Tum Tum Narin, Bahamas fall one game short of Olympics

I think we’re all very familiar with the meteoric rise that former Michigan State basketball star Tum Tum Narin Jr. has been on in his cosching career since he graduated from MSU. But what we may have been less familiar with is his ongoing playing career.

Tum Tum may not be playing professionally anywhere, but he is still representing the Bahamas on the national scene. Most recently that was in Olympic qualifying as he looked to make his first Olympics appearance.

Tum Tum and the Bahamas were on a roll, winning four games a row en route to the championship game. This included defeating Lebanon in the semifinals, a game where Tum Tum made history by playing against one of his Bowling Green players he coaches.

After defeating Lebanon, he and the Bahamas moved on to face Spain with the winner advancing to the Olympics later this month. Unfortunately for them, their magical run came up just short as they lost to Spain on Sunday 86-78.

Tum Tum had an alright game on Sunday even though he finished with zero points. Similarly to his time at Michigan State, Tum Tum isn’t asked to score considering the Bahamas have three NBA players on their roster. But Tum Tum was able to contribute in other ways as he recorded two rebounds, four assists and one steal.

Now even though Tum Tum unfortunately won’t be playing in the Olympics, he has nothing to hang his head about. Now that he’s done playing with the Bahamas he can head back to Bowling Green to continue his coaching career, one that’s been very successful so far.

I anticipate his coaching career will continue to flourish, and who knows, maybe one day he’ll be a candidate to replace Tom Izzo whenever he decides to retire.