University of Minnesota Athletics
Once in a lifetime opportunity
8/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By: Zach Eisendrath
“So, Jamal, what did you do this summer?'
That is sure to be a question posed to Jamal Abu-Shamala early and often when classes resume in September and familiar faces greet the 6-5 senior guard on campus.
The questioner, though, better have a minute or thirty free, because Abu-Shamala certainly won't be short on conversation material.
The Shakopee native spent the majority of his summer, two and a half months to be exact, as a member of the Jordan National Team, an experience that Abu-Shamala says broadened his basketball IQ and opened his eyes to post-graduation opportunities.
The journey (no pun intended to the Big Ten Network's documentary of the
“I was nervous at first,' Abu-Shamala said about his initial reaction to arriving in
Family reunion
From the moment he arrived in
Other than visiting
Ironically, one of the first relatives Abu-Shamala visited with was a 21-year-old male named Jamil Abu-Shamala. The Gophers three-point specialist got a laugh out of that.
“He is two days older than me. His birthday is July 23rd,' said Abu-Shamala, who turned 21 on July 25. “It was really weird because he is the same age and I never knew he existed ... Same age and almost the same name.'
After meeting with family and seeing some of the top tourist attractions in
The Jordan National Team ended May by practicing twice a day for two weeks before heading to
The team returned to
Following a few more exhibition games in Shenzhen, Abu-Shamala and the national team headed to
The results? Impressive for both the Jordanian national team and the lone Gopher.
Playing nine games in nine days, the Jordan National Team went 7-2 and won the tournament outright for the second straight year (Not bad considering
Abu-Shamala, who averaged 14.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in games heading into the WJ Cup, kept right on pace with his summer statistics when it mattered most. In the tournament semifinals, he scored 12 points in
In the finals, familiar foes on the U.S. Athletes in Action team stood in the way of Abu-Shamala and the Jordan National Team. The
That group of NCAA players gave
Lasting impressions
Because the team was beat up following the WJ Cup Abu-Shamala said he was fortunate to be one of the few players on the team to return injury free
That decision sent Abu-Shamala home, but with plans to return.
He plans on playing on the Jordanian national team every summer leading up to the 2012 Olympics in London and believes he and the team which just missed out on qualifying for Beijing can be successful in the world cup qualifiers and be granted a spot in those Olympic games.
“This experience kind of opened my eyes to opportunities I didn't know existed,' Abu-Shamala said. “I'll be playing (for the national team) every year. We'll definitely try to qualify again and be in
“After college I hope to play as long as I can somewhere in
Now or never
As one of only two seniors on coach
But don't be surprised if Abu-Shamala looks like a more mature player on the court as well.
Once a walk-on, Abu-Shamala earned a scholarship and proved to be one of the best three-point shooters in the Big Ten when he shot 43.1 percent (44-102) during the 2006-07, the second-best season mark in Gopher history. After an entire summer in a structured offense and shooting hundreds of shots a day, Abu-Shamala said he was able to gain even more confidence in his jumper. Also to his advantage, Abu-Shamala was also able to practice shooting three's from the international three-point line, which will be implemented into the NCAA game this year.
“I thought I had good summer. It was good because European basketball is all about shooting - I did a lot of shooting and it helped my confidence,' Abu-Shamala said.
“For basketball it was great because I got to see a different type of game, different strategies and what's out there after college with the different leagues and different players,' he said. “It opened up my eyes to the world of basketball and how it's not only the NBA - you saw (Josh) Childress leave the NBA to go over there and how the sports growing. But it wasn't only about the basketball, it was about the culture two. I saw three different cultures and was able to meet new people.'
Abu-Shamala hopes he can use his championship experience from the summer to help the Gophers improve on their 20-14 season from a year ago.
“We won a championship over (in
