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2007 Global Games kick off week-long international basketball competition
By Pegasus News wire

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The Texas Rangers aren’t the only team playing next week when America celebrates its 231st birthday.

Basketball fans can get their fix as the 2007 Global Games get set to dominate SMU’s Moody Coliseum for a Sunday-to-Saturday stretch of all-out international hoops from July 1 – 7. The week-long event will feature more than 15 games showcasing some of the world’s most promising 22-and-under young players (most are athletes headed to or already playing for Big 12 NCAA teams – and some hail from the Dallas/Fort Worth area). Open to the public, tickets are now on sale for the tournament, which is presented by GameStop, PrimeTime Sports and the Heroes Foundation (see next page for game schedule and ticket prices). Individual tickets are $3 and $5, and a tournament pass is $15.

Highlights of the week include two major exhibition games. The USA Basketball and China National teams face each other Sun., July 1, at 5 p.m. (expected to attend with the Chinese National Team will be Yao Ming, a 2002 Global Game alum and 1st-round draft pick for the Houston Rockets).

On Tues, July 3, the Dallas Mavericks Summer Team goes up against the Chinese National team at 7 p.m. Playing on the Mavs Summer Team will be Dallas Mavericks’ center DeSagana Diop, power forward Pops Mensa-Bonsu, guard J J Barea and rookie/guard Maurice Ager along with former SMU player Brian Hopkins and former University of Texas player P.J. Tucker. The Mav’s newest draft picks, to be chosen later this week, also will make their debut at the game.

The Global Games pool tournament kicks off Thurs., July 5, and concludes with the Gold Medal championship game Sat., July 7, at 8 p.m. Participating this year will be teams from all corners of the world – China, Puerto Rico, Africa, Argentina, and Senegal as well as Team U.S.A. Darrell Arthur (University of Kansas), a 2006 graduate of South Oak Cliff High School, has been chosen for Team USA, comprised of 19- to 22-year-olds already playing at the college level.

Several hometown hoopsters have been tapped to play on the Global Games All-America Team, which is made up of 19-and-under high school grads headed to college this fall: D'Walyn Roberts (Texas Tech), a 2007 graduate of Duncanville High School; John Roberson (Texas Tech), a 2007 graduate of Plano Senior High School; Alex Malone (SMU), a 2007 graduate of Mansfield Timberview High School; and Robert Nyakundi (SMU), a 2007 graduate of Arlington Bowie High School. The All-America team will play against Senegal Thurs., July 5, at 6 p.m. and Fri., July 6, against the Junior College Team at 2 p.m. and Argentina at 8 p.m.

This year marks the seventh Global Games competition since its 2001 inception in Dallas. Considered the pre-eminent international basketball event played in the United States, the Global Games exist to highlight the rising stars in the world of international basketball and to promote the growth of international basketball in the United States. This goal is validated and reinforced every year by the large number of NBA scouts, basketball fans, and coaches attending the Global Games.

Almost two dozen Global Game alumni currently play in the NBA, including Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets, Darko Milicic of the Detroit Pistons, Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz, Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors, and Ike Digou of the Golden State Warriors. In addition, alumni from the Global Games now play on more than 80 NCAA teams, including almost every Big 12 team.

Source: Global Games


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Mr Malone and Mr Nyakundi are getting some good minutes and playing well. Welcome to SMU and Conference USA - you are both a great fit in our program that is well on its way to the top !!!

Nyakundi got hurt a couple of days ago - foot or ankle or something, in a game I didn't see - but Malone played yesterday and looked very impressive. The "Global Games All-Stars" (or whatever it's called) - the team he's playing for - played a team called "CJT" which was made up of Collin County Community College and Stephen F. Austin players. Malone's team absolutely destroyed CJT and barely broke a sweat in the process. The coach kept the minutes split pretty evenly, so Malone only played maybe 15 minutes or so. He seemed like a very "team first" guy, willingly setting screens to spring his teammates for open shots, and sending several very nice entry passes to (Somebody) Aldrich (something like that), a big 6-10 guy headed to Kansas. Coach specifically called out Malone from the bench for some of his passes, and just for getting seeing the best scoring option from the high post, where he seemed very comfortable … Ran the floor pretty well … Stronger than he looks. The guy is thin, but on the occasions when he got the ball in the low post, he was able to overpower the CJT "bigs" (generally an inch or two shorter than Malone, but thicker) and scored with relative ease … Seemed comfortable putting the ball on the floor … Very soft shooting touch, from the field and from the free throw line - net barely moved on four free throws.

Going to the 6 PM and 8 PM games today. Will write up anything I see from the SMU guys.

A recent article on Rival's Mustangsmaniacs.com indicated that Papa Dia could not play because of a back injury. Anyone have any insight into the severity of the injury?

Saw him walking around at Moody. He didn't play, but he didn't look like he was in a lot of pain.

Hopefuly Nyakandi and Dia's injuries are not severe enough to hamper their college careers...........as has happened in the past to Hilltop players.

Good gawd, did you get beaten up a lot as a kid or something?

That happens to student-athletes at every school in the country. Some think it's cyclical, but it happens everywhere.

You can see the box scores here:
http://www.globalgamesusa.com/schedule.cfm

Have to click into the links as the box scores are PDFs.

Looks like Nyakundi played the first game and sat out the others.

SMUFan wrote:Good gawd, did you get beaten up a lot as a kid or something?

That happens to student-athletes at every school in the country. Some think it's cyclical, but it happens everywhere.

It does happen everywhere, but unfortunately we have never had the depth to overcome such injuries. I do hope the injury doesn't hamper his career.

Didn't Dallas's own and Kansas Guard Darrell Arthur break his leg or have some type of stress fracture this weekend at the games?

yes, out 6-8 wks, no big deal...

As for the injuries, I don't like it either. We seem to have some serious bad luck with them and I hope everyone is healthy starting the season so they can go through the training and development.