City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Haverford College men’s basketball head coach Patrick Doherty describes Dhruv Mehrotra as someone who ‘eats, sleeps and breathes’ basketball. 

Since he was a teenager, the sport has consumed Mehrotra — a 6-2 senior guard for the Fords — taking him halfway across the world.

Originally from Pune, India, Mehrotra started playing hoops after his mother Shubah and sister Neha played for state teams in India. At age 15, he looked toward the United States to see where basketball could take him.

He spent three years boarding at the Blue Ridge School (Va.) under coach Cade Lemcke before joining the Haverford College program with trips home to India a rarity. Now finishing up his hoops playing career as a starter with the Fords this season, there are no regrets.

“Because my parents are paying so much money, I want to put a good effort in (academically) but the main reason was definitely basketball because I wanted to have a better chance at just learning and playing around great players, great coaches,” said Mehrotra, a physics major.

Mehrotra described himself mostly as an 'energy guy' during his playing days at Blue Ridge, a school usually loaded with scholarship level talent. It took time to gain confidence in his game before earning college interest.

During his first three years (two seasons) at Haverford, that was Mehrotra's role as well, as he saw very little significant playing time.

He averaged 2.8 ppg in 5.4 mpg as a freshman at Haverford. The Fords didn’t play in 2020-21. As a junior last season, he appeared in 14 games, averaging 1.1 ppg in seven minutes per contest.

The Fords only graduated one player, so there weren’t many minutes to replace. At the end of last season, neither Mehrotra nor Doherty envisioned him seeing significant minutes, let alone crack the starting lineup.

Then came the preseason.

Doherty came up with a new idea where he would give a red jersey to players on the team who brought the most competitiveness and energy in practice. The plan was to have that jersey switch from practice to practice or week to week. Mehrotra got one of the red jerseys early this preseason and never had to give it back.

“He had a terrific preseason,” Doherty said. “He just outcompeted guys who were ahead of him last year.”

“He’s one of those guys who shows up to practice 100 percent, a ton of energy and he’s played great. He’s obviously making shots, shooting it with a ton of confidence, he’s one of our better defensive guard right now. I’m just so happy for him because he’s kind of worked really hard in the shadows not playing a lot for us in his first three years.”

Mehrotra is running with the opportunity.

He totaled just 15 points in 14 games last season. Mehrotra matched that total with 15 points in his first career start on Saturday — an overtime loss to nationally ranked Wesleyan. 

Mehrotra backed that up with a hot start on Sunday, scoring all 11 of his points in the first half to set the tone in an 80-69 win over a Bowdoin. He is averaging 13 ppg through two games.

“I think it was always in my game, but the mental aspect is obviously the biggest thing in all sports and any aspect in life,” Mehrotra said. “Once you have that confidence in yourself and confidence that it’s not about the scoring but all those little things I talked about, when you can be secure in yourself that, ‘I can contribute in a big way in those little things,’ I think the scoring aspect, assisting the ball, rebounding will come by itself. But I think it’s believing that our identity is boxing out, playing hard defense, all that stuff, contributes.”

Mehrotra earned the respect of his teammates during his time at Haverford, also garnering the nickname ‘Diesel.’ Foherty believes Mehrtotra is one of the hardest working players he’s coached at Haverford and the rest of the players concur.

“This is the hardest-working Division III player in the country,” Haverford senior Charlie Mamlin said.

The Fords went 13-12 overall last season and 9-9 in the Centennial Conference. Most of the pieces from a balanced 2021-22 squad are back, including senior forward Nate Torres (11.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg), sophomore forward Harry Johnson (11.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg), junior guard Gabriel Franklin (8.7 ppg), senior guard Jackson Ryan (8.5 ppg), senior guard Josh Love (8.2 ppg), and senior guard Ryan Trotter (7.2 ppg).

Mehrotra is third on the team in scoring through two games behind Torres (17 ppg) and senior guard Nick Kerkorian (15 ppg). He’s also second behind Kerkorkian in minutes.

Adding Mehrotra to an already deep mix of players that also includes Mamlin, junior forward Clay Killoren and junior guard Brandon Banadda (Friends’ Central) can only improve the Fords chances of competing with the likes of Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, Gettysburg and Ursinus in the Centennial. They were selected to finish fifth behind those respective teams in the preseason poll after tying for fifth last season.

“I think the biggest thing is we have eight seniors and everybody wants to contribute not just on the court but when we’re in practice bringing energy,” Mehrotra said.  “I think being experienced always helps in everything, and I think that’s going to be a big part of us. 

“Three or four of our guys could have graduated last year, but they re-classed or they took a gap year and now they want to come back and contribute more. I think that’s huge for us. Our depth is something that we have to use to our best abilities and I think that's something that we’re going to do this year.”

Mehrotra is constantly talking whether on the floor or on the bench. He describes his role as a ‘connector’ both offensively and defensively. He said he’s always been engaged in the game, but that vocal leadership role has obviously felt much more comfortable this season paired with an enhanced on-court role.

It’s no surprise he plans on sticking in basketball as a coach after his playing career at Haverford wraps following this season. He coached for Philly Pride’s AAU program this offseason along with working at various camps and clinics throughout the spring and summer. 

During his career at Haverford he has had plenty of conversations with Doherty about trying to examine the game through the lens of a coach — something he noted has contributed to his breakout senior campaign.

“I think the biggest thing is as a senior, you start learning what you’re doing why you’re doing it is the biggest part,” Mehrotra said. “I started realizing I want to become a coach after college and once you get into that mindset I feel like you start looking at the game differently — why you’re setting the screen, why boxing out is so important, all those little things — and I feel like that has helped me and this team a lot as well.”

His coach believes his future is bright in the sport. There are things Mehrotra notes during games and practices that highlight he sees the game differently.

“He’s going to coach whether he’s coaching in the NBA in 20 years or he’s coaching at a boarding school,” Doherty said. “He’s 100 percent going to be a coach. He and I have been talking about his role in this program even before he’s kind of emerged as somebody who’s making big contributions. He wanted to learn how to coach while he’s here. It’s really fun having kids like that because you just don’t get a lot of them at Haverford or I bet a lot of other schools too.”

Before this preseason, Mehrotra thought he may have spent most of his senior year viewing the game from the bench and trying to assist from that role in any way he could.

Instead, he’s embracing the chance to help out on the court at Haverford before trying to make the transition to the sidelines. Playing high-level college hoops was part of the basketball journey he envisioned when he left home and traveled halfway around the world as a teenager.

“I’m just excited,” Mehrotra said. “I wasn’t expecting to play this much, but I’m definitely just excited to have one last year of playing and I’m grateful that I can make a little bit more of an impact on this team more than just being vocal and bringing energy. That's' going to be exciting.”