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There are maybe three or four "franchises" in the history of organized Asian American basketball leagues in the USA: (1) the Japanese-centric Nippon Athletic Union of Northern and Southern California, borne out of the Japanese internment camps of World War II, (2) the Chinese National Tournament borne out of the East Coast, (3) the IndoPak tournament circuit, and (4) the East and West Coast Filipino leagues started by immigrants to large metros.
Guess what, perhaps Asian American basketball's greatest player ever has returned home. Rex Walters was named the head coach of USF yesterday (Rex is 50% Japanese, 50% Caucasian).
This is a little eerie because I was gonna post our NYC commish's recent article on some ballers of our Asian league/tourney circuits of today -- from the potential of Xiro Navaulath, to the token-Asian-guy-at-a-world-class-program Matt Lee, and the steady starter of a small D-1 Jeremy Lin, who actually has not appeared in an Asian league/tourney yet (...and props to Ryan Reyes, although we are talking about D-1 here, not pro) -- who have made it to the D-1 level.
And just last week I also recently came close to hiring a new ref in our Bay Area league, Joe Belfry (he called me back too late, but you'll see him soon in stripes on our courts), former teammate of John Tofi. Tofi started at UTEP and is now, according to Belfry, playing professionally in Italy.
Here's the report from NYC...
[From NYC commish Brian Yang]...
...today, this week, and really what should have been yesterday, last week, a month ago, I’m taking this time to suggest/implore/demand that you head up to Levien Gym tomorrow night at 7pm to watch Columbia take on the Harvard Crimson.
Levien Gym, it’s on Broadway and W. 119th in the Dodge Physical Fitness Center. You must enter through the W. 116th St. gates.
Once you enter, you’ll be treated to –- I kid you not –- maybe the best pure Asian American basketball player the game’s ever seen.
Yao Ming, who not only now has a depressing (for us as well as him) stress fracture that will sideline him till the Olympics, but is the best Asian ball player living in America, isn’t Asian American. Neither is Yi Jianlian. Derrick Low is half Chinese and Pasha Bains is Canadian, as well as of mixed ethnicity.
Yes, we’re aware of a kid named Xiro Navaulath out of Minnesota (accompanying Youtube video) – and yes, there may be some other guy buried somewhere in the South, the Midwest, Hawaii, or Alaska we don’t know about, but until Xiro or that kid is showing his skill on a big time platform in the US, I’m putting my money on Harvard’s Jeremy Lin.
HU may be 8-18 this season (it's not his fault Tommy Amaker can't recruit), but Lin is leading them with 12.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, and 3.4 apg. Get a load of some of his games:
A season high 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists in a 91-73 win over Mercer. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Woah, Rex Walters was considering the head coaching job at Mercer before picking USF!]
15 points against UC Santa Barbara – a team from the Big West - a mid-major conference.
20 points and 13 boards against UC Irvine – another team from the Big West.
9 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and a photo in Sports Illustrated in Harvard’s upset of Michigan. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Yo, is this photo online? Someone find it!]
20 points, 7 boards, 3 dimes and 21 points, 6 boards, and 4 dimes in his last two conference games – both wins.
So, you know he’s heating up. And whenever a game is in the NYC, you know that’s a grand stage so expect nothing less this Friday.
JL is the real deal folks. We interviewed him last year and the humble scholar-athlete impressed with his words as well as his play after I caught him at last year’s Columbia game.
This season, he’s getting more PT and he’s putting it to good use, showing the public why he was California’s NorCal Player of the Year his senior year after his Palo Alto Vikings shocked Mater Dei in the state finals.
As Tri-State’s Andre Liu will attest after seeing HU play Princeton early this month, he’s a joy to watch. There have been (pure) Asian-Americans on the D1 level before, but never one in such a prominent role as JL. There will be more AA’s in the future, perhaps some in even more prominent roles at big-time basketball programs like Ohio State, UCLA, or even Kentucky (can you imagine?).
But this is about the here and now. This is about Friday night at 7pm up at Columbia.
[EDITOR'S COMMENT: Yo, what happened to KJ Matsui of Columbia?]
This is history continuing to be made.
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