Former Saint Joseph's basketball player John Bryant '05 will be serving as an assistant coach with the Nigerian National Team in the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Bryant began his affiliation with Nigeria's team last year and helped the team to the nation's first-ever FIBA Afrobasket Championship to qualify for the Olympic Games. The squad has been training in the United States for the past month and will be playing its final exhibition game against Team USA on Monday, August 1 in Houston.
Nigeria is in Group B and opens play in the Olympics on August 7 against Argentina.
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Bryant played in 119 games for the Hawks from 2001 to 2005 and was a member of the 2004 NCAA Elite 8 team, as well as the 2005 NIT Runner-up. That team went 24-12 and reached the Atlantic 10 title game before making its run to the NIT Championship game.
The native of Woodbridge, Va., will be joining the Philadelphia 76ers staff in player development this season. Bryant previously served as an assistant coach with the Delaware 87ers of the NBA Development League and associate head coach of the Bakersfield Jam in that same league.
