American ballers find their Dream Teams in Africa
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Reggie Moore rarely gets through a day without stopping for an autograph or selfie in the basketball-mad African country of Angola.
"If I'm in the 商店街, it's going to be 30 to 40 selfies," said Moore, a bearded 36-year-old Californian who plays in Angola's professional league and also for its 国家の team. "It's 肉親，親類d of nice to have a country that knows who you are."
For Moore, 代表するing an African country is a little like playing on a Dream Team. And he's not the only American to 捜し出す out the African experience.
FILE - In this Saturday, March 6, 2010 とじ込み／提出する photo, Wichita 明言する／公表する's Clevin Hannah, left, 運動s around Illinois 明言する／公表する's Lloyd Phillips, in the second half of a Missouri Valley 会議／協議会 tournament 半分-final basketball game. Americans who didn't make the NBA get second chance at basketball stardom in Africa. Africa 一般に 輸出（する）s basketball players to the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs, but a handful of American professionals have gone the other wa y. The African 選手権, known as AfroBasket, begins its ノックアウト 行う／開催する／段階 Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017 in Tunisia and features several Americans who were 認めるd 市民権 to play for African teams. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam, とじ込み／提出する)
Africa 一般に 輸出（する）s basketball players to the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs, but a handful of American professionals have gone the other way. The African 選手権, known as AfroBasket, began its ノックアウト 行う／開催する／段階 Thursday in Tunisia and features several Americans who were 認めるd 市民権 to play for African teams.
It's probably their only 発射 at international glory or the Olympics. Basketball 治める／統治するing 団体／死体 FIBA 許すs one naturalized 国民 per roster.
"I feel at home," said Clevin Hannah, a Wichita 明言する／公表する alum and point guard for Senegal. "I don't feel out of synch or out of place when I put my jersey on. It's an 栄誉（を受ける）."
Stipends cover costs but there's 一般に no 補償（金） for international 義務. Some countries and team sponsors 誓約（する） to 支払う／賃金 特別手当s for winning, however.
A second パスポート can open doors because some プロの／賛成の leagues 限界 Americans. But most say the real value is the experience, both on and off the 法廷，裁判所.
Against Egypt, Hannah 始める，決める up チーム仲間 Hamady Ndiaye for a third-４半期/4分の1 alley-oop that sent 支持者s in Dakar's Marius Ndiaye Stadium into a frenzy.
"There's nothing like it," Hannah said of the atmosphere as 祝賀s continued in the stands after the game. "It can't compare to Europe or the U.S."
A'Darius Pegues, who played at Campbellsville University in Kentucky, said he "jumped at the 適切な時期" to play for Uganda, although his first visit to the East African country is only planned for after AfroBasket.
Like Pegues, many American players have little 関係 with their new countries.
In the African 選手権's 早期に 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs in Senegal last week, the 6-foot-10 中心 also was unfamiliar with the heat - there's no 空気／公表する 条件ing in the Dakar 円形競技場.
"After that first game, I got to the hotel, I was 明確に dehydrated," Pegues said. "I'm not an excuses guy but 存在 現実主義の, the 空気／公表する in there, either you're here and you're used to it, or you have to be 用意が出来ている to drink 20 瓶／封じ込めるs of water."
Another 調整 for Americans is the physical play. Jimmy Williams 解任するd 存在 clobbered on a 運動 to the basket during his first game for Togo.
"The ref told me, 'Welcome to Africa,'" said Williams, who played at Alderson Broaddus University, a 分割 II school in West Virginia.
Togo's 資格 for the 2011 AfroBasket 誘発するd 祝賀s in the streets of the 資本／首都 Lome.
"It's one of my best memories," Williams said.
It's not all 祝賀s. すぐに after moving to Angola, Moore went looking for a hamburger in the wrong 近隣 in the 資本／首都 Luanda, a sprawling city of about 6 million people.
"Two people on a motorcycle. Guns out. 'Give me your phone, give me your money.' You've got to give it up," he said.
The poverty is 明らかな. Moore's first memory of touching 負かす／撃墜する in Angola, an oil-rich former Portuguese 植民地 in southern Africa, was seeing tin shacks 近づく the 滑走路. People on the street often ask him for taxi money; he usually 従うs. Moore grew up 近づく Fresno and as a kid thought life was 堅い. Not anymore.
"You realize there are people who have it a lot worse. It makes you 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる the things you have in life," Moore said.
The 29-year-old Hannah, who grew up in Mississippi, visited 血の塊／突き刺す Island in Senegal, a point of 出発 during the 大西洋 slave 貿易（する）. He wonders if he has Senegalese ancestors.
"These could be some of my family members here that I'm walking past every day," said Hannah, who is African-American. "It's a sight to see. So many 黒人／ボイコット people."
The American プロの／賛成のs in Africa typically land gigs through 網状組織ing. Hannah and the Senegal 国家の team coach had the same スパイ／執行官. An 傷害 left a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す open before the 2016 Olympic qualifiers.
When Moore's team i n Spain stopped 支払う／賃金ing players in 2008, he remembered that a former チーム仲間 had 勧めるd him to come to Luanda. A professional club there matched his $14,000 per-month salary. Moore speaks Portuguese, and his wife 作品 with orphanages.
The Angolan women's 国家の team also has an American, Italee Lucas. She played at the University of North Carolina.
American coaches get in on the 行為／法令／行動する, too. Will Voigt led the Nigerian men's team to the 2015 AfroBasket 肩書を与える, and former NBA player Sam Vincent 舵輪／支配d the Nigerian women's team to victory last month.
Uganda 雇うd George Galanopoulos, a 28-year-old assistant coach for the G-League Texas Legends, to lead the team through just its second AfroBasket. The Ugandans went 0-3 but each game was tight, and they took 11-time 支持する／優勝者 Angola to overtime.
"Hopefully, I can stay 伴う／関わるd," Galanopoulos said. "It would be 広大な／多数の／重要な to help put Ugandan basketball on the 地図／計画する."
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Online: http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobasket/2017
FILE - In this Wednesday, March 7, 2010 とじ込み／提出する photo, Wichit a 明言する／公表する guard Clevin Hannah, left, shoots over Nevada guard Armon Johnson in the first half of an NIT college basketball game, in Wichita, Kan. Americans who didn't make the NBA get second chance at basketball stardom in Africa. Africa 一般に 輸出（する）s basketball players to the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs, but a handful of American professionals have gone the other way. The African 選手権, known as AfroBasket, begins its ノックアウト 行う／開催する／段階 Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017 in Tunisia and features several Americans who were 認めるd 市民権 to play for African teams. (AP Photo, Jeff Tuttle, とじ込み／提出する)
