15/12/11
Although Coach Johnson is running the County Upper Basketball Academy programme, he also found time over the 2010 – 2011 season to help place Conner Washington at a tough school who play in one of the toughest NCAA D2 Leagues in America.
Conner Washington is from Bedford and played for the England U18 Team during the 2009 – 2010 Future Stars Tournament in London.
Coach Johnson helped place Conner at South West Baptist University in Missouri USA. SBU is coached by Jeff Guiot and play in tne MIAA, which is classed by many as one of the toughest NCAA D2 leagues in America. Coach Guiot has been a head coach at the college level for 16 years and in this time amounted 325 wins and 136 losses, which included eleven 20+ winning seasons with three different Universities. Coach Guiot arrived at SBU 9 years ago. In only his second year at SBU he had managed to turn a struggling programme into one that finished the 2005 – 2006 season with 27 wins and 5 losses, ranked the 6th best NCAA D2 Basketball Programme in America and the Top ranked (#1) NCAA D2 Basketball Programme in the South Central Region. From 2005 – 2010 SBU won under Coach Guiot’s guidance three out of a possible five MIAA League Titles combining for a total record of 111 wins and 41 losses.
Coach Johnson said “Coach Guiot is a tough coach to play for and demands a lot out of all his players. When i was with USD we played against Coach Guiot while he coached Bemidji State, they beat us that year. His teams are always very well drilled and disciplined. Conner will find SBU a tough place to play, but then again he is a tough kid and tough player. This will be a great opportunity for him to achieve the educational and basketball goals he has set before himself. I am glad I had the opportunity to help Conner achieve his goal at the time, he has an amazing talent and i wish him all the best with his academic and basketball development”.
