One of the youngest players in NCAA Division I basketball traded the slopes for hoops — yes, alpine slopes.
Cal State University, Northridge’s newest player, Greg Gazarian, is gliding into his first season of college basketball after a busy senior season and summer representing Armenia. But how did the kid who spent most of his time in the mountains end up on the hardwood?
“I was a competitive ski racer. Every weekend my parents were driving me. I never went to school on a Friday up until the seventh grade. From Thursday night we would drive to Mammoth, I would do my practice and everything, and I would come back. And then I just fell in love with basketball. I always played during the week, like Ararat and a little bit of AAU,” Gazarian told the Weekly.
Gazarian’s life was consumed with competitive skiing until about five years ago.
“When I was young, I went to Big Bear on a family trip, and my first time on skis I had an instructor. He was like, you should definitely get this guy on a team. I guess I was naturally good at it. I told my parents, do you think it’s possible if we just take some time off of skiing and focus on basketball? I was like, just give me one summer to work hard and see what can happen,” he said.
Leaving the slopes wasn’t only about his growing love for basketball.
“I was missing my whole social life, family, everything, because I would never be here on weekends, because my whole life was consumed with being up there [in the mountains],” he said.
Gazarian’s last skiing competition took place in 2021 in the Sunshine Cup. He began his high school basketball career while attending St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge, California. During the tail-end of his senior year, Gazarian transferred to Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian School.
Gazarian says he’s grateful for the opportunity to play in front of the Armenian community. However, he admits it was difficult to join a new team, new players and a new system.
“It was a good experience for me being in the Armenian community. From the basketball standpoint, it was hard for Coach Sako, Anto [Balian]. He already had his team there. I didn’t know any plays. So I was just there to be like a pass-first guy, defense, because it wasn’t my show to begin with. I came in at the tail-end of their season to help out a little,” he said.
Above all, Gazarian says that it’s a dream come true to represent his Armenian ethnicity and background as he climbs the basketball ladder. Gazarian spent part of his summer with the Armenian U18 men’s national basketball team in Albania.
“There’s nothing like playing for your country. It’s an amazing feeling to go out there. You get to lead a team, and you play for something other than a school. You’re playing for a whole country,” he said.
After returning to the States with FIBA basketball experience, Gazarian attended a workout session that changed his life.
“Coach [Andy] Newman believed in me. I went to one of his open workouts in CSUN at their aux gym, and he was there watching. It wasn’t anything to do with scoring. I picked up that point guard 94 feet and just kind of made him have a hard time. Coach Newman came up to me and said, you really played defense there. We like that. You’re so young, we could develop you. So if you have that fire and that defense, then we could turn you into something and help our program win,” Gazarian said.
Gazarian will be joined by another Armenian debutant in top-flight college basketball — Avand Dorian of USC. CSUN and USC are set to play each other on December 18, 2024 at USC.
“I’ve talked to him. He says he wants to do a jersey swap afterwards, which I 100 percent want to do,” Gazarian said.
Gazarian’s trail was blazed in its own way. He feels blessed to be in a position that younger Armenian basketball players can look up to. Growing up, he admits there were little to no other Armenian basketball players to model, and he understands the value of it now.
“When I was growing up, basketball-wise, I kind of just thought it was Ararat and 1A Division teams that are the highest level to play. I wasn’t really thinking that [Armenian] dudes were going to college and really getting to represent themselves. But now that I see we’re all making it and we’re getting places, I feel like younger kids are seeing they really have a shot. They’re not giving up on basketball in their senior or junior year,” he said.
Gazarian also agreed to answer some rapid-fire questions to help readers get to know more about the CSUN talent:
Who is your 2025 NBA MVP? Nikola Jokic
Who is your 2025 NBA Champion? Los Angeles Lakers
Who is your favorite NBA team? Los Angeles Lakers
Who is your favorite NBA player growing up? Kobe Bryant
What is your go-to meal? Poki
What was the weirdest food you tried in Albania? Something with duck
What’s one place in the world you would like to travel? Barcelona, Spain and Greece
If you had the opportunity to train with an NBA player, who would it be? Kyrie Irving
Jason Takhtadjian is an evening reporter at CBS47/KSEE24 in Fresno, California. Takhtadjian began college pursuing mechanical engineering with a focus on aerospace until deciding to pursue a sports broadcast career after one semester at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas. While at UNLV, Takhtadjian worked on his own weekly radio show/podcast covering soccer and basketball, produced his own sports debate show, was part of the university’s weekly sports show “The Rebel Report” and was the play-by-play commentator for UNLV men’s and women’s soccer and basketball, to name a few. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, Jason was graduating college and had to pivot to the world of general news to land a job. This landed Jason in Sioux City, Iowa for his first TV job. For three years, Jason worked in the middle of the United States with no Armenian community. He became the senior reporter at the station, as well as the weekend anchor and producer for nearly two years. Takhtadjian accepted a reporter position in Fresno in April of 2024. The 26-year-old also works as a contributor for Armenian Sports News, the fastest growing English-based Armenian sports social media page.
