Horns newest recruit a versatile one
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball team’s newest recruit simply ticks all of the boxes. On Tuesday, the Pronghorns announced the recruitment of Calgary’s Moreau Amadou for the 2021-22 Canada West season.
Instead of asking Pronghorns head coach Jermaine Small what his latest roster addition can do, perhaps the better question is what can’t Amadou do.
Experience in the Canada West? Check. Versatile in many positions? Check. Just as skilled in the classroom? Check.
Big presence on the court? Big-time check.
“He looks like he should be playing football,” said Small of Amadou, who has played two years with the Mount Royal Cougars. “He’s six-five and about 230 pounds, but he’s muscle. With that combination of things where he brings experience in the league, he has upside, he’s physically gifted and he’s a great student, it was a nobrainer for me.
“I think with our team, the direction we need to go in is being experienced. He has two years under his belt, so he knows the competition and he knows the landscape. He’s a transfer a guy with three years left.”
He’s also a guy comfortable anywhere on the court.
“That’s another thing I like, he’s quite versatile,” said Small. “He can play shooting guard or small forward. He’s a perimeter guy who can play inside and out.
“Defensively especially, he can guard multiple positions. For us, that’s how we want to play. That’s the trend right now, the more versatile guys are, the more valuable they are.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic sidelining the 2020-21 Canada West season, the Horns men’s basketball team has been keeping in shape, even if it’s not necessarily on the court in their 1st Choice Savings Centre home.
“We haven’t actually been on the floor, the last time we were was late-November,” said Small. “What we’ve been doing now is our guys are working out four times a week with our strength and conditioning guy virtually.”
Through no fault of their own, the pandemic has made the Pronghorns a noshow on the court, but that hasn’t been the case in the classroom.
“I have to give a lot of credit to our guys because I feel they’ve adapted well,” said Small. “We have our Zoom (sessions) and all of those ways to communicate and the communication has been good. I look at our team’s GPA (grade point average). It’s a 2.9 which I think is a testament. These guys have stayed focussed and have done really well in the classroom. We have five guys who are Academic All-Canadians right now after the first semester. I’m definitely proud of the focus, the level of dedication, staying positive and keeping on working hard through these times.”
As it has turned out, the Pronghorns women’s basketball team has also made the grade.
In a Tweet sent out Wednesday, the Pronghorns announced the women’s team posted a 3.40 GPA last semester.
There was another Pronghorns recruitment announcement Wednesday as the swim team added local product Hunter Stewardson.
The student from Chinook High School and member of the LASC Swim Club is in the top-five for her age group in the 100m breaststroke.
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