Two decades ago, J.R. Sakuragi ¡ª well, J.R. Henderson, as he was known then ¡ª achieved the best accomplishment of his basketball career as his UCLA Bruins captured the NCAA championship with a 89-78 victory over Arkansas in the final at Seattle¡¯s Kingdome during his freshman year.
All his teammates from the 1995 title-winning squad have hung up their kicks by now, but Sakuragi is still going strong as a crafty veteran center for the NBL¡¯s Aisin SeaHorses in Japan.
¡°Last man standing,¡± Sakuragi, 39, said with a laugh on Friday, one day before the first game of the best-of-five NBL Finals, in which his SeaHorses will look to defend their title against the Toshiba Brave Thunders. ¡°That¡¯s unbelievable because there were a lot of guys that were highly recruited and highly sought-after, big-name guys.¡±
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