Johannes Herber (born January 17, 1983) is a former German

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He was born in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. In 2006, he completed a U.S. college career at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

(WVU). In America, he was generally known as Joe Herber.

College career

After being developed by the Langen club in Germany, Herber received several professional offers in Europe, but turned them down in favor of a U.S. college career. The 6'6", 200 lb (1.98 m, 91 kg) all-around guard became the second recruit of new West Virginia coach

John Beilein John Patrick Beilein ( ; born February 5, 1953) is an American professional basketball coach who currently serves as the Senior Player Development Advisor for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before being hired b ...

in 2002. Herber went on to start every game of his four-year WVU career, setting school records for most games started and minutes played. He also finished his college career as WVU's fifth-leading assist man. Herber, along with

Kevin Pittsnogle Kevin Lee Pittsnogle Jr. (born July 30, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for the Pittsburgh Xplosion of the CBA

and

Mike Gansey Michael Gansey (born December 21, 1982) is an American professional basketball executive and former player who is currently the general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously served as assis ...

, was a key player on the

Mountaineers Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

' NCAA regional finalists team in

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and highly ranked 2006 team. Herber also had an outstanding academic record at WVU, graduating with a 4.0

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

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and gaining entry to the Order of Augusta, WVU's highest undergraduate honor. He was named by the

College Sports Information Directors of America College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pros ...

(CoSIDA) as an

Academic All-American The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

three times and Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.

German national team

During his time at WVU, Herber spent his summers with the German junior national team, competing in the 2005

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

. He was also a member of the German senior national squad for the 2006 World Championship. Herber played in seven games as Germany advanced to the quarter-finals before losing to

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. He averaged 4.3 points per game in the tournament.

References

External links

WVU Mountaineers 2005-06 profiles (PDF)

ALBA Berlin profile
1983 births Living people Alba Berlin players German men's basketball players German expatriate basketball people in the United States Sportspeople from Darmstadt Skyliners Frankfurt players Tigers Tübingen players West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball players 2006 FIBA World Championship players Shooting guards {{Germany-basketball-bio-stub