Irish eyes might not have smiled on the Mississippi State basketball team last March, but for one player, they are shining bright.
Shane Power made the Irish National Basketball Team in a five-day tryout in New York City in July.
It may seem strange to some people that the Indiana native is playing for the Irish National Team, but according the Irish parentage rules, Power is eligible to play for the team because his father was born in Dublin.
“(The team) contacted me and asked me to try out. Obviously Power is an Irish name,” Power said with a chuckle. “I started reading more and more about it and found out how good the players were on the team and that we have a decent shot at making the 2008 Olympics, which is all of our goals. I couldn’t have been more excited to go up there and try out and look to the future with this team.”
Power said the Irish have never made the Olympics in basketball but have a pretty good chance in 2008.
“There are two guys on the team who were in the NBA for awhile, Pat Burke and Marty Conlon,” Power said. “We’ve also got four or five veterans that play in the top leagues in Italy and Spain, which is basically getting as competitive in the NBA. I was just like a sponge; I was trying to absorb everything that they were saying.”
It was also a learning experience for Power, who not only had to adapt to a different position (the rangy forward for the Bulldogs played shooting guard
and even point guard for the Irish), he had to learn a new style of basketball in just five days. The international game puts less emphasis on transition basketball and more emphasis on passing, shooting and halfcourt defense. It was a game that Power embraced.
“I loved (the international game),” Power said. “I think my strengths are a lot more visible in that type of game, as far as passing the ball and shooting, and making good decisions.”
While Power loves playing the international game, it seemed that the NBA players who represented the United States in the Athens Olympics did not understand the concepts and paid the price by failing to win the gold medal.
Power said that he knew the USA was in trouble when he looked at the roster.
“I knew after I came home from that camp that we were going to get beat,” Power said. “I got a little taste of how international players shoot the ball and the veterans on my Irish team were telling me that the players on the other Olympic teams are just as good as the U.S. team that was put together. When I saw the roster and saw that there wasn’t an American guy who could consistently knock down the shot from the perimeter, I knew we were in trouble.”
The Irish National Team starts playing Olympic qualifying games this month. Power’s commitments to Mississippi State will most likely keep him from playing this month.
“National teams play in September of every year,” Power said. “We play England, Switzerland, Lebanon, Turkey, Slovakia, Malta, and Cypress in our region. This September is already starting qualifying for the 2008 Olympics.
“Every summer, you have a group of games that you need to win to keep climbing the ladder to qualify for the 2008 games. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to go over there this month but next September I’ll definitely play with them.”
While Power probably won’t be able to play on the team this year, he says that his future with the team sounds promising.
“The coaches have told me that I’ll be on (the team) for the next four years at least,” Power said. “I was one of the younger guys on the team so I think they were pretty excited with what I could bring to the team for the next four years.”