Penn Grad Gives Olympic Opportunity To Nigeria Basketball

Penn grad Koko Archibong, one of the two American Penn alums that competed in this year's Olympic Games, played for the Nigerian national basketbal team, as reported by Philly.com. But how?! Well, Nigeria called him and asked. Simple.

After graduating from Penn in 2003 with a degree in Anthropology, Archibong ended up playing for the German NBA. But soon enough, Nigeria contacted Archibong in hopes of drafting him onto the Olympic team in order to raise awareness of basketball in the country, as soccer and distance running are the monopolizers (duopolizers?) of the sports realm there. With Archibong's help, the basketball team was the only team representing Nigeria in this year's games. Unfortunately, with a record-breaking 156-73 loss to Team USA-- and a particularly noteworthy performance by competitor and fellow Nigerian-cum-American Andre Iguodala (yikes)--Nigeria may have a long road ahead. But Archibong gave them the start they needed to get their heads in the game.