

St. Ambrose Athletics

Bryant becomes million dollar man

Through all of the clouds and the rain, there is finally sunlight for basketball standout Andrew Bryant.

Bryant, the Midwest Classic Conference Player of the Year for St. Ambrose University, has signed a contract to play professionally for Barreirense in Lisbon, Portugal.

Bryant said he will get $1.56 million for two years, while also getting a condominium on the beach, a car leased to him, and a Euro Pass to travel around Europe.

"This has been a long time coming," Bryant said. "My family's gone through a lot with my mom dying, and killings and shootings, but finally we got something to go our way."

The 6-foot-10 center came to St. Ambrose from Oklahoma Baptist, where he played one season after transferring from Boston College. At Boston College, he was named to the Big East All-Freshman team. He was later selected as an NAIA honorable mention All-American as a Fighting Bee.

At St. Ambrose, Bryant averaged 18.4 ppg. pulling down 9.6 rebounds per game. He leaves for Portugal on Sept. 14.

"This will really be a great opportunity for him," St. Ambrose coach Ray Shovlain said. "He's had to deal with a lot of difficult problems and has persevered positively throughout. Hopefully, he will have a long career."

Bryant is quick to thank his coach. Shovlain received and made several phone calls from overseas, trying to land the big man in the right situation.

"I can't thank Coach Ray enough for all he did for me," Bryant said. "All of the hard work is finally paying off and it's a dream come true."

Bryant isn't worried about playing as much as getting acclimated to new surroundings. "I'm anxious more than anything," Bryant said. "Basketball will come naturally. It's getting used to new surroundings that will be hard."