Toby Harris ’25 comes from a family of basketball players — his sister plays college basketball at Hamilton College and his father, who played college basketball for the University of California, Davis, is a high school coach in his home state of North Carolina. After fifteen years of growing up in and around the sport, Harris easily associates the word “team” with the word “family.”  

“I think team is really another word for family,” Harris shares. “My team means everything to me and I would do a lot for every single one of them, so I would describe [a] team as a family all working together for a common goal.”

So far this season, the Brandeis men’s basketball team has been exhibiting this closeness that Harris celebrates as the mark of a true team. With a near perfect 5-1 record that was only just tarnished by a 77-63 loss to Babson College on Dec. 1, the Judges are setting themselves up for an exciting season. Winning the University Athletics Association conference is the ultimate goal at the end of the long winter ahead — a victory the Judges have never before managed to accomplish.

It is Harris’s personal goal to claim the UAA Championship title, and he says that his team is pushing for that this year more than ever. Returning to his emphasis on family, Harris says that the team this year is the closest team that he has ever been on, which bodes well for their post-season aspirations. “We basically do everything together, it’s like a family away from home,” Harris says. 

As a senior and a captain on the team, Harris knows that he is following in the footsteps of teammates before him. He says that over his four years at Brandeis, he has “been able to see what seniors on the team have done [as captains]” and has learned leadership skills from them, taking what he has found to be most motivating and supportive and trying to emulate that in his captain position this year. “This year we have a very talented team,” Harris says, “so to be considered a leader and a captain for this team is an honor.” 

Harris also notes that it is important to “lead with your actions as well as your voice.” Apart from athletic achievements — which Harris has many of, including a 2023 First Team All-UAA award, as well as many UAA Player of the Week honors prior to his recent distinction as a Pre-Season All-American by D3Hoops.com — leading with action includes setting an example as a disciplined and competitive athlete.

Harris says he is personally motivated by his own competitiveness. Even as the current scoring leader on the team, he “know[s] that there is always someone better … in life no matter what it be.” Harris reflects that “striving to surpass that person whoever it may be” is what keeps him going. 

Harris is also a fan of visualization as a strategy that gets him ready for gametime. “The night before a game I always throw some sort of instrumental music on and visualize how I picture the game going,” he says. Harris missed most of last season due to injury, but not only did he retain his discipline, he has come out on top even more dedicated to his dreams and his “beautiful game” of basketball.

In general, Harris says that he likes to live by many phrases that his father quotes. “A big one is ‘truth over comfort,’” Harris notes. He explains that this means “always holding oneself to a high standard [as the] key [to] being successful.” It is a fitting connection to the University's own motto: truth even unto its innermost parts. Win or lose, Harris and his team strive to learn and improve. 

Watch the Judges continue their season versus Framingham State University Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. — Harris will be chasing the sound of the basketball swishing through the net, which, although hard to pin down, is his favorite part of the game.