Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Kansas University center Sasha Kaun has been invited to try out for Russia’s national basketball team.
Kaun, a 6-foot-11, 250-pound senior from Tomsk, will travel to Moscow for tryouts in early July in hopes of representing his country at the 2008 Summer Games in China.
“This is a great opportunity for me to continue to play basketball and move toward a professional career, whether that be the U.S. or overseas,” Kaun said Tuesday.
NBA player Andrei Kirilenko (Utah) and Viktor Khryapa, who was cut by the Chicago Bulls this season, led the Russian nationals last summer.
Kaun — he averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 boards a game — said he was flooded with phone calls and text messages from friends in Russia the past several days, congratulating him on KU’s national title.