“You’re supposed to five times a day, but it’s hard to keep up,” Yurtseven said.
#Omer yurtseven nc state free#
At Georgetown, he attends mosque every Friday and spends a lot of free time with family members who live nearby. Since Yurtseven moved to the District, he has become a part of the city’s relatively large Muslim community: The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study estimates that Muslims represent about 2 percent of the city’s total population, one of the highest proportions of any major American city. “This administration has contributed to more division, more fear, and more anxiety than I could have ever expected.” “Anyone who tells you that Islamophobia has not risen since the election of Trump does not understand what America is going through,” said Imam Yahya Hendi, one of Georgetown’s Muslim chaplains and the school’s director for Muslim life.
According to data from the Pew Research Center, the total number of documented assaults against Muslims in 2016 eclipsed 2001 levels, their previous peak, and a ban on travel from certain Muslim majority countries is the official policy of the United States. The rate of anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States increased five-fold following the Sept. ĭuring a 2017 Raleigh city council race, a Muslim candidate’s campaign sign was vandalized with racist text, a swastika, and the name “Trump.”Īcts of Islamophobia are not limited to Raleigh, nor to recent years. While media outlets appeared to conclude that the motive behind the homicide was a parking dispute, the killer’s Facebook page was littered with anti-Christian and anti-Muslim posts, according to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times. Then, in 2015, three Muslim students were murdered by a neighbor in their Chapel Hill, North Carolina apartment. The North Carolina Bar Association, an independent organization of legal professionals, said the bill was unnecessary, and critics argued that its only purpose is to foment anti-Muslim sentiments. In 2013, the North Carolina Legislature passed a law, colloquially known as the “anti-Sharia” bill, that banned state courts from applying foreign laws. He declined to elaborate with more specific details, but the Raleigh area has recently seen several high-profile acts of Islamophobia, some violent. According to Yurtseven, there were “a few events” that caused him to feel uncomfortable in Raleigh. Yurtseven’s decision to relocate to Washington comes during a nationwide rise in Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crimes. Yurtseven did end up leaving Raleigh however, instead of going to the NBA, he opted to transfer to a different university to continue his academic and athletic careers. NCAA basketball experts suggested that he would have been a first-round pick if he left for the NBA draft in 2018. That year, as a sophomore, Yurtseven averaged 13.5 points per game. But he thrived under a new pick-and-roll style offense in the 2017-18 campaign, following the arrival of a new head coach, Kevin Keatts. He struggled in his first year at NC State, averaging just 5.9 points per game. “Everybody said I could have and I was offered a contract, but I decided to get a better education by coming to the States,” Yurtseven said.ĭue to NCAA eligibility rules, Yurtseven was suspended for the first nine games of the 2016-17 season, his freshman year. universities to commit to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Just one day after his record performance, he turned down a multi-year contract from Fenerbahçe and scholarship offers from other U.S.
#Omer yurtseven nc state professional#
Unlike the large majority of elite European basketball prospects, Yurtseven decided to play collegiate basketball instead of entering the NBA straight from his Turkish professional team.
In May 2016, Yurtseven made international headlines after scoring 91 points and grabbing 28 rebounds in a U18 game for Fenerbahçe. He started playing basketball at age 8, became more serious in his teenage years, and was signed to Fenerbahçe’s senior squad at 15.
Three years ago, Yurtseven, who is Turkish, was playing professionally for the EuroLeague club Fenerbahçe in Istanbul, Turkey.
But Yurtseven, a practicing Muslim, had another priority–the diversity of Washington, D.C., and Georgetown’s reputation for religious tolerance. He mentioned Georgetown’s top-tier academics, the Hoyas’ team culture, and the presence and experience of head men’s basketball coach Patrick Ewing as key reasons for transferring to the Hilltop. Junior men’s basketball player Omer Yurtseven has taken an unusual path to Georgetown.
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