Keene State rebound king from Hudson/Assabet ponders pro basketball, business career
Either on top or trending in that direction. Find a category in the Keene State record book, and Jeff Hunter’s name is likely just underneath.
Hunter broke two records over an eight-day span earlier this month and is approaching several others. But basketball is just one part of his busy life. He has also started a business and is closing in on another milestone: the double-double machine is set to graduate with a double major.
“As soon as I get up, every minute of the day, I have planned out,” said the Assabet Valley graduate from Hudson. Hunter spoke those words during a recent phone interview while at the gym, putting the weight of the world – and the weights – aside for a few moments.
The 6-foot-7 Keene State fifth-year player center leads the Little East Conference in rebounds (13.6 per game) and blocks (2.8) and is fourth in scoring. The Owls (20-3) are ranked seventh in Division 3 and can wrap up the conference title on Wednesday night.
Hunter leads the nation in double-doubles (21, in 23 games) and is fourth in rebounding, the category in which he set a career school standard that was one of the oldest in Keene State history. His seventh rebound on Feb. 3 at UMass-Boston broke the 53-year-old record set by Dave Terry (1,252).
“It was never really a goal of mine to get the rebounding record, it’s just happened to be that I’ve played five years, I get a lot of rebounds,” Hunter said Friday morning. “It’s definitely a good feeling to do it, but, realistically, the more games we win, the more records I have the opportunity to break.”
He broke the record for career blocks the next night, the old mark set a mere eight years ago. Hunter, however, marveled at the rebounding record, which was set over just two seasons and 55 games by Terry.
“He was averaging like 20-something rebounds a game (actually 22.8),” Hunter said, “which is ridiculous.” Terry also has Keene’s highest career scoring average (22.4 points per game).
Business, the pros and Zach Auguste
Hunter, along with a small group of friends, started a business last summer called National Insurance Advisors, where they serve as brokers for insurance carriers. After graduating this spring with degrees in occupational health and safety and construction management, he plans to move to Florida to not only spend more time on the business, but to pursue a pro basketball career.
Because he can work remotely, Hunter also plans to sign with an agent who will help him potentially land tryouts with teams overseas.
“I’ve spoke with a few different agents over the past couple of months and I’m really just trying to get my résumé out there, basically,” Hunter said. “It’s as if you’re looking for a job, where you create a basketball résumé based off stats and things like that. And get it out there for different teams and different countries (to see).”
Hunter already has a mentor to follow toward a path to the pros, who also played his high school ball in Marlborough: Zach Auguste.
Auguste, 30, currently plays in Japan – after stints in Greece and Turkey – and founded his own apparel company, AMILLI. He played for three seasons at Marlborough High before playing at Notre Dame, leading the Irish to the 2015 ACC Tournament title.
During his Notre Dame days, Auguste served as a Marlborough-area basketball camp counselor, where Hunter got to know him.
“We connected when I was younger. He was following me on social media and really putting his foot forward to help me be a nice, genuine person,” Hunter said. “He inspired me to try and be a better basketball player and chase my dreams.”
More records possible for Jeff Hunter
Hunter, who is minoring in business management, will continue chasing records while finishing up his studies. His business in Florida sits on the back burner, but is never far from his mind.
“I’m in the balance with all three of them: basketball, school, business,” he said. “It’s not too hard to plan your day out, but you can’t focus as much on one thing as you like as the others. I’d like to allocate all my time to either, A, basketball, or, B, school, and C, business, but to be able to do that all at once is impossible.”
His 1,803 career points rank him fourth all-time at Keene, 167 away from third. He began the season as the school’s record holder in field goal percentage (.588) and his season mark of .635 currently puts him 12th in the nation. His 754 field goals made are third most at Keene and he needs six more games to break the record of 118.
But team success comes first for Hunter. The Owls reached the NCAA Division 3 Sweet 16 last year and have their eyes trained on the Final Four next month in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
“We definitely have goals: winning the conference championship and then making a run for the national championship,” he said. “We’re just enjoying the moment and working hard to push each other every single day.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Assabet grad Jeff Hunter sets Keene State record, eyes pro, biz career
