Former Norfolk State star Joe Bryant adds to trophy case with Polish league MVP
Joe Bryant has excelled at every level of basketball he’s played, and his trophy case is starting to run out of room.
Bryant added professional MVP to his long list of accolades Friday when he was named the best player of 1 Liga, the second-tier league in the Polish Basketball Association.
“It feels pretty good just seeing all the hard work I’ve put in over the years and this season,” Bryant told The Pilot. “Just working on my body, working on my shooting and things like that. My coaches and teammates put me in the position to be successful. It definitely means a lot. … Not a lot of people make it where I come from. So being named MVP somewhere outside of America is definitely pretty cool.”
The 24-year-old led his team, WKS Śląsk II Wrocław, and the league with 24.1 points per game this year. He also led the league with 2.6 steals per game and added 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
Bryant is no stranger to being a team’s go-to guy. He did just that while he was in college and helped lead coach Robert Jones and Norfolk State to two MEAC Tournament titles. Bryant was named the MEAC Player of the Year during both of those seasons and made the all-conference team three times.
All those times the Spartans leaned on him for production helped ease the transition to being a top producer at the professional level.
“Whenever it gets down to crunch time, my team leans on me to make plays — in college and the pros,” Bryant said. “So that kinda wasn’t a difference for me, I kinda was used to it. … Coach Jones definitely did his thing with making sure I’m prepared for the next level, so that definitely helped.”
There were just two games this year when Bryant finished with fewer than 12 points for WKS Śląsk II Wrocław — his team lost both games. Bryant was named the 1 Liga Player of the Week eight times during the regular season.
Adding an MVP of a pro league does wonders for any basketball player’s résumé. Bryant said it proves to whatever team his next stop may be that not only is he a good player, but that he’s a winner too.
“You don’t get many awards without winning,” Bryant said. “Personal success happens when you have team success. Having team success, the MVP became much easier to receive.”
WKS Śląsk II Wrocław ended the regular season with a 25-9 record and finished third in the 1 Liga standings.
Bryant and his team are in the middle of the playoff quarterfinals and are tied 1-1 with SKS Starogard Gdański. Bryant had 33 points in a one-point loss in Game 1 and followed that with a 32-point performance in a Game 2 win.
Game 3 is Saturday, and while there’s still plenty of playoff basketball to be played, Bryant is hoping he ends his season by adding some championship hardware to his trophy cabinet.
“That would be amazing. Anywhere I go, I compete for championships. That’s all I really want to do, just play basketball and win championships.”
Michael Sauls, (757) 803-5774, michae.sauls@virginiamedia.com
