Danny Friend? Ring any bells? Ever seen him play basketball? Odds are good you have not. So why are we talking about him?

The Halifax Rainmen made him their first selection in the inaugural National Basketball League of Canada draft on Sunday night in Toronto.

Friend, 23, averaged 12.2 points and 7.7 rebounds last season while starting all 30 games for the Limestone College Saints, an NCAA Division II team in Gaffney, S.C.


What came up on a Google search for Danny Friend

Limestone what? Yep, that is an actual team.

In case you were too busy reading about all of the Kardashian wedding shit from the day before, the NBL draft was on TSN last night.

The three-round draft at Rogers Centre followed a two-day combine at Seneca College in which 180 players battled to make a shortlist of 50 who would be invited to the draft, including 30 Canadians.

The first round was for free agents of any nationality, while the second and third were for Canadians only. Gotta keep the league patriotic after all.

The Rainmen picked guards Papa Oppong and Jerrell Thompson in the latter two rounds, though the selection of Thompson, from Plainfield, N.J., was later voided because he registered incorrectly as a Canadian.

Trying to beat the system eh? You hardly ever hear basketball players trying to be listed as Canadian over American. Maybe it is the strong Loonie?

So who was the first overall pick?

The Oshawa Power made six-foot-four guard Morgan Lewis, a Findlay University alumnus, the first overall selection. Not quite a David Stern moment but even the NBA had to start somewhere.

So, does this get you hyped about the NBL? I have to admit, it was nice to see some kind of basketball on the TV.

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