Cooper Land

Cooper Land
No. 14 – Rockingham Flames
Position Power forward / Center
League State Basketball League
Personal information
Born (1988-11-10) November 10, 1988
Highland Village, Texas
Nationality American
Listed height 205 cm (6 ft 9 in)
Listed weight 104 kg (229 lb)
Career information
High school Marcus (Flower Mound, Texas)
College Wright State (2007–2011)
NBA draft 2011 / Undrafted
Playing career 2011–present
Career history
2011–2012 Asker Aliens (Norway)
2012 VfL Kirchheim Knights (Germany)
2013–present Rockingham Flames (Australia)
2014 Rizing Fukuoka (Japan)
Career highlights and awards

Cooper Land (born November 10, 1988) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Rockingham Flames of the State Basketball League (SBL). He played college basketball for Wright State University before playing processionally in Norway, Germany, Australia and Japan.

High school career

Land attended Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. As a junior in 2005–06, he averaged 10 points and five rebounds as his team finished with a 20–10 record. As a senior in 2006–07, he averaged 16 points and seven rebounds as his team finished with a 29–7 record and made it to the state's Sweet 16.[1]

College career

As a freshman at Wright State in 2007–08, Land played sparingly, but showed improvement throughout the season. In 33 games (no starts), he averaged 3.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game.[1][2]

As a sophomore in 2008–09, Land's playing time and production increased slightly. In 33 games (three starts), he averaged 4.2 points and 1.9 rebounds in 13.0 minutes per game.[1][2]

Land's junior and senior seasons were both interrupted by injury: on February 8, 2010, he tore his ACL and subsequently missed the rest of the 2009–10 season; and in February 2011, he missed time due to another knee injury.[1][2][3] As a junior, he averaged 5.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 16.6 minutes in 24 games, and as a senior, he averaged 8.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 25.7 minutes in 26 games (with 24 starts).[1][2] On December 30, 2010, he scored a career-high 21 points against Milwaukee.[4]

Professional career

In August 2011, Land signed with the Asker Aliens of Norway for the 2011–12 season.[5][6] In 22 games for Asker, he averaged 21.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

In July 2012, Land signed with the VfL Kirchheim Knights of Germany for the 2012–13 season.[7] On December 27, 2012, he was parted ways with Kirchheim after a number of poor performances linked to a recurring knee injury.[8] In 15 games for the Knights, he averaged 10.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.

In March 2013, Land signed with the Rockingham Flames for the 2013 State Basketball League season.[9] He appeared in 24 games for the Flames in 2013, averaging 27.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game. In October 2013, he re-signed with the Flames for the 2014 season,[10] going on to win the league's MVP award that season.[11] In 27 games for the Flames in 2014, he averaged 29.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

In August 2014, Land signed with Japanese club Rizing Fukuoka for the 2014–15 bj league season.[12] In December 2014, he left the club after appearing in 18 games and returned to Australia, re-signing with the Flames in February 2015.[13][14] On May 16, he had a career-best game with 45 points and 18 rebounds in the Flames' 96–82 win over the Willetton Tigers.[15][16] He was named to the South All-Star team for the 2015 SBL All-Star Game held on June 1,[17] scoring eight points in the game as a starter.[18] In 27 games for the Flames in 2015, he averaged 26.0 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Land again returned to the Rockingham Flames for the 2016 State Basketball League season,[19] earning Team of the Week and Player of the Week honors for Round 1 after recording 34 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks against the Willetton Tigers on March 19.[20][21] His second Team of the Week nomination came following Round 7 after he recorded 28 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on April 30.[22]

Personal

Land is the son of Bill and Gayle Land. His father is the play-by-play voice for the San Antonio Spurs.[1][23]

His brother, Taylor, is also a professional basketball player.[9] In 2012 and 2013, Taylor played for the Mandurah Magic, the Rockingham Flames' number one rival.[24] In 2014, Taylor joined Cooper at the Rockingham Flames.

Land is a Christian. In the summer of 2012, he traveled to Israel with Athletes in Action, a Christian organization with a goal to build spiritual movements through sport. He visited over 40 biblical sights and participated in a tournament in Palestine.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "#14 Cooper Land". wsuraiders.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Cooper Land Stats". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Sports Wrap – February 2011". WrightStateAlumni.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Wright St. 68, Wis.-Milwaukee 44". ESPN.com. December 30, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  5. ↑ Potter, Bill (August 11, 2011). "WSU's Land Headed to Norway to Begin Professional Career". HorizonLeague.org. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  6. ↑ Nagel, Kyle (August 12, 2011). "Ex-WSU player now an Alien". SpringfieldNews-Sun.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  7. ↑ Korff, Moritz (July 25, 2012). "Kirchheim Knights bag Cooper Land". Eurobasket.com. Sports I.T. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Ohne Vier ins nächste Jahr". Kirchheim-Knights.de (in German). December 27, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Boyle, Niall (March 14, 2013). "Brothers to battle it out". Yahoo.com. The West Australian. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  10. ↑ "FLAMES SIGN IMPORTS FOR 2014 SBL & WSBL SEASON". Facebook.com. October 3, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  11. ↑ McAuliffe, Hugh (September 7, 2014). "2014 SBL Awards". Australiabasket.com. Sports I.T. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  12. ↑ Odevan, Ed (August 14, 2014). "Shiga brings in veteran Parmer to boost bid for title". JapanTimes.co.jp. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  13. ↑ McAuliffe, Hugh (February 8, 2015). "Land comes back to Flames, ex Fukuoka Rizing". Australiabasket.com. Sports I.T. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Flames Announce 2015 SBL Coaching Staff & Restricted Players". FoxSportsPulse.com. February 6, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  15. ↑ Pike, Chris (May 17, 2015). "Double wins for Redbacks and Flames on impressive night (Week 10 Saturday night SBL wrap)". FoxSportsPulse.com. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  16. ↑ "WILDCATS OFF-SEASON WRAP: 18 MAY, 2015". Wildcats.com.au. May 18, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  17. ↑ McAuliffe, Hugh (May 20, 2015). "2015 SBL All-Stars". Australiabasket.com. Sports I.T. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  18. ↑ "South vs North". FIBALiveStats.com. June 1, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  19. ↑ Pike, Chris (March 18, 2016). "Men's SBL Season Preview – Rockingham Flames". FoxSportsPulse.com. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  20. ↑ "MSBL Team of the Week". FoxSportsPulse.com. March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  21. ↑ "MSBL Player of the Week". FoxSportsPulse.com. March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  22. ↑ "@WA_SBL Team of the Week for Round 7: Najee...". Twitter. May 2, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Bill Land - Spurs TV Play-By-Play". NBA.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  24. ↑ Russell, Darrell (July 10, 2013). "A Tale of Two Lands - Sibling Rivalry at its Best!". FoxSportsPulse.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  25. ↑ Grove, Charles (November 15, 2012). "Former WSU hoops player Cooper Land continues career in Europe". TheGuardianOnline.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.

External links

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