Before he made the basketball team at Maryland as a walk-on, before his short time playing for Division III Trinity College and his year at prep school, before playing high-school ball and on the AAU circuit, Varun Ram was an ordinary kid who grew up watching his state school, Maryland, compete in NCAA tournaments.

Now Ram will play in one.

“I’m so excited, man. It’s been four years [of college] and I haven’t gotten to play in a tournament yet,” Ram told the Guardian, as he stood outside the visiting locker room after a game earlier this month. “It’s all about winning the next game. In the moment I probably won’t enjoy it as much … But I think I’m going to look back at it when it’s over and take a deep breath and try to take it all in.”

He had jogged back into the hallway from the icy parking lot where he’d been thanking some family friends who came to see him play a road game at Rutgers. The 5ft 9in point guard has been interviewed plenty of times while playing for the Terrapins, so he was accustomed to the out-of-the-blue media request. But just as March Madness brings the occasional team Cinderella story into the national spotlight, so too does it sometimes bring out some offbeat stories like Ram’s, one of the very few players of Indian descent to play college basketball for a power conference team.

It’s important to understand that Ram has options besides basketball. He’s always been a top student and has a GPA approaching 4.0 despite a double major in neurobiology and physiology at Maryland. His sister graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins. His parents both work for the government. His mother is a toxicologist for the Environmental Protection Agency, his father an IT manager for the National Weather Service.

“I think it surprised them a lot that I kept playing,” said Ram, who credits his parents for his athletic success despite what he admits is an unconventional path in Indian-American culture. “They always thought, growing up, basketball was just going to be a hobby. They were saying as long as I did well academically they would let me continue to play. Then when they saw that I developed a passion for it, they decided to keep pushing me towards it. They would take me to my AAU tournaments, to travel games, and all this, and they’ve been really supportive, which you don’t always see from first-generation Indian parents.

“I’m very thankful for what they’ve done for me to support my basketball passion.”

That passion is now obvious on the court. Although not a star player, Ram has become a fan favorite in the Free State mostly due to his hustle and tenacious defense whenever he gets minutes.



In the win at Rutgers, he played a few possessions before the half and his composure and headiness on the court were apparent. He always seemed to know when his team should attack or pull back as if he were a coach playing on the court. As personable as he was later during his interview, on the court he’s a man on a mission.

Ram is known on the team for challenging Maryland’s starting point guard, freshman sensation Melo Trimble, every day in practice. Ram even intentionally fouls Trimble and roughs him up at practice at the encouragement of Coach Mark Turgeon with the aim, Ram said, of being the toughest defender Trimble will see in the college game.

Ram’s grittiness epitomizes Maryland’s feisty identity. They’ve come on strong this season despite having not graced a Tournament since 2010.

While Ram says his Maryland coaches and team-mates respect him as a player, he laughs off the others who underestimated him in the past.

“You don’t really see a lot of Indian players,” he said. “Especially in AAU every time we’d travel they’d see me and they’d say, who is this kid? I think they’d let their guard down. And it was always great to see the expression on their face when they realize, OK, maybe he can play, maybe he can shoot, maybe he’s fast. And to see that look of bewilderment on their faces, I definitely took pride in that. It’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life playing basketball, so I’m used to it.”

Ask Big Ten foe Iowa. In a game earlier this year, Ram came in for only five minutes but picked up three steals.

“We love having Varun,” said Maryland’s starting forward Jake Layman. “It helps to have a guy come off the bench who can give you a spark like that. He can turn a game around. And the way he plays in practice every day, he knows how it goes and what it takes to be successful on and off the court. He’s huge.”

Ram grew up watching the Terrapins in their heyday – including guards Juan Dixon (now an assistant coach with the team) and Steve Blake – as they chased national titles, winning one in 2002 and also reaching the Final Four in 2001.

Ram says it’s hard to compare the current team to those coached by Gary Williams and acknowledges that even having this conversation as a Maryland player is surreal.

“It’s hard to say because I was judging them from kind of a middle school perspective back then,” he says, with a laugh. “Now I’m on the team playing with these guys, so it’s a little bit different.

“But I feel like we can go as far as any team in the country right now. We’ve got so many good pieces, great guys. We’re unselfish. I’m excited for this group of guys.”

Maryland rely heavily on the backcourt duo of Trimble and Dez Wells – each averaging more than 15 points per game – along with Layman, one of the top power forwards in the country.

Ram, a down to earth character, fully understands his role as a back-up and team leader. But while he’s happy just to be playing for a team he grew up rooting for, he still wants to make an in-game impact any way that he can.

“At this level I feel I’m most effective as an energy guy. You know, I’m scrappy, small. If I’m going to play, it’s not going to be many minutes, so I just give it 110% in those minutes and really just try to change the pace of the game and do whatever I can. Get under the other point guard’s skin.”

Now is a busy time for Ram. He recently finished his pre-med requirements and has to decide if he wants to play out his remaining season of eligibility next year, assuming he’s able to find a graduate program at Maryland that will fit his goals.

“It’s kind of complicated. I have a lot of options I guess. My sister is in med school. I have a lot of family friends that are in med school, and they all say don’t do it unless you really want to do it. I haven’t completely ruled it out, but I don’t really want to do it right now, so if I go to med school, it’ll be in a few years,” he said.

“I’ve also thought about getting into consulting, working for a big-time firm, getting work experience. I never really got to do internships over the summers. I was always at school working out, so I’m kind of behind on career stuff. I’m just trying to keep my options open. I have a few options I’m juggling right now.”

For now, the gym-rat scholar hopes to play deep into the tournament with the Terrapins. And whenever that’s done, it’s fair to say he projects to be a success in whichever path he chooses.