Canada is not usually considered a basketball haven. Even though the country has spawned some NBA stars of varying prestige like Steve Nash, Andrew Wiggins and Jamal Murray, when trying to think of a country that produces basketball athletes, it just isn’t the first one to come to mind. For hockey? Absolutely. But not for hoops.
Well Eliel Nsoseme is out to break that generality for the Cincinnati Bearcats. The freshman forward was born in the Congo in 1997, but he played his high school basketball at the RISE Centre Academy in Ontario. A 6’9 devourer of shots in the paint, Nsoseme excels on defense and on the glass, much like fellow freshman forward Mamaoudou Diarra, and we can expect the two to follow in the footsteps of Tre Scott and Nysier Brooks and, if we’re lucky, Gary Clark and Kyle Washington as the next great frontcourt duo for the Bearcats.