MARYVILLE - Norway may not be a major player on the basketball landscape, but that is in the process of changing according to Chris Ebou Ndow who actually won a United States collegiate championship last season.

Ndow collected 17 points and 18 rebounds in helping NW Missouri State beat Fairmount State 71-61 in the NCAA Division II Championship game.

"It feels good to be able to do something like this and put Norway on the map a little," Ndow said. "Obviously, there are only so many people that know about it, but I don't think there was a Norwegian champion over here, so the fact that I was able to be on a championship team and let people know that Norway have a few talents over there too is great. It's a great feeling, and I'm pretty proud of that. Hopefully in the future we can do more."

Ndow, who averaged 12.5 points and 6.7 rebounds in his third season with NW Missouri State in Maryville, actually made a name for himself on the basketball map a few years ago. The Bodo-native was the leading scorer at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2011, Division B as he averaged 22.3 points a game while chipping in 6.3 rebounds.

"Norway has been under the radar forever. Being in Norway and growing up there and being passionate about basketball has been kind of tough. We have a basketball culture and a lot of talented guys but nobody who has been able to do anything major internationally yet."Chris Ebou NdowChris Ebou Ndow

"What I remember is that I was a little disappointed in terms of our accomplishments. I know we were a better team than what we showed. We ended up not winning too many games, but I'm happy I was able to show something individually," said Ndow, who couldn't keep Norway from finishing with a 1-6 record in 16th place.

One of the games came against Switzerland and the future NBA player Clint Capela, with Ndow collecting 39 points in the contest.

"We lost after being up by a couple of points with a minute left. That was a really tough loss, but playing against players like that was really good and you can say you played against them. Seeing that competition was a big learning experience," Ndow said.

Ndow said it wasn't easy growing up a basketball fan in Norway, where basketball lags quite far behind other team sports including football, ice hockey, handball and volleyball.

"Norway has been under the radar forever. Being in Norway and growing up there and being passionate about basketball has been kind of tough," Ndow said. "We have a basketball culture and a lot of talented guys but nobody who has been able to do anything major internationally yet."

"I definitely see effort in getting our basketball culture up. Being at the U16 and U18 tournament is showing promise for us. I know a lot of the guys who are working hard to improve our basketball culture, and I know they are doing a great job. Me having been at a FIBA U18 European Championship I know it's good for us to be able to do that at an early age and kind of show what we can do and see the level of competition. It looks like the future is promising."Chris Ebou NdowChris Ebou Ndow

The last time the men's senior national team competed internationally at FIBA level was 1999 in qualification for FIBA EuroBasket 2001. The Norwegian Federation sent a team to the FIBA U20 European Championship Division B from 2008 to 2011 and eight years between 2006 and 2014 to the FIBA U18 European Championship Division B. This summer will see Norway return to the U18 level at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2017, Division C in Nicosia. At the cadet level, Norway have competed at the FIBA U16 European Championship Division B the last six years and eight times since 2006.

"I definitely see effort in getting our basketball culture up," Ndow said. "Being at the U16 and U18 tournament is showing promise for us. I know a lot of the guys who are working hard to improve our basketball culture, and I know they are doing a great job. Me having been at a FIBA U18 European Championship, I know it's good for us to be able to do that at an early age and kind of show what we can do and see the level of competition. It looks like the future is promising."

Even though the Norway senior team is still not scheduled to compete in the immediate future, the country will send a team to Chinese Taipei for the Universiade 2017. Ndow cannot wait to play in Asia, where the Scandinavians are drawn into Group B with Germany, Canada, Finland, Japan  and Hong Kong.

"It's huge for us to be able to do that this summer," Ndow said. "It's been a dream of mine to play with the national team. As a kid you always have goal of what you want to accomplish in your sport and in your career and playing for the national team is a big dream of mine. Being able to see how we stack up against some big competition is going to be big for us. I can't wait."

Just like he can't wait to see how much Norway improve in the future - also with the help of Ndow and his accomplishments.

FIBA