Yale's Matt Townsend back home with a brightening future

When Yale senior Matt Townsend returns to the basketball court in New Haven tonight for the Bulldogs' game against Lafayette, he will do so with a new distinction attached to his name: Rhodes Scholar.

The 6-7 forward from Chappaqua, N.Y. was named a 2015 Rhodes Scholar on Saturday and will study at Oxford University next year.

While his team was playing Illinois-Chicago on Friday, Townsend was at a cocktail party for the Rhodes Scholarship finalists and judges in New York, but he still wasn't completely detached from his sport. One of his fellow finalists was UConn guard Pat Lenehan, who Townsend had faced in a game last season.

"I came to the realization that there were a lot of cool people in the room," Townsend told USA TODAY Sports. "I came in expecting the other finalists to be very brilliant, but I guess what surprised me most they were also just really nice people."

Townsend was one of 32 students named as a Rhodes Scholar this year, becoming the fourth Yale men's basketball player to receive the prestigious award and the first since 1976. A molecular, cellular and developmental biology major with a perfect 4.0 GPA, Townsend will attend Oxford and plans to work toward two masters' degrees while there; one in medical anthropology and one in public policy.

"Matt's the perfect person," said Yale coach James Jones, who wrote one of Townsend's eight recommendations. "Looking at him, you might think he's a robot. Had he not gotten hurt and dislocated his knee his freshman year, had I not seen that happen, I would've thought the young man would be a robot. How you can be a straight A student in molecular biology while playing varsity basketball here is beyond me."

Before he left for his Rhodes Scholar interviews, Townsend gathered them and told them he wouldn't be joining them to play against Illinois-Chicago and Southern Illinois.

"They were disappointed I wouldn't be coming with them to Ohio, but more than anything, they were supportive," Townsend said. "After, it felt like we had won it. It felt like my team had won it."

Townsend was 5-for-5 from the field in his return to the floor Sunday at Kent State, but Jones says that his contributions go beyond scoring.

"He's our glue guy," Jones said. He directs traffic and tells guys where to go. He covers for guys when they make mistakes. Sometimes what he does doesn't always show up in the box score."

Townsend also is committed to combating obesity and diabetes, which is why he plans to relocate to Washington to help change food and health policy in the U.S. after he's done at Oxford.

There already is a former college athlete turned Rhodes Scholar in Washington: New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. Booker, who played football at Stanford, was a Rhodes Scholar in 1992. After finishing his time in Oxford, Booker returned to pursue his law degree at a place very familiar to Townsend: Yale.

"Very few Rhodes Scholars now come from high intensity sports like football and basketball," Booker told USA TODAY Sports. "For him to be able to master a skill like basketball, have a perfect GPA, and in sciences, and exemplify the will to fight the world's fight, is extraordinary."

"For him to be able to get such high grades and high marks, that's an affirmation of who he is. He'll be a great leader in service to our country."

Booker, who has advocated improvements in college athlete welfare, was excited that Townsend wants to pursue a career in health policy.

"I hope he reaches out when he gets here," he said. "That's an area we need leaders and service in."

While Washington might be ready for him, Townsend isn't ready to give up college athletics.

"I think Oxford basketball might be a step down from Division I basketball, but I'd love to give cricket, rowing or rugby a shot while I'm there."