Q&A with sophomore guard Harwin Francois

After being one of the top sharpshooters in junior college basketball, Harwin Francois came to SIU and has been an outstanding player for the Salukis off the bench. Get to know the sophomore in this Q&A.

Background

I'm the youngest of four. My oldest brother, Roodley, is 25. The second-oldest is my sister Kelley; she's 23. The third is Debora Plesina. She's our cousin, but she moved in with us at a young age because her family had to go back to their country. We took her in, so she's like my sister. My parents (Micheline and Cenor) came to America in 1993. My brother was born in Saint-Marc, and my parents came here for a better situation. They were really poor. They weren't in the capital, and that's the only part of the country that has money. I'm very fortunate that they came here. When I go back there and visit, it's fun to see my family, but it's impossible to see myself living there. I'm very grateful to be in America.

What language do they speak?

When they first came over here, they didn't know any English. Growing up, the first language my siblings and I learned was Creole. My parents didn't know much English, so they spoke Creole around the house. When we went to school, that was our first time hearing English. It was a language barrier. It took a little longer to pick up the English. Eventually, we got it down. By third or fourth grade, I was good with English. But we went to a Hatian church, which was straight Creole.

How did you get into basketball?

My brother got me into it. He was in high school, and I was in fourth or fifth grade. I went to one of his games, and I was just so amazed. I immediately wanted a hoop. My brother was the one who saved up his money and got me a hoop outside. I played every day after that. I hadn't played at all before I watched that game. It was love at first site.

You took your high school program to a state final four. Take us through that.

I didn't go to the best program. My freshman year was the first time I ever played organized basketball. I had tried getting into leagues, but my mom wasn't going for it. My sophomore year, we got a new coach, and everything went up from there. He made me work on my craft more. He's one of my best friends to this day. He showed me what I needed to do if I wanted to play at a collegiate level. Junior year is when we started winning a lot of games. Senior year, we took over. They ranked us eighth preseason — second-to-last. We took that in and put in a lot of work. During the season, we just kept winning. We made it to the state final four for the first time in school history. It was fun.

You shot well at Daytona State (47% from the 3-point line). Has that always been your game?

In high school, I was more of a point guard. I would do everything. Last year, we had a lot of high major kids, so my role was to be a shooter. I took pride in it and did the best I could. I thought I would stay two years because I thought that's how junior college worked. I didn't go to junior college because of bad grades; I did it because I didn't have other opportunities. They told me I could leave after one year because I had good grades. Towards the middle and end of the season, I started playing well, and a ton of schools offered me. Southern Illinois came, and I loved what they were doing.

You started when Ronnie Suggs had an injury. What did you learn from that?

It was pretty cool to start my first Division I game. That's something I can tell my kids. Obviously, injuries stink. We were happy when he came back. I just wanted to do well while that was my role. Play hard, always.

Had you ever been this far north?

This is it. Before this, the farthest north I had been was Georgia. This was the first time I had ever seen snow. I ran outside and took a whole bunch of videos to show my family. It was crazy. I didn't know what to do when your car windows freeze. I was scraping my window with my shoe when someone told me I could buy a scraper.

Why #22?

My freshman year in high school, it was the only jersey left. Since then, since that was the first opportunity given to me, as long as I can, I will always hold onto it.

What are you studying?

Psychology. I think I have a gift for reading people. I understand people. Someone I knew was going through depression. When that happened, I knew I wanted to be there for people who were going through problems and to help them out.

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