Moon Tae-jong, better known as Jarod Stevenson in the States, recently participated in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship games representing South Korea after having received dual citizenship (South Korea, U.S.) a few months ago. This year, Korea placed third behind China and Jordan with an overall record of 7-2. The small forward is also a member of the Korean Basketball League’s ET Land Elephants.
Although some question his sincerity in joining the team, Moon said that he’s proud to play for Korea: “I will try my best to represent Korea and help us get to the Olympics. It’s an honor to play for my mother’s country, and the place of my birth.” Garnering praise from many, including Hur Jae, coach of the Korean National Team, Moon may play a large role in Korea’s pursuit of a spot in the Olympics.
Check out some highlights from the bronze medal game against Philippines (Moon makes a nice three-pointer around 1:04)!
University of Maryland basketball player Choi Jin-Soo is doing what many college basketball players have done previously and that is leave school to go professional. Choi Jin-Soo is entering the NBA…. uh, no. Correction: He’s leaving an NCAA Division 1 basketball program from one of the elite conferences (ACC) to play in the ultra-competitive professional league of the Korean Basketball League (KBL). That’s just a notch above the Korean church summer leagues that do fund raisers. He cited the difficulties of studying and playing basketball. I don’t know what his major was but he could’ve chosen what many solid student-athletes excel in and that’s the ever popular “communications” major.
“It is really hard to do both ― play basketball and study,” Choi told Korean basketball magazine Jump Ball.
“Studying causes me a lot of stress. I only want to play basketball, I don’t want to have to think about studying,” added Choi.
Good luck Choi Jin-Soo. You’ll be missed at Maryland. You could have been the second Korean person to play in the NBA.
Not really, but Korean American Tony Atkins got drafted into the KBL. Atkins played at Georgia Tech, an ACC powerhouse.