Mate Okros, a great shooter, highlights Drexel’s global roster | Mike Jensen

If you haven’t heard, the basketball world has gotten smaller. A quick glance at Drexel’s men’s hoops roster confirms it: Five American starters, before the rotation widens out geographically, from Toronto, Ontario, to Nottingham, England — then, out by the three-point line, to Debrecen, Hungary, out by the eastern border, almost to Romania.

Here’s another way the hoops world has gotten smaller … if you talk to Drexel’s Mate Okros expecting to hear a Hungarian accent, listen in. A British accent pops out.

“My dad went out first, then me, my mum and my brother after,” Okros said of a family move to England. “I think I was 7 years old. We first settled in in Yorkshire. We lived in quite a few places. We ended up in Manchester.”

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The interesting part: The moves were mostly for hoops, Okros said, to give him and his brother the best shot at a future. Dad had been a good player at a pretty high level in Hungary. He wanted the next level for his boys.

Mate ended up at the Myerscough Basketball Academy, north after Manchester, after a stop at the Canterbury International Basketball Academy in Kent, southeast of London. You didn’t know these academies existed?

Trust us, Drexel did.

If you’re looking for Okros when the Dragons play Illinois on Friday at 1:15 p.m. in Drexel’s first NCAA Tournament game in 25 years, start your eyes by the three-point line. Drexel might not even be a part of March Madness if this 6-foot-6 sophomore hadn’t come off the bench and drained a couple of huge late-game threes in the Colonial Athletic Association semifinals, barely inbounds, after the Dragons had briefly lost a double-digit lead.

Against Elon, Okros revved up even hotter, making 4 of 5 three-pointers, including some late needed ones. He deserved a spot on the All-CAA Tournament team but they probably ran out of spots for Dragons.

“When you win, rarely are you going to be able to lean on one or two guys,” Dragons coach Zach Spiker said right after the CAA triumph. “I just think we developed our depth.”

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On Okros, specifically …

“Mate Okros puts as many hours in shooting as anybody in our program,” Spiker said. “Found different ways to get open. I think his personality, he’s such a nice guy, sometimes he’s a little bit timid. We tried to convince him that he’s a hunter. When he hunts his shot … we’re a good team.”

“He always tells me, every practice, everything we did, just hunt the three-point line, find the ball,” Okros said a few days later. “Any coach telling a player he’s giving a green light, that’s one of the best things you can have.”

Growing up, his dad usually was his coach. His older brother ended up at Post University in Connecticut, Division II, the same league that Jefferson and Sciences and Holy Family play in, the northern division of the CACC. As a senior in 2018-19, Tamas Okros, a 6-7 forward, started every game for Post, making 43 percent of his threes.

Even if you know about the Canterbury International Basketball Academy, how do you find such people? For Drexel, Okros is pretty sure it started when Dragons assistant coach Paul Fortier saw him at a European-wide youth competition in 2018 in Latvia. Okros remembers having some good games against Serbia and Lithuania. Other schools started calling, including Georgia Tech.

The most serious suitors though were Drexel and Texas-San Antonio. Assistant Rob O’Driscoll got to England to visit, then Fortier. A campus visit was arranged. First stop, Philadelphia, then on to San Antonio.

“Two days before my visit, he actually flew out to my academy,” Okros said of Spiker. “He literally took a flight out two days before just to spend more time with me.”

Neat trick, especially when you’re not John Calipari with access to a private jet. Yes, Okros was impressed.

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“I have done that a few times,” Spiker said in a text. “Have done it twice to the West Coast. Day trip then. Red eye back.”

He also noted, “Jet Blue had a great sale once. We all flew to Greensboro as a staff, stayed in two hotel rooms.”

They saw that player before school, flew home. Doesn’t always work, Spiker said. Didn’t get that player, but getting to England, there was a bonus. Spiker also got to meet former Okros teammate Amari Williams, now a 6-10 freshman at Drexel, with a bright future expected.

So the hoops world grows smaller, and Okros’ parents have moved back to Hungary, where his dad still coaches and his mom is a beautician. Let’s assume there was an early-morning celebration last week in Debrecen. When Okros got to his phone, his dad had already texted. “I called back straight away,” he said.

Yes, Okros said, all the folks in the beauty shop, and any other acquaintances, are up to speed on March Madness. Seriously, the world has gotten smaller.

“My mum loves to share things on Facebook,” Okros said.