"Literally brick by brick": How David Patrick is building US college basketball's next powerhouse

After helping pioneer the pipeline for Australian talent into the NCAA, the Australian assistant is now modelling his program at Sacramento State in the likeness of the Australian Boomers.

Credit: Sacramento State Athletics

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

David Patrick was dribbling the ball outside the three-point line, his handle as tight as ever. As the defence adjusted, he surveyed his options, and made his move. He cruised around the three-point line, towards a teammate. Faking an initial dribble handoff, he picked his dribble up, and reverse pivoted for a secondary handoff. Then in an instant, he felt his Achilles snap.

Just like that, his Olympic dream was over.

It’s easy to think this might have happened to David Patrick the player, a star for Syracuse in the 90s and former Canberra Cannons import. In reality, this was David Patrick the coach: a Boomers assistant in his 40s, loosely guarded by Joe Ingles at a walkthrough session during a pre-Olympic camp. With the impact of COVID-19 severely restricting logistics — to the point of effectively governing the Tokyo Games — Patrick was never going to make it to Japan.

Three years on, Patrick is fully recovered, and is currently one of Australian basketball’s most enigmatic, but important figures. He’s currently preparing to play a crucial part in the Boomers’ podium chances in Paris. As the godfather to Ben Simmons, he also might hold the key to helping the mercurial Australian make his long awaited national debut. But he’s also rebuilding Sacramento State into a modern-day St Mary’s: a mid-major powerhouse built with same the foundations that have seen Australia at times become the envy of the basketball world. And he plans on doing it by replicating the same qualities that have made the Boomers so successful.