Artsiom Parakhouski

Artsiom "Art" Parakhouski (born October 6, 1987 in Minsk, Belarus)^[2] is a Belarusian basketball player who recently finished his American college career in 2010 with the Radford University Highlanders, located in Radford, Virginia.^[2] A 6'11" (2.11 m) center, Parakhouski led NCAA Division I in rebounds in 2009–10 at 13.4 per game.^[3] He was named the Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010, becoming the fifth multiple player of the year winner in Big South history.^[4]

Early life

Born and raised in Minsk, Belarus by parents who both coach national Belarusian team sports, Parakhouski grew up playing football (soccer) until age 16.^[1][5] He was forced to switch to basketball, a sport he had never even played, when his body grew too large for any realistic football aspirations.^[1] After an introduction to the game and lots of practice on fundamentals, he began to play competitively.

Parakhouski was spotted by Ali Ton, then a Binghamton University men's basketball assistant coach, at the Junior European Championships.^[1] Seeing his potential, Ton persuaded Parkhouski to first attend a junior college in the United States before enrolling at a major university to progress in basketball and to simultaneously learn English. At College of Southern Idaho, Parakhouski struggled to grasp the language, admitting "It was hard for me. The first five-to-six months I couldn't speak at all. I couldn't understand anyone around me. I was basically in a jungle with nobody."^[1]

When Ton became an assistant coach at Radford University, Parakhouski followed him. Under the guidance of head coach Brad Greenberg he developed into a National Basketball Association (NBA) center prospect following his 2009–10 senior season^[2][6][7] but was ultimately never drafted.

College career

Parakhouski spent his first two seasons of his NCAA eligibility at College of Southern Idaho, where in 63 games played he averaged 10.1 points and 6.4 rebounds on 60.1% shooting.^[8] Parakhouski then spent his final two college seasons as a Radford Highlander.

As a junior in 2008–09, Parakhouski averaged 16.2 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks on 53.7% shooting.^[9] He led Radford to win the Big South Conference Tournament by scoring 26 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in the championship game.^[1] After gaining an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament as the 16th seed, he then scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the #1-seed and eventual national champion North Carolina Tar Heels and former National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough.^[10] In March 2009 he was named the Big South Player of the Year.

Parakhouski repeated as the conference player of the year his senior season in 2009–10. He averaged 13.4 rebounds in 31 games played, which led the nation in rebounds per game.^[9] He also scored 21.4 points and block 2.1 shots per game.^[9] Parakhouski ended his two-year career at Radford having scored 1,195 points, grabbed 783 rebounds and blocked 115 shots.^[9] He was the two-time conference player of the year and was also a two-time First Team All Big South selection.

Professional career

Parakhouski did not get selected in the 2010 NBA Draft; however, he played for the Boston Celtics in the 2010 Orlando Pro Summer League.^[11] On August 20, 2010, he signed with Latvian club VEF Riga and won the Latvian Basketball League championship.^[12]

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season rebounding leaders

References

External links

• ESPN.com stats
• The Draft Review profile
• Draft Express profile