Senior Jean Francois Bro Grebe and sophomore Tyler Wilkerson each participated or will participate in international competition this summer. Both hope that this summer’s experience will help them this fall when they suit up for the Thundering Herd in the 2007-08 season.

Jean Francois Bro Grebe

Bro Grebe, a 6’9” senior center from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, competed in the All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria (July 11-21), for his country on the senior national team, and in August, he will compete in the African Cup (Aug. 15-26), a continent-wide basketball tournament that will determine Africa’s two bids to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. 

For most of June, Bro Grebe practiced with his fellow national team members in Sacramento and Los Angeles, Calif., all while squeezing in his last class to finish his bachelor of arts in communication studies. He will work on his second undergraduate degree in economics in 2007-08, and graduate with a bachelor of arts in May.

Bro Grebe, who started 26 of 32 games for the Thundering Herd last season, averaged 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in those games and blocked 65 shots, the second-best single season total in Marshall history. The blocks total is not surprising considering he has a wingspan of 7’6”!

“It’s a real honor to play for my national team,” said Bro Grebe. “This experience will definitely help me when I come back.

“A lot of guys play professional in different leagues,” Bro Grebe said. “It’s real good for me playing with a lot of professionals. You’re going against men.”

Tyler Wilkerson

Wilkerson, a 6’8” sophomore forward, just returned from Taipei, Taiwan, where he played with Athletes In Action and represented the United States in the Jones Cup, one of Asia’s premiere international basketball tournaments.

The Jones Cup was a round robin tournament with all 10 teams playing nine games in nine days. Other competing countries included: Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, Qatar, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Kazakhstan. AIA, representing the United States, and Japan are the lone two non-senior National Teams competing in the tournament as preparation for Asia’s qualifying tournament in Thailand.

Wilkerson averaged 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 13.8 minutes of action in nine games, and had an 11-point, eight-rebound performance against Korea in a 79-65 win, when he guarded a 7’5” post man. He also scored in double-digits against the Phillipines, Quatar and Japan in the tournament.

"I haven't ever played against a guy his size," said Wilkerson. "It was different playing him, but we were able to contain him because we defended him as team."