It’s a long way from Sydney, Australia, to Oakland University—9,480 miles, to be exact. That’s a 15-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles and five more hours from Los Angeles to Detroit, spanning all the way across the United States and the Pacific Ocean.
For Oakland men’s basketball player Buru Naivalurua, it’s a trip that changed his life.
“I started playing basketball competitively at 15 but first started with my high school team and rec leagues at 14,” Naivalurua said. “I played rugby for nine years before I switched over to basketball.”
It took a while before Naivalurua was eventually drawn to basketball. He credits his friends in high school for pushing him to pursue it, as well as a coach, Demarcus Berry, who saw him play in a recreation league when he first started.
Sometimes, the people we meet incidentally have the largest impact on our lives. It went this way for Naivalurua and Coach Berry. As Naivalurua’s career progressed, it became clear that he could play college basketball in the United States, and Berry made sure he knew about the opportunities he had.
“My coach told me about the opportunity to play at Garden City Community College in Garden City, Kansas. He told me they’d offer me over a Zoom call, and when they did, I signed the papers and sent them back on the same day,” Naivalurua said.
Reflecting on my own experience, I first wanted to go to Michigan State University after high school but changed my mind due to the distance from home, which was only about an hour and a half. I mention this to highlight how incredible the journey is to leave one continent to go to another.
“Leaving wasn’t as hard as you might think. If anything, that was the easy part of the whole process,” Naivalurua said. “It only starts to get hard after you’ve been here for a couple of months.”
It’s something every international athlete goes through: the extreme excitement mixed with the heartache of missing home.
“You start to realize how much time you spend around friends and family,” Naivalurua said. “The time difference makes it really difficult to speak to them for extended periods of time.”
Coming to Kansas would be Naivalurua’s first time in the United States. He would spend only one at Garden City, averaging 14.8 points with 10.2 rebounds on 62.2% field goal shooting. The 6-foot-7 forward was named a second-team All-American in NJCAA Division I, making him a highly targeted transfer for the 2023 season.
It was Oakland University that eventually landed the coveted forward. Naivalurua emphasized the environment that he saw in Oakland, which ultimately made him decide to commit.
“Seeing how well the guys got along made it look like an environment I’d enjoy being a part of. Being so far away from home, it’s important that I enjoy the people I’m around,” Naivalurua said.
Current assistant coach Bobby Naubert also came to OU from Garden City that same year, giving Naivalurua another reason to commit to the Golden Grizzlies.
Everyone knows the story of Oakland in the 2023-24 season. There are bunches of wins, tons of accolades, a ring and some pieces of net to show for it. For Naivalurua, the year was also vital for his growth as a player.
“I learned a lot mentally from the guys in front of me about how to deal with the ups and downs of the season,” Naivalurua said. “I also got to experience a lot of what high major arenas and fans were like, which has been extremely helpful in dealing with high-pressure situations.”
However, Naivalurua doesn’t want Oakland to be the final stop in his basketball career.
“I want to play professionally, more specifically in the NBA,” Naivalurua said. “I’d be very happy to have a long pro career that takes me places and puts some money in my pocket.”
Now, for some fast facts: Naivalurua’s first dunk came at the age of 14, a month before his 15th birthday. According to Naivalurua, his career-high is “somewhere between 50-60 points in high school, but the competition wasn’t great, so I never really remember the exact number.” His favorite player of all time is Russell Westbrook.
So far this year, Naivalurua has been a key piece to Oakland’s team, averaging 12.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game on 57.9% shooting. Fans can catch him at Oakland games soaring above the rim for a throwdown or hitting his signature turnaround fade.