Bernie Andre's path to Northern Arizona University included time in four other states in the span of a little more than two years.
After finishing up a Miami Norland High School, where current and former Lumberjack coaches first became familiar with sophomore forward, Andre bounced from New York to North Carolina and finally Alabama for his first taste of college basketball.
"I always knew I was a Division I player," Andre said, having played in a major metro area and on a top AAU circuit during his prep career. "I ended up going Division II, but I knew I was a Division I player the whole time. I didn't want to settle, I left and did what I had to do."
Andre spent just about a month at NCAA D-II Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, about 30 minutes north of Central Park. After spending some time at Combine Academy in Lincolnton, North Carolina, Andre landed in Alabama at Wallace State for his freshman year.
"Sometime guys slip through the cracks. Not just Miami, but a lot of large metropolitan areas. So I don't think there was ever a question of talent if he was a Division I player," said Lumberjacks head coach
Jack Murphy. "I think probably the Division II school was ecstatic to get him, like almost they snuck one out. But once Bernie got there, I think he realized that's not where his heart was and he really wanted to play Division I and we are better off for it."
A PART OF THE COMMUNITY
Andre's parents both moved to the United States from Haiti well before he was born, allowing him to grow up in Miami for the extent of his childhood. Initially, Andre seemed to be following the career path of his father, a church pastor for more than 30 years now.
Growing up, the sophomore said he could play a variety of instruments including the drums, keyboard, bass and saxophone while playing in churches his father would go to. However once the now 6-7 Andre started to seriously grow, basketball became the primary focus.
By his own estimation, it was around ninth or 10th grade when Andre focused solely on basketball, also playing football before taking a hard hit and deciding it wasn't for him, in addition to the benefit of basketball being indoors and away from the hot Miami summer and fall.
Andre still has members of his family in Haiti, with some traveling back and forth to the U.S., and his family had to deal with the 2010 earthquake that devastated the island nation.
"It was kind of tough, it's a lot of people that over awhile we didn't hear from," Andre said. "Some of them we did hear from, but a lot of them we didn't. It was pretty tough. Some people passed away unfortunately."
The community he hails from is one Andre proudly represents, having been offered the chance to represent Haiti on its national basketball team before electing to pass on the opportunity in order to get to Northern Arizona sooner this past summer.
FAMILIAR FACES
Former assistant coach Matt Dunn began Northern Arizona's pursuit of Andre in the fall of 2017, with fellow assistant
Jason Sanchez also familiar with him from his time coaching in the Miami area.
"I knew Coach Dunn since I was in Miami. Coach Sanchez was an assistant at a school called Doral Academy," Andre said. "They played us and almost knocked us off before we won state that year."
Murphy said the program made a push to sign Andre early in November 2017, but the timing of visiting Flagstaff didn't work out as they hoped.
"Bernie just popped off the floor," Murphy said of the forward once the staff saw him at Wallace State. "He improved from high school, his body changed a little bit. His skill level has always been there, his competitiveness has always been there, but I think his competitiveness, skill and his size really jumped off the page at us."
Murphy said Andre continued to be a priority after last season ended, with bringing him in for a visit one of the first things the team did.
"We really wanted him out here," Murphy said. "He and I had some very frank and blunt discussions about my expectations for him here and his expectations. I think he has lived up to or exceeded all of those."
Sanchez's presence on the coaching staff wasn't the only familiarity for Andre, as
Corey Brown went to high school just a few miles from him as well.
"It made it a lot easier because I was coming into a place that I knew somebody," Andre said. "So I was comfortable early, that was a big thing for me."
INSTANT IMPACT
Through 30 games this year, Andre's proven his value to Northern Arizona in one category specifically.
"I think you have seen him, even at times in nonconference when he goes up against bigger stronger guys, he is still able to battle and produce. I think that the one thing for him that has translated more than anything is the rebounding," Murphy said. "His skill in passing the ball, making shots and finishing around the rim, that has kind of been a little up and down. But it is something I know he is working on and getting more consistent with."
Andre's rebounding percentages on Kenpom.com stand out for a player his size since Murphy took over in 2013. Sitting at 23.9 percent in defensive rebounding and 8.7 percent on the offensive end, Andre's numbers look more like some of Northern Arizona's 6-9 or taller players than the stretch power forward's 6-7 frame.
Only Jordyn Martin in his senior season and Ako Kaluna's junior season appear similar to Andre based on players at a comparable height and number of minutes played. Through the conference season, Andre ranks third in the conference with 8.4 rebounds per game. When removing the nonconference schedule, and the beginning of Andre's transition to the D-I level, Andre leads all Big Sky players with 9.5 rebounds per game, ahead of the likes of Weber State's Brekkott Chapman and Eastern Washington's Jesse Hunt, both seniors.
"That's something we watched in junior college, he played some four, he played some three, heck he even played point guard at times," Murphy said of Andre's positional versatility. "The rebounding was consistent. When you challenge Bernie, he rises up to that challenge. He rises to the challenge, he accepts that challenge."
Andre's defensive rebounding percentage on Kenpom.com ranks 82nd in the nation while playing 74.3 percent of his team's minutes. The percentage stands as the best number of any player in Murphy's tenure, with the last Lumberjack to produce as consistently in even 60 percent of the team's minutes coming in 2008, as Kyle Landry finished with a 24.3 percent rate.
With seven more rebounds in the Big Sky Conference Tournament, Andre will tie Landry on the Lumberjacks' top-10 list for rebounds in a single season. His 251 total rebounds ranks just outside the list with Landry's 258 from the 2007-08 season ranking 10th.
Andre said he doesn't have a problem playing inside against larger opponents for Northern Arizona, even if the idea threw him off at first.
"I take pride in rebounding for my team, I'll just do anything to help my team win," Andre said. "They give me freedom though, I don't have a problem with it. I am allowed to push the ball, shoot 3s, take people off the dribble, I have freedom."
In Northern Arizona's 10 wins this season, the team has come down with at least 40 rebounds on six occasions. In all but one of the Lumberjacks victories, Andre has had seven or more boards in each game.
"We want to be physical on the glass," Murphy said. "When we have had success this year, we have rebounded the ball offensively and defensively."
