A pair of basketball players had the chance to improve their games over the summer while representing their home countries.
Senior guard J.R. Cadot and junior forward Garlon Green both played for their countries’ national teams this summer. And the duo took advantage of it.
Cadot played for the Bahamas’ national team this summer. The senior is from Nassau in the Bahama Islands. He was a part of his team’s march to the championship game of the International Basketball Federation’s Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championship Tournament
Cadot averaged 10.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
“Playing for the Bahamas national basketball team sparked a fire in me not only to dominate this year for my senior season in college, but to do the little things that I have to as a senior in order to finally bring a Mountain West basketball championship to TCU,” Cadot said in a post-tournament interview.
Green spent much of his time representing Team USA in China. Former assistant coach Armon Gates told Green about the opportunity, and Green said he felt it was an opportunity that he could not pass up.
Green said he was pleased with his experience and felt like he had made long strides as a player since the end of his sophomore season.
“Out there, I was a little bit more aggressive,” Green said. “My teammates believed in me, and I feel like I picked up more of that aggressive nature. Before, I would try to be a factor, but I feel I just saw a different level from myself.”
As the Horned Frogs prepare for the 2011-2012 season, Green said he has put in countless hours on his own to improve his game. He has often been the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave.
The Missouri City, Texas, native averaged 11.2 points per game this past year and was the Frogs’ top returning scorer.
This offseason, he has worked extensively on his shot in an effort to improve his three-point percentage. Green shot a team-high 48 percent from three-point range this past season.
“I wanted to stay busy this summer and try to help my game out, and this opportunity helped me out a lot,” he said.
Green also averaged a team-high 4.6 rebounds per game this past season, and his career-high of 21 points came against Northwestern State University.
