It’s unquestionably one of many biggest underdog tales in sports activities. The South Sudanese nationwide group, representing a war-torn nation and not using a single indoor basketball court docket, is on the cusp of creating its Olympic debut after rising from the bottom ranges of African basketball.
Often called the Vivid Stars, they made international headlines final week by coming inside one basket of profitable an Olympic warm-up recreation towards the USA. South Sudan led by as many as 16 factors and appeared on observe for one of many biggest upsets within the historical past of the game, earlier than LeBron James took over late within the recreation and carried the U.S. to a 101-100 victory.
The near-win was nearly as unlikely because the Vivid Stars’ journey. South Sudan solely gained independence from Sudan in 2011, making it the world’s youngest nation. The nationwide group had by no means competed in a serious event till 2021. As not too long ago as final 12 months, they have been practising outdoor on flooded concrete courts as eagles circled above their heads. Now, with a roster consisting totally of refugees and the youngsters of refugees, they’re the primary South Sudanese group in any sport to qualify for the Olympics.
“It nonetheless doesn’t really feel actual, even now,” captain Kuany Kuany informed Basketball Endlessly earlier this 12 months. “Like, once in a while, you simply sit again and say to your self, ‘Did we actually do that?’”
The group’s fast ascension stems from the tireless work of former NBA All-Star Luol Deng, who took management of the game in his homeland 5 years in the past because the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation. Deng, who was additionally the top coach as not too long ago as 2021 and nonetheless serves as an assistant, rebuilt the nationwide group and funded it personally with the imaginative and prescient that it will exist to encourage hope, pleasure and unity in a rustic ravaged by struggle and divided by tribalism.
South Sudan consists of 64 tribes and these entrenched allegiances have led to deepening division and years of brutal battle. By recruiting the most effective gamers obtainable and not using a second thought for tribal affiliation, Deng’s mission was to dispel the very notion of tribalism.
In keeping with South Sudanese humanitarian Elijah Manyok Jok, the group has already made super inroads in fostering a way of unity inside the nation.
“Everyone has been rallying behind this group,” Jok mentioned in an interview with Basketball Endlessly. “Individuals with tribal variations, folks with political variations, all coming collectively. A real nationwide group was our largest lacking hyperlink. In some way up to now, we’ve had a number of totally different soccer groups, each aligned with specific areas or tribes. And so the competitors between them was truly reflecting the continued political and tribal variations on this nation. However when the basketball group got here in, it was an entire recreation changer. This group is among the few sources of nationwide identification now we have. They’ve actually planted the seed of social cohesion and concord into the neighborhood.”
In an effort to construct a aggressive squad, Luol Deng spent years recruiting the most effective gamers he might discover with South Sudanese heritage. However getting them right into a Vivid Stars jersey wasn’t at all times simple. Comfortable-spoken guard Sunday Dech, who was born in Ethiopia to South Sudanese dad and mom, needed to persuade FIBA to permit him to play for South Sudan after beforehand representing Australia, his residence since he was six years outdated. Kuany Kuany’s Finnish membership threatened to let him go if he performed via damage to symbolize South Sudan on the 2023 World Cup qualifiers. He packed his luggage with out hesitation and subsequently had his contract torn up.
Different gamers, similar to 27-year-old heart Deng Acuoth, have been sceptical about enjoying for South Sudan within the first place, having watched grainy YouTube movies of the group’s early video games in run-down gyms throughout Africa.
“A few of the guys have been saying to me, ‘Yo, it’s best to come play.’ I used to be like, ‘I don’t know, is the subsequent event going to be performed someplace like that?’” Acuoth informed BF. “However then I acquired a random name from an American quantity and it was Luol. I didn’t see that coming. You by no means anticipate somebody like that to name you out of the blue. However he informed me his imaginative and prescient, about how this was a lot larger than basketball, and that he needed me on the group. As soon as he mentioned that, I didn’t have a second thought.”
Finally, South Sudan’s roster was brimming with world-class gamers, all of whom had overcome unthinkable adversity to forge careers in basketball. Peter Jok, who starred on the College of Iowa, misplaced each his father and grandfather in civil wars. His household fled from South Sudan to Uganda when he was younger. Wenyen Gabriel, who has performed 150 video games within the NBA, was rushed from what’s now South Sudan to Egypt as a two-week-old child when his household fled the combating. Majok Deng, one of many group’s most gifted large males, left his childhood residence on the age of six with out telling anybody, embarking on a solo journey to comply with his brother to a refugee camp in Kenya. He stayed there for 4 years earlier than settling in Australia.
Past assembling the group’s gifted roster, certainly one of Luol Deng’s defining strikes was appointing Houston Rockets assistant Royal Ivey because the group’s head coach. Deng met Ivey in 1999 when he moved to the USA on a basketball scholarship at New Jersey boarding faculty Blair Academy. He arrived at Blair with nothing to his identify and didn’t even personal a pair of basketball footwear. Ivey, a 17-year-old postgraduate scholar on the time, lent Deng his personal sneakers and so they turned shut pals in a single day.
Whereas the Vivid Stars’ objective at all times went past basketball, the gamers knew that to realize the credibility and respect wanted to make an influence off the court docket, they needed to obtain one thing particular on it. This served as their biggest motivation for making a run at qualifying for the World Cup and the Olympics.
Nonetheless, that dream was shattered nearly instantly. South Sudan stumbled on the very first hurdle on the way in which to reaching the world stage, failing to progress previous the pre-qualifiers for the 2021 African championships, often called AfroBasket. The devastated gamers have been on the airport, able to fly residence, after they have been knowledgeable Algeria had withdrawn from the subsequent spherical of qualifying as a consequence of a Covid outbreak. South Sudan had been supplied the possibility to take their place.
In consequence, as a substitute of jetting residence to their households, the gamers boarded a flight to Rwanda for the subsequent part of AfroBasket qualifiers, the place they did simply sufficient to make it via to the AfroBasket event itself. The Vivid Stars misplaced within the quarterfinals, however by making it to AfroBasket within the first place, they earned a spot within the qualifiers for 2023 FIBA World Cup.
With a number of recent expertise on board, together with star ahead Nuni Omot and former Philadelphia 76er Marial Shayok, the Vivid Stars have been prepared when the World Cup qualifiers arrived. Enjoying solely towards different African groups, they dominated the competitors, ending 11-1 and securing the nation’s first World Cup look. South Sudan was the discuss of the event, overwhelming their opponents with pace, athleticism, and three-point capturing. It was an uncommon enjoying type for an African group, most of which want to gradual the sport down and make each possession a bodily slog.
The Vivid Stars led the qualifiers in scoring (78.6 factors per recreation), discipline purpose capturing (44.6 p.c) and three-point capturing (37.6 p.c). Within the latter two classes, they have been mild years forward of the competitors. The group’s gunslinging, high-octane strategy mirrored the type of play extra generally discovered within the Western nations the place its gamers grew up, similar to Australia, Canada and the USA.
“A variety of the opposite African groups used to say, ‘This type gained’t work right here, simply wait till you progress onto the subsequent degree,’” Kuany Kuany mentioned. “Even not too long ago, one of many Angola coaches was like, ‘Yeah, you guys have simply been fortunate.’ However we’ve been in a position to maintain it. It’s been working for us.”
Having confirmed themselves on their residence continent, the World Cup offered the Vivid Stars with an opportunity to point out they weren’t solely a power towards African opponents unaccustomed to their type of play. They stumbled out of the beginning blocks with early losses to Puerto Rico and Serbia. However they claimed thumping wins towards China and the Philippines, earlier than fittingly ending their marketing campaign with a 101-78 victory over rivals Angola to safe simply certainly one of 12 Olympic spots because the top-performing African group on the event. South Sudan’s World Cup could have been over, however their Olympic dream had simply been realised. The win prompted emotional scenes on the court docket and within the stands, because the gravity of the second started to sink in.
“It was simply an outpouring of celebration and emotion after that recreation,” Marial Shayok informed Basketball Endlessly. “Guys are celebrating with the followers, signing one another’s jerseys. It was a brilliant cool second, man, we have been all simply misplaced in it.”
Start line guard Carlik Jones, who was distinctive with 26 factors and 15 assists within the win, was beaming with delight after the sport. “It means the world, it means the world to the folks again residence,” Jones mentioned.
Amid pure jubilation within the locker room postgame, Luol Deng yelled above the noise, “The place we going?” “Paris!” the gamers replied in unison, as the mantra repeated on a loop.
Deng fought again tears when he addressed the media following the sport.
“It’s an unbelievable story. It’s an underdog story that, not only for the South Sudanese, not only for Africa, however for the remainder of the world,” Deng mentioned. “It’s a feel-good story that almost all of individuals can relate to. It’s such a singular achievement as a result of it’s past basketball.”
In conversations with Basketball Endlessly, lots of the gamers have been nonetheless processing the sheer scale of the group’s journey. Sunday Dech spoke to the surreal feeling of seeing the South Sudanese flag flying on the World Cup. Khaman Maluach, a 17-year-old Duke commit and projected top-three decide at subsequent 12 months’s NBA draft, mentioned his whole expertise with the nationwide group felt like one thing out of a film. Many gamers spoke of flying again to South Sudan with their teammates and being mobbed on the airport by hundreds of followers.
The following step for the Vivid Stars is the Olympics, the place they’ve been drawn in the identical pool as the USA and Serbia. Regardless of every thing they’ve achieved, South Sudan will nonetheless be heavy underdogs. However that fits them simply high-quality. They’ve recognized nothing else.
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