HIS GAME IN MIDST OF A BIG GROWTH SPURT, CHESTERTON BASKETBALL STAR BRADLY BASILA EAGER TO SEE WHAT THE TROJANS CAN LEARN ABOUT THEMSELVES AT THE LOADED CHARLIE HUGHES SHOOTOUT THIS WEEKEND IN CARMEL

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

So much has changed for Chesterton junior to be Bradly Basila since he moved from Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-January 2025, but at least one thing remains the same.
Then and now, Basila’s focus is trained on growing as a basketball player. It’s the reason he moved here, and the big strides he has made only make him hungrier to grow faster.
“I play basketball, go home, sleep, eat, work out,” Basila said. “It’s the same thing every day.”
And that doesn’t get boring?
“No,” he said. “I’m fine. I just keep working.”
He enjoys it. He also enjoys his American family, headed by Rachel and Luke Miller.
“I never had a brother. Now I have three, so it’s very fun,” he said of, oldest to youngest, Logan, Hudson and Myles Miller, three similarly basketball-crazed boys.
Basila watches DR Congo’s World Cup soccer matches on TV and chats with his mother, Charlyse, daily. Other than that, he’s pretty much on the basketball court putting up shots, competing in games and practices, or lifting at home or in the Chesterton weight room.
It shows in every aspect of his game, which is in the midst of a big growth spurt. He’s shooting better, posting up better, playing through contact better, driving better, playing more under control, and doing it all with way bigger biceps and more explosive legs. He said that he now stands 6-foot-7 “and a half. I don’t think I’m done growing.” He has a 6-11 wingspan and listed his weight as 200 pounds, up almost 40 pounds in the past 18 months.
Basila was named MVP of the Indiana All-Stars Futures Game, a North-South contest that pits freshmen and sophomores from last season. He already has received four scholarship offers to play at Division I schools. The first came from Oral Roberts, the next three from schools that compete in the Mid-American Conference: Ball State, Kent State and Toledo.
“It’s amazing how fast it happens,” he said of the offers and then shared the feedback he received from the coaches. “They say they like how hard I go and how I play and they think I’m very skilled. They say they like me and they’d like to see me play there.”
He puts everything he hears through his favorite basketball filter: Urban.
“Like Coach Urban says, compliments can help you grow or they can bring you down,” Basila said. The way I like to take it is to take the compliment and keep working hard, keep growing.”
Basila’s Futures Game MVP performance came on the first day of June. For the final weekend of the month he will compete with Chesterton teammates in the loaded Charlie Hughes Shootout in Carmel, a tournament he experienced last season.
“It's competitive. There are good teams over there. I like that,” he said. “Last year, it helped us to know where we are, and how to change some things to get better. So I think that’s going to be the same thing this year. So we compete and see where we are and how it goes and try to get better from it.”
Basketball was born in the United States, but to appreciate how seriously talented players from beyond our borders embrace the challenge of growing their games and playing with team-first attitudes, consider that the past eight NBA MVP trophies have gone to players born outside the United States.