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 Harouna Mutombo is one of 19 Canadian basketball players invited to a development camp in Toronto beginning Monday. |
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June 13, 2009
Cullowhee, N.C. - Back in his native Canada, Western Carolina forward Harouna Mutombo is getting the chance of a lifetime this summer. The rising sophomore for the Catamount men's basketball team was one of 19 top Canadian prospects who will take part in a development camp at the Air Canada Centre Monday, June 15 through 22, followed by exhibition games in Spain to kick off Canada Basketball's men's summer program.
The camp will focus on player development and also serves as a chance for the players to be evaluated by Canada's senior national team coaches. Seen as a crucial step in identifying young talent and giving players a path to the national team, the squad chosen from the camp participants will take part in an exhibition tour of Spain later this month with a chance at advancing to the senior men's national team training camp July 18-22.
The 19 invited Canadian youth features 11 who are currently on NCAA rosters, including seven-foot tall junior center David Collins from Bradley; Kris Joseph, a freshman from Syracuse; Tyler Kepkay from Utah, who was a former Canadian National team member; and former four-year letter-winner at Michigan, Jevohn Shepherd, who was also a member of the Canadian team.
Mutombo is not the first WCU connection to the Canadian national basketball program. Former Catamount center Rans Brempong, who continues to hold the school record for blocked shots in a career (308), was a member of Team Canada last summer that just missed qualifying for the Beijing Olympics.
The Canadian Senior Men's National Team (SMNT) is coached by Leo Rautins, who played collegiately at both Minnesota for a season and spent three years at Syracuse. The former All-Big Ten and All-Big East selection the first Canadian ever drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft going 17th overall to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1983 Draft.
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Mutombo, who became the fourth different Catamount to garner Southern Conference Freshman of the Year accolades a season ago, helped guide Western Carolina to its first winning season since 1996-97 - and a share of the North Division title, just the second such championship in school history. The Pickering, Ontario, native was a first team All-SoCon selection that also garnered All-State and was named as an honorable mention on the 2009 CollegeHoops.net National All-Freshman team.
One of six different Canadian-born players to play in Cullowhee since 2001, Mutombo finished the 2008-09 season as the top-scoring freshman - and only one of three in the top 30 in the SoCon - with a 14.4 point per game average, ninth in the final statistical standings. He posted 24 double-digit scoring outings in his first season, reaching the 20-point plateau six times including a career-best 29 in the home win over UNC Greensboro. He additionally ranked third in the league in steals per game (1.8).
