Torin Francis At Peace With Long International Basketball Career
Torin Francis is at ease as he sits on a grey couch in his New York City apartment. Even the occasional voices from his family echoing in the background do not disrupt his train of thought during our Zoom call.
The former Notre Dame men’s basketball player is relieved to be home.
When the pandemic caused professional sports leagues across the world to shut down, Francis was in the midst of his fifth season in Argentina and soon would learn that returning home was near impossible for the foreseeable future.
“I was actually stuck in Argentina for a couple of months because we weren’t able to travel,” Francis said. “They closed all the airports domestically, closed down all public transportation domestically. I had to wait for a couple of months until they started bringing Americans back on special flights from Argentina.”
To stay sane, Francis read constantly, ran up and down the stairs at his apartment building and worked out near the pool.
But mostly, he was alone.
This was unfortunate timing for Francis and his family because this was the first of his 14 professional basketball seasons where the 6-10 power center wasn’t accompanied by his family.
Instead, they stayed back in New York while his oldest daughter began high school. Francis said this was part of their life-after-basketball transition.
Over the summer, he turned 37 and knows his basketball career is nearing its end, especially given uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Right now, he says foreign leagues are monitoring the NBA’s bubble in Orlando, Fla., closely — but a major factor in the return of international basketball will be how each country the various professional leagues are in handle the pandemic.
“Each country has been affected differently, just like we’ve been affected differently,” Francis said. “I think it just depends. There are some countries in Europe that are actually already signing players, and they plan on having a season at the normal time starting at the beginning of September.”
Despite the uncertainty, Francis feels at peace with the idea that his basketball career may have come to a premature conclusion this spring, especially given the ailments he experienced while at Notre Dame, which certainly could have ended his professional career before it even began.
He entered Notre Dame in the summer of 2002 as a five-star recruit, McDonald’s All-American and the No. 3 center in the country according to Rivals.
As a freshman, Francis started all 34 games, and averaged 11.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per contest. That season, Notre Dame reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1987.
Unfortunately for Francis, back issues hindered the remainder of his Notre Dame career.
He averaged 14.2 points per game in 2003-04, but missed more than 10 contests that season. The Fighting Irish big man was able to stay on the court more throughout his junior and senior seasons, but his numbers peaked during his sophomore campaign.
Francis went undrafted after college and immediately became an NBA free agent. This allowed him to play for the Miami Heat in the Orlando Summer League.
He saw action in four games and started one, and averaged 5.25 points and 2.75 rebounds per game, but was not picked up by the franchise.
While disappointing at first, this is also what led Francis to a rewarding 14-season career overseas.
“I always say that everything happens for a reason,” Francis said. “Obviously, my dream from the first day I got serious about basketball was to play in the NBA. Even though I never played in the NBA, I still had an amazing career.
“I lived all throughout Europe. I visited many more countries. I still played in Argentina, and I speak Spanish fluently now. I didn’t get to play in the NBA, but I have all these other experiences that have been amazing.
“I guess it just wasn’t meant for me to play in the NBA, but I still had a great career and a long professional career.”
But how has Francis sustained such a long career when he struggled after dealing with debilitating back pain while in South Bend?
After his NBA audition with the Heat, Francis slimmed down, which had a tremendous impact on his health.
“At Notre Dame, I was probably about 255,” Francis said. “Once I left Notre Dame, I dropped down to about 240, 245. That took a lot of pressure off my back. Then I just tried to take care of my body. I did a lot of core work.
“Everyone needs a strong core, needs a strong midsection, but especially if you have back problems, you need to strengthen up your core to take the pressure off your back.”
This long career may be coming to an end soon.
When we spoke in July, Francis was still without a team to play for and was unsure if that would change this fall.
If Francis ends up feeling comfortable enough to travel abroad and a team calls him, great. But he won’t be disappointed if his next phase in life begins a little sooner than expected.
His plan is to help grow the business he and his wife, Mia, recently launched: Island Ice NYC. The company produces “spiked icies” (think the frozen fruity treats that are served in a long plastic tube-like packets).
“We basically have strong tropical flavors combined with alcohol,” Francis said.
To some, this may seem like a perplexing career move for the longtime professional basketball player, but Francis has made a career out of creating his own path in life. All business startups are a risk, but over the last 14 years Francis has proven doubters wrong over and over again by exceeding expectations.
There is little reason to believe that won’t happen again.
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