Przemek Karnowski - Gonzaga university basketball star

[Jaga]

The season for American summer sports is starting. Today is an important game between Gonzaga University (Catholic, Jesuit based in Washington state) and South Carolina.

Przemek Karnowski is a main player from Gonzaga university. He is very tall and also acts as a captain. He was originally a part of Polish basketball team.

Here is more about him:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przemek_Karnowski

[Jaga]

Gonzaga won big and Karnowski is the bigger star than he was.

www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/19056499/where-did-gonzaga-bulldogs-team-come-reach-ncaa-tournament-final-well-everywhere

Where did this Gonzaga team come from? Well, everywhere

Ultimately this will be the story of the little engine that could, the tiny Catholic school that grew a basketball program amid ridiculous odds.

Right now this is about the team that shouldn't, a group of people and personalities so disparate that they ought to have opened the season with 'Hello, My Name Is' tags and a translator.

Przemek Karnowski will drop into his native Polish when he face times friends and family back home in Poland. Freshman Rui Hachimura still isn't great at English, far more comfortable speaking Japanese. Johnathan Williams, who came to Gonzaga from Missouri, isn't much of a talker at all and Jordan Mathews, the cynical Los Angeles kid who came as a transfer from Cal, couldn't help but thingy an eyebrow and ask suspiciously "Why are you all being so nice to me?"

So with more differences than similarities the Zags did what kids of their generation do -- they started a group text. Sometimes it's goofy, with funny pictures and jokes that no one else would get. Other times it's motivational, like back when the Zags dropped their only game of the season and Nigel Williams-Goss shared the old infamous video of a sobbing Adam Morrison as Gonzaga lost to UCLA in the 2006 tournament. "Not this year, fellas,'' Williams-Goss wrote.

...
Karnowski, the bearded behemoth from Poland, came back into the game in the second half and pulled Gonzaga out of a disaster. In less than three minutes the Bulldogs gave back all of a 14-point lead and then Karnowski scored six of eight points.

[Jaga]

Przemek Karnowski's father travels 6,000 miles from Poland to watch his son, Gonzaga advance to title game

www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-04-01/final-four-przemek-karnowskis-father-travels-6000-miles

i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/styles/640x360/public/media/screen_shot_2017-04-01_at_9.39.52_pm.png?itok=o8vD_lh7

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The man in the No. 24 Gonzaga shirt sat in his seat, rubbing his face, rubbing it again, and again, and again. It had been a tense and at one point infuriating game, but all’s well that ends well, and this could hardly have turned out better for Bonifacy Karnowski.

That was his son Przemek down on the court, waving up at him, heading for the national championship game after holding off South Carolina 77-73. The long road they had started together back in Poland – the father as the coach, the son as the player – had led to this remarkable scene, on this extraordinary night.

“I’m very happy. It’s a great moment for Gonzaga, for Przemek, for Polish supporters, because Polish television make a direct transmission from here,” he said. “The whole country is watching. First time in history.”

He had reached Phoenix this very day, landing at 1 a.m. through London. A little sleep, and then to the University of Phoenix Stadium. No wonder he looked a tad tired. Maybe the American television noticed, because there Bonifacy was, with the screen to himself in the first half, after Przemek caught a South Carolina hand in the eye.

Przemek lay on the court for the longest time. Even South Carolina coach Frank Martin walked over to see how he was. No foul was call. In the Gonzaga section, Bonifacy was not happy.