‘That still hurts’-Devon Van Oostrum still feels pain of European Champs ’09

Van Oostrum is one of the top young British prospects

Devon Van Oostrum (’93 born), the young British sensation recently named to the Team GB Senior Men’s initial roster, still feels the pain from his England U16 campaign last year and their failure to gain promotion to Division A. In an interview revealing his fiercely competitive nature with FIBA Europe’s Paul Nilson he said;

“That still hurts. I still think about that Denmark game and how we missed out on promotion. It was nice being recognised as the top point guard there but I would have preferred to have got the promotion. My only focus when playing is to win.”

Van Oostrum was named to the All Tournament team after a dominant campaign averaging 21.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 4.2 apg and 5.8 spg (no you did not read those numbers wrong!) but lost in the promotion game against Denmark.

Talking about plans for the future, it appears his feet are set firmly on the ground

“It’s nice being recognised as one of the top prospects but that never goes through my mind when playing. So far, I’m just taking it one year at a time and setting short term goals.I’ve worked a lot in the weights room to get an NBA body and I’ve being seeing the rewards with dunking and bumping off defenders much more easily.”

“Obviously the big dream is the NBA but I’m not thinking about that too much. My mind is set on improving whenever given the opportunity.”

Make sure you check out the full interview over at FIBA Europe, where Devon talks about adjusting to life in Spain and his life on and off the court, it is a GREAT read!