Finally, the wait is over. After sitting out what seems an eternity to clear NCAA regulations for entry to the University of Connecticut, Ater Majok will step onto the court as one of the UConn Huskies today.
Jeff Jacobs, local writer on the Huskies, has more on the Sudanese-Australian big man:
Majok’s story knows no national boundary. His story crosses four nations, three continents and one year of wandering the great desert of NCAA rule. It is the story of human strife, life’s possibilities and, yes, patience.
“He has had probably the greatest journey to get here of any kid we’ve ever had,” coach Jim Calhoun said Friday.
On Sunday, the 6-foot-11 freshman from Khartoum, Sudan, via an Egyptian refugee camp, Sydney, Australia, and the NCAA Clearinghouse finally — finally — steps onto the XL Center court against Central Florida in his college debut.
“The closer I get the longer it gets,” Majok said. “I’ve been waiting a very long time.”
Will this mark the end or beginning of his journey? Majok thought only for a moment and answered, “We finish one chapter. We start a new chapter in a book. We finished all the drama. We get to the action part now.”
The Dinka tribesman is a quote machine. Now we will begin to see how far he is in his development into a basketball machine.
“There has been a lot of hype,” Majok, 22, said. “At the end of the day, you’ll see if the hype equals Ater or Ater equals the hype. I’m not the one to tell about it.”
Majok, who speaks English, Dinka, Arabic and some Italian, was a member of the debate team at American International School in Sydney. With only a hint of brag and, remarkably, only a hint of a foreign accent, he said he is really good at getting his point across. He’s also fairly good at self-preservation. Asked if he has debated Calhoun, Majok answered, “Not yet, and I don’t think I want to get into one. If he says, ‘Go right,’ I’ll go right.”
We hear about his 7-4 wingspan. We hear about individual skills and boundless energy. There is, Calhoun said, reason for the buzz. He will help Alex Oriakhi inside and add badly needed depth, that’s for sure. But how good is he? The dreams are Majok follows in the footsteps of Donyell Marshall. The fears are all the hype turns into Ajou Deng.
“Everything I bring to the table, the team needs: rebounding, defense, scoring, just running the floor,” Majok said.
“He plays so hard I can’t see why he wouldn’t be a big impact when he starts off,” said Oriakhi, who kidded that Majok is the only guy who’ll throw him the ball inside. “Me and him down low is going to be madness for other teams.”
Majok’s journey is an interesting one. He was born in Sudan and was six years-old when his mother took him and three brothers to Egypt to escape the war-torn situation there — without their father who unfortunately had to remain. They stayed in a refugee camp until Majok was 14, at which point they were granted humanitarian visas to move to Australia, joining a growing Sudanese community of refugees taken in downunder.
This from the Sydney Morning Herald:
Ater Majok, 22, might hail from war-torn Sudan, but he calls Blacktown home and his skills as a basketballer have taken him to the United States on a scholarship. His tale is so remarkable that it earned him a feature article in The New York Times ahead of his expected debut yesterday afternoon (US time) for the UConn Huskies against Central Florida University in the Big East competition.
And at Penrith Sports Stadium at the weekend, 250 Sudanese-Australian basketballers, who have been inspired by Majok, staged their annual national tournament. Twenty-four men’s and women’s teams from across the country dribbled, dunked and danced their way through a sporting exhibition that showed the skills of a people who are genetically ideal for basketball.
On the imperial scale, Majok is six feet, 10 inches tall and boasts what has been called a ”pterodactyl-like” wingspan of well over seven feet. With basketball’s profile so low in Sydney because of the demise of the Kings and Razorbacks, many would be unaware that Majok made his debut for Australia when the Boomers won the Boris Stankovic Cup in China in August, playing against Turkey, Angola and the host nation.
That’s right, the big fella has a strong future with the Australian Boomers, should all turn out to his potential. Fortunately for Majok, he has time. The Aussie Boomers are in no rush to expedite his journey into the international squad, with a plethora of young big men in the ranks already, such as Andrew Bogut (Milwaukee Bucks), David Andersen (Houston Rockets) and Nathan Jawai (Minnesota Timberwolves).
He has a lot of work to do, with coach Calhoun calling him “raw.” But for now, Majok will be happy to just be on the court, in what possibly could be a starting role it seems, in just his first game. The Huskies take on Central Florida, with details of coverage (including radio) to be found here.
