SWE - Zahui B. returns stronger, more motivated after missing college season

MINNEAPOLIS (NCAA Women) - Amanda Zahui Bazoukou values every minute that she's on the court for the University of Minnesota. And the 20-year-old Swedish youth star has been impressively productive in her first season playing women's collegiate basketball in the United States.

Zahui B. - as she has asked people in the U.S. to call her - made big news last week, registering a triple-double of 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks for the Golden Gophers against Kansas.

It was the fourth triple-double in the program's history and the first since Janel McCarville did it in 2004 - but the first with points, rebounds and blocks.

"It was an amazing feeling," said Zahui B., who has averaged 15 points, 11 rebounds, 3.8 blocks and three assists in her first four games at Minnesota.

Zahui B.'s great start earned her the Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Player and Freshman of the Week.

It's no surprise the Stockholm native is walking around Minneapolis with a big smile on her face, not only because she's putting up outstanding numbers but also because she's overcome a big hurdle.

The 1.95m center is considered a redshirt freshman, meaning she is in her second year in college but only in her first of four eligible playing seasons. She had hoped to be putting up her lofty numbers already last season but an academic issue back home in Sweden forced her to miss the entire 2012-13 season.

She spent all of the 2012 summer studying for the U.S. collegiate entrance SAT exam and finally passed it in November of that year. She didn't make it to Minnesota until last December - she was not allowed into the United States without collegiate matriculation papers - and therefore missed the entire 2012-13 season.

"It was really hard to sit on the bench and watch the team and you can’t help them," she recalled.

"There was a meaning for it and it made me so much stronger. I worked so hard this summer. I don't think I ever worked this hard. It motivated me to come back better than I have ever been."

The basketball workouts this summer also kept Zahui B. from accepting an invitation to try out for Sweden for EuroBasket Women 2013 - though it's still a dream of hers to play for the senior side.

Zahui B. then had to wait one more game to make her collegiate debut, sitting out the Gophers' season opener through suspension for committing an undisclosed inadvertent NCAA rule infraction.

When she finally did take the court, she lived up to her billing, collecting 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks against the Charlotte 49ers.

"It's an amazing feeling to be back on the court and help my teammates," she said.

"I have been waiting for this for so long. I'm just having fun out there with my team. I just have a big smile on my face."

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