Forward John Flowers, who started 33 games for the West Virginia Mountaineers last season, will play for the Saitama Broncos for the 2011-12 campaign, the bj-league team announced on Wednesday.
The 200-cm Flowers averaged 9.2 points and 6.2 rebounds as a college senior for the Bob Huggins-coached club. In addition, he was a member of the Lefty Driesell Defensive All-American Team as a senior. Collegeinsider.com selected 21 players for the squad, which is named in honor of the longtime college coach. Flowers participated in the NCAA Men's Final Four in 2010.
Flowers' mother, Pam-Kelly Flowers, was a basketball superstar during her college career at Louisiana Tech, helping the school win a pair of national championships in 1981 and 82. Kelly-Flowers is a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. She scored a carer-best 41 points during her senior season against UCLA. Her jersey No. 41 is now retired by Louisiana Tech.
Flowers, who turned 22 in June, will wear No. 41 for Saitama.
Also Wednesday, the Toyama Grouses announced the signing of shooting guard Masashi Joho, one of the best Japanese players in bj-league history. Joho had spent two seasons apiece with the Osaka Evessa, Tokyo Apache and, most recently, Shiga Lakestars.
The Japan Times broke the story on Aug. 6. Now it's official.