Ruben Boykin

Ruben Boykin
Player information
Full name	Ruben Eugene Boykin junior
birthday	June 20, 1985 (35 years and 73 days)
place of birth	Inglewood, California, USA
size	201 cm
position	Power Forward / Small Forward
college	Northern Arizona
Club information
society	Bambitious Nara
league	B.League
Jersey number	7th
Clubs as active
2003-2007 NAU Lumberjacks ( NCAA ) 2007-2008 Stal Ostrow Wielkopolski 2008-2010 Aurora Jesi Fileni 2010 PM Pavia 2010-2011 UC Assigeco Casalpusterlengo 2011-2012 Kolossos Rhodes 2012-2013 Anwil Wloclawek 2013-2015 Akita Northern Happinets ( bjl ) 2015- 2016 BG Göttingen Since 2016 Bambitious Nara 00000 0

Ruben Eugene Boykin Jr. Born June 20, 1985 in Inglewood , Los Angeles County ) is an American basketball player . After studying in his home country, Boykin began a professional career in which he first played in Poland , three years in the then Italian second division Legadue and in Greece . From 2013 he played for two years in the Japanese bj league before moving to the top German division of the BG Göttingen for the 2015/16 basketball Bundesliga , for which his brother Jamal Boykin , who was two years younger, had already been active in the preseason . A year earlier, a move from Ruben to the German first division club MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg had not been successful.

Career

Boykin went to study in the neighboring state of Arizona to the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff , where he played from 2003 to 2007 for the Lumberjacks called university team in the Big Sky Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In four college seasons, Boykin reached the final of the Conference final tournament three times up to 2005, which was lost in 2004 against the EWU Eagles , in 2006 in the home game against the Montana Grizzlies and in 2007 against the Weber State Wildcats . Due to the final defeats, the Lumberjacks narrowly missed participation in the national NCAA finals . After winning the "Big Sky Regular Season" in 2006, they lost the first round game in the National Invitation Tournament against the Delaware State Hornets . Individually, Boykin was appointed twice to the Big Sky First Team of the five best conference players of a season and achieved a double-double in 16 of the 30 season games as a senior . But this was not enough to be selected in the entry draft of the most highly endowed professional league NBA .

Boykin started a professional career in 2007 anyway and went to Europe, where he played in Ostrów Wielkopolski for the club Atlas Stal in the top Polish division PLK . The team improved to fifth place in the main round, but was eliminated in the play-off quarter-finals for the championship against last year's third Śląsk Wrocław . While his former teammate from college, the Canadian international Kyle Landry , then also played his professional debut season in Poland, Boykin moved to the then second-highest Italian division Legadue , where he played for Aurora Fileni from Jesi until January 2010. The team, which only narrowly failed to advance to the top division as a play-off finalist in 2008, lost all chances of promotion as they were sixth in the main round in the first play-off round in 2009. After a bad start to the season, Boykin finally moved to league rivals from Pavia in January 2010 , who was in twelfth place at the end of the season, three places ahead of the penultimate Jesi, but had to return the license due to financial problems, which helped Jesi, among other things, to stay in the league. For the following season, Boykin stayed in Lombardy and moved to third-last UC Assigeco from Casalpusterlengo , for which he was only able to complete ten missions. The club improved to eleventh place, but then also had to return its license.

In the 2011/12 season Boykin played for the Greek first division club Kolossos in Rhodes in the A1 Ethniki together with Marcus Hatten , who, like Boykin, was to play in the Legadue before and later in the German basketball league . Last year's eighth Kolossos achieved his best placement in the top division in the third main round, but lost the semi-final series for the championship against the previous series and record champions Panathinaikos Athens . Despite the defeat in the play-off series for third place against Panionios Athens , the club was able to qualify for an international club competition for the first time. The club refrained from participating in the Eurocup and Boykin left Greece and moved back to the PLK for the following season, where he played for Anwil from Włocławek . Anwil reached the play-offs in fifth place, in which the defending champion and nine-time series champion Asseco Prokom Gdynia could be defeated and finally ousted from the throne in the first round . Before Prokom Gdynia / Sopot, whose financial support had been reduced by sponsors, in 2003 Anwil itself was the last club to achieve a Polish championship title. In the following semifinal series, however, Anwil lost to the main round first and new title winner Turów Zgorzelec .

For the 2013/14 season, Boykin moved to Japan in the bj league , where his brother Jamal, who was two years younger than him, played briefly in 2012. With the Northern Happinets from Akita he achieved the best record of the club, which has been a member of the league since 2010, and the final at the League's Final Four tournament, which was lost to the Ryuku Golden Kings . As the best rebounder in the league, Boykin achieved a good 13 rebounds per game and then signed a contract in Germany with the MHP Giants Ludwigsburg , whose coach John Patrick and assistant coach Takumi Ishizaki had also previously worked in Japan. Before the start of the season, this contract was broken in September 2014 and Boykin returned to the Northern Happinets in Japan, who were able to improve by one victory and won the Eastern Division of the league. In the play-offs they again lost the final game in the Final Four, this time just two points difference against Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix . Then Ruben Boykin made another attempt in the German basketball league and moved to BG Göttingen, where his brother Jamal had previously been active, but who in turn moved to the bj league in Japan.

Web links

• easyCredit BBL - Ruben Boykin - player profile on the easyCredit Basketball-Bundesliga website
• Ruben Boykin Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com - Profile with NCAA statistics ( English )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Big Sky Conference announces men's basketball All-Conference Team and individual awards. (PDF) Big Sky Conference , March 1, 2007, accessed on March 20, 2016 (English, media information). 
2. ↑ Where Are They Now: Former Lumberjacks Dot the Globe. (No longer available online.) Northern Arizona University , Nov. 6, 2011, archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on March 20, 2016 (English, Medien-Info Sport-Website). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Legadue Basket: Ruben Boykin. Legadue , archived from the original on December 11, 2010 ; accessed on March 20, 2016 (Italian, player profile).  
4. ↑ Ruben Boykin. Polska Liga Koszykówki , accessed March 20, 2016 (Polish, player profile). 
5. ↑ Ruben Boykin is leaving MHP RIESEN. (No longer available online.) Neckar Riesen Ludwigsburg , September 8, 2014, archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; accessed on March 20, 2016 (media information). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Ruben Boykin new to the BG team. (No longer available online.) BG Göttingen , August 13, 2015, archived from the original on March 22, 2016 ; accessed on March 20, 2016 (media information). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.