They met as teenagers on a basketball court in their home country of Ivory Coast.
Some eight years later, Willy Kouassi and Bernard Morena are almost inseparable as they try to help the Kennesaw State men’s basketball team find its place as a Division I team and pursue their plans of finishing their educations.
“He’s my best friend,” Willy said in his French accent. “I didn’t want to leave him by himself. We will be here together until we make it.”
They journeyed together from Abidjan, Ivory Coast to Miami for high school. The education continued at Birmingham. They enrolled at Auburn. After a short time there, they transferred to Kennesaw State.
It sounds like the worst stories you hear in basketball: players travelling from school to school until they can make it to college.
That’s not the case with the Kouassi and Morena. After being “discovered” at basketball camps in Ivory Coast, their American guardian helped them enroll in the school in Miami. It folded, so they transferred to Central Park Christian School in Birmingham. Auburn signed them, but Kouassi didn’t feel he was developing as a player there. Because of their relationship with former Owls coach Lewis Preston, the fact it’s near a city and the feeling they had when they visited campus, they came to Kennesaw State.
“Very thankful for opportunities they’ve received,” Kennesaw State coach Jimmy Lallathin said.
They are because they have promises to keep.
Kouassi told his father when he left Ivory Coast in 2008 that he would earn two degrees. He is on track to complete a bachelor’s in integrative studies and then hopes to pursue a master’s in marketing. Morena plans to major in international business and also is considering an MBA.
Basketball has been the tool to help them earn their degrees.
While Ivory Coast is known for producing world-class soccer talent, the duo chose basketball for easy reasons: Kouassi because he was getting taller and Morena because his sister showed him a video of Michael Jordan and he “wanted to try that.” Morena was 14 years old.
At 15, his team lost to Kouassi’s in their first meeting on an outdoor court in Abidjan. Morena scored 22 points, not bad considering he had been playing for less than a year.
“Yall were lucky,” Morena jibes Kouassi, one of many the two exchange during the conversation.
Kouassi is the rim-to-rim runner, a 6-foot-10 center with a long wingspan who can score with either hand, though he is trying to play through an injury to his right wrist. He is averaging 4.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Morena’s scouting report on Kouassi includes that he has a high motor and gives everything when he plays.
Morena is the attacker, a 6-8 forward who can play any position on the court if needed. This is his second year playing after sitting out two years at Auburn. After averaging 6.4 points last season for the Owls, he is averaging 4.9 points per game this season. Kouassi said he’s big, but when Morena catches on the ball on the block, if his footwork isn’t right Morena will go right by him.
“Their games have evolved so much since their first time here,” Lallathin said. “Willy’s wrist injury has hurt him a little bit. I’m confident they will get chance to play professionally. Where is up to them. Their work ethic and desire is great; their potential is still being formulated.”
That decision between the possibility of pro basketball or a 9-to-5 career may be the moment when they are finally split apart.
They room together at home, where they are as American as most: Kouassi is the cook (chicken and fish), the D.J. (he loves to blast R&B music) and a connoisseur of cartoons (Family Guy, Boondocks)
Morena is the reader and video-game player (FIFA, NBA 2K and Assassin’s Creed).
They are so inseparable that Lallathin has had to assign them different roommates on the road.
Even so, when back together they will sometimes switch to their native French, which Lallathin jokes drives him crazy.
Perhaps hearing French provides some comfort. Morena has been home one time since they left for Miami and that was for his sister’s wedding. Kouassi, who is considering becoming an American citizen, has yet to go home. If it weren’t for Skype, which allows them to talk to their family, Kouassi said he would have gone crazy by now. Morena talks to his family every day. Kouassi talks to his several times a week.
“Of course you will think about family,” Morena said. “Have to stay focused on what you have to do.”
The scouting report on their friendship is filled with the jokes best friend’s make. Kouassi plays his music too loud, especially on Thursday night’s the only night Morena gets to sleep in. In return, Morena likes to “mess with” Kouassi when he’s trying to sleep, which he only needs a few minutes to do.
They have come a long way together and there’s still much to do.
“They aren’t brothers, but they are brothers,” Lallathin said.
