Walthamstow-born basketballer Gabe Olaseni will be taking part in the NCAA ‘March Madness’ Basketball Tournament as the top 68 US college teams go head-to-head.
The 23-year-old centre plays for the University of Iowa’s Hawkeyes team which has been seeded seventh for the tournament. His performances off the bench this season have seen him named the sixth man of the year in the Big Ten – the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States.
The Hawkeyes qualified for March Madness by finishing fifth overall in the Big Ten with an overall record of 21-11.
Olaseni, standing at 6ft 10ins and weighing 237lbs, will be part of the Hawkeyes team which begin their involvement against tenth seeds Davidson Wildcats in Seattle tomorrow (Friday).
The television rights for March Madness were most recently sold for $11 billion and the final of the competition, to be played on April 6, has previously had higher television ratings than the NBA finals.
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