Richard Mba A'Moute, Alfred Aboya and Joachim Noah
They met during the 2006 NCAA basketball title game that pitted the Florida Gators against the UCLA Bruins. This year both teams are in the final four and the "Cameroon Crazies" will be facing each other in tomorrow's semi final game, in a year when a record 25 Cameroonians participated in the March Madness.
Last year, Joakim Noah's Florida Gators lifted the trophy while Richard Mba A'Moute and Alfred Aboya returned to UCLA empty-handed. Will the "Prince of Bellwood" and his Bruins avenge the 2006 defeat or is will the "African Viking" ensure that the Bruins are once again meat for the gators?
Another one for the ages!
Click here for a report a State Department report on the Cameroonian connection in this year's March Madness.
Saturday Channel 2 8:47 p.m. Eastern
The Cameroon Crazies
The mother of all dunks: "Air Aboya" takes on Joakim Noah in 2006
Mbah a Moute’s father unable to make Final Four trip
By Sagar Parikh
Friday, March 30, 2007
ATLANTA — All season, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s father had given his son a promise.
If the Bruins made it to the Final Four, Luc’s father, Camille Moute a Bidias, would travel from Cameroon to Atlanta to see his son play for the first time.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, that will no longer happen.
“He is sick, and the doctors told him that he can’t fly,” Mbah a Moute said. “I talked to him earlier in the week, and he can’t travel for a couple of weeks.”
Moute a Bidias, who is the king of his province in Yaounde, Cameroon, had surgery on his eye earlier this week, and traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, for the operation.
Moute a Bidias did not even tell his son the extent of his illness to make sure that Luc would be able to focus fully on this weekend’s games.
“That’s the type of father he is,” coach Ben Howland said. “I’m sure Luc is disappointed, but I don’t envision that it would be good for his father to be flying in a plane right after his surgery.”
Mbah a Moute and fellow Cameroonian forward Alfred Aboya are the only two players in the Bruins’ main rotation that are not from the Southern California area.
Unlike players such as Josh Shipp, Darren Collison and Arron Afflalo, who have large traveling parties on the Bruins’ road trips, Mbah a Moute and Aboya don’t have their parents there to talk to them after UCLA’s games.
“It’s difficult; I can only imagine,” Afflalo said. “It’s really important to have that support system, but both Luc and Alfred have dealt with it well.”
Moute a Bidias and Mbah a Moute’s mother, Agnes Goufane Ziem, both have traveled to Westwood to visit their son, but Camille Moute a Bidias has never seen his son play, not even during Luc’s high school playing days in Monteverde, Florida.
“I’m not disappointed, because I know he will have plenty of other chances to see me play,” Mbah a Moute said. “It just happened that he couldn’t come and watch me play.”
Mbah a Moute, however, will have his older brother, Amiel, in attendance.
Luc has five brothers, including a younger brother who plays for UC Santa Barbara.
Despite the fact that the rest of his family members won’t be in attendance, Mbah a Moute said the Final Four is broadcast in Cameroon, and his family will be able to watch from home.
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2007/mar/30/mbah_moutes_father_unable_make_final_four_trip/
Posted by: Nikky | March 30, 2007 at 07:24 PM
African B-Ballers: The Big Dance & Beyond
By Fongalla Nkweti
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship- the annual Spring tournament featuring 65 US college basketball teams- just tipped off. For three weeks millions across the nation are gripped by March Madness which shall rise to a fever pitch with the start of the Sweet 16 this week. Chances are if you filled in your fantasy bracket this year you've picked at least one team that has an African player, including the rosters of big name perennial challengers like the UCLA Bruins, Maryland Terrapins and defending champions the Florida Gators. As a growing number of college recruiters focus their recruitment efforts on African nations, the question arises whether these new African heavy NCAA lineups can yield the next generation of Mutombos and Olajuwons.
Team recruiters are drawn by the raw athletic power and mobility possessed by most African players, many of whom grew up playing the predominant sport of le monde entier -soccer. These athletes are blessed with the limber footwork and supple hips developed by playing fútbol. The disadvantages are a lack of basketball-specific strength endurance (especially in their upper bodies) and, most importantly, an absence of the intricate fundamentals needed in playing hoops. Many African players began playing basketball simply because they outgrew soccer- a sport dominated by athletes with low centers of gravity.
Most Americans are instilled with the building blocks of b-ball- shooting and ball handling- at a young age. As young teenagers they go on to learn more advanced skills such as rebounding, low-post moves and pick-and-roll action, in organized basketball leagues. Not afforded with the same early exposure to the sport, their African counterparts are challenged to play catch-up once they do in fact take up basketball- some as late as the age of 18. By that age American high school phenoms like Lebron James were only a year away from NBA glory. As a result many of the players listed below are athletically gifted and perform admirably on the defensive side of the game, but their offensive deficiencies are glaring and some times frustrating to watch.
You groan inside when a seven-footer rebounds the ball but brings it low enough for smaller men to slap it out of his hands or when he is unable to execute a simple drop-step in the post. The onus on these players is for them to practice, practice, practice. They must hone their basketball skills any chance they get in order to imprint the basics on their still malleable minds. In their defense, they're often juggling academic and athletic responsibilities as well as contending with issues like homesickness- a real hurdle for an 18 year-old away from his mother and motherland for the first time. Many of them are also struggling to simply understand what their coaches are saying, as they originate from francophone Africa.
But as basketball grows in popularity in Africa- so will the skill level. Basketball will probably never surpass soccer's dominance in Africa, but if African youngsters are at least exposed to the joys of making a lay-up or making a sweet jumper, they stand a much better chance when they grow too tall to be soccer stars.
Some of the current NCAA players have grown up ballin' like US- born Joakim Noah who is the son of half French- half Cameroonian tennis great Yannick Noah. As a result of the smooth athletic prowess inherited from his Dad and skills honed in basketball rich environments like France and Harlem, he is well on his way to NBA stardom.
College ball glory is definitely an avenue to an NBA contract as witnessed by successes like 2004's 2nd draft pick Emeka Okafor-born in Houston to Igbo parents. The greater glory will be in producing a league of successful African players who give their best on, and off, the court like the humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo.
AFRICAN PLAYERS in the 2007 NCAA MEN'S DIVISION 1 TOURNAMENT
Most Prominent-NBA Prospects:
FLORIDA Gators
JOAKIM NOAH #13 Forward Center - CAMEROON
UCLA Bruins
LUC RICHARD MBAH A MOUTE #23 Forward - CAMEROON
ALFRED ABOYA #12 Forward-Center - CAMEROON
MARYLAND Terrapins
EKENE IBEKWE #12 Forward - NIGERIA
Others in the 2007 NCAA MEN'S DIVISION 1 TOURNAMENT
GEORGE WASHINGTON Colonials
REGIS KOUNDJIA #23 Forward - CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
DOKUN AKINGBADE #42 Forward - NIGERIA
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH Rams
WIL FAMENI #2 Forward - CAMEROON
FLORIDA A&M Rattlers
ADKINS AKINI #33 Forward - CAMEROON
ORAL ROBERTS Golden Eagles
MOSES EHAMBE #13 Guard-Forward - DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
OGUNOYE YEMI #3 Guard-Forward - NIGERIA
CREIGHTON Bluejays
NENGSU BRICE #24 Guard - CAMEROON
UNLV Rebels
GASTON ESSENGUE #52 Forward - CAMEROON
MICHAEL UMEH #3 Guard - NIGERIA
CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE Blue Devils
OBIE NWADIKE #5 Forward - NIGERIA
OREGON Ducks
CHAMBERLAIN OGUCHI #25 Guard - NIGERIA
CHURCHILL ODIA #13 Guard - NIGERIA
GONZAGA Bulldogs
ABDULLAHI KUSO #31 Forward - NIGERIA
GEORGIA TECH Yellow Jackets
MOUHAMMAD FAYE #11 Forward - SENEGAL
ALADE AMINU #44 Forward-Center - SENEGAL
VIRGINIA Cavaliers
MAMADI DIANE #24 Guard-Forward - GUINEA
TUNJI SOROYE #21 Center - NIGERIA
VIRGINIA TECH Hokies
CHEICK DIAKITE #34 Forward - MALI
MARQUETTE Golden Eagles
OUSMANE BARRO #41 Forward - SENEGAL
MICHIGAN STATE Spartans
IDONG IBOK #0 Center - NIGERIA
OLD DOMINION Monarchs
ABDI LIDONDE #11 Guard - KENYA
ARNAUD DAHI #31 Forward - IVORY COAST
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Trojans
ABDOULAYE N'DIAYE #21 Center - SENEGAL
Up and Coming Players (not in the NCAA tournament this year)
RUTGERS Scarlet Knights
HAMADY N'DIAYE #5 Center - SENEGAL
CONNECTICUT Huskies
HASHEEM THABEET #34 Center - TANZANIA
Posted by: Nana | April 02, 2007 at 08:54 PM
African players making big impact in NCAA and in college basketball in General.
I was very impress of Mamadi Diane of virginia and Hasheem Thabeet of ucon.
Both kids will make an impact in pro level soon because of their rapid progression.
Thanks, Tidiane
Posted by: Tidiane | April 27, 2007 at 06:05 PM
I am also a basketball fanatic and I am impressed seeing African-born players excelling in the US NCAA league.This overwhelming performances should set as a campaign for Africans to pursue professional basketball.African countries spend nothing or very little to this domain making soccer the only mainstay in Africa.More talented young basketballers are in the lime-light yet still to be discovered due to the lack of sponsors and adequate training facilities.
Fritzane Kiki
Hong Kong
Posted by: Fritzane Kiki | May 01, 2007 at 12:11 PM