Astan Dabo’s homework

SHEFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - Nineteen-year-old Astan Dabo has attracted so much attention from basketball coaches and scouts that the WNBA's Connecticut Sun play caller, Mike Thibault, decided to give her a go.
 
Dabo has an impressive physique for a female basketball player, standing 2.04m (6 foot 8 inches) tall, and more importantly she has the desire to play among the best in the industry.
 
The Mali centre is not an international star just yet, but the Connecticut Sun are giving her a chance to become one after selecting her with the ninth overall pick in last Monday's WNBA draft.
 
Currently Dabo plays for Reims, in France Ligue Féminine 2, the second division championship.

She has been showing gradual improvement in the last two years and is expected to do more and better.
 
From averaging 0.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in the Czech Republic, Dabo improved to the tune of 3.6 pts and 2.6 rebounds per game in last year’s AfroBasket played in her home country.
 
The only African player selected in this year's WNBA Draft, she is averaging 11 points and 12.5 rebounds per contest for Reims.
 
On 3 March she had a season-high 28 points and 23 rebounds in an 80-63 victory over SIG.

Of course those are three different competitions with different levels of competitiveness to the WNBA, but this is how Dabo is building up her game.
 
Being given a chance and an opportunity of stepping into the WNBA is probably the most significant challenge of her basketball career.
 
She will not play for the Connecticut Sun in the upcoming WNBA season. Instead she is expected to play for a top-flight team in the French Ligue 1, the highest league in the country.
 
No doubt that she will be under constant scrutiny as well as under opponents’ attention.
 
The first test for Dabo to show her homework is due at the end of June, in Ankara, when Mali's women's national team competes in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Women, aiming to clinch one of the five spots remaining for the London Olympics.
 
Following her closely will be Mike Thibault, the man who recruited her.
 
Thibault stated clearly in a press conference what Dabo needs to improve. That includes her offensive game and she will also need to work on her English.
 
Meanwhile, for one man the selection of Dabo by the Connecticut Sun came by no surprise, at all, after monitoring young players in Mali, early this month.
 
Michel Perrin, the newly-appointed head coach of Mali's national women's side, had just returned to Switzerland from his visit to Bamako, when he heard the news of Dabo.
 
He spent days arranging the terms of his contract with the Mali Basketball Federation and managed a clinic with potential players to join the national team.
 
Like Dabo, Perrin said to me, Malian girls excel in basketball.
 
Dabo is just following in the footsteps of her fellow countrywomen - Hamchetou Maiga, Nara Diawara, Djene Diawara, Djenebou Sissoko and Naignouma Coulibaly, who are all playing in top leagues around the world.
 
As Dabo does not have a known background for WNBA fans, Mike Thibault explained in the press conference why he recruited his new player: “What I liked about her is, as thin as she is, in the French league, she’s averaging 12 plus rebounds per game.
 
“I think as a general rule, rebounding is a skill that translates from high school to college, college to the pros. If you have the aggressiveness to go after the ball, it usually translates.
 
“She’s not a deep shooter by any means.
 
“Her offensive game is very raw, but she got herself to the point this year where she is a 50-percent field goal shooter,” Thibault added.
 
Depending on her improvement, Dabo may be ready to step up in the WNBA in a year or two. It is up to her to successfully move from a prospect to a established good player.
 
If successful, Dabo may become a case-study for potential players who dream of playing at the highest level.

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

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