Does Vietnam have a basketball team/players?

[Coach Myke Nguyen]

Kelly Olynyk was great at the Jr.NBA Vietnam Training Camp. He jumped right in and starting working out with the players. He took his time to speak to the students and was happy to take photo's with anyone that came up to him. Here is a picture of me and Kelly after our training camp ended.Kelly-Olynyk.jpg

I was selected as the 2014 Jr.NBA Vietnam "Coach of the Year" and was honored to take the Vietnam Team to Beijing, China where we meet Yao Ming and ran games with his students.

Below is this year's 2016 Jr.NBA Vietnam Training Camp Championship Game. I had the opportunity to be Gorgui Dieng from the Minnesota Timberwolves assistance coach for the Championship Game. Gorgui Dieng was wonderful to be around, he taught the players to learn to play as a team and to have each others back. All the players on our team fought hard until the very end. Our team won the game which was great, but most importantly they learned to play as a unit and to play team first basketball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGFs85GjVLY

Hope you enjoy the video.

Coach Myke Nguyen - Vietnam Basketball Academy

[DarknessFalls]

Great job finding all these players profile. Keep up the good work of helping to promote basketball in Vietnam. Best regards, Coach Myke Nguyen (Vietnam Basketball Academy)

Thanks for posting updates Coach Nguyen!

If you are looking to scout and recruit future basketball players to the Vietnamese professional league or national team, I'd like to bring to your attention some upcoming players that are of Vietnamese heritage overseas.

Even better if you can help them obtain Vietnamese citizenship by the age of 16 for FIBA.

[DarknessFalls]

[DarknessFalls]

Christian Juzang's mother is of Vietnamese descent. He will be playing college basketball at Harvard University in 2016-2017.

http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/bios/juzang_christian_18c3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKG9e3MJh-w

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His younger brother, Johnny Juzang is 197cm/6'6" tall, and already has a college offer from Alabama and Arizona State. He is high school class of 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7nBUCccxRw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NnJQN_f2O0

[DarknessFalls]

195cm/6'5" William Tran, from Canada, currently plays for Vaughan.




Named to Nike's St. Mike's Invitational All-star Team:

Tournament All-Stars
Andrew Nembhard (Vaughan) – MVP
William Tran (Vaughan)
Shamar Bailey (Father Henry Carr)
Danilo Djuricic (St. Michael’s)
Jahmal Abbey-Wright (St. Michael’s)
Noah Kirkwood (Ashbury)


Read more at http://northpolehoops.com/2016/01/11...eVb8ZWVz7DQ.99

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Andrew Nguyen
181 cm/5'11"
Cypress Falls (Class of 2018)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/6773056/andrew-nguyen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyiolSTrx4A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6bp_UFkP3k

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183 cm/6'0", Alex Pham will be playing at St. Gregory University (NAIA) in 2016-2017.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3444587/alex-pham

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TaeVon Le (Vietnamese mother)
193cm/6'4"
Corona Del Mar High (Class of 2018)

Plays basketball and football (Yale college offer)

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Also cool story about Coach Hung Duong, who currently coaches High School Basketball at Mark Keppel High in Alhambra, CA. He has at least 4 straight League titles.

http://www.dailynews724.com/local/mark-keppelaposs-hung-duong-has-found-success-as-a-basketball-coach-h9407.html

The Southern Section basketball playoff pairings were released Sunday, and one of the most intriguing teams is Mark Keppel of Alhambra, whose coach, Hung Duong, escaped Vietnam in 1978 on a boat with his parents and five siblings and has grown up to become a successful biology teacher and coach.
With a student population that's 72% Asian and the winner of the L.A. County Academic Decathlon, Keppel isn't exactly considered a boys' basketball powerhouse even though it has won four consecutive Almont League championships. There are zero transfers and no shoe contract. Duong does carry around an Adidas bag that he bought from Sport Chalet.

What the Aztecs offer is a home-grown team that plays hard, plays smart and tries to execute its way to victories. So far, Keppel is 22-5. The Aztecs' best player is 6-foot-5 junior Bertram Mak, an A student who's constantly smiling on the court.

In the school program listed under hobbies, Mak has "racing pigeons, bird-watching and tea tasting." But they're fake hobbies put in by Duong to reflect his players' personalities. Another player has hula hooping. Another has texting, tweeting and ballroom dancing. Another has tanning and collecting headbands.

"They don't look much, but I'm proud," Duong said. "They work hard and they're solid players. We run a Princeton-style offense but Princeton on steroids."

They full-court press and run plays Duong picks up from watching men's and women's college basketball on TV. Most of all, they reflect the passion and commitment of a 40-year-old who before every league game goes to his father's grave site during lunchtime and lights incense while honoring his father.

"I ask Dad for good luck and to take care of us," Duong said.

It was his father who helped sneak him out of the house as a freshman at Alhambra High to attend 5 a.m. basketball practices. His mother didn't want him to play sports. She wanted him to focus on academics. The secret lasted for a season. He was cut from the freshman team, made the reserve team and later became a varsity player and graduated from Occidental College.

If you want to bring a smile to Duong's face, bring him a Coke. Ever since he arrived from Vietnam as a young boy and got his first sip, he said, "Man, this is great." And he hasn't stopped drinking it.

He teaches three Biology I classes and also serves as a co-athletic director while coaching basketball.

Because of the Southern Section's new Open Division playoffs, the top team in 1A, Riverside North, was pulled and placed in the Open Division, giving schools such as Keppel a better chance at advancing in the tournament. Keppel's first-round opponent Friday will be Fontana Miller.

"Making it to the quarterfinals and semifinals is a big deal for us," Duong said.

Duong has been Keppel's coach for 13 years. Each season, he quietly and competently takes whoever shows up and tries to develop them, remembering his own experiences.

"Not too many people I tell the story to," he said. "That's why I demand so much of my kids, because I know I've been to the bottom and kind of worked my way back up."

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20160216/inspired-keppel-basketball-team-doing-it-for-their-coach

Keppel High School’s boys basketball team is playing with a purpose larger than simply winning games.

The Aztecs have dedicated their season to head coach Hung Duong, who has had his share of tragic family circumstance this season. On Dec. 8, Duong lost his brother to cancer at age 56. Last week, Duong’s 82-year-old mother passed away from pneumonia.

“These kids have stepped up and my coaching staff have stepped up when I had to miss games and practices,� Duong said. “There was a lot of tears at practices and I cried a few times in practices. The first time I talked to them about it was halftime at a Sierra Vista Tournament game and I had found out the day before my brother had cancer and he only had days or weeks to live.

“I kind of broke down about it and told them at halftime. And then later on I told them I wanted to dedicate this season to him and my mom, who at the time was struggling in the hospital.�

The Aztecs responded by winning the program’s sixth consecutive Almont League championship despite graduating nine seniors from last year’s team. Now, Keppel has its sights on a magical postseason run with inspiration from above. The Aztecs host Arroyo Grande tonight in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs.

Duong has been the head coach at Keppel for the past 15 years. He’s made the program one of the area’s best, winning eight of the last 10 league championships. But Duong wasn’t there last week for a Senior Night win over Schurr to clinch the league title.

“They called me and said my mom’s blood pressure was unstable, so I took off from school the day of the game and we found out as the day went on she had only 4-12 hours to live,� Duong said. “She died at 6:52 p.m. I want to make sure people know about these kids. They have a lot of heart. Because of what’s happening with my situation, they knew what they needed to do.

“And I’m so happy they actually got through it and were able to win league.�

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Vietnamese Basketball Association (VBA) websites :

http://vba.vn/

http://vba.vn/en/vba-en-2016/ (English)

https://www.facebook.com/VBA.vn/

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