English not done yet
Carl English has unfinished business in his homeland.
The 37-year-old former Hawaii basketball standout, and reigning National Basketball League MVP, indicated through the Twitter page of his professional team, the St. John’s Edge, that he is game for at least one more season in Canada before calling it a career.
“Carl English is back,” said the post, which English retweeted.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
Ryder, Kirsten and Kylie English have a special announcement!#UnfinishedBusiness@cenglish23 pic.twitter.com/nckFCMIeJd
— St. John's Edge (@stjohnsedge) July 30, 2018
Said English in a team release, “It was amazing to play at home last season in front of the best fan base in the league. The Edge are poised to do even greater things this season and I can’t see myself anywhere else but on the court.”
English, in the inaugural season of the franchise, scored a National Basketball League-record 58 points in March.
He rode that performance to the league MVP award after a number of years playing in Europe. In 39 games, the 6-foot-5 guard averaged 23.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
English is the oldest ex-Bow still playing professionally. He was the WAC tournament MVP in 2001, an All-WAC second-teamer in 2002 and first-teamer in 2003. He declared for the NBA Draft and signed an agent prior to his senior season at UH.
I went to the banquet following the following the 2000-2001 season.
All the players signed autographs before the program.
What I remember about Carl English was that he seemed happy to be there.
I thought: This is a quality person.
So astonishing, given Hawaii’s track record on the road, that they were able to upend Tulsa on their home court in consecutive seasons.
As a freshman, if I recall correctly, he drove to the basket, put up a wild one-hand shot that banked in. As Bill Rafferty would say, “Onions.”
This name sounds familiar. I thought he went to the NBA.
Coach Wallace advised English to come back for his senior season because his play wasn’t quite up to NBA standards. Carl ignored the advice and if I remember correctly never caught on with an NBA team.
Even though he didn’t make an NBA team he had a long successful career all over Europe and now is closing out his career in Canada playing for the hometown team. On YouTube there are is a good documentary on English. He does talk about a little bit about his regrets but if you know his backstory, I think he made the right choice leave UH to pursue his pro career.