The University of Mississippi Athletics
John Gunn To Play On Planet Basketball European Tour Squad
5/11/2000 | Men's Basketball
May 11, 2000
OXFORD, Miss. - John Gunn, a member of the Ole Miss men's basketball squad, has been selected to join the Planet Basketball European Tour 2000, Rebel head coach Rod Barnes announced on Thursday. Gunn is one of nine players from across the nation to be selected for the team.
"This is a great opportunity for John," said Barnes. "John is an outstanding player, and this tour will be good for John, and it will help him grow as a person and a player."
The nine players will begin training camp May 16 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), which is located in Indiana, Pa. Training camp will conclude May 20, and the team will travel to Europe May 21. The tour, which will be approximately six games, will start in Helsinki, Finland, and will later move to Prague, Czech Republic. The tour will conclude May 31. IUP head coach Mike Taylor will serve as head coach of the squad.
"I really excited about going on the tour," said Gunn, who is a rising sophomore at Ole Miss. "The tour will give me an opportunity to travel and meet new people, and I will also get the chance to improve my game. I need to get mentally stronger and work on my post game, and this tour will offer me that opportunity. It will be a good experience for me."
In his first season, Gunn averaged 3.1 points and 1.8 rebounds while seeing action in 22 games. He shot 58.1 percent from the field and 69.2 percent from the free throw line.
The 6-foot-10 forward netted a career-best 14 points versus No. 12-ranked Tennessee Jan. 15, and a week later, scored 13 points in the Rebels' 79-77 overtime upset of No. 4 Auburn. The Oxford, Miss., native, however, suffered a setback during the season when he was diagnosed with mononucleosis in early February. Gunn missed 10 games from Feb. 9 through Mar. 15, but returned for limited action in Ole Miss' National Invitation Tournament (NIT) contests against Southwest Missouri State and N.C. State.
Other members of the Planet Basketball European Tour 2000 are: Darren Fenn of Canisius, Rashun Warren of Kent State, Mihai Raducanu of Coastal Carolina, Donovan Thomas of Loyola (Md.), Miguel Smith of Alabama A&M, Cedric Clark of Washington State, Javar Cheatum of Gannon, and Brian Brennan of IUP.
Planet Basketball, located in Baltimore, Md., is an organization which promotes the game of basketball worldwide through camps, clinics and tours for men and women at the high school, collegiate and professional levels.
