The history of basketball is one of regions and localities that, through luck, culture and sheer obsession with the game, have managed to cement their spots in the over-a-century story of the sport.
In the United States, it is places like New York City, Los Angeles, the DMV, Houston or even rural Indiana. Internationally it is cities like Paris, Melbourne, Belgrade and Vilnius. All of these places, related only by the sport they play, have also developed their own subcultures and produced some of the best players to ever put a ball through a hoop. In recent years, probably the last two decades, another city has made its debut into this conversation and even has a case for being called one of the sport’s foremost hubs.
Enter Toronto, Canada.
The Greater Toronto Area — colloquially known as “the GTA” — is now one of the biggest producers of high-level basketball players, including NBA stars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and R.J. Barrett. Among that growing list is Virginia freshman guard Ishan Sharma, who comes from Milton, Ontario. The young sharpshooter has already found his way into Interim Coach Ron Sanchez’s rotations as a dangerous three-point specialist who can also handle the ball on occasion.
Some top NCAA programs, such as Michigan, Kentucky and Gonzaga, have long histories of Canadians and Torontonians on the roster. But Virginia’s record is more contemporary. Prior to Sharma, the last Canadian to suit up for the Cavaliers was Marial Shayok from 2014-2017. Sharma said that being among the Canadian Cavaliers comes with a new type of motivation.
“It feels like you’ve got a whole country on your back,” Sharma said in an interview.
Sharma, like many Canadians, is a fan of the Toronto Raptors — a team that has only been around since 1995 but has, especially in recent years, become an important part of Toronto and even Canadian culture.
He said that Canadian basketball is special in part for that reason. In 2019, when the Raptors won the NBA championship, communities across the country formed “Jurassic parks,” watch parties for a squad that — over the course of only months — had grown from Toronto’s team to all of Canada’s.
“I feel like [there’s] more of a sense of community and pride,” Sharma said. “Because the NBA only has one team from Canada, so it’s kind of like the whole country is behind that one team.”
Canada and the United States are not that different culturally, and athletes have come to Charlottesville from all over the world for other sports, including a number of Canadians. Sharma acknowledged that “basketball is basketball” anywhere you go, and said that one of the hardest things about the change in scenery was having to adapt to using Fahrenheit and miles.
Nevertheless, he said he carries Toronto with him everywhere he goes — even in his decision to change his jersey number from No. 6 in high school to No. 9 in college. Toronto is often referred to as “the six” and, in his song “9,” Drake — a rapper with undeniable influence in Toronto culture — references his impact on the city he “turn[ed] the six upside down.” Sharma said he thought the new chapter of his basketball story merited a similar switch.
That might mean teaching his teammates some of Toronto’s infamous slang, which he said they tend to brush off here and there. It also means playing with that added motivation — as if a whole country is watching, because one day that might be true.
Sharma is not just part of a movement as a Canadian player in the NCAA, but also as one of South Asian heritage — a community that does not have a long history of producing basketball players. Sharma, whose elder brother Aryan played college basketball at Western University in Ontario, said he hopes he can serve as an inspiration for the next generation of players of Indian or South Asian descent.
In Virginia’s away loss to Stanford, Sharma had the chance to play against another South Asian basketball player in Cardinal sophomore guard Ryan Agarwal. Sharma said that he hopes stories such as his or Agarwal’s can push younger players to reach their level, or even higher.
“I know they were probably told it was impossible,” Sharma said. “Or like, ‘Be a doctor,’ ‘Be a lawyer’ or ‘Be an engineer.’ But they can see me, my brother, Ryan, guys like that, and be like, ‘I can be like them.’”
Only 22 games into his college career, Sharma is already making an impact. He is a sharp-shooter by trade — he has attempted 50 more three-point shots than two-point ones — but Sanchez has also, on occasion, entrusted him to handle the ball and serve as the team’s playmaker when junior guard Andrew Rohde is resting.
This Virginia squad is also a team full of shooters — currently the third best three-point shooting team in the conference. Sharma sees this as an advantage.
“I’m a shoot-first guy, but if [the opponents] take my shot away I can create a shot for another person who’s just as dangerous,” Sharma said. “It’s hard to guard when that much shooting can open the floor up … it just brings another dimension to the team.”
Sharma is averaging only 3.9 points per game as a Cavalier but on strong efficiency. He is still young and still learning the system, thrust into action on a team of newcomers in a program that has always leaned toward experience. But the flashes he has shown, in his 14.7 minutes per game, have provided tantalizing glimpses of the future that could be.
When the shots are falling, Sharma can be a dangerous threat from beyond the arc. The next step will be to up the efficiency and volume even more to become a truly lethal shooter and a consistent scoring contributor.
That definitely comes with his shooting — he said he has been working with coaches to speed up his release and catch the ball higher to give the defense less time to contest his shots. That high release is part of what makes him stand out on the court. And like much of his disposition, it comes from the GTA.
“I try to add whatever Toronto flair wherever I am,” Sharma said. “Whatever situation I’m in.”
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