GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The announcement was inevitable.
"Yyyyyaaaaaaaak Yaaaaaaaak!"
And the crowd loved it.
"Oh my gosh, I tried to lock in and brush it off," Yaak Yakk, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center for the Colorado Mesa men's basketball team, said of what he heard after his first basket at Brownson Arena. "It was pretty cool. The announcer did his thing and the crowd, I didn't expect that at all."
When Yaak hit a soft turn-around jumper against Bowie State, Tyler Fransen, the Mavericks' public address announcer, went all-in on the call, stretching out the big man's name as long as he could. When he first saw the Mavs' roster, "Yaak Yaak" jumped off the page, and Fransen started formulating his call.
Not only did the crowd erupt, so did Yaak's teammates.
"First home game, wanted to make sure we got the win and do my best part to contribute to it, so I tried to just brush it off as much as possible," said Yaak, who tried not to smile as he heard his name reverberate as the Mavericks ran back on defense. "The team had fun and games with that in the locker room. They kept imitating the announcer guy the whole day."
Yaak is one of eight players from Australia playing for the Mavericks, and one of three who transferred from other U.S. schools. He spent last year at New Mexico State, playing sparingly, and chose to hit the transfer portal after the season. Two others, Harley Kent and Malakye Cunningham, transferred from junior colleges.
Yaak and Cunningham have known each other since they were 11 or 12 years old, and Cunningham's uncle put Yaak in contact with CMU coach Mike Dunlap.
With Dunlap's experience coaching in Australia, the pipeline he had going at Metro State when the Roadrunners were winning national championships in 2000 and 2002 was reopened when he was hired at CMU last spring.
"Coach Dunlap is a very popular figure back home in Australia," Yaak said. "He coached the professional team back in my home city (the Adelaide 36ers) back in the '90s, where he built that connection. Obviously he had a bunch of Australians at Metro State in his time there, so it's always been a connection. One of my teammate's uncles, Malakye, we've known each other since I started playing and he's always been a good mentor to me. He was like, 'You've gotta check out this place, you've gotta check out Coach Dunlap,' so he got me in contact with Coach. I felt like he was the perfect coach for me, the perfect place for me."
Yaak's parents are from South Sudan, but their families fled the war and moved to Kenya, where they met. A couple of years after their oldest son was born, the family moved to Adelaide.
His name is traditional in South Sudanese culture, with the first-born son taking the name of his paternal grandfather, thus the double name. Although unique in the United States, Yaak said his name would be common in East Africa.
He grew up — and steadily grew in height — playing Australian rules football, and was introduced to basketball when he was about 11.
"I didn't think (much) about it but I thought I'd do it to stay fit, find some friends," he said. He didn't consider where the sport could take him, but "here we are today."
Yaak spent two years attending the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia, recruited by the program's coaches. The Global Academy combines school and basketball, helping develop players around the world. His 11th and 12th grade years were spent at NBA Global, more than 700 miles east of Adelaide, which is on an open bay of the Indian Ocean, in South Australia. Canberra is the national capital of Australia, located southwest of Sydney near the coast of the Tasman Sea.
"Oh, man, so many lessons. I learned so much about my body and health," Yaak said of the experience. "I had an extended period of time where I was injured and during that time I learned about about the food you eat and how you can take care of your body, the weight room, and then just the culture.
"It was kind of college before college. We had practice before school, then you have your (classes) and come back and shoot, practice, weights. Time management. I could go on and on."
The affable, soft-spoken Yaak is still finding himself on the court, but has quickly found himself at home on CMU's campus. This time of year, all of the Aussies are missing the beach — it's summer in Australia, and they're from coastal cities — but having seven teammates from the same country helps them through homesickness.
Getting used to the climate, elevation and being surrounded by mountains instead of the Indian Ocean are the biggest hurdles the Australians have faced off the court. There are some other differences:
"The food portions are out of this world," Yaak said.
Actually, the thing that's stumped him more than anything else is figuring out how cold it is outside.
"I'll look at my phone and I'm like, oh, it's minus 5 degrees and all the Americans are looking at me like I'm crazy," he said. "And then I'm like, no, it's really like 20-something Fahrenheit, right?"
Dunlap said earlier this season that the American players have been schooling the Australians on U.S. customs, but that works both ways.
"It's a really good culture we've established. The Americans have jumped right into it; I feel like they're honorary Australians at this point," Yaak said. "It's been really cool to build the culture and show some of the American guys what we do. It was a big factor coming in; we're around people from the same place, all relatable stuff.
"It's a lot of jokes, a lot of laughs, but I feel like it's a two-way street. If there's something we don't know, they can help fill us in. And then if we're over there in a corner talking about something happening back home, they're peeking around the corner saying, oh, what's that? And we'll explain it to them, show them the good stuff."
The players from both countries quickly became mates — a new favorite word among the American players — and on the court, it's easy to see the connection getting better every game.
At 6-11, with his long braids and mega-watt smile (and a "please" to the scorekeeper when he checks into the game), Yaak stands out even in a game of big men. Then he raises his arms and calls for the ball. If he stands under the basket, his fingers can get tangled up in the net with his 7-foot-3 wingspan.
At one point on opening weekend, the Mavericks were running a sideline out of bounds play and Yaak was at the high post. He ran toward the sideline, arms outstretched, and it looked as if he was spanning a full quarter of the court. He's a big target for the guards, and when he screens for a teammate, he's tough for a defender to get around.
"I try to use it to my advantage as much as possible. Coach loves to bring it up and remind me to always use my arms, because it's an advantage," Yaak said with a smile.
And when you're 6-11, you need a solid base, hence his size 17 shoes. Despite his size, he's not your typical low-post center, although he can play with his back to the basket. He's got a soft touch from mid-range and if he's trailing in transition, don't be surprised if the Mavericks get him the ball at the top of the key for a 3-pointer.
"I've been big all my life, but I just always enjoyed shooting the ball," he said. "I thought it was a skill I always wanted to develop and become good at. Coaches back home, at the academy, they did a really good job helping me with my form and my touch and obviously Coach Dunlap has real confidence in me to be able to shoot it. I keep getting reps in, show what I can do in the game."
Yaak has been coming in off the bench, with fellow Aussie Will Mortimore starting at center. Mortimore, a 6-8 freshman from Maitland with an epic mullet, is a low-post center, so the two complement one another.
"That's definitely my brother in crime right there, two sides of the same coin," Yaak said of Mortimore, who also checks in with a "please, thank you."
"However Coach wants to use me, whether that's in the paint, using my strength, height, length, or if it's out on the perimeter or in the mid-range game, it's up to him, and I'm down for whatever the team needs. I'm just excited to see how far we can take this thing."
Yaak's experience with NBA Global Academy and playing for age-group national teams was invaluable, and the rest of the Australians have played against older competition, which allows all of them to play with the poise of older, more seasoned players.
They're still adapting to the pace, physicality and talent level in Division II basketball, but with Dunlap understanding both brands of basketball, the group of eight freshmen, four sophomores, two juniors and one senior has a high ceiling.
"It's an immensely talented group at every position, everybody brings something special to the table," Yaak said, "but I think the number one thing is a willingness to learn, to be coachable and go at it every day."
With most of the students away for the Thanksgiving break, to see the stands at Brownson nearly full was something the 11 players new to the program didn't expect in their home opener. It had them eager to see what's in store with students added to the atmosphere the first week of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
"That was incredible," Yaak said. "We walked out and saw the crowd and we were like, wow, this is really special."
