It won’t be easy to forget: the highlight-reel reverse dunks, the NBA scouts in the stands, and the shot-blocking ability that made him the most feared defender in the country and put Fairfield on the national basketball map.
It goes without saying that when the Stags take the court next November, they will sorely miss Deng Gai ’05, who finished his career with more blocked shots than all but five players in college basketball history.
But what now for Gai?
The big man from the Sudan, who declared himself eligible for the NBA draft after his junior season before pulling his name out, has every intention of playing professionally. The consensus among those covering the Stags all year has beenthat his dream of playing in the NBA will be fulfilled.
On Feb 3. in Baltimore, after Gai left the court to a standing ovation after overpowering Loyola with his first career triple-double, WVOF play-by-play man Bob Huessler remarked that “there’s a chance he could be a first round draft pick.”
So how likely is it that Gai will become the second Stag, and the first since A.J. Wynder played out a 10-day contract with the Celtics in 1991, to play in the NBA?
“It’s interesting because he does something [block shots] that not a lot of people can do, and he’s excellent at it,” said Stags Head Coach Tim O’Toole. “He’s improved a tremendous amount over the last four years, and if he’s on a team that’s going to let that maturation process happen naturally, he’s going to have a career.”
According to Rider coach Don Harnum, whose Broncs ended Gai’s college career with a 76-74 win in the MAAC semi-finals: “My gut feeling is that he will [get drafted] because of what he can do. [His shot blocking numbers] just jump right off the page. You’re much more willing to take a chance on somebody who can do something that you can’t teach.”
Last month Gai joined Rider’s Jerry Johnson and Niagara’s Juan Mendez, last year’s MAAC Player of the Year, at the Portsmouth Invitational in Portsmouth, Va. – a tournament at which NBA scouts get their first look at the nation’s elite seniors competing against each other.
Gai’s playing time and effectiveness were hampered by an ankle injury he sustained the first day of the tournament.
But conventional wisdom is that players like Gai, who put up exceptional numbers during the regular season, have less to prove at pre-draft camps than other players.
“Hopefully [the ankle injury] doesn’t hurt him at all,” said Niagara coach Joe Mihalich, who led the Purple Eagles to their first NCAA tournament in 35 years this year. “He was seen a lot, and I think the guys in Portsmouth saw a lot more of him than they did of Juan Mendez or Jerry Johnson.”
Gai’s next chance to showcase his talent against the nation’s top players will come at this month’s pre-draft camp in Chicago, where he averaged just over three points per game last summer before deciding to return for his senior year.
As he sat in the apartment that he called home for his magical senior season, trying to savor his last month at Fairfield, Gai couldn’t help but be excited about the path he has ahead.
“I think I played well last year,” he said. “I’m going to bring a lot to the table. I’m going to work hard. I’m not asking for a lot, and I’m still improving,” said Gai.
Last year, Gai pointed out, several players who he played with at the Chicago camp were drafted, including the Celtics’ Delonte West, who starred at St. Joseph’s for four years.,
In addition to the camps, Gai said he has already been invited to private workout sessions with six NBA teams.
The moment Gai and the rest of the Fairfield basketball community await is June 28, when the draft takes place in New York.
Gai will be watching with his family in Des Moines, Iowa, a continent and a half away from the Civil War-torn country they fled when Gai was a kid.
That night, if one out of 30 teams likes Gai enough to take him, a life-long dream will be fulfilled.
“If I get picked,” he said with a smile, it’s going to be great.”
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