Parakhouski an unlikely catch for Radford’s basketball team

Big man Radford's unlikely catch

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Radford center Artsiom Parakhouski's journey to the NCAA tournament began when he knew nothing about it - a 17-year-old kid from Minsk, Belarus, two years of basketball experience to his credit, traveling to Russia with his country's junior national team in summer 2005.

Competing against players two and three years older, he didn't dominate. But his coach, Kanstantin Shereverya, had dropped his name to a friend, Ali Ton, an official with Turkey's national team. Ton was about to begin his first season as an assistant coach at Binghamton University. Parakhouski, 6-10 and thick, impressed Ton with his potential.

Ton later e-mailed Parakhouski about playing at a United States college. The possibility was "an amazing feeling," Parakhouski said. But he was clueless about American college ball. "If I told him about Radford or Seton Hall, he wouldn't know the difference," Ton said.

But like most foreign players, Parakhouski followed the NBA. Ton recommended a junior college, the College of Southern Idaho, where Parakhouski spent the past two seasons and learned English. Ton kept e-mailing and continued recruiting Parakhouski when new Radford coach Brad Greenberg hired him in 2007.

Parakhouski visited Radford and noticed the short, tattooed guy in a picture with Greenberg: Allen Iverson, whom Greenberg drafted when he was general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers - Greenberg's last stop in a 14-year NBA career.

And so it is that Parakhouski, a stranger to most college hoops fans, will stand toe-to-toe today with North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, perhaps college basketball's most recognizable face. Without Parakhouski, 16th-seed Radford probably wouldn't be at the Greensboro Coliseum, trying to stun top-seed Carolina in the NCAA's first round.

Parakhouski, a 6-11, 260-pound junior, not only leads the team with 15.7 points and 11.1 rebounds, "he changes the game" by attracting double teams, said forward Jamar Jenkins.

Point guard Amir Johnson said, "We needed one more piece, and Art was a big piece that completed the puzzle."

The Highlanders envisioned him helping them win the Big South when he visited campus last season and scrimmaged with them. As Parakhouski walked into the gym, Johnson told his teammates, "If we get this guy, we're gonna win it all."

After Jenkins unsuccessfully tried bumping him aside for a loose ball - "I flew off the baseline," Jenkins said - he couldn't stop asking Parakhouski when he would commit to play at Radford.

At junior college, Parakhouski saw the NCAA tournament on TV and told himself he wanted to play on that stage. He knew that other teams expressing interest in him, including Texas and Kentucky, boasted shinier credentials than Radford. But if he came to Radford, he could play sooner than at a higher-profile school. "I was a little bit maybe scared to go to a big school," he said.

More important, he trusted Ton, the first coach to recruit him. In e-mails, Ton told Parakhouski about his own journey. In 1992, he traveled with one bag from Turkey to Los Alamitos, Calif., to visit his uncle. He stayed for his final two years of high school - a move that required adjustments. When he answered the phone at first, he'd reflexively speak Turkish.

"I think the trust factor and coach Greenberg's résumé was the key for us to land big Art," Ton said.

Landing Parakhouski is attracting uncommon attention to Radford from near and far.

"He has no business playing in this league; he could play anywhere in the country," said Virginia Military Institute coach Duggar Baucom, whose team lost to Radford in the Big South final.

"I think if he continues to work at it, he's gonna get an opportunity," said P.J. Carlesimo, a former NBA coach.

Parakhouski's arrival also earned Ton a new title of sorts. When Radford assistant Rick Hall first saw Parakhouski, he told Ton, "If that kid signs and comes to Radford, Virginia, you will officially be recruiter of the year." So after the Big South final, Hall looked at Ton and said, "You are officially recruiter of the year."

Contact Darryl Slater at (804) 649-6026 or .