Hamill Bassue

Hamill "Wuggy" Bassue, born 1988 in St. Kitts, is a college basketball player at the University of Maine at Fort Kent where he is an All-Conference performer in the Sunrise Conference. With his successful sophomore season complete and being named an All-Conference performer, Bassue has been labeled my many the most successful and talented resident of St. Kitts to compete on the collegiate level in the United States.

Born on the island of St. Kitts in the West Indies, Wuggy participated in a number of activities and sports as a child including soccer, track, volleyball, basketball, cricket, handball, swimming, rock climbing, diving, rowing, Greco-Roman Wrestling, boxing, horseback riding, biking, hiking, jogging, and arts and crafts. Wuggy quickly became one of the most recognizable athletes on the island of 42,000 residents (2) as a star athlete. It was also at this time, he found his love for music and got involeved in the Dancehall music scene commonly found in the West Indies. At the age of 10, it was common to find Wuggy scratching records at neighborhood parties spinning the sounds of Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Vybez Kartel and many others. His fame quickly spread and by age 14 was putting out mixtapes. Basketball would prove to be his main love however and decided to put down the records in order to pursue his dreams of basketball and one day making it to the states.

Bassue attended Washington Archibald and as a freshman instantly made his presence felt, leading the team in scoring and gaining fame. He would be put on the Jr. National team and begin to travel to other islands playing in numerous tournaments and racking up individual awards. By the time he graduated he had caught the eyes of some schools in the States and decided to attend the UMFK.

Entering college in 2005, Bassue joined fellow recruits Jay Myers, Jordan Allen, and highly touted Tom Bard as the top freshman class in the Sunrise Conference. He struggled early to adjust to the American style of play and his early frustrations were reached its pinnacle when he broke his nose during a practice. By mid season however, he would find his stride and joined the starting lineup and would stay there for the remainder of the season, earning rookie of the Week honors and astounding 5 times and be nominated for Rookie of The Year, only to be beat out by Fisher College stud freshman Stephen Rice. Bassue would end the season posting averages of 8.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, and 1.4 SPG. His individual efforts would held lead UMFK into the Final Four of the Sunrise Athletic Conference Tournament only to bow out to the #1 seed in Lyndon State College of Vermont.

Wuggy would return to the island of St. Kitts after The Spring semester of school to play for the Junior National Team, an opportunity to play against the best competition in the West Indies and gain further exposure. However, a case of food poisoning would hamper his health and leave him unable to preform in the summer event. The food poisoning episode would leave him 15 pounds lighter.

Returning for his sophomore season at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, Wuggy rededicated himself to the game and his team, working extra hard in the pre season to regain the form he had possessed his previous season that gave him The Title of best on the island given to him by critics from St. Kitts. He would be named All Tournament at the UMFK Bengal Tip-Off. He would go on to post career highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds against College of St. Joseph of Vermont a week later on route to season averages of 11.81 PPG, 7.37 RPG, 1.5 APG. Bassue was named All-Conference 2nd Team at seasons end leading the Bengals to the championship game of the Sunrise Conference against two-time defending conference champ Fisher College. Fisher would go on to win the game and collect its third straight Sunrise Athletic Conference championship.

References

(1) http://www.umfk.maine.edu/athletics/intrcolgt/mbball/
(2) http://sunrise.umfk.maine.edu/viewsport.cfm?SPRT=1
(3) http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Team/IndividualStats.aspx?association=10&sg=MBB&sea=NAIMBB_2006&team=611&plr=18804