Storming the Floor

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College basketball love, founded upon the three pillars of information, analysis and humor. Curated by Eric Angevine

  1. Assane Sene finds a home at Virginia - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

    I never ask people to link my stuff, but I did this week, because I wanted a national audience for my local work about a guy who doesn’t have a national profile. Thanks to Eamonn Brennan from ESPN for giving his thoughtful take:

    “It’s a hokey notion, but I’m about to say it: This is why college basketball, or college athletics in general — for all its problems and pitfalls and corruption and greed — is worth preserving. It may not be the best model for the No. 1 prospect in the country each year, the kid who dreams of one day making money for his immense abilities. But for guys like Assane Sene, college hoops is the dream.”

  2. My feature on Assane Sene is online! Take some time to meet him. Here, he’s talking about the challenges of being a muslim newly arrived in the U.S. “When I was in South Kent, they gave me some barbeque ribs, and oh my god they were so good!” Sene said, closing his eyes and reveling in the sense memory. “I saw everybody taking ribs and they looked really good. My teammates, they tricked me, they let me finish, then they are like ‘Yo! Did you know what that is?’ I was like ‘no’. ‘That was pork!’ and I was like ‘Oh my God.’ But when you don’t know, you don’t know. You gotta ask.” (via C-Ville: Features - The sky’s the limit)

    My feature on Assane Sene is online! Take some time to meet him. Here, he’s talking about the challenges of being a muslim newly arrived in the U.S.

    “When I was in South Kent, they gave me some barbeque ribs, and oh my god they were so good!” Sene said, closing his eyes and reveling in the sense memory. “I saw everybody taking ribs and they looked really good. My teammates, they tricked me, they let me finish, then they are like ‘Yo! Did you know what that is?’ I was like ‘no’. ‘That was pork!’ and I was like ‘Oh my God.’ But when you don’t know, you don’t know. You gotta ask.”

    (via C-Ville: Features - The sky’s the limit)

  3. I’m working on a feature story about one of the guys shown in this movie. It’s a good watch.

    mielamiela:

    From a basketball academy in West Africa to the high-pressure world of American prep schools, ELEVATE documents the extraordinary personal journeys of four particularly tall West African teenagers with big hearts, open minds, and NBA dreams.

    The SEEDS Academy in Dakar, Senegal, sits on a small plot of land leased from the government. There, the best young basketball players from across West Africa gather to take part in a strenuous program of academics and athletic training. For those who stand out, the potential reward is huge: full scholarships to the top prep schools in the United States, where the right combination of skill and dedication will earn them a great education, pave the way to college, and open the door to basketball at the NCAA level… and maybe even a shot at the NBA.

    ELEVATE follows four young men who make the cut, receive scholarships, and head off to the USA. Filmed over four years and across two continents, ELEVATE documents the daunting challenges they face, from the alienation that comes with being a seven foot tall Muslim at a Christian prep school (in an American culture rife with African stereotypes) to mastering English, adapting to aggressive American-style basketball… and navigating the vagaries of high school, girls, and drivers ed.

    A heartwarming documentary that inspires without preaching, ELEVATE challenges the audience’s conception of Africa, America, and athletes—while putting a smile on their face at the same time.

    (Source: elevatethemovie.com)

  4. Just saw this documentary, Elevate, at the Virginia Film Festival. If I may try on my lazy movie reviewer’s hat for a moment, it’s like a Senegalese Hoop Dreams. It was especially important to me to see the film tonight, however, because one of UVA’s players, 7-foot center Assane Sene, is at the center of the film, alongside current Washington center Aziz N’Daiye. Both players came out of Dakar’s SEED Academy, which is roughly analagous to the MLB academies in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic - it finds about 25 kids a year who have a chance to come to the U.S. First to tony prep schools where they struggle with the language barrier and try to fit in for nine months before moving on to college. Of the four players at the center of Elevate, Sene and N’Daiye ended up at DI schools, and two other kids ended up at non-DI schools. Anyway, if you get a chance to see it, it’s worth your while. Next time you want to yell at the African kid on your team who grabs a board but can’t figure out how to stick it back in the hoop, maybe you’ll remember this film. The funniest moment in the after-film Q&A was when Sene was comparing the level of basketball skill in the U.S. to the level of soccer skill in Africa. He could barely keep a straight face when he said the initials MLS.

    Just saw this documentary, Elevate, at the Virginia Film Festival. If I may try on my lazy movie reviewer’s hat for a moment, it’s like a Senegalese Hoop Dreams.

    It was especially important to me to see the film tonight, however, because one of UVA’s players, 7-foot center Assane Sene, is at the center of the film, alongside current Washington center Aziz N’Daiye. Both players came out of Dakar’s SEED Academy, which is roughly analagous to the MLB academies in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic - it finds about 25 kids a year who have a chance to come to the U.S. First to tony prep schools where they struggle with the language barrier and try to fit in for nine months before moving on to college. Of the four players at the center of Elevate, Sene and N’Daiye ended up at DI schools, and two other kids ended up at non-DI schools.

    Anyway, if you get a chance to see it, it’s worth your while. Next time you want to yell at the African kid on your team who grabs a board but can’t figure out how to stick it back in the hoop, maybe you’ll remember this film. The funniest moment in the after-film Q&A was when Sene was comparing the level of basketball skill in the U.S. to the level of soccer skill in Africa. He could barely keep a straight face when he said the initials MLS.