There is nothing high-profile about Division II college basketball. Whereas its big brother Division I has international TV audiences, a long legacy that crosses into wider society and the billion-dollar showpiece event that is March Madness, Division II games are hard enough to find even for those actively looking.

Let this lack of audience not be confused for a lack of talent, however.

It is true that Division I, because of the greater exposure, gobbles up most of the athletic and enormous young players North America has to offer. Yet there are always plenty of skilled hoopers to be found at the D2 level. Be it through transfers, late blooming, circumstances or just plain oversight, there are many guys every year who are worthy of making the leap from Division II to professional play, and even a few who make the jump all the way to the NBA.

Truth be told, for the latter of those, it really is just "a few". A 2022 study by a Missouri University of Science and Technology student who didn't put their name on their work lists 137 players throughout the league's history to have played at least one game in both the NBA and Division II, which, for a 75-year-old league that currently has over 500 players in it at any one time, is not that many. Nevertheless, included in that list are some of the game's greats, and the advent of the improved quality of and access to information in the internet’s Big Data era has not stopped Division II players from still earning big-league look-ins. In fact, it is quite the opposite - if you really are that impactful, the NBA will find you.

With this in mind, meet Will Yoakum. A man trying to make it 138.

[In the interests of full disclosure, the author of this piece moonlights as a basketball scout, whose job it is to unearth hidden treasures such as this. He did not unearth this one and has no skin in the game or business interest in the success of Will Yoakum. Only remorse at not finding Yoakum in time.]

Last year, his sixth season in the college game, Yoakum took advantage of his extra Covid season and transferred to Nova Southeastern after five years at fellow D2 school West Liberty. Led by Jim Crutchfield - who has transformed the Sharks into a D2 powerhouse where for so long they were an also-ran - Nova Southeastern had just recorded a 31-1 season, and made it all the way to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

To get over the hump, they brought in Yoakum, who had averaged in the teens in points in each of his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons on some sky-high efficiency numbers. And get over the hump, they did; the Sharks went undefeated on their way to the Division II national title, led by their sixth-year transfer guard.

While it may "only" have come at the Division II level, Yoakum - who led the nation in three-point percentage last season - is more than qualified to be judged on his own merits rather than his surroundings, even through the lens of the NBA. This is particularly true given that at least one NBA franchise has done so, as Yoakum appeared on the Chicago Bulls' summer league roster earlier this month.

A 52.3% three-point percentage will get any player big league attention, and that is what Yoakum shot as a sixth-year senior on his way to 20.4 points per game. So too will scoring 31 points in the national title game for his team on a way to an undefeated season. And with the shooting from outside coming on approximately four and a half three-pointers a game, the volume is soothing, especially at it chimes with the 48.3% that Yoakum shot across his entire college career.

Yoakum, then, is a premium shooter, and one hitting efficiency marks that few others get even near. The release is quick enough and the frame is big enough for this to work around the globe, not just in Florida.

It is true that Yoakum did all this shooting at the Division II level, and that the aforementioned change in level from there to the fringe of the NBA like this is an enormous one. It is also true that, in also being 24, he is old for someone who remains a prospect by default, given his lack of reps against high-level competition.

That said, at 6'5 with a little bit of burst, Yoakum has some good professional potential. His simple offensive repertoire of cuts, curls, spot-ups and an awful lot of transition play is a simple and efficient offensive diet, and although he takes next to no dribbles in traffic, nor really should he with that jumper in tow.

The defensive end will be what makes or breaks him, as the step-up from where he has been is particularly enormous. Untested against high-level athletes, not one himself, and prone to playing defence more with his hands than his feet, Yoakum will determine his own immediate professional future with how well he can compete on that end against NBA physical specimens. The occasional pick-six will be forthcoming, but he needs to show he can stay in front.

As of the time of writing, Yoakum has yet to sign his first professional contract, and when the Bulls decided to pluck someone off of their summer league roster for an Exhibit 10 deal, they understandably went with Adama Sanogo instead. If Yoakum opts to pursue the G-League route, he will at least have the opportunity to get in those defensive reps against high-level athletes, yet perhaps he is better suited to getting some European work and more consistent playing time to further develop his CV. Either way, summer league opportunity notwithstanding, Yoakum is not joining the NBA right out of the gate.

After that though, who knows? Keep shooting 50% from three, and you will stay on the radar. It's not like the previous 137 D2 guys all did that.