By Xavi Sentís
The Danish Kevin Larsen (PF 6’10”, 1993) is one of the Top Europeans players in D1 of NCAA. He currently plays for George Washington enrolled in the A10 conference. Previously, Kevin played in farmer teams of clubs in Denmark and usually played for Denmark youth National Teams. In summer of 2010, even though he was one year younger than others, he had a great performance in EC U18 Division B and was the best of his team in scoring (6th of all the competition with 16,4p.p.g.) and rebounding (11th in global with 7,6 r.p.g.). After that, he was playing two years for Montrose Christian School (USA) when he showed his potential to play in a College of D1. George Washington offered him to sign with them and he accepted on April of 2012. In his freshman season he already played around 24 minutes/game and this year he has played more than one thousand minutes (31 min/game). In this sophomore season he has got 11.4 points and 6.9 rebounds and his team played the NCAA Tournament but lost in second round (best 64) against Memphis 71-68. And now we will try to know something more about him.
-You and your team played the NCAA Tournament this season. It would be considered a success. How do you feel after the great season for you and the Colonials?
“Yes we had a great season and it was a great learning process and a great building block for the upcoming years. I feel proud and happy that we achieved our goals this season, but on the other hand we are hungry for more and to get back to the tournament and win some games.”
-Before you enrolled at GW you played two years in Montrose Christian School. Around this, do you think if it is really necessary for a young European player to have success in NCAA?
“It’s not necessary, but by me going to high school made me ready for college right away, and you get adjusted to the way basketball is played over here.”
-According different sources Jacob Larsen will try to play in NCCA in a few years. What do you think about the players who enrolled in a D1 College directly from Europe?
“It’s different from person to person, but for me it was better to go to high school first. If they feel like that’s the best scenario for them to achieve success they should do it. Jacob Larsen is a very talented guy and I think that whatever he is going to decide he will be just fine.”
-In a few months, Danish NT will play the Pre-European 2015 tourney. After you had played with Youth NT, do you think that you will play with Senior NT? What do you think about the possibility of playing the European Championship next 2015 with Denmark?
“The plan is that I play with the senior national team, and the goal is to qualify for the European championship. We have a lot of good pieces and it is definitely an achievable goal.”
-How is the life in the University for a basketball player? How is the relationship with the others students, teachers, etc.?
“The relationship with the students is great because they give us so much support, and I personally have a lot of friends that are regular students so it’s a great relationship. Teachers are very understandable to our situation and always help us. We are one big family here at GW.”
-The Haas brothers, the Larsen brothers, yourself and others… it seems that some great young Danish players come to play at high level. What do you think about it? Would it be possible to see a Danish player in NBA in a short time?
“Danish basketball is definitely going in the right direction, and it is great to see that we have so many talented players coming out now. I truly believe that in a short period of time there will be more than one Danish-born player in the NBA! We all just have to keep working and improving.”
-Profile of Kevin Larsen in George Washington (NCAA) website: link
Twitter of the author: @garden7613
Photo: GW
