Alexis Wangmene

Senior forward Alexis Wangmene has travelled the longest road of any Longhorn player, all the way from Maroua, Cameroon. In 2004 on a trip to Johannesburg, San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford decided with his wife that they'd like to invite one of the participants of the NBA's Basketball Without Border program home to Texas with them. Shortly thereafter, the Bufords adopted 15-year old Wangmene and welcomed him into their family.

The initial intent was to enroll Alexis at San Antonio's Alamo Heights High School to play basketball alongside his new brother Chase Buford, who would later play at Kansas University. But UIL rules required that Wangmene sit out a year before playing, so the Bufords instead enrolled him at Central Catholic High School where he could play immediately. Alexis earned all-state honors at Central Cathoilic his junior season, averaging 22.7 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 blocks per game.

With his adopted father wishing to expose him to better basketball competition, Wangmene transferred for his senior season to Blair Academy in New Jersey, the same boarding school that produced former Texas Longhorn star Royal Ivey. That year, Wangmene averaged 19 points and 14 rebounds per game for a Blair squad that went 19-7. Wangmene's performance was impressive enough to earn him a scholarship to the University of Texas in 2007.

A mere spot player for the Longhorns the past few seasons, Wangmene has averaged only 2.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game over the course of his career at Texas. But this season he will be asked to do much more as one of the few big men on coach Rick Barnes' roster. At 6'8", Wangmene sports a wingspan of 7'4" enabling him to be that much more of an effective rebounder and shotblocker.

And with 4 years on the Austin campus already under his belt, including a redshirt year when he was recovering from a knee injury during what would have been his sophomore season, Wangmene will likely provide a significant degree of leadership for a new crop of freshmen coming in. As he should, considering that Wangmene, by way of his maternal grandfather, is next in line to become chief of his Toupouri tribe in Cameroon. While Wangmene's arrest and subsequent 2-game suspension for DUI during the height of the 2010-11 season might indicate otherwise, the French-speaking stalwart of a presence in the paint is set to make the most of his plentiful opportunities.