Central Basketball Association

In the fall of 2015, the Central Basketball Association, as part of its CBA Global Opportunities Program traveled to South America to initiate the beginning of the CBA Brazil project - a league initiative allowing for the bilateral exchange of players between the United States and Brazil. 

Following the inaugural trip, in which eight players participated in the week-long set of exhibition games in Rio de Janeiro, five individuals were offered opportunities to play competitively in South America, ultimately resulting in three athletes traveling to Brazil to kickstart the CBA Brazil campaign. 

Over a year later, two more CBA players are on their way to South America, as a pair of former Springfield teammates are scheduled to begin competition in Sao Paulo this weekend. 

Former Carl Sandburg University product, and 6-foot point guard, Shaun Manney, played the last two seasons in the league, with his top performance during the 2015 campaign, where he averaged 11.8 points per game, 5.3 assists per game, and 5.1 rebounds per game. The Chicago-native, Manney, also held the record for most assists in a playoff game with 14 in a quarterfinal loss against Bowling Green in 2015. 

Pairing up with Manney is 6-foot-4 small forward, St. Louis-native, Levi Smith, who led Springfield this past season averaging 14.9 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game, including scoring in double-digits in all seven games he played in 2016. This will be Smith's first international opportunity, as is the case with Manney. 

The two players will be the first group of athletes heading to Brazil for the 2016-2017 CBA Brazil season, as more CBA players are expected to travel to South America in the coming months. To date, there have been five players who have received opportunities to play in Brazil since the inaugural trip in 2015, and over nearly 160 CBA players that have been given the chance to play on international soil since 2013. 

(Photo by: Jeff White / CBA Photos)