dei.
"They were not only guaranteeing me a season, but if something were to happen, they were going to be able to shut down the campus," Yalden said. "I'd (still) be able to play against the post-grad team and the four other teams that were there. So I would've been playing no matter what."
Yalden's minutes were still limited at IMG, again playing behind multiple four- and five-star upperclassmen.
But the rocky trajectory of his next 10 months was set in motion by a foot fracture in December 2020.
An injury-filled 2021
Yalden during his time at IMG Academy.
It wasn't diagnosed until January, and the surgery he underwent in February was revealed to have failed when another fracture of his fifth metatarsal appeared in April, during his second week back on the court. He played on it for about two months, until it was broken much more severely by an opponent landing on it in late July.
Already having been out of action for 12 weeks and hampered for more than two other months of 2021, Yalden had no choice but to have a second surgery.
"My heart sank," Freddy Yalden said. "Nobody wants their kid to have a second surgery. The probability (of success) becomes less and less."
College hoops: How a childhood friendship turned into a historic game for UNC Asheville's Drew Pember
Martin O'Malley, a surgeon in New York City who specializes on feet and ankles of professional athletes, gave the Yaldens confidence the second surgery would be effective. He also laid out a plan for Yalden's return to play, which was tentatively scheduled for Spring 2022.
That put Yalden at a crossroads. He wasn't keen on returning to IMG, nearly 2,000 miles from his mom, unable to take the court and working with a different strength and conditioning coach than the one he knew as a sophomore. And he had sat in enough online classes to know that wasn't for him, either.
"My mom and I are sitting in my grandparents' house in Nebraska, looking at what to do ... knowing full well in two weeks, I have to go to school, and I'm just recovering from surgery," Yalden said. "That night, Mission Hospital here had called my mom and offered her a job."
'Return' to Asheville
With his mother now planning to relocate to Asheville to be a surgical services director at Mission, there was suddenly an obvious choice for his junior year. Yalden already had a relationship with Whitmore, and he could be near his mom as he worked back to full health.
"It was a nice moment to reach back," Whitmore said. "We were excited, and I think him having some familiarity with us helped that second go-round."
He had been enrolled in the summer of 2020 but never moved to Asheville, and he wasn't initially certain how long his stay would be this time, depending on his injury progression and where things stood as he neared a return to the court.
In the meantime, he got acclimated to his third high school in as many years, and the first that he didn't feel placed athletics ahead of academics.
"Mater Dei and IMG are built around sports," Yalden said. "Basketball was our goal. There weren't very many challenging academic classes ... Your community was your team more than your school."
At Asheville School — and unable to play in the early months — Yalden got the closest thing to the experience of being a nondescript high schooler he's ever had or likely will have. Being asked to do more academically than ever before, his mother said, Yalden's willingness and adeptness in the classroom even caught her off guard.
"It's so different, (the school) is not solely about basketball. ... Everything's knit together, you're not [in] your own pod of campus," Yalden said. "Here, when I go into my English class, that's my English family. And then I have a basketball family. That's why I like it so much
"They care about the person I am, what my character is. They don't care if I have 20 offers or no offers."
As he hit the books, he also attacked the rehab process. The X-rays showed a progression much faster than the six-month timeline originally laid out for his recovery, and soon, the Blues would be getting a game-changing addition to their roster.
Return to the court
Yalden is averaging more than 15 points a game for the Blues.
The headaches, moves and costs of his first three years of high school were all worth it because of what Yalden can do on the court.
His mobility, vision and shooting at 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds is exceptional, a rare skill set Freddy Yalden explains is a result of the numerous sports — tennis, hockey, golf, swimming — her son played before gravitating toward basketball around middle school.
"I'm a modern-day big guy," said Yalden, whose YouTube highlights don "Baby Jokic" taglines, references to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, widely considered the greatest passing big man of all time.
Yalden can run his own fast break and operate the offense from the post or by setting screens on the perimeter.
The Blues didn't get to use those skills in their first four games, but Yalden's presence elevated their practices and locker room. With experience at the highest levels of high school basketball, he increased the competitiveness within the program without overstepping his bounds — the limited playing time in his first two seasons also taught him to be a "glue guy," he said.
"He's played against really good players. He knows what it's like to compete at that level and practice at that level," Whitmore said. "He pushes other guys."
He didn't play until Asheville School's fifth game, and even then had to be eased back into the rotation, both for his fitness and for the benefit of a team that had to adjust its play style to fit its best and most unique player.
But there's a reason he entered his junior year with 25 Division I offers, mostly from Power Five conferences. He wouldn't be held down for long, and is averaging more than 15 points for the Blues, who are 12-5 and 3-1 in conference play, even as he still regains trust in his right foot.
On the heels of greater uncertainty than he had ever faced, Yalden has settled into one of the happiest periods of his budding career.
"I never thought I'd end up back here," Yalden said. "But by God's grace, and by everything that happened and sending me back here, Coach Whitmore giving me a second chance and then getting in through the school, it was the perfect opportunity.
"The perfect spot."
