Rumors

During a practice in Charlotte, Diop, a native of the West African nation of Senegal, used the N-word. “He immediately stopped practice,” Diop remembered. “I used the word when I was in school [Oak Hill Academy], but I didn’t really know the meaning behind it. Coach Silas went on to tell me the history and the ugliness of the word, and how it affected him while growing up. That made a lasting impression.”

Andscape

Given the COVID-19 global pandemic, heralded national team programs such as Spain pulled out of its competition, while the U16 African Championship was missing powerhouse West African countries like Nigeria and Senegal. Even so, there were at least 11 prospects we scouted that have a chance to emerge as legitimate NBA hopefuls should they continue to develop as expected. 1. Egor Demin | 6-7 | Guard | Russia | Real Madrid | Birth year: 2006. Despite playing up a year at age 15, Demin shined as one of the top long-term prospects we saw abroad. Standing 6-foot-7 with long arms, big feet and clear growth potential, the Russian guard has ideal size for a modern playmaker and the type of focus, intensity and poise you look for in an international prospect. The leader of a U16 team that finished 3-2, Demin was constantly talking defensively and directing traffic offensively, showcasing a feel for the game and maturity you rarely see from a player his age outside of young phenoms like Doncic.

ESPN

After helping to build the West African nation of Mali into a women’s basketball power, a remarkable achievement for one of the world’s poorest countries, Hamane Niang was elected in 2019 as the president of the sport’s global governing body. As such, he is basketball’s highest-ranking international official and was scheduled to preside over the Olympic basketball competition beginning next month in Tokyo. But, on Sunday, Niang stepped aside at least temporarily from his position as president of FIBA, basketball’s governing body, as The New York Times prepared to publish an investigation into allegations of systemic sexual harassment and abuse of dozens of female players in Mali, the majority of them teenagers, at least since the early 2000s.

New York Times

Al-Farouq and his wife, Helina, return to Nigeria annually. In 2016, they created the Aminu Good Works Foundation, which holds youth basketball camps in the West African nation, works with an orphanage to provide food for a hundred children there and offers educational opportunities, including in the arts. A school and academy are planned.

Orlando Sentinel

While Ontario has traditionally been Canada's basketball powerhouse, producing the vast majority of the country's NBA and NCAA basketball talent, there has quietly been a group of French-Canadians with ties to Haiti and West Africa that is putting the province on the basketball map. "It's very possible that Quebec produces five NBA players in the next five years," Wesley Brown, a Canadian basketball scout at the Monday Morning Scouting Report, said. "Dort, Quincy [Gurrier], Keeshawn [Barthélémy] and a few other younger guys all have potential NBA talent."

cbc.ca

Billionaire Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen announced Thursday he was pledging at least $100 million to fight Ebola. The gift is believed to be the largest private donation to combat the deadly disease and support health care workers in West Africa. The gift from the co-founder of Microsoft includes an estimated $26.5 million already donated to organizations such as the American Red Cross, to pay for equipment, volunteers and educational materials, and the Centers for Disease Control Foundation, to establish emergency operations centers in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the nations at the epicenter of the epidemic.

Oregonian

The 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa continues to grow, with more than 3,700 suspected cases and 1,850 deaths. To help manage the public health response, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation today provided a transformational $9 million grant to the CDC Foundation. This significant grant will help advance the work of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local Ministries of Health to establish sustainable emergency operations centers in the most impacted countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

CDC Foundation

The Ebola outbreak has changed USA Basketball's travel plans. The team scrapped an Aug. 27 trip to Senegal after health officials said it was too risky. More than 1,100 people have died in the Ebola outbreak sweeping West Africa, making it the largest and deadliest ever recorded. "We really had an issue with canceling because we were so committed to the program down there and wanted to participate," USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said Friday. "(But) you can't take any chances. We certainly didn't want to put anyone at risk."

USA Today Sports

Joe Cowley: Team USA will be cancelling exhibition game to West Africa because of Ebola outbreak, according to ESPN.

Twitter

Pau Gasol, National Basketball Association (NBA) champion and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has wrapped up a trip to Chad by urging continued support for the hundreds of thousands of children affected by the food crisis in West Africa’s Sahel region. “I’m in Chad to remind people that one million children are at risk in the Sahel because of the nutritional crisis and that it is possible to end malnutrition,” said Gasol, a Silver Medalist at the 2012 Olympics, a two-time NBA champion and a UNICEF Spain Ambassador since 2003.

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