Adama Sanogo named tournament's Most Outstanding Player

The junior center was dominant in the title game victory over San Diego State, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. For the tournament, Sanogo averaged 19.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, while making two out of every three shots he took. He also blocked a shot in every single game.

UConn was never truly challenged in the tourney, winning their six games by an average of 20 points. What stood out was its defense, anchored by Sanogo, that held San Diego State without a field goal for 11 minutes in the first half.

Sanogo, a native of Mali, is the first foreign-born Most Outstanding Player since Swedish-born Miles Simon won in 1997, and the first African-born player to win since Hakeem Olajuwon 40 years ago.

What makes the performance more impressive is that Sanogo has been observing Ramadan since just before the Sweet 16 games. He's been fasting from sunrise to sunset, taking in no food or water, but it didn't seem to negatively affect his performance at all.

Perhaps that's because Sanogo has done tougher things. Like moving from Mali to the United States at age 15 to play basketball, without his family or any knowledge of the English language.

Sanogo joins a list of MOPs from Connecticut that includes Richard Hamilton, Emeka Okafor, Kemba Walker and Shabazz Napier. While he's undersized as a 6'9" center, Sanogo has shown such tenacity already in his life that no one should bet against him following in their footsteps to the NBA.