International basketball players add flavor to team

He had no other choice. Redshirt senior guard Alex Johnson was in a situation years back when he was a young boy in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, posed with perhaps the most difficult decision of his life – to work and support his family or to find a scholarship and go to college.

“In Canada there aren’t any scholarships for any athletes, there are only partial scholarships, and my mom told me, we don’t have enough money to send you to university, so either you get one or you are going to go work,” Johnson said. “So I spent all my time in the gym and said I got to get an athletic scholarship so I put in time and effort. That was my goal and dream to play in the U.S.”

Johnson admitted the overall interest in basketball in Canada was relatively lower compared to the U.S . and that was one of the most influential factors in his decision to come to the United States.

“In Canada, basketball is not as big like it is over here, coming from Toronto, which is a hockey town, people like the Maple Leafs,” Johnson said. “It’s now getting bigger with respect to basketball ever since some guys from Toronto made it to the NBA.”

Johnson, who previously played for three years at California State University at Bakersfield, admitted that, despite having some teething problems when he was new to the country, the most challenging part was being away from his mother.

“I think the biggest thing for me when I was at California State was just being away from home and going into a whole new place,” Johnson said. “The time difference, they were three hours behind everything.

“That was a huge difference but being away from my Momma, that was tough for me to battle with, being away from loved ones and trying to fit into a whole different area was hard.”

Freshman forward Thomas de Thaey , who is from Dendermonde , Belgium, admitted coming to the University was a decision based not only upon on basketball but also academics.

“I think it’s important to play a higher level basketball, and when you combine it with academics and then you see N.C . State is a great team with great chemistry,” De Thaey said. “It was a quick decision to make.”

De Thaey felt the game in Europe was very different from that in the U.S ., but claimed a mixture of both would be the right combination to success.

“Over here it’s way more physical,” De Thaey noted. “In Europe we have better shooters but if I can combine my physical and my shooting over here that would be great.”

De Thaey had no problems settling in the U.S . and admitted that he had been in good care.

“They took care of me right away when I came here,” De Thaey said. “Jordan [ Vandenberg ], from Australia, helped me out a lot in the beginning. I was made to feel at home right away.”

Basketball has long been associated exclusively with the U.S ., but according to junior center Jordan Vandenberg , it is big in Australia as well, highlighting the global presence of the sport.

“Back home basketball is big, it’s just more underground than it is here,” Vandenberg said. “There are no college sports there, it’s all professional.”

Basketball was a sport based more on the combined team’s performance than a few individual stars in Australia, according to Vandenberg , who towers above everyone at 7’1″.

“Basketball in Australia is more team oriented; you have team offense, team defense like that,” Vandenberg said. “Here there’s a little more athleticism it seems more centralized around a couple of players with the rest of the players being role players, which is interesting.”

Vandenberg , who is currently in his third year at State, felt he was finally starting to feel settled there.

“I had to leave a lot behind, I had to travel the farthest out of all my team, it’s like 9,000 miles. It’s hard for me to be away from home because I can’t go back, I haven’t been back and its being two big years,” Vandenberg said. “Now it’s getting better. I am situated well, I am having a good time and hopefully I’ll have a good season.”