Let's hope he lands a "keeper" over there in Aluma land.
Liberty Head Men’s Basketball Coach Ritchie McKay is set to represent Athletes in Action (AIA) in Nairobi, Kenya, as part of a coaching clinic directed to further basketball and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Africa. Flames’ redshirt junior Tyler Baker will join McKay in Kenya...
McKay and Baker will depart for Kenya on July 25 and will return to Lynchburg on Aug. 2.“Liberty basketball has had successful ties to players in Africa,” stated McKay. “We will be on the lookout for the next Peter Aluma or Julius Nwosu, who both hailed from cities in Nigeria.”
Sounds great. Let's just hope Tyler doesn't try to overdo it over there.
Perhaps our Kenyan runners are passing on greetings to family members thru Coach McKay & Tyler.
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 10:40 am
by jcmanson
I was just getting ready to post this. I will be
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 10:44 am
by Cider Jim
They're probably just using Baker as a human yardstick to measure 7 footers, since everything is metric over there.
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 11:15 am
by Rooster Cogburn
Maybe he will just watch and not play!
Coach - Find us another Aluma or Nwasu please!
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 12:46 pm
by TDDance234
Rooster Cogburn wrote:Maybe he will just watch and not play!
Coach - Find us another Aluma or Nwasu please!
Let's hope so...as much as it pains me, we're going to need TB to play to his ability this year. We can't have him sitting on the sidelines again. Rest up!
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 1:07 pm
by LUconn
I'm curious as to what kind of goofy restrictions they're having to watch per the NCAA. Like did TB have to pay his own way? Does McKay have to turn around when Baker gets out on the court?
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 1:51 pm
by olldflame
Actually, they are not very likely to find any 7 footers in Kenya. East Africans as a group are smaller in stature and in general very different in physical makeup from West Africans. Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate in endurance sports while Nigerians excell in sprints, basketball and power sports. As might be expected geographically, most African-Americans are descended from West African roots.
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 2:30 pm
by Cider Jim
olldflame wrote:Actually, they are not very likely to find any 7 footers in Kenya. East Africans as a group are smaller in stature
That makes more sense: McKay is overseas looking for some more GUARDS.
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 3:15 pm
by LUconn
olldflame wrote:Actually, they are not very likely to find any 7 footers in Kenya. East Africans as a group are smaller in stature and in general very different in physical makeup from West Africans. Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate in endurance sports while Nigerians excell in sprints, basketball and power sports. As might be expected geographically, most African-Americans are descended from West African roots.
Are the maasai not from Kenya? I think they're tall and they have a culture of jumping high.
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 3:47 pm
by prototype
I'm not sure where your source is - I just watch "The Air Up There" and it seems to me that they could run into some pretty tall guys. That player in this documentary looks 8 feet tall.
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 4:06 pm
by Rooster Cogburn
I hear they are going in order to see this tall Kenyan:
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 4:40 pm
by Cider Jim
Yea, he may be tall, but can he play defense like Aluma used to?
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 6:00 pm
by flamesbball84
Cider Jim wrote:Yea, he may be tall, but can he play defense like Aluma used to?
well he can kill you, i'm sure intimidation factor alone would be immense!
Posted: July 8th, 2008, 8:06 pm
by olldflame
prototype wrote:I'm not sure where your source is - I just watch "The Air Up There" and it seems to me that they could run into some pretty tall guys. That player in this documentary looks 8 feet tall.
"The Air up There" is not a documentary, it's a Kevin Bacon movie! Yes, the actor (repeat ACTOR) who played the African ballplayer is a 6'10 Kenyan. Now name me one Kenyan PLAYER that anyone has heard of. Their most famous baller isn't really a baller..... he just played one in a movie.
I don't really see the need to source my original statement. The fact is, the differences in body type between Eastern and Western Africans is fairly common knowledge. Here are a few facts. The most popular sport in Kenya???????? NOT running....... Soccer........ and it's not even close. But Kenya cannot come close to competing with Nigeria or Ghana in their favorite sport. They just don't have the athletes.
Almost 50% of the top times in distances over 1500 meters are held by East Africans (mostly Kenyan and Ethiopian), yet the fastest 100 meter ever run by a Kenyan is 10.28. There are probably a half dozen American high schoolers who have run better than that this year alone.
95% of the top times in sprints (200 meters and less) are held by athletes of West African Heritage (mostly African-American and Afro-Carribean runners).
I'm sure there are some tall guys in Kenya, and maybe a few of them have some basketball talent, but not in anything like the numbers in Nigeria.
If they really want to find a 7 footer they need to do a clinic in Holland, which has the tallest average height and more 7 foot plus males per capita than any other country. Or we could just recruit a 6'10-and-still-growing "Dutch boy" from Florida!!
Posted: July 10th, 2008, 8:03 am
by WWJFD
Rooster Cogburn wrote:I hear they are going in order to see this tall Kenyan:
If we land this prospect, I cannot wait to see him matchup in the post with Kenny George...now that would give us a guaranteed ESPN game
Posted: July 10th, 2008, 7:04 pm
by JDUB
i can't wait to see our freshman dunk on kenny george.. he's gonna have a hard time watching his back to keep from getting dunked on
Posted: July 10th, 2008, 7:52 pm
by jcmanson
JDUB wrote:i can't wait to see our freshman dunk on kenny george.. he's gonna have a hard time watching his back to keep from getting dunked on
Yeah, ok.
Posted: July 11th, 2008, 12:01 am
by JDUB
i'm not kidding. just wait
Posted: July 11th, 2008, 8:25 am
by LUconn
And our guys won't need 3 or 4 steps to do it
edit: 3 steps
Posted: July 11th, 2008, 9:05 am
by jcmanson
There has only been one person to ever dunk on George and that was last year's NCAA player of the year. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's highly unlikely.
Posted: July 11th, 2008, 9:43 am
by JDUB
he doesnt count cause he cheated. he's gonna be embarressed when he gets dunked on by a freshman this year. just wait, he'll never see it coming
Posted: July 11th, 2008, 10:03 am
by jcmanson
I hope so, and I know a few guys coming in have some hops but that doesn't mean they'll dunk on Kenny.
Posted: July 11th, 2008, 10:37 am
by Kolzilla41
JDUB wrote:he doesnt count cause he cheated. he's gonna be embarressed when he gets dunked on by a freshman this year. just wait, he'll never see it coming