Nigeria - Africans' presence increasing

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It was three years ago that Hamady N'Diaye participated in the 2nd Annual Basketball without Borders Camp in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event, sponsored by the NBA, featured 100 of the top prospects on the African continent and included instructors and guest speakers such as Dikembe Mutombo, Samuel Dalembert and Alex English.

N'Diaye was a raw 16-year-old from Senegal who, like most of his fellow Africans, had grown up playing soccer, but he was also 6-foot-11 and 210 pounds.

"I didn't know anything about basketball when I got into that camp. I was just a good potential basketball player," N'Diaye said recently with a laugh. "It just felt good to see all these really good players. Seeing someone like Dikembe Mutombo, who is pretty much famous back there (in Africa), it was big for me. He helped me a lot, too. After that, I pretty decided that's what I wanted to do."

Tonight the 7-foot N'Diaye and the 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet of Tanzania will square off when Rutgers hosts Connecticut at the Rutgers Athletic Center. The two freshmen, huge, athletic and raw, could signify the early stages of a massive African influx into American college and pro basketball.

"I think we're 10 to 20 years away," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "Twenty years from now, there could be 50 or 60 African players in the NBA. I think it definitely is going to happen."

African players on the rise

The number of foreign-born players in Division I men's college basketball has tripled in the last decade. There are at least 46 players from Nigeria on NCAA men's rosters this year. In the Big East, there are four Africans. At least one other, 6-11 Augustine Okosun of Nigeria, has committed to Seton Hall for next year.

In the NBA, there were seven African players at the start of this season, including Mutombo, a native of the Congo who spent time with the Knicks and Nets and now plays for the Houston Rockets. By comparison, there were 51 European players on NBA rosters, 12 from South America and 10 from North and Central America and the Caribbean (excluding U.S.-born players).

"I think this has clearly become a worldwide game," said Mike Mahoney, who has donated more than $500,000 to start the program at Stoneridge (Prep) School in Simi Valley, Calif., where both N'Diaye and Thabeet played. "The U.S. and our kids don't have a monopoly on the sport and the game.

"The African kids bring a lot of raw athletic skills. They haven't played a lot of basketball. They were soccer players. They can run. They can get up and down the court. They're tall. They're athletic. What they're missing is intensity associated with playing tough competition. Big kids are always late bloomers."

The upside to being raw, coaches say, is that the African players tend not to have developed many bad habits.

Making the move to the U.S.

N'Diaye admitted he lacked a natural feel for basketball when current Stoneridge coach Babacar Sy, who runs a basketball academy in his native Senegal, first got N'Diaye involved with the game.

"He saw me and asked me if I wanted to learn the game of basketball," N'Diaye recalled. "He was teaching me basic things. He told me I had a chance to go to a high school down in the United States, and it would be a good start for me if I really wanted to play further in basketball."

Sy arranged for N'Diaye to come to Life Center Academy in Burlington on scholarship. But when Sy later ended up at Stoneridge Prep, N'Diaye followed in 2005.

N'Diaye said his parents supported his move to the U.S., because it offered the promise of a better life.

"If you go with a degree from the U.S., you can have a lot more opportunities here than you have over there," N'Diaye said.

He added that there are thousands of other young Africans who dream of getting the same opportunities he has received.

Looking for a better life

N'Diaye is raw but he has shown glimpses of what might be. He is averaging 2.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 13.4 minutes. He leads the team in blocks with 44, and ranks seventh in the Big East in blocks per game.

His dream is to reach the play professionally. And if he ever does, he could be part of an ever-growing number of Africans in the NBA.

Said Masai Ujiri, director of scouting for the Denver Nuggets and a Nigerian: "I have no doubt in my mind in that in the next 20 years there will be an impact, an impression will be made by Africans in the NBA."