ON infrequent trans-Atlantic visits with his mother to visit the city of her birth, the young Bantu Burroughs sensed deep deprivation as soon as he touched down in Glasgow. “Honestly? I liked seeing my family but I hated coming because there was no basketball,” the Rocks guard revealed. “If I wanted to play, I had to rent out a sports hall for £44. At home, I could walk to the gym or go to the park and play pick-up with my friends. It’s just not like that here, where if you want to play football, you can almost do it anywhere any time.”
What an unexpected twist of fate then that the St. Kitts-born, American-raised playmaker should now be paid for his passion in what had resembled his sporting black hole. The 23-year-old has family ties to thank for an opportunity out of the blue to test himself in the BBL and pursue a path that seemed bolted and glued shut.
Burroughs had only intended to spend a brief spell with his grandmother Diana when he touched down in August, using up his vacation time from selling mobile phones in Virginia. However, she spotted an open trial at the Rocks with fresh talent urged to front up. Sterling Davis, the coach, liked what he saw. His preferred recruit had an urgent decision to make. Accepting the offer of a one-year contract here, handing in his notice there, it proved the simplest of choices.
“It does feel like it was meant to be,” he said. “My mum went from here to America to follow her dreams and now I’ve come back to where she’s from to chase mine. It’s crazy how things are working out but the timing couldn’t have been better. The lease on my apartment finished at the point I came. I was free of all my responsibilities, so it allowed me to come over and throw everything into this.”
It has been a whirlwind ever since. Burroughs played and studied at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, a stop so far off basketball’s traditional college roadmap that not even SatNav would direct scouts there. “No-one from my college had ever gone pro before,” he confirmed.
Graduating in 2014, he resigned himself to hooping for fun. Casual games at the YMCA can be intense but it is a world removed from the Rocks' weekly grind. “The biggest thing has been getting my conditioning back. Of course, there are a few taller players than I’m used to.”
A reserve so far, he might hope for extra duties when his struggling side travel to Bristol Flyers tonight before an arduous double-header concludes tomorrow at Plymouth Raiders. Learning from his elders, Burroughs will strive to gradually make his mark.
Should he impress, there is the carrot, potentially, of pulling on a Scotland vest on the Gold Coast in 2018. “I’m not sure how you go about it,” the globetrotter admitted. “But if the opportunity is there to go to the Commonwealth Games, I’d love to be in that.”
FIXTURES
Saturday 7
BBL. Bristol Flyers v Glasgow Rocks (7.30)
Sunday 8
BBL. Plymouth Raiders v Glasgow Rocks (4pm), Cheshire Phoenix v Leeds Force (5.30), Surrey Scorchers v Bristol Flyers (3.30)
BBL Cup, quarter-final. Leicester Riders v Sheffield Sharks (4pm)
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