He’s ready to soar: The amazing ascent of Arizona’s Christian Koloko The rim pitches slightly to the left and sags down, clearly exhausted from the overuse of people hanging on it for good fun. There is no net, and the stanchion holding up the wooden backboard looks more like a rickety piece of makeshift scaffolding. The court, such that it is, is concrete, crumbled up in some spots, paved over in others, and is surrounded by a chain link fence, a weed inching up through the wires. In the video, a slender boy in baggy black shorts, his undefined arms dangling and his legs barely contoured with muscle, practices layups, posts up against imaginary defenders and dribbles around cones that barely reach his ankles. When the ball skitters away, he chases it down. There is no one to shag a rebound. The boy works in solitude, with only the company of the person behind the camera. Six years later, the same boy, still slender but his body far more chiseled, barrels down the lane under the bright lights of Viejas Arena and in front of a crowd of 11,425 in full throttle to slam home an offensive rebound that cements Arizona’s spot in the Sweet 16. We have seen and read these stories before, about the basketball player from an underdeveloped country coming to the United States to find his place in the spotlight. There have been so many of them, in fact, we have become probably a little too blasé about their improbability, unappreciative of the sacrifice they require, and probably slightly jaded too. The American dream — it all sounds so hokey, right? This is basketball capitalism, players using the game, the game using the players in a perfect quid pro quo. But if you happened to glance at the section just behind the Arizona bench on Sunday night, you might have spied a small man in a brown coat and a red Arizona baseball hat. He sat quietly alongside his daughter for most of the game, but when his son threw down that monster dunk and the Wildcats won the game, Jean-Paul Koloko cheered along with everyone else. It was only the fifth time he’d seen his son play basketball, the first just a week ago at the Pac-12 tournament. In those five games, Christian Koloko averaged 16 points and 9.6 rebounds, and his Arizona team went 5-0. In November, when his mother, Henriette, came to see him play in Las Vegas, Christian scored 35 points and added 18 rebounds in two games. The Wildcats won those games, too. Now consider that skinny boy in the video again, and what it took to get him here. Chris Ebersole first saw Koloko in 2017, at a Basketball Without Borders camp. The NBA associate vice president for international basketball operations remembers his first impressions: Koloko had raw potential, and he looked like a twig. “He was 6-10, and maybe 170 pounds,’’ Ebersole says. But there was something there, particularly for a kid who only picked the game up at the age of 12. Like most Cameroonians, Koloko grew up playing soccer, and even dabbled in tennis. He only arrived at basketball when he shot up, the genetic outlier in a family of sub-6 footers (he does have tall uncles, he explains). He studied YouTube videos of Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Durant, and tried to mimic their moves on that dilapidated court. By the time Ebersole saw him, Koloko had an innate knack for shot blocking, a decent outside game considering the lack of actual basketball education, a surprising toughness and above all else, an earnestness to get better. “You could see at the camp he wanted to soak up as much knowledge as he could,’’ Ebersole says. “Every single element of coaching was valuable to him. He wanted so badly to learn.’’ In that way, Koloko is not different from the rest of his family. His father has a master’s degree from the University of Hartford, and three of his sisters have advanced degrees as well; the fourth is an entrepreneur with her own skin-care line. But they are business-minded, not at all well versed in basketball; when Henriette visited in November, Koloko had to explain that the Wildcats missed free throws, not goals. Henriette was reluctant to send her youngest child and only boy away — “Spoiled? Maybe a little,’’ Koloko’s big sister, Stephanie, says with a smile — but agreed because he would not be alone. Stephanie Koloko is sitting in Viejas, a few minutes before Arizona tips off against TCU in the second round. She is an accomplished woman — a successful businessperson, with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Long Beach State, a mother to a 3-year-old daughter, Pierre-Elise, and engaged to marry the man she met just hours after arriving in the United States. But a dozen years ago, she arrived in the United States at 18 and cried every day for home. She stuck it out because the desire to pursue her degree outweighed even her homesickness, and eventually found both her footing and her home in California.
She didn’t hesitate when her parents sent her brother to join her. She explains it all so matter of factly — “I mean, he’s my brother, right? It was natural.’’ — that it’s easy to gloss over the power of that family decision. Jean-Paul and Henriette agreed to send their teenage son 8,000 miles and a 16-hour flight from home, knowing full well that they probably wouldn’t see much of him for years, and would miss the parental passage of parking in a bleacher, watching a child compete. Koloko agreed to it, even though his English was halting, his affinity for home strong and his basketball dreams pinned to the hope on that rudimentary court. And Stephanie accepted the role as her brother’s anchor, the person in charge of providing him, supporting him and, in effect, raising him. “For us, it was about education,’’ she says. “I wanted to be like my father. That’s what drove me, and that was it for Christian, too. Basketball, that was nice, but that’s not why he came here.’’ It is true, what Stephanie says, that it was about school first. Even Koloko agrees with that. “To get a better education, that’s the goal,’’ he says. But it would be entirely disingenuous to say that basketball wasn’t some part of it. A boy does not spend hours heaving shots onto a slanted rim if he doesn’t think that maybe there’s some sort of future in the game. Koloko didn’t fool himself. He knew his game needed work, and lots of it, and he never shied away from either instruction or challenge. After three years at Lake Balboa Birmingham, he transferred to Sierra Canyon, which is akin to going from summer stock theater to Broadway. It makes sense that Koloko would want Sierra Canyon — college recruits sniffing around his teammates couldn’t help but notice him, too — but what could the glitterati school possibly see in the still raw Koloko? “He’s 7-foot, with a 7-4 wingspan,’’ Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier says. “Those guys don’t walk in the gym everyday.’’ Like Ebersole before him, Chevalier may have had his head turned by Koloko’s size; he fell in love with his approach. At Koloko’s first practice with his new Sierra Canyon teammates, Kenyon Martin, Jr. made like Patrick Ewing, circa 1983. That year, in the national championship game against North Carolina, officials whistled Ewing for four goaltends in the Tar Heels’ first four possessions. “No one remembers a goaltending call,’’ John Thompson Jr. explained of his strategy for the Georgetown freshman. “Everyone remembers getting their shot blocked.’’ Fast forward three-plus decades, and there was Martin, serving up memory after memory to the skinny and overwhelmed Koloko. “He wouldn’t even let him make a layup,’’ Chevalier says now with a laugh. “But the message was simple. This is what’s going to happen in a game. You’re going to suffer now so you’re ready then.’’ Koloko suffered willingly, taking Martin’s medicine for how it was intended. By season’s end he was a capable scorer in the low post, a sure thing rim protector, with a scholarship to Arizona. Koloko, now 7-foot-1 and 230 pounds, chuckles now when it’s suggested to him that he is the wily veteran on this Arizona team. Three years ago, he arrived behind a sturdy frontcourt of Chase Jeter, Stone Gettings and Zeke Nnaji. He played haltingly, just eight minutes per game. He hoped for a big uptick after a strong summer, but COVID-19 scuttled his plans. Last year’s pandemic pauses didn’t help much, either. Then came the coaching change, and suddenly there was Koloko, a three-year veteran who had yet to really make an imprint. He connected immediately with Tommy Lloyd, the new coach’s experience with international players proving invaluable, as well as his reputation as a developer. Lloyd essentially stripped Koloko’s game down to the basics, spending hours on catching the ball, securing it, hitting it properly off the backboard. “Like hundreds or thousands of times,’’ Lloyd says. Koloko never complained. This was, after all, what he did by himself back in Cameroon. Koloko also enjoyed Lloyd’s approach. He is not a screamer. He likes to crack jokes — though Koloko admits some are lousy dad jokes. “He always begins everything with, ‘I love you. I love you. I love you,’’’ Koloko says. “And then it’s, ‘But…’’’ (Sure enough when asked about how he dealt with Koloko, Lloyd began by saying, “First thing is love him, and let him know how good he can be.’’) Mostly Koloko benefited from the gift of time that he otherwise never had. He put on weight, hit the gym, and found his confidence, blossoming into yet another weapon in the Arizona offensive arsenal. “Bigs take longer to develop. Everyone knows that,’’ Lloyd says. “And sometimes, they just don’t have the patience or the wherewithal to get themselves there. He built up enough of a foundation the first couple of years, to where if he poured time into it, he would be ready for a jump.’’ The jump came in leaps. A year ago, Koloko scored in double figures twice. This year he’s topped the 20-point mark six times. In arguably the Wildcats’ biggest and toughest game to date, against a TCU team built more like an offensive line, Koloko stood toe-to-toe with Eddie Lampkin, a player who dropped 70 pounds to get to his playing weight of 270. Lampkin got his — 20 points, 14 boards, 10 of them offensive — but when the game was on the line in overtime, it was Koloko soaring down the lane for the putback stuff. In the stands, his father and sister applauded. Jean-Paul extended his return by a day so he could watch the second-round game, but he is scheduled to be back home, an eight-hour time difference away, when his son plays Houston in the Sweet 16. His job here is done. “Now it’s his dream and we support him,’’ Stephanie says “It’s about him now. It’s his turn.’’
Nice read, and fun story about practicing with KJ Martin. I really like Koloko's skillset in the NBA. Great hands, quick feet (soccer and tennis!), regularly switches onto guards and holds his own. Not a shooter, but also not a liability at the free throw line. It's close, but I like him a bit more than Kessler or Williams.
Really liking Dalen Terry from Arizona. Has potential to be a 3 & D wing though the shot is not where it needs to be. Sort of a cross between Ariza and Brewer. 6'7'' with a 7' wingspan who has even played some point guard.
Keep an eye on Alex Fudge. No one commercially is discussing him at all.... but I have had a few people say that he is a guy that could get drafted late in the first if he comes out, even though he has very mediocre cursory numbers. The advanced numbers and his body/athleticism may get him drafted if he chooses to come out. He is the ultimate swing for the fences pick.
If only we had a veteran guard that could have been traded to get back a late 1st round pick in this year's draft.....
I've probably seen his name come up once in prospect discussions. A sleeper pick for sure. I think I read he has some point-forward skills, and he did make some interesting passes for LSU, but not sure how much stock to put into that. But a bouncy 6'8 guy with the versatility to defend POA and the rim would be a commodity in the NBA. I think Kendall Brown or Peyton Watson are similar prospects?
Ibou Badji 7-1 and 7-8 wingspan is probably the most physically talented basketball player ever. Very fast moves and crazy jumping ability. Excellent defender and shotblocker and has a good looking jumper, which is still unreliable, though. We could buy a srp to pick him up in this draft.
6'8 version of Matisse Thybulle??? I LIKE! But it would be foolish for him to come out in 2022. Only 185 lbs, needs to work on 3 ball and gaining muscle. But if he does come out, Rockets need to get him. https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/go-fudge-yourself?s=r
Dyson Daniels is gonna be the sleeper hit in this draft IMO. He is 6'7 in socks and his stats are even better than Green's last year. Just not sure he'll be there with the Bkn pick but I wouldnt mind trading up to get him to be Green's running mate for the next decade.
I don't watch a lot of college ball but was impressed with him in the game or two I saw him play in this year's tourney.
At the rate the Nets pick keeps slipping, we might have to change this thread to "Mid 1st round steal?"
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/04/nb...ess-final-four-mark-williams-duke-blue-devils Welp there goes that, MW possibly going in the top 10
