Dibussi Tande
"Just how did the African republic of Cameroon end up a centerpiece at the Final Four?" USA Today
Richard Mba a Moute, the confident swagger; Alfred Aboya, the ferocious determination; Joakim Noah, la rage de vaincre
NCAA basketball championship ends today with the finals pitting UCLA Bruins against the Florida Gators. To those unfamiliar with the NCAA tournament, it is the national basketball competition that brings together 64 college (i.e., university) teams. The 4 regional champions (West, East, Midwest and Southeast) compete in the annual NCAA Tournament which is also called the March Madness because the three-week-long event is usually organized in March. The winner of the tournament is crowned the national champion.
This is not just another university tournament like what we’re used to in Cameroon. It is a high stakes endeavor with huge financial returns where the crème de la crème of college basketball show-case their skills to the nation and to hundreds of scouts looking for potential draft picks for the NBA. It generates as much passion among Basketball aficionados as the African Nations Cup. To quote one observer,
"The NCAA tournament, "March Madness", or should one say "March/early April Madness", has been for years among the top echelon of American sports events which includes, among others, the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and the College Football Championship. It is also one of network television’s most cherished events”
This year, March Madness has had a very African flavor thanks to three outstanding players of Cameroonian origin who have graced the tournament with their skills and who are coincidentally pitted against each other in this evening's epic championship game.
Luc Richard Mba a Moute - “The Prince of Bellwood”
First on the UCLA side, you have the kid with the unpronounceable name, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, aka "The Prince of Bellwood", who was voted the Pacific Ten Conference (Pac-10) freshman of the year (Best new player). Luc has, according to ESPN, “turned the NCAAs into his personal coming-out party". As the network put it, "Moute kicks Boute"(Moute Kicks butt). That Luc is today a basketball star is what fairy tales are made of. According to the same ESPN report:
"To this day, the story still lights the face of UCLA freshman Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. And how could it not? Life was good back then. He loved soccer. His family. And eating boa constrictors. Dad was the chief of the local village in Cameroon, and he was one of the princes. Everything made sense -- that is, until his brother started coming home from school, bragging about this new game he had learned.
Basketball. "
The rest, as they say is history.
Alfred Aboya, the big man in the shadows
Richard is ably assisted on UCLA's forward line by the ferocious Alfred Aboya who played basketball with him on the rough playgrounds of Yaounde. Even though he was plagued by injuries during the season, Aboya was still a key component in UCLA's journey to the final four. Aboya attended the Tilton, NH Prep Academy. He led the academy to its second consecutive New Hampshire Class B State Championship appearance in 2004-2005. As a junior in 2003-04, he led Tilton to the New Hampshire Class B State title.
Both Richard and Alfred have faced the same challenges here in the States, challenges that are familiar to thousands of immigrants. According the UCLA daily,
"But leaving behind their nearby West African villages in Yaounde, Cameroon and any semblance of a normal life in 2003 hasn't been easy.
Mbah a Moute landed at Montverde Academy in Florida. Aboya deplaned at Tilton Prep in New Hampshire. Neither was accompanied by anything besides his luggage and a few phrases of broken English.
"Good morning, good afternoon and good night," Mbah a Moute said. "That was about it."
"When we came here we didn't know anybody, and when we wanted to do something we had no idea where to go," said Aboya, whose full name is Aboya Baliaba Alfred Roland.
Joakim Noah, the "African Viking"
The third element in the Cameroon connection plays for the Florida Gators and like Mba a Moute, he has towered over his opponents during this tournament. He is Joakim Noah, son of Yannick Noah, the famed Franco-Cameroonian tennis star, currently the “psychological trainer” for Cameroon’s national football team, the Indomitable Lions. His mother is Miss Sweden 1978, Cecilia Rodhe. According to Brandenton:
A year ago, Noah and his passion were on the bench, a gawky 6-11 freshman who just didn't fit in -- the ultimate project who always seemed one step too slow physically and one step behind mentally. He was Bambi on ice.”
However, today he is described as “the fastest and most athletic big man in the country” and a potential NBA draft pick. Noah credits this change to a trip he made to Cameroon last summer to visit his grandfather, Zacharie Noah:
''After being on the bench all year I knew I needed to work on my game,'' Noah said. ``But it was important to make that trip to Africa. I needed that mentality, to go there. My grandfather told me to be humble, and to stay strong, and to keep working hard. He said he would pray for me. I am so much better for making that trip.
"A piece of my heart is always back in Africa. When the national anthem goes on, my mind goes back to Africa. It is a part of me.''
It is unlikely, however, that Noah will play for the barely functional Cameroon national basketball team. According to the International Herald Tribune,
Joakim does not yet have a French passport, but he clearly has the French coaching staff's attention after his dominating display (21 points and 15 rebounds) last weekend against Villanova - though it's not as though Yannick's son did not have their attention already.
"We've been following him for a long time," the French national team coach, Claude Bergeaud, told L'Équipe this week.
"Last year, I already said he was a player of great ability who we would certainly never see playing in Europe because his destiny was the NBA.
One for the history books
A fascinating tale of three players with three different stories with a Cameroonian connection; a connection that has spurned a group of fanatical supporters on both coasts who call themselves the "Cameroon Crazies".
So who will you root for tonight? For the two young men from Cameroon who miss eating boa constrictors and vipers, and whose American journey mirrors that of thousands of Africans? Or for the Franco-Cameroonian-American-Swedish kid who wasn’t obliged or even expected to care about his Cameroonian heritage, but who has not missed a chance in the past three weeks to remind the world of his roots in the heart of the African jungle?
Whomever you choose this will be a final for the history books!
Tags: ncaa basketballFloridaUCLACollege BasketballCameroon
Our country has amazing talent from our musicians and journalists to film directors and producers like Jean Pierre Bekolo or Daniel Kamwa and actors like Alphonse Beni or Yaphet Kotto, not forgetting soccer stars like Samuel Eto'o, Patrick Mboma and the unforgettable Albert Roger Milla. It was wonderful to read this article.
Posted by: Samuel | April 03, 2006 at 07:39 AM
20 reasons why Florida will beat UCLA
...
13. The inside edge goes to the Gators - In the power-forward battle for Cameroon supremacy, Joakim Noah has height and length on Luc Richard Mbah a Moute -- and as athletic as Mbah a Moute is, he's not much more explosive than Noah. Center Ryan Hollins has emerged in this tournament for UCLA, but Al Horford is the better player. The Gators' interior backups are as good as the Bruins' as well.
...
20. It's Florida's time - Arguably the state richest with athletic talent in America, it has never won a college basketball championship. There are scads of football titles strewn about the place, but nothing in hoops. It's time for the worshipers of the pointed ball to realize what can happen with the round one. Florida 65, UCLA 59.
http://boardsanddimes.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-favourite-ncaa-player-ever.html
Posted by: Mike | April 03, 2006 at 01:34 PM
‘Cameroon Crazies’ wild for UCLA duo
Mbah a Moute, Aboya give Bruins fans, country reason to cheer
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
Knight Ridder Tribune
UCLA’s Luc Richard Mbah a Moute rose above LSU’s players Saturday for 17 points and nine rebounds in the Bruins’ semifinal victory in Indianapolis.
INDIANAPOLIS — Soccer is on the back burner in Cameroon after the national team, the Indomitable Lions, failed to reach the World Cup finals for the first time in five tries.
Perhaps Cameroon, a west African nation, can turn its attention to the NCAA final, where two Cameroon natives on UCLA’s team and the rest of the Bruins will take on Florida at 8:21 tonight for the national championship.
However, the Cameroon Bruins don’t believe they’re moving the needle much on basketball in their homeland.
“What we’re doing is a big deal in the basketball community,” UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. “But that’s not a very big community. It’s not like soccer.”
But the Bruins, whose roster also includes Alfred Aboya from Cameroon, are playing for a crown, and the Indomitable Lions are not.
The green, yellow and red flags of Cameroon will be waving in the RCA Dome tonight, and a UCLA student contingent will wear their “Cameroon Crazies” T-shirts, a takeoff on Duke’s “Cameron Crazies.”
All in support of the Cameroon connection that has helped the Bruins reach the final game for the 13th time in the program’s history.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14249111.htm?source=rss&channel=kansascity_sports
Posted by: maurice bandeke | April 03, 2006 at 01:38 PM
Connected by Cameroon
By Bud Withers
INDIANAPOLIS — It's the U.S. college championship, but the international nature of basketball will be prominent in tonight's UCLA-Florida game.
Wonder what the overnight ratings will be in Yaounde, Cameroon?
"A friend e-mailed me," said UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. "I think it's going to be on TV. People who follow basketball [there] usually show interest in the Final Four."
Cameroon, a West African country of 16 million people, will have an unusual presence in this game. Florida's 6-foot-11 sophomore Joakim Noah, one of the dominant players in the tournament, is the son of former French Open tennis champion Yannick Noah, a product of Cameroon.
To call Joakim eclectic is to shortchange him. American-born, he travels to Cameroon to visit his grandfather, Zacharie, a village chief there. His mom, Cecilia Rodhe, was a Swedish model who took part in the 1978 Miss Universe pageant. She is now an accomplished sculptor.
Noah will match up against UCLA's Ryan Hollins, but surely he will have moments directly on Mbah a Moute and perhaps Bruins freshman Alfred Aboya, another Cameroon product.
In other words, if the game is on television in the early morning in Cameroon, it won't lack for local angles.
"I don't know if you've ever been to Orlando," Mbah a Moute said disarmingly, describing the capital city of Yaounde. "We don't have huts or anything like that."
Mbah a Moute's father is also the chief of a small village outside Yaounde. That means Luc Richard carries the title of prince, along with seven siblings.
"I definitely plan on going back home when everything is said and done," Mbah a Moute said. "If my dad chooses me as successor, I would love to do that."
Mbah a Moute came to a Florida prep academy and UCLA outrecruited Virginia Tech and South Carolina for him. Aboya, who has said his goal is to become president of Cameroon, went to a prep school in New Hampshire.
Mbah a Moute, the Pac-10 freshman of the year, told stories of a diet of snakes, elephant, cats and rats in his homeland. In the semifinals here, he outplayed both of the touted Louisiana State post players, Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas, with 17 points and nine rebounds.
His parents have never seen him play. Mbah a Moute hasn't been home in three years, but his parents and two brothers have visited him in the United States in the past year.
He'll no doubt have his hands full if he bumps into Noah, who has averaged 16.2 points and 9.6 rebounds in the tournament and had four blocks Saturday against George Mason.
Noah is reminiscent in athleticism and emotion to ex-Gonzaga big man Ronny Turiaf.
Late tennis great Arthur Ashe discovered Yannick Noah during an African tour in 1971 and Noah left his family at age 12 to attend school in France.
"They played doubles together at Wimbledon when my father was only 17," said Noah. "If it wasn't for Arthur, my father wouldn't be the tennis player he was."
The younger Noah shunned tennis himself because of his father's huge shadow and embraced basketball, especially after his mother moved the children from Paris to New York in 1998.
His father counsels him long-distance on how to stay relaxed, which the son takes with a grain of salt.
"For the first time in his life, he can't control what goes on on the court," Noah said with a smile. "He always tells me, 'Take a deep breath.' I say, 'Dude, chill out. Drink a couple of beers.' "
Father and grandfather slipped into the stands at Florida late on March 2 to see how far Joakim had progressed. As a freshman he played about nine minutes a game and averaged 3.5 points. But that night, he went for 37 points and 11 rebounds against Georgia.
Noah on his grandfather: "I love him to death. He's the man over there. His girlfriend is like, 30 years old. He goes to the clubs. He shines on the dance floor. He's crazy."
Noah and Mbah a Moute agree on Cameroon's culture.
"There's a lot of poverty over there," Noah said. "But it doesn't affect the people. I love going back over there. It's a happy people."
Proud, too, if Cameroon is watching tonight.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002906681_cameroon03.html
Posted by: Damas | April 03, 2006 at 01:56 PM
Just how big are these guys? Dont hear much about them in Sweden. But hey, i am impressed and it seems to me like a pointer that cameroon has alot athletic qualities to be exploited and invest in whcih unfortunately is not the case. All they need are the opportunities to make a break through!
Yannick Noah came out of cameroon to top the tennis charts. Eto'o left cameroon to Spain to gain a spot as the third best player in the world. So the story goes on and on!
Kudos to anyone out there tracing the same part of success! A success story fuels and inspires the downtrodden and pessimists! I am still to discount my believes that Cameroonians might just as well be the most educated of Africa south of the Sahari. Out of every 10 cameroonians i meet here atleast 8 have a university degree!
Posted by: Ernest | April 04, 2006 at 10:02 AM
WITH THESE 3 GUYS, CAMEROON WILL PUT DOWN MOUNTAINS.
Unfortunately, it does not all depend on them. I am so proud of these guys and i would like extend my appreciation for their talents.
But the disorganised and corrupt Biya regime will never help these guys to help their country.
If they decide to play for another country, then no one should blame them. The Cameroon government is so badly and egoistically managed in a manner that associating oneself to the group is like paving a way to hell.
Guys keep it up and you shall always have our support even if tomorrow you play for "space".
Posted by: FONJONG | April 10, 2006 at 06:06 AM
The Cameroon kids
UCLA has two players from the African nation, but there are five others in the tournament
By Mike Hiserman [LA Times]
March 17, 2007
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya are UCLA's Cameroon Connection, but they are not the country's only link to the NCAA tournament.
There were 23 other Cameroonians on Division I rosters this season and five in the tournament, including Wil Fameni, a forward who had eight points and six rebounds on Thursday to help Virginia Commonwealth upset Duke.
There's also forward Gaston Essenque, a reserve who made a key contribution to help Nevada Las Vegas hold off Georgia Tech on Friday.
The others are reserves Franck Ndongo of Virginia Commonwealth, Bruce Nengsu of Creighton and Frank Tchuisi of Villanova.
Essenque is from Yaounde, the same hometown as Aboya. He played at Compton College as a freshman, then transferred to Weatherford College in Texas before joining the Runnin' Rebels. He averaged 7.6 points and 4.8 rebounds this season and, despite early foul trouble, came up big late in the game against Georgia Tech, getting fouled on a put-back rebound and then making two free throws to give UNLV a four-point cushion, 63-59, with 36.6 seconds left in the game.
Ndongo, a freshman who was scoreless in only five minutes against Duke, attended Montverde Prep in Florida along with Mbah a Moute. Ndongo, in an interview with the U.S. State Department's bureau of international information, said there are many young Cameroonians who "have the same dream, to come to the U.S., play basketball and go to school.
"I want to go home after getting my degree, bring a positive message to my country and encourage kids to follow their dreams," he added.
And, speaking of dreams, there's another player with a historical connection to Cameroon who has already won an NCAA basketball championship.
Joakim Noah of defending champion Florida is the son of former tennis star Yannick Noah — whose father was Zacharie Noah, who was a star soccer player in Cameroon.
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