Dayton’s Mike Sharavjamts is a freshman making history for Mongolia

You wouldn’t know the eyes of a complete nation had been on Mike Sharavjamts. The 6’8” true freshman for the Dayton Flyers caught a move proper in entrance of Lindenwood’s bench mere seconds into the Flyers debut recreation of the 2022-23 season, raised up, and hit nylon.

Sharavjamts, ranked as this 12 months’s No. 91 general recruit per 24/7 Sports activities, completed with a very respectable 10 factors, 5 assists, and three rebounds in his first faculty recreation. For his hundreds of followers internationally, the assured debut was trigger to have a good time. Sharavjamts is the primary Mongolian athlete to earn a Division 1 scholarship, and he’s simply the second true freshman to begin for Dayton in a decade.

In attendance was Mike’s father Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar, higher often known as Shark. Shark was a star in native leagues in Ulan Bator at 7-feet tall till he was found by former LSU coach Dale Brown (who additionally found a 12-year-old Shaquille O’Neal at a German navy base). Brown thought Tserenjankhar may very well be among the best gamers in faculty basketball, till he came upon he was 27. As a substitute, Tserenjankhar signed a contract with the Harlem Globetrotters and have become the primary skilled basketball participant from Mongolia.

Basketball has slowly been rising in recognition in Mongolia within the many years since. A latest estimate claims that 20,000 children are taking part in organized basketball within the capital now. Three-on-three is the popular format; the Mongolian males’s group has completed within the prime 10 in two of the final three FIBA 3×3 World Cups, and the ladies’s group certified for the 2020 Summer season Olympics.

All that buzz signifies that Mike Sharavjamts has extra followers than your common mid-major freshman. There’s the Dayton Flyers Mongolian Followers Fb web page with 15,000 followers. A significant Mongolian information community flew a movie crew to Ohio to make a documentary about him, the trailer received 250,000 views.

The eye appears nicely warranted. Via exhibitions and his first actual recreation Sharavjamts has proven deft handles and a stable outdoors shot for somebody his dimension. However his most spectacular trait has been his passing capability and playmaking. On a number of events within the season opener, Sharavjamts introduced the ball up the courtroom and created offense himself, both by driving to the rim, kicking out to a shooter past the arc, or posting up and forcing defensive assist.

The Flyers simply barely missed the NCAA Match final season, and are coming into the 2022-23 marketing campaign ranked, with aspirations of a deep run for the primary time in 9 years. With a possible younger star readily available, they could simply make that leap.