June 2, 2009
Avenant Heads East
Playing prep basketball nowadays requires a lot of travel. High school squads traversing state borders are no longer a rarity and club teams crisscross the country throughout the spring and summer. But such is nothing new for Sacramento High’s Chris Avenant, a veteran of inter-continental trekking.
Avenant chose basketball over soccer
Avenant is South African, but moved with his family to Europe -- Germany specifically, before coming to the U.S., first Colorado and then finally the Sacramento area. He was initially soccer born and bred. In fact, he was such a talent in the sport that Olympic Development team opportunities were available. "But I wasn’t interested in playing it that competitively, it was something to do for fun," Avenant said.
So Avenant, 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, turned to basketball in his freshman year. As a junior, he was a starter on his Sacramento High varsity team that played in the D-3 state championship game and this year he was co-captain of the team and All-League First Team selection.
Avenant specializes in alley-oop dunks
Avenant began with the Spirit Got Game in club basketball but then moved to the Bay Area Hoosiers. "Coach Doherty’s [Philippe Doherty, the Hoosiers director of basketball operations] brother is a football coach at my high school."
A fractured wrist on his non-shooting hand curtailed Avenant’s court time in the latter part of Sac High’s 2008-2009 playoff run but he obviously still showed enough to generate college interest.
Avenant has committed to Northeastern University (NU) in Boston as a preferred walk-on. That’s with the understanding he will have an opportunity for a scholarship next year. "I like cities and Northeastern is right in the middle of Boston. It has a great basketball program and is a prestigious liberal arts school." NU plays in the Colonial Athletic Association and finished 19-13 in 2008-2009.
Avenant is a high-flyer
Asked about his best basketball skills, Avenant provided this unusual response "Doing the dirty work and the hustle plays -- that plus playing defense and rebounding." As for why he gravitated to such a role, he said, "We had three D-1 scorers (including San Diego State-bound Chase Tapley) on my high school team [Sacramento High]. I like to rebound and take pride in the fact that I led my team in rebounding." With a bit of coaxing, the high-jumping Avenant also offered "I did also get quite a few dunks this season."
His best basketball moment isn’t a specific incident but rather "anytime I get an offensive rebound and put it back in. I like watching the other team’s coach get mad. I also enjoyed my alley-oop dunk in the playoffs."
As for his biggest basketball influence, Avenant offered "Jimmy Carroll, who played at Utah under Rick Majerus." Carroll also played at Nevada and professionally. Avenant continued, "He lives in Auburn and was training one of my friends. I was there one day and I liked what he was doing and he liked what he saw."
So did Northeastern University.