Accent on Ability : Harbor College Basketball Team’s Best Shooter Is a French Import

Bassirou Niang strolled into the Harbor College gym wearing gray jeans, a blue shirt, high-top sneakers and a black Nevada Las Vegas cap. He paused to give one of his teammates a high-five, grabbed his backpack full of books and walked into the locker room to change for basketball practice.

Except for the fact that he is 6-foot-7, Niang looked like any other student on the Wilmington campus.

But when the freshman arrived from Paris last summer, he did not exactly blend in. According to one teammate, Niang’s taste in fashion was strange, he spoke little English and didn’t understand the slang or jokes popular among teammates.

“He used to dress kind of weird,” Harbor sophomore guard Eric Carpenter said. “He used to wear these funny little hats that I can’t really describe. They were just funny. And he used to wear these strange, cut-up jeans. I will say though, he has some nice French suits.”

And, of course, there was the language barrier. Niang is fluent in French and Wolof, language of Senegal, and although his English has improved dramatically, he has not mastered it.

“He had a tough time adjusting,” Carpenter said. “It was hard for him to relate to us. We had to explain words to him. He didn’t understand certain plays and it was frustrating for him and the rest of us.”

That is beginning to change, according to Harbor Coach Carl Strong.

“He understands enough (English) and it really hasn’t been a problem in practice,” Strong said. “Sometimes it’s a problem in games because there’s no time to explain things. I have to draw it on a piece of paper. Diagrams are very useful in those cases.”

Niang, who lives in an apartment near campus, starts at power forward for the Seahawks (16-12 overall, 4-4 in the Southern California Athletic Conference). He is the team’s best shooter (62% from the field) and third-leading scorer (11 points a game). He’s also one of the team’s best rebounders (6.2).

“His strength is shooting,” Strong said. “He’s a marvelous shooter and he’s on the way to becoming a very fine defender on the perimeter. He guards the bigger guys on the post and he does a nice job there.”

Niang, 20, was born and raised in Senegal, West Africa. At 14 he moved to Paris with an uncle to play club basketball. Although his parents and four siblings still live in Senegal, he considers Paris home.

Harbor assistant Jim White brought Niang to Wilmington through a mutual friend in Paris. Niang, who spent six years playing for the Racing Paris Club, says a lot of European players want to compete in America.

“I told my friend in France, who knows Coach White, that I want to come here to learn how to really play basketball,” Niang said. “I didn’t know nobody, but I know they play good basketball here.

“At beginning it was scary. We live very different in France. You have to have car here. In Paris we just take subway. Everything is bigger here than France.”

And what about the food in America?

“Hamburger!” Niang said smiling. “I eat hamburger all time. I love hamburger!”

Unfortunately, he doesn’t like his position on the court as much as his new cuisine. In France, Niang spent most of his time on the perimeter as a small forward. The hard knocks that come with playing inside as a power forward are no fun.

The style of play is also different.

“In France, we don’t play quickly like here,” he said. “We play a lot of zone defense. In Europe, they don’t talk about defense. When I came here there were a lot of good young players, high school players. In France they don’t play like that.”

Strong says Niang’s biggest adjustment was playing man-to-man defense. He is quick and talented enough to play it, but very inexperienced.

“They play a lot of soft zone defense over there,” Strong said. “Plus we play a much more physical game here. It’s a much more aggressive style of basketball. But he’s done very well. I’ve seen a remarkable amount of improvement. The fluidity of the U.S. game still isn’t quite there, but it’s just a matter of time.”

Niang has already impressed several SCAC coaches.

“He’s going to be a Division I player, believe me,” said Compton College Coach Lee Porter, who previously was an assistant at Pepperdine. “He has a lot of experience. He’s a strong rebounder and he has a beautiful shooting touch. What he needs is just to be in the gym. My eye tells me he’s going to be a factor in Division I.”

The prediction is not far-fetched, considering Niang’s rapid improvement. Carpenter, the team’s second-leading scorer at 16.3 points, says Niang has become a leader.

“I knew when he first came that he was a good player, but there were a lot of things he didn’t do,” Carpenter said. “Now he’s tough inside. He’s unstoppable inside. To tell you the truth, when Bassi plays well, the whole team plays well.”

Although basketball is his first love, he is doing well academically. He would like to finish his college eligibility before returning to France. His student visa is good for five years.

“I want to stay . . . but maybe there’s problem,” he said. “Maybe I go to bigger school. I want to learn basketball so I can play good in France.”

Niang says he has learned a lot about the game from watching NBA games on television. His favorite player is Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls.

“I love to watch him . . . he’s the best, huh? I never see nobody play like that,” he said.