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Logan • Australian Funda Nakkasoglu decided to play college basketball at Utah State without visiting the Cache Valley.
It sounds like a recipe for disaster. Instead, Nakkasoglu is cooking.
A do-everything point guard from Melbourne, Nakkasoglu averages 21.5 points per game heading into Wednesday night's game at New Mexico. She is 14th in the country in scoring. No other player from the Mountain West Conference ranks among the top 40.
"Part of it is the system we play," Utah State coach Jerry Finkbeiner said. "Everything goes through her. Our opponents know that, of course. They double-team her. They trap her. We've even seen them recently triple-team certain aspects of her game. … But she's the real deal."
Nakkasoglu's parents were born in Turkey and emigrated to Australia "about 25 years ago," Nakkasoglu said. Growing up, their daughter became part of the basketball boom that swept the country during the past two decades.
Funda Nakkasoglu (pronounced Foon-da Knock-a-so-glue) played junior basketball with scores of players who are now in the United States. Among them: Dante Exum of the Utah Jazz and Ben Simmons of LSU, who is projected to be the No. 1 pick in next summer's NBA Draft.
"… We're everywhere," she said, laughing. "There are so many of us. It's great everyone is doing so well."
Nakkasoglu knew she wanted to come to America to play college basketball "ever since I was little because the system in Australia is not quite the same. You get your education, but it's more like club sports."
Enter Finkbeiner, who's had "eight or 10 girls from Australia in my programs in the last 10 years." He saw video of Nakkasoglu when she was a non-contract developmental player for an Australian professional team and decided to recruit her.
"There's always the possibility, when you do it long distance, that you can be wrong," Finkbeiner said. "But we had a good gut feeling about her. She lived and died with basketball. At the same time, she was a good student and came from a very well-grounded family."
Finkbeiner's timing was perfect. Nakkasoglu was still waiting for scholarship offers not yet tendered, so she researched Utah State on the Internet and signed early.
"I liked how they played," she said. "I liked the up-tempo style, especially [for] the point guard position. My parents also liked Logan as a place — nice and safe."
Last season, Nakkasoglu averaged 17.4 points and 4.7 assists per game. She was named the Mountain West's Freshman of the Year. But the Aggies finished 8-23, including 5-13 in the conference.
This season, Utah State has improved. Its record is 11-11 overall and 6-5 in the Mountain West.
"She's hard to guard," Finkbeiner said, "and being a sophomore, she's just getting better. She is the best point guard in the Mountain West and has a chance, if our team can finish in the top three or four, to be Player of the Year."
Said Nakkasoglu: "I love the confidence coach Fink's had in me from the beginning. He gives me a lot of freedom to create off what I see instead of running specific plays, where the ball has to be passed here or there. He likes an up-tempo game. One of our mottoes is, 'Run, gun and have fun.' "
Twitter: @sluhm —
About Funda Nakkasoglu
Hometown • Hampton, Australia
High School • St. Leonard's
Class • Sophomore
Position • Point guard
Height • 5-7
Career highlights • Was a non-contract developmental player for the Melbourne Boomers of the Women's National Basketball League. … Played for Victoria's under-20 state team and won national championships in 2013 and 2014. … Named Grand Final MVP of the under-18 McDonald National Junior Classic Championship in 2011. … Freshman of the Year in the Mountain West Conference in 2014-15. … Averaged 17.4 points, 4.7 assists per game. … Leads the conference and ranks 14th nationally in scoring this season (21.5).