Brandone Edward Francis Ramírez (born September 10, 1994) is a Dominican professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

who last played for

Prawira Bandung Prawira Bandung is an Indonesian basketball club based in the city of Bandung, West Java province. It was founded by Lilian Wijaya in 1991 as Hadtex Indosyntec. The club is a member of the Perbasi's top division since 1994. They won championship ...

of the

Indonesian Basketball League The Indonesian Basketball League (IBL; id, Liga Bola Basket Indonesia) is the preeminent men's professional basketball league in Indonesia, founded by Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) in 2003. From 2010 to 2015 it was known as the Na ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raider ...

and the Florida Gators.

College career

Francis

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman season at

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for academic reasons. As a redshirt freshman, he averaged two points in 10.8 minutes per game. Francis transferred to

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, sitting out his following season due to

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) transfer rules. As a junior, Francis averaged 5.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. At the 2019 NCAA Division I Championship Game, his final college appearance, he scored a team-high 17 points in an 85–77

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

loss to first-seeded

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. As a senior, Francis averaged 6.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

Professional career

On August 15, 2019, Francis was selected by

Metros de Santiago Metros de Santiago is a professional basketball team based in Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago, Dominican Republic. The team currently plays in the Dominican top division Liga Nacional de Baloncesto. Championships Liga Nacional de Baloncesto ...

with the first overall pick in the Dominican

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto The Liga Nacional de Baloncesto (LNB) is the top men's professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic. Established in 2005, six teams compete annually between September and October. History The league was founded on September 6, 2004 a ...

draft. One week later, he signed his first professional contract with the team. Francis led Metros to the league championship game. In 21 appearances, he averaged 11.3 points per game. On November 20, 2019, Francis signed with the

Iowa Wolves The Iowa Wolves are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Des Moines, Iowa, and are affiliated with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves play their home games at the Wells Fargo Arena and compete in the Western ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. In 20 games, he averaged 2.8 points in 8.4 minutes per game. Francis tested positive for and recovered from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

in June 2020. On August 9, he signed with

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

of the Spanish Liga ACB. In 2022, Francis signed for Prawira Harum Bandung of the

(IBL). In regular season, he averaged 23.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game in 25.3 minutes per game, earning him IBL Foreign Player of The Year as well as leading Prawira Harum Bandung to their first ever championship since 1998. He recorded his IBL career high in a 78-61 win against RANS PIK Basketball scoring 41 points on 12-26 shooting and 15-21 from free throw line.

Personal life

Francis' father, Bobby, played college basketball for Boston College in the 1980s. Bobby later worked as a brand strategist in the entertainment industry, developing a close relationship with rapper

Nipsey Hussle Airmiess Joseph Asghedom (August 15, 1985 – March 31, 2019), known professionally as Nipsey Hussle (often stylized as Nipsey Hu$$le), was an American rapper, entrepreneur, and activist. Emerging from the West Coast hip hop scene in the mid- ...

. Francis' mother, Kenia Ramírez, lives in the Dominican Republic. He met her for the first time in two years during senior night at Texas Tech in 2019.

References

External links

Florida Gators bioTexas Tech Red Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Brandone 1994 births Living people Dominican Republic expatriate basketball people in Spain Dominican Republic expatriate basketball people in the United States Dominican Republic men's basketball players Florida Gators men's basketball players Gipuzkoa Basket players Iowa Wolves players Liga ACB players Sportspeople from La Romana, Dominican Republic Shooting guards Small forwards Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball players Basketball players at the 2023 Pan American Games Metros de Santiago players