“Yeah, his teammates all call him Frenchy too, but I call him The Big Baguette,” associate head coach Ricardo Greer said with an easy laugh that bespoke of a bond that allowed such levity.
“I think he likes Frenchy better.”
While the nickname might seem like a bit of a cop-out for people who don’t know or can’t pronounce his name, when it comes to basketball these days, Frenchy is a badge of honor.
If you’re French and you play basketball here, you’re assumed to be good.
Especially when it comes to the NBA, where there’s been something of a French Revolution.
Each of the past two years, the top pick in the NBA Draft has been French.
In 2023, San Antonio made 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama the overall No. 1 choice and he responded with a monster first season in the NBA. He averaged 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last year; led the league in blocked shots; was the unanimous choice as the NBA Rookie of the Year; and finished second as the league’s best defender, losing out to another veteran Frenchman Rudy Gobert.
This year the Atlanta Hawks made 6-foot-9 Zaccharie Risacher the overall top pick, while 7-foot Frenchman Alex Sarr was the No. 2 pick by Washington and 6-foot-9 Tidjane Salaun was the No. 6 pick by Charlotte.
That made three of the top six picks from France.
The agent who represents Wembanyama, Gobert and many other French players in the NBA is Bouna Ndiaye.
“He’s my agent, too, and he used to represent Coach Greer when he played in France,” L’Etang said.
Greer played most of his 14-year pro career in France, where he was a five-time Pro League All Star, a three-time All-Pro and the MVP on the league. In 2017, he was enshrined in the Académie du Basketball Français (French Basketball Hall of Fame.)
“I consider France my second home because I spent so much of my life there,” Greer said the other day as he sat in his Cronin Center office on the UD campus. “Both of our kids were born there. My son (R.J.) was born in Strasbourg and my daughter was born in Nancy.”
And it’s because of that French connection that L’Etang is at UD.
“Bouna came and spoke to us about Amaël when we played at SMU last year,” Greer said. “When someone like him — because of his past experience with players — tells you he has a kid who can help you, you listen.”
With head coach Anthony Grant at the fore, UD began its recruitment and L’Etang’s father, Frederic, was on board soon after.
“My dad is a huge fan of basketball and Coach Greer played in Nancy, the city where my dad is from,” L’Etang said. “My dad knew he was a good player and when he heard his name with Dayton, he was like, ‘Oh that’s exciting. That will be good.’”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
And it was good last Sunday when L’Etang made his Flyers’ debut against Xavier in an exhibition game at UD Arena.
He entered the contest early in the first half and in 96 seconds he got his first blocked shot, a stuff of Xavier guard Ryan Conwell’s lay-up attempt. A half-minute later, he grabbed an offensive rebound and turned it into his first Flyers’ basket, a dunk. Later in the half he dunked again.
Soon after taking the court in the second half, he hit a three-point shot from the corner that he punctuated with three upraised fingers as he turned and ran back down the floor.
Some 90 seconds later he added a third dunk, and he closed out his efforts taking a charge in the paint.
He ended the evening with nine points, four rebounds, two assists and the full embrace of the crowd.
He said his dad, sister and brother watched a stream of the game back in France:
“My first action as a Flyer was the block and they said, ‘Yeah, we heard the public going crazy!’”
While L’Etang needs to put on some weight and get more physical inside — “That will come,” he said with quiet assurance — he showed good basketball instincts.
Most of all, Greer said: “He wasn’t scared. That comes from playing in France. When you’re a young guy there (L’Etang played with Cholet’s U-21 team last season) you get to practice versus the pros every day. You’re going against guys who are 26, 27, 30 years old on a consistent basis.
“That showed.”
The moment wasn’t too big for him.
‘The right place for him’
L’Etang said his fascination with basketball began when he was two years old and in the early days he said his mom — Angelique Gerard, who’d been a track athlete — taught him the sport until he joined a youth team a few years later.
In 2023, the 17-year-old L’Etang helped Cholet’s U-18 team win the national championship tournament. In the title game he had 29 points, 21 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and four blocked shots.
Playing 31 games for Cholet’s U-21 team last season, he averaged 13.8 points and 10 rebounds a game.
Greer said at the end of last season L’Etang was considering turning pro, but Bouna pushed the idea of college basketball in the U.S. where he could develop his skills and status.
While several other colleges took an interest in L’Etang, he said his agent thought UD was the best place for him:
“He said it was the perfect place because I could trust the people and it was one of the best places in college because of the fans and the arena and the way everybody loves the game here. And their style of basketball fit me.
“You saw it with DaRon (Holmes) last year and Obi Toppin before that.”
UD helped develop both and they — along with Toumani Camara — were drafted into the NBA the past few years.
“We’ve done it before,” Greer said.
“And now Coach Grant is putting Amaël in a position where he’s able to learn and grow within our system and won’t be rushed.”
He said L’Etang will also benefit greatly from the guidance of strength and conditioning coach, Casey Cathrall, and athletic trainer Mike Mulcahey.
“Overseas those things aren’t big, but they can make a difference in his future,” Greer said.
“And when you add in the trust issue and the (realization) that we’re going to take care of you and help you become the best version of yourself, I truly think this is the right place for him.”
Big man on campus
Although L’Etang towers over his fellow students — in fact, Flyers’ teammate Javon Bennett just comes up to the No. 29 on the front of Amaël’s jersey — Greer said he’s fit in well on campus:
“He’s a very social, outgoing young man. He walks around wearing his Joe Burrow jersey when the Cincinnati Bengals are playing.
“I know he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan, too, and he goes to the dorm rooms of some of his peers to watch football games on Sundays.”
L’Etang nodded: “It’s fun. I’m a chill guy.”
He’s been to America a few times before. Most recently he said he was in Dallas twice for about a month in the past year to workout.
He made his first trip to the U.S. as a young teen when he came to watch his older sister Amandine play basketball for Frank Phillips Community College in Borger Texas, north of Amarillo.
He said his other trip was the reward he got for being the MVP of a basketball camp put on back in France by Evan Fournier, who played with five different NBA teams in his 12 years in the league:
“When I became the MVP, he was playing for the Orlando Magic and the reward was to come visit him there. And I went to two NBA games.”
He committed to Dayton late and had never seen a Flyers’ game at the Arena before the exhibition he played in Sunday.
He said back in France, the biggest crowd he played in front of was about 5,000.
“Last Sunday was amazing,” he said. “The atmosphere was crazy, so now I’m really excited for when the (regular) season begins.”
He said his dad and his sister — who’s now an au pair in New York City — are coming to UD Arena for the Flyers’ Nov. 20 game against New Mexico State and his dad then will go on to the Maui Invitational games. His mom, he said, will visit around Christmas.
No one appreciates watching this all transpire more than Greer. It’s a full circle moment for him:
“For me personally to come back to the States after all those years in France and then have a chance to coach a guy from there is phenomenal. It’s going to be fun watching him develop and grow and make a name for himself.”
And he wasn’t talking about Frenchy.
Nor The Big Baguette.
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