Foreign Policy: Will Wiggins Become 3rd Consecutive Canadian All-American?
April 13th, 2013 - 17:08
Canada's recent basketball bounty has gone from Syracuse's Kris Joseph (Quebec) to Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk (British Columbia) to freshman phenom Andrew Wiggins (Ontario). Will Wiggins become the third straight Canadian to earn All-American status and show that the nation is more than a hockey hotbed?
Foreigners have been much more than bit players in a modern day version of "Coming to America." Olynyk joined the following alphabetical list of hoop princes of sorts as the first 18 All-Americans, a third of them in the Big East Conference, who spent most of their formative years in a country outside mainland U.S.:
| Foreigner | Pos. | College | Native Country | Year(s) All-American | NBA Draft Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Bogut* | C | Utah | Australia | 2005 | 1st pick overall by Milwaukee |
| Kresimir Cosic | C | Brigham Young | Yugoslavia | 1972 and 1973 | 66th by L.A. Lakers |
| Tim Duncan* | C | Wake Forest | Virgin Islands | 1995 through 1997 | 1st by San Antonio |
| Patrick Ewing* | C | Georgetown | Jamaica | 1982 through 1985 | 1st by New York |
| Adonal Foyle | C | Colgate | West Indies | 1997 | 8th by Golden State |
| Al Horford | F-C | Florida | Dominican Republic | 2007 | 3rd by Atlanta |
| Kris Joseph | F | Syracuse | Quebec | 2012 | 51st by Boston |
| Dikembe Mutombo | C | Georgetown | Zaire | 1991 | 4th by Denver |
| Eduardo Najera | F | Oklahoma | Mexico | 2000 | 38th by Houston |
| Hakeem Olajuwon | C | Houston | Nigeria | 1983 and 1984 | 1st by Houston |
| Kelly Olynyk | C | Gonzaga | British Columbia | 2013 | TBD |
| Juan "Pepe" Sanchez | G | Temple | Argentina | 2000 | undrafted |
| Detlef Schrempf | F | Washington | Germany | 1985 | 8th by Dallas |
| Rony Seikaly | C | Syracuse | Greece | 1988 | 9th by Miami |
| Doron Sheffer | G | Connecticut | Israel | 1996 | 36th by L.A. Clippers |
| Hasheem Thabeet | C | Connecticut | Tanzania | 2009 | 2nd by Memphis |
| Mychal Thompson | F-C | Minnesota | Bahamas | 1977 and 1978 | 1st by Portland |
| Greivis Vasquez | G | Maryland | Venezuela | 2010 | 28th by Memphis |
*Named National Player of the Year.