a écrit le 28 mars 2007 à 20h55 The Cameroon kids
UCLA has two players from the African nation, but there are five others in the tournament
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
UCLA has two players from the African nation, but there are five others in the tournament
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
