a écrit le 3 avril 2006 à 13h23 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
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
