SAN ANTONIO — The title of greatest basketball player from Africa takes about two seconds to find out:
Hakeem Olajuwon.
“The Dream” played in the NBA from 1984-2002, winning an MVP and two NBA titles with the Houston Rockets.
His basketball journey began, of course, at the University of Houston where he shined on the memorable “Phi Slama Jama” teams of the early 1980s.
Olajuwon was in attendance Saturday in San Antonio for the Coogs biggest basketball moment since he was on campus – a 70-67 win over Duke.
He is expected to be back at the Alamodome Monday when Houston faces Florida basketball in the NCAA Championship. The Dream’s presence will draw the attention of Gators center Rueben Chinyelu.
Like Olajuwon, Chinyelu is from Nigeria. The sophomore said he doesn’t have much of a relationship with Olajuwon, but he’s happy his “idol” will be there.
“Hopefully I will get to meet him,” Chinyelu said. “Either way, I'm just happy to get to know him, and just being able to see him. Hopefully I will play well.”
Chinyelu insists he won’t be intimidated by the Dream, and that he doesn’t mind that he’ll be rooting against Florida.
“We’ve had many different people rooting against us all season,” Chinyelu said.
Tip off is set for 8:50 p.m. ET.
Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on X/Twitter.
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