Oscar Tshiebwe was named the best basketball player in the North American University (NCAA) championship at the end of the 2021-2022 regular season. The Congolese is therefore expected at the turn with the Kentucky Wildcats, one of the legendary NCAA teams, during the final phase of the tournament, the highly publicized “March Madness”. Focus on this 22-year-old interior, born in Lubumbashi, son of a pastor with a tragic destiny.
Karim Abdul Jabbar [1]Michael Jordan or more recently Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant… Legendary basketball players with whom Oscar Tshiebwe, born November 27, 1999 in Lubumbashi, shares one thing in common: having been named best university player of the year in the United States, a distinction awarded by The Sporting News magazine since 1943. A title that the Congolese was the first African [2] to pick up, on March 8th.
This 22-year-old athlete who is 2.06 meters tall has won individual trophies since the end of the regular season in the elite North American University Championship (NCAA): best player in the South-East region (“conference”), best player in the whole country according to the Associated Press, best defender…
It is also on the defense that the Lushois based his reputation across the Atlantic. After two first years of study at West Virginia University with honorable statistics, Oscar Tshiebwe has been unleashed since his arrival at the University of Kentucky, based in Lexington. In 33 NCAA games, he averaged 17 points scored and above all 15.1 rebounds per game.
A pastor father poisoned dead
Exceptional destiny for a boy who, like many African players, started basketball late. It was in 2014, during an adolescence marked by football. Then, he was spotted during a detection camp organized by his compatriot, Bismack Biyombo, a safe bet in the North American League (NBA) and also from Lubumbashi.
In 2015, Oscar Tshiebwe moved to the United States. A heartbreak for this kid whose father, a pastor, died of poisoning in 2012, in an unexplained way. ” I was mad with rage against God. I asked God why it happened “, told the player in the program The 700 Club, broadcast on the television channel Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).
But this devout Christian then recalled his father’s advice: No matter what happens in your life, don’t let these things affect your relationship with God. Because God has big plans for your life and for your dreams. »
Do like Anthony Davis
His is now to join the NBA. A grail which he will get closer to in the event of a good campaign with the Kentucky Wildcats during the final phase of the NCAA tournament, the “March Madness”. An ultra-popular and high-profile sporting event in North America.
This is Oscar Tshiebwe’s next challenge: to imitate NBA star Antony Davis. The current teammate of LeBron James at the Los Angeles Lakers is the only boarder in Wildcats history to have been voted player of the year by The Sporting News before being crowned NCAA champion.
To do so, the team coached by the highly respected John Calipari will have to dismiss Saint Peter’s on Thursday March 17, then the winner of Murray State-San Francisco on Saturday March 19… Appointments that the Congolese will approach as always: with a pray. Before turning into a demon of the parquet floors.
[1] Victor Oladipo, American player of Nigerian origin, was crowned in 2013.
[2] The player was still called Lew Alcindor, before taking the Muslim name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.