Rakeem Buckles (born November 15, 1990) is a professional basketball player, and plays the forward position. He plays for

Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Haifa Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Haifa'') is an Israeli professional football club located in the city of Haifa. The club won one championship (1998–99) and 4 Israeli cups (1962–63, 1965–66 and 1973–74, 2 ...

in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

Personal life

Buckles was born in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. His parents are Ronald and Sabrina Buckles. He is tall, and weighs .

Basketball career

Buckles attended and played basketball for

Monsignor Edward Pace High School Monsignor Edward Pace High School is a Catholic secondary school in the Opa-locka North neighborhood of Miami Gardens, Florida. It was named a Blue Ribbon School in 2002 and one of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the country in 2004 and 200 ...

. As a senior, he was named the Florida Class 4A Player of the Year after he averaged 22.8 points, 13.1 rebounds, and 3.5 blocked shots per game. He played basketball at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

in 2009–12. Between 2011 and 2012 Buckles suffered two torn

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

s in under 12 months. He then played basketball at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

, for whom in 2013–14 in

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

he was third in rebounds per game with 8.6, fifth in rebounds with 266, and eighth in blocks per game with 1.4. Buckles plays for

in the

References

1990 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Israel FIU Panthers men's basketball players Hapoel Haifa B.C. players Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Basketball players from Miami {{1990s-US-basketball-bio-stub