Your future, our focus
You want to play college basketball.
Someone wants you, but you have no idea what the place is like and you’re not sure exactly where it is.
But a couple of guys you used to play with, a couple of guys you know, spent some time there and it all worked out fine. So you go for it.
Which is how Northwest College men’s basketball team became about as Canadian as the maple leaf this winter.
Word-of-mouth can be a powerful thing.
Just ask Joel Maumba, Levi Londale and Jordyson Telfort, three Trappers whose home address is listed as Montreal.
This is a year after the two biggest stars for Northwest’s national junior college quarterfinalist team came from Quebec.
That is not a coincidence. Chris Boucher, who was the national junior college player of the year last season and is now the starting center for Oregon, and William “Nicky” Desilein, a former guard, said nice things about Powell and their cowboy experience in Wyoming and the pipeline loaded up with more players.
Coincidentally, if you know your Canadian geography, coach Brian Erickson also picked up Sukjot Bains, who is from Delta, British Columbia.
The newcomers have helped Northwest to a 9-3 record as of the school’s holiday break.
Since the vast majority of the players who made last year so special departed and Erickson had to restock the roster, the current record has been satisfying to build.
“We’re getting there,” Erickson said of how his new team is meshing.
The Trappers might not be looking at a realistic opportunity to defend their Region IX title starting in January if Erickson was not singing “Oh, Canada.”
Telfort’s first semester was cut short by a torn meniscus knee injury and Erickson hopes he can come back this season. He averaged 9.4 points per game in five games.
Maumba (14 ppg) and Londole (8.3 ppg), are a pair of 6-foot-7 frontcourt men who provide a formidable presence.
“The same coaches helped us out,” Erickson said.
Meaning the former coach of Boucher and Desilein back home liked the chances his guys got, so he did not hesitate to recommend Northwest to a new batch of players.
Maumba originally hoped to go to an NCAA Division I school and was planning on New Mexico State. But he did not have the academic results he needed.
Maumba’s first language is French, but he had no difficulty understanding Wyoming descriptions offered by Boucher. The word desert was mentioned and the fact that Powell was a small town without a lot of nightlife. The coaching staff and teaching were endorsed.
“I thought it would be a good option for me,” Maumbsa said.
The adjustment to Wyoming from Quebec has been easier because the three players came together. That has helped with French-English translations.
Maumba said he frequently talks to relatives at home, but less about being a stranger in a strange land than about how he is doing.
While they are the same height, Maumba and Londole’s body types are as different as a giraffe and a rhino. Maumba is wiry, Londole is a concrete block weighing around 220 pounds.
“He is so strong,” Erickson said. “He is really cut.”
Londole, who said he knew nothing about Wyoming before coming West, said he got advice from Boucher and Desilein and is trying to soak up the Wyoming experience.
He rode a horse at Trapper Arena and attended the Northwest College rodeo at Cody Stampede Park in September. Londole said he needs to buy a cowboy hat.
The main thing Bains shares with the Quebec guys is a Canadian passport.
While being from an area 45 minutes from Vancouver, he attended prep school in New Jersey. Most of Bains’ background is rooted in big cities, but in Powell he said the focus is all about basketball and school.
He also attended the Trapper rodeo in Cody and visited Trapper Arena. Some guys on the team tried to coax him into a bull ride, but he didn’t fall for that.
“No, no, that’s too dangerous,” said Bains, who did not wish to jeopardize his 8.9 ppg scoring average.
The non-stop recruiting whirl that is the lot of a junior college coach because his entire team turns over quickly was made easier for Erickson after last season. The team’s tremendous record and post-season appearance at the National Junior College championships in Hutchinson, Kan., got recruits’ attention.
“I knew it was not just a random program,” Bains said. “That helped me decide to come here.”