With college basketball season officially underway, scores of players are hitting the hardwood with dreams of earning a giant NBA contract.
But what happens when you don’t make the cut?
Two former St. John’s hoopsters explore that very question in their TV pilot “Harlem Knights,” a sometimes humorous look at five college stars coping with life after hoops.
“I wanted to talk about the idea of when you don’t become a pro. What’s life really like,” says Otoja Abit, who played for the Big East school from 2004 to 2008.
The 30-year-old stars in the show alongside former Johnnies standout Anthony Mason Jr. (son of late Knicks great Anthony Mason), who graduated in 2010.
Most recently, Abit — who began acting after he graduated — has starred in the film “Stonewall” and off-Broadway’s “Fulfillment.” He was also the assistant director of the 2011 Broadway revival of “That Championship Season.”
The pilot, which was shot in six days on a budget of $8,000, was one of the 50 chosen from 2,500 submissions featured by the New York Television Festival last month.
Abit is currently shopping “Harlem Knights” around.
“When Anthony and I were in college, we’d come up with ideas of what we wanted to work on. This was an opportunity to bring on someone I knew and trusted,” says Abit of his former teammate.
Mason, who played overseas until last season, is now running a nonprofit in Queens and hoping to pursue a career both in front of and behind the camera.
“I swear I was supposed to be Nick Cannon,” cracks Mason, 28. “This is my career change. I really like the behind-the-scenes more.”
“Harlem Knights” also brought in actor Taylor Sele, who played football at Boston College and with the Indianapolis Colts.
“We weren’t a Final Four team, but we are out there using our minds [and] basketball history and doing something interesting,” says Abit. “This is for athletes who want to do more after college.”