Varun Ram Ramasamy (born December 16, 1992) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played for the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

. He was one of the few players in the

NCAA 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 an ...

of Indian descent. Ram previously competed for

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Collegiate career

Senior

On March 20, 2015 in his first

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

appearance, Ram made a key play in the final seconds of a second-round game against Valparaiso. Crusaders guard Tevonn Walker made a free throw with one minute remaining in the second half, making the score 65–62 in Maryland's favor. Following a missed opportunity to close the game from

Dez Wells Dezmine Wells (born April 15, 1992) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the Xavier Musketeers and Maryland Terrapins. High schoo ...

, Valparaiso's Keith Carter attempted to take the final three-point shot and a potential game-tying field goal with a second left in regulation. However, Ram, who was primarily guarding him, smacked the ball away and began to run around the court very hyped up. He said after the game, "I've been envisioning this my whole life. And being able to actually do it, for it to happen, is amazing. I feel like it's a dream come true. A game of this magnitude, it's unbelievable." Terrapins head coach

Mark Turgeon Mark Leo Turgeon (born February 5, 1965) is an American college basketball coach. Turgeon served as the head men's basketball coach at Jacksonville State University from 1998 to 2000, Wichita State University from 2000 to 2007, Texas A&M Univers ...

remarked that Ram was one of his top five funniest players. He did not accumulate any statistics throughout the contest, though, because

Evan Smotrycz Evan Michael Smotrycz (born August 2, 1991) is an American basketball player. He played college basketball for Michigan and Maryland. Engaged to Good Day Columbia WACH FOX 57 co-anchor Olivia DiVenti as of October 2022. High school career Smotryc ...

was given credit for the steal.

Personal

Ram is the son of Kolandavel and Santhini Ramasamy. He is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and his parents were born and brought up in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, a state in the Southern part of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. They migrated in the late 80s to find a job, have a better standard of living, and support their family back in the motherland. His sister, Anita, attended

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

for both her undergraduate degree as well as medical school. Varun has been considered the Maryland basketball team's smartest player, with a 3.99

grade-point average Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

and

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

. He is well known for his grit, determination, and perseverance in both athletics and academics. After he graduates UMD, he wants to work in Medical consulting. He was also thinking of playing basketball for an overseas professional team or the Indian National team (unfortunately at this point however he is ineligible). In addition, Ram is a volunteer coaching fellow with Crossover Basketball and Scholars Academy (www.crossover-india.org); an organization committed to impacting education rates in India (Chennai at this time) through the use of basketball as a vehicle of change and imparting the skills of leadership, character, teamwork, and communication. Regarding his Tamil culture, he is also a participant and organizer in

FeTNA The Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA) is a non-profit organization of Tamil organizations in the United States and Canada. It is a registered, non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization and founded in 1987 by five Tamil orga ...

, the

Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America The Federation of Tamil Sangams in North America (FeTNA) is a non-profit organization of Tamil organizations in the United States and Canada. It is a registered, non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization and founded in 1987 by five Tamil orga ...

and the

Tamil Sangam of Greater Washington Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

. These are

cultural conventions for

Tamil Americans Tamil Americans (தமிழ் அமெரிக்கர்கள்) are Americans who are of Tamil origin. The majority of Tamil Americans come from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Significant minorities are from other Indian states like Ka ...

to keep in touch with their

Tamil culture Tamil culture is the culture of the Tamil people. Tamil culture is rooted in the arts and ways of life of Tamils in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and across the globe. Tamil culture is expressed in language, literature, music, dance, the ...

since they cannot travel to

all the time. Teammate

Melo Trimble Romelo Delante Trimble (born February 2, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for CSKA Moscow of the VTB United League. He played at Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, where he was a McDonald's All-Ameri ...

said, "Varun, he's probably the smartest guy on the team."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Varun 1992 births Living people American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Indian descent Basketball players from Maryland Guards (basketball) Maryland Terrapins men's basketball players People from Howard County, Maryland Trinity Bantams men's basketball players