Basketball: Fousseyni and Hassan Dramé, lucky twins from Saint Peter's
Hassan Dramé (number 14) and his brother Fousseyni Dramé (number 10), March 19, 2022. USA TODAY Sports - Robert Goddin
Text by: Michaël Oliveira Da Costa
4 mins
Executives of the Saint Peter's basketball team which has just achieved the best performance in history for a small university during the March Madness, the Malian twins Hassan and Fousseyni Dramé allowed this little thumb to be, during a ten days, the number 1 center of attention in the American sports panorama.
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Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, March 18.
The buzzer sounds, Fousseyni and Hassan Dramé (21) kneel in the middle of the field to pray.
Their St. Peter's team has just struck a huge blow in the first round of March Madness, the annual American college basketball tournament, beating the University of Kentucky (85-79), seeded number 2 for the conquest of the supreme title.
The two Malians, very little known until then, put their name, and their first name, in all the mouths of basketball fans in the United States, being the two pillars of the "Cinderella" team of the sporting event the most watched in the country in terms of audiences (30 million viewers on average) and business (the “March madness” generates approximately 1.6 billion in revenue).
"
No one was expecting us, but we knew from the start of the tournament that we could beat anyone
," said Hassan, before adding "
we quickly started to feel a huge wave of sympathy and support through the country, and as we progressed through the tournament, the attention that was given to us was just unbelievable, unheard of for us and the university
".
Sudden fame, but down to earth
The adventure continues in the next round for the small college based in New Jersey which knocks down Murray State (seeded n°7), then Purdue (seeded n°5) in the Sweet 16, the 16th finals.
The twins chained good performances with their defense and exemplary fighting spirit.
At this point, the Peacocks (the peacocks, symbol of the team) become the lowest ranked first team in history (seeded number...64), the last team drawn in the final table , to get this far in this knockout competition.
“
We were promised a crushing defeat in the first game, and that gave us even more motivation
”, specifies Fousseyni, who continues “
we were hungry, and we looked at our opponents eye to eye.
We didn't have the pressure, the favorites had it and we were very good at making them understand that
”.
During the quarter-finals, against the legendary college of North Carolina which saw Michael Jordan pass, the adventure ends, with a defeat (69-49).
“
We showed that David could beat Goliath, three times!
We made American sports history, and we received hundreds of thousands of messages of support.
All of America was talking about our exploits for more than ten days
,” laughs Hassan again.
Cover of ESPN magazine, front page of the New York Times on three occasions, but also major daily newspapers such as USA Today, the Washington Post and even an invitation to the set of Good Morning America, the flagship morning show of the American audiovisual panorama with its 25 million daily viewers.
Despite this sudden fame, the two brothers enjoy the moment, without taking the lead, concentrating on their main objective: to become professional.
“
We want to graduate and become professional players
”
"
We like this attention, it's good to get people talking about a school like ours, and we hope to benefit from certain spin-offs, but the focus is on the rest of our career, because we haven't finished our academic background.
We want to get our diplomas and become professional players
, ”underlines Hassan.
The same goes for their mentor Tidiane Dramé, who brought them to the United States in 2016. Former recruiter for the Golden State Warriors and founder of the Mali Hope association, he has been living in the country for twenty years, and helps young Malian and Guinean prospects to win sports scholarships at university.
"
The school aspect is very important, and both have their heads firmly on their shoulders
," he says.
And to add: “
that with the sacrifices and the work that they have put in place since they crossed the Atlantic, their future is bright.
They have all the cards in hand to achieve their basketball dreams
.
Before thinking about a possible future in the NBA or elsewhere, the Dramé brothers want to ride the wave they helped create with St. Peter's for some time yet.
With several sponsors knocking on their door, the two Malian hopefuls want to capitalize on the attention given to them and thank the support of the fans who have played a huge role as sixth man during their historic journey.
“
Jersey City Mayor and State Governor Phil Murphy decided to hold a parade in our honor on Saturday, complete with double-decker buses and a big celebration through the streets of the city.
More than 80,000 are expected, it's going to be madness
, ”excites Fousseny.
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