For a man who stands 7-foot-3, has played basketball for six years (three of which have been at Connecticut), and is seen as a hero in native Tanzania, Hasheem Thabeet doesn’t act like a national salvation.He’s quiet, introspective and intelligent.
But he’s been a salvation in Storrs, Conn., most of this season, including Thursday in the NCAA Sweet 16 at University of Phoenix Stadium.
He’s a junior and projected top 10 NBA Lottery pick should he so choose after this tournament, but he needed some prodding at halftime of the Huskies’ 72-60 victory. A.J. Price and Jeff Adrien weren’t making shots and the Boilermakers weren’t budging. So for nearly six minutes,
UConn players sat among themselves in the locker room and told Thabeet to take over.
He’s done it before. At 13.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per game, he’s a collegiate game-changer.
He scored eight points to begin the second half and extend UConn’s 30-25 halftime lead and did the rest on the other side.
The 15 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks are what show up in the stat sheet.
“He made the lane a place no one really wanted to go,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said.
As for the altered shots, second thoughts and inability to simulate Thabeet’s impact during practice and preparation?
Those don’t show up in the stat sheet, but as part of the sour faces and painful words of Purdue.
“You can’t really simulate what he does,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “He’s good at a lot of things which don’t show in a box score. ... Guys like that don’t come around too often.”
Coach isn’t kidding.
Tanzania is a hotbed for soccer, not basketball. The country has never participated in a significant world event on parquet, which means Thabeet would be one-of-a-kind whenever he takes on the NBA.
To get here, he was a model to help raise money for the family when his father died. He Googled and e-mailed American college basketball coaches randomly, but to no avail.
He went to Kenya to play basketball when a French man with basketball connections spotted him, and suddenly he was in Los Angeles going to prep school.
His name was originally Hashim Thabit until it was “Americanized” for passport purposes when he arrived in Los Angeles from Africa in 2005. From Tanzania to Kenya to Los Angeles to Massachusetts, and, finally Connecticut.
A Muslim, his name means “destroyer of evil” in Arabic, and, since this is the NCAA tournament and the Boilermakers were the opponent, Thabeet was what the nameplate suggests.
Thabeet’s homeland didn’t include organized basketball, so he learned how to move and shoot by himself, but even at a spindly 7-foot-3, 230 pounds, what college coach wouldn’t take a plus-sized gift?
He buried his hands in tubs of sand to strengthen them as part of unusual workout regiments with UConn coaches. He’s gained 25 pounds and learned UConn’s complex offense, and ascended his playing time and contributions since those gangly freshman days.
He’s met with dignitaries, ambassadors and the Tanzanian president three times, but it’s been a couple weeks since Thabeet has or needed to be an on-court intimidator.
Thursday brought him back, and with a win Saturday against Missouri, the Huskies will be in Detroit chasing their third national championship.
He is Connecticut’s and Tanzania’s biggest hope, with dreams of being the next Dikembe Mutombo both in the NBA and to his African homeland, that’s exactly the salvation Thabeet has sought: A real-life destroyer of shots and African evil
Msomaji
Boston
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