Kyle Filipowski’s journey has led him to the NCAA Tournament, where Duke will play James Madison on Sunday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
After the tournament, the 7-foot sophomore is expected to be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Originally from Middletown in Orange County, New York, about 110 miles northwest of Manhattan, he made a detour to the Bronx on the way.
Filipowski and his twin brother Matt, who played at Harvard, spent their sophomore year of high school at Fordham Prep.
Filipowski explained on Saturday how he ended up at Fordham Prep after starting his high school career at Minisink Valley High School.
“I was looking for a private school outside of my home town that would give me more exposure to basketball,” Filipowski said. “So I decided to come to Fordham Prep through my AAU connections.”
However, Fordham Prep isn’t typically a place where players become some of the top players in the country.
Filipovski said the level of play was not as high as he expected.
“It actually didn’t turn out the way I expected it to and it didn’t turn out very well for me,” Filipovski said. “We were young, so it could have affected us. It was an unfortunate situation, but we decided to transfer and things worked out well after that.”
The school reached the CHSAA title game during Filipowski’s only season there, but he said he didn’t improve much athletically.
“Absolutely not,” Filipovsky said.
“The moment they came in, we knew we weren’t going to get them until graduation,” Fordham Prep head coach Brian Downey said of the brothers. “We’ll probably keep it for two years and then reclassify it.”
Instead, Filipowski and his brother ended up attending Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Massachusetts after just one season.
But Downey was good enough to understand what Filipowski’s future held.
Downey said Kyle was the shorter of the twins at the time, but his guard skills were still around 6-6.
“Kyle had a great shot and touch,” Downey said. “He was special. It was great to have them while they were there.”
Downey didn’t expect Filipovski to grow this tall, but he’s not surprised where his basketball career has taken him.
“I thought he was going to be a very high prospect in Division I,” Downey said. “He had that written all over his body.”
It turned out that way, even if it was an unusual path.
