Leron "Boogie" Black (born January 31, 1996) is an American professional

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 for

Soles de Mexicali The Soles de Mexicali (English: ''Mexicali Suns'') is a Mexican professional basketball team based in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, playing in the Northern Division of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). The team was founde ...

of the LNBP. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. He also played for

Argentino de Junín Club Atlético Argentino de Junín, known simply as Argentino de Junín, is a professional basketball club based in Junín, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argen ...

from LNB before moving to the Brazilian League (NBB).

High school career

In September 2012, Black verbally committed to

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

to play basketball, only to de-commit in January 2013. At the time in 2012, Black was actually the first top 25 recruit to announce his verbal commitment. Black explained that he committed to Baylor too early before exploring all of his options available. In talking about schools he was considering, Black listed

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. After his

official visit A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter also acting as the Hospitality, official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking ...

to Illinois, Black verbally committed to the program and coach

John Groce John Gordon Groce (; born September 7, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Akron Zips men's basketball team. Prior to coaching for Akron, he was the head coach at Illinois and Ohio. Coaching career P ...

on September 1, 2013. On November 15, 2013, Black then signed his

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

to play for Illinois starting in the 2014–15 season. During his senior season, Black averaged 20.2 points and 12.9 rebounds and lead White Station to a 30–3 record. Black was named Class AAA

Tennessee Mr. Basketball Each year the Tennessee Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys' basketball player in the U.S. state of Tennessee by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. A Mr. Basketball is named for each of ...

for 2014, the Gatorade Tennessee Boys Basketball Player of the Year for 2014 and was named First team All-State by USA Today.

College career

In his first career start on January 21, 2015, Black posted a

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

in a win against

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

with 15 points and a career high 13 rebounds, becoming the first Illinois player since

Lowell Hamilton Lowell Hamilton (born May 3, 1966) is an American former basketball player. High school Hamilton was a dominant high school basketball player at Chicago's Providence St. Mel, where he led the Knights to four consecutive IHSA boys' sectional ch ...

to post a double-double in his first career start. On October 8, 2015, it was announced that Black would miss 4–6 weeks after having surgery to repair a

Meniscus tear A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

in his knee. He returned to the lineup during the win against

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as th ...

on November 15, 2015. Following the 2017–18 season, Black was named to the honorable mention All Big-10 team by both the coaches and media.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 10 , , 14.8 , , .475 , , .000 , , .682 , , 4.3 , , .1 , , .3 , , .2 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 3 , , 14.3 , , .417 , , .000 , , .500 , , 4.4 , , .6 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 27 , , 20.2 , , .453 , , .297 , , .722 , , 6.3 , , .4 , , .5 , , .1 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 30 , , 25.5 , , .547 , , .512 , , .800 , , 5.2 , , .8 , , .3 , , .3 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 102 , , 70 , , 19.6 , , .499 , , .398 , , .749 , , 5.2 , , .5 , , .4 , , .2 , , 9.0 , -

Professional career

On March 15, 2018, Black announced he would forego his final season of eligibility at Illinois to pursue a professional basketball career. He was not selected in the

2018 NBA Draft The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including inte ...

. On August 5, 2018, Black signed a one-year deal with the Israeli team Elitzur Yavne of the

Liga Leumit Liga Leumit ( he, ליגה לאומית, lit. ''National League'') is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League. Structure There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-place ...

. However, on October 8, 2018, Black parted ways with Yavne before appearing in a game for them. On October 20, 2018, Black was selected with the 25th pick in the first round of the 2018 NBA G League Draft by the

Raptors 905 The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fi ...

. On November 1, 2018, the Raptors 905 announced that they had waived him from training camp. On November 30, 2018, Black signed with

of the

Liga Nacional de Básquet The Liga Nacional de Básquet (abbreviated LNB, and literally in English, "National Basketball League"), also commonly referred to as "La Liga de Básquet" ("The Basketball League"), is the top-tier level of the Argentine basketball league system ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. On July 3, 2019, Black signed with

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

to play the

2019–20 NBB season The 2019–20 NBB season was the 12th season of the Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB), the highest level basketball league in Brazil. The season began on 21 September 2019 but was suspended on 15 March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic The CO ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. In 11 games he averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. Black joined

Minas Minas or MINAS may refer to: People with the given name Minas * Menas of Ethiopia (died 1563) * Saint Menas (Minas, 285–309) * Minias of Florence (Minas, Miniato, died 250) * Minas Alozidis (born 1984), Greek hurdler * Minas Avetisyan (1928� ...

for the remainder of the season and averaged 4.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. On August 8, 2020, Black signed with

Abejas de León The Abejas de León (English: ''León Bees'') is a Mexican professional basketball team. It has been a member of the LNBP since the 2009-10 season. History Foundation The team was previously known as the Piedras Negras Bravos but the Univer ...

of the LNBP.

The Basketball Tournament

Black joined House of 'Paign, a team composed primarily of Illinois alumni in

The Basketball Tournament 2020 The Basketball Tournament 2020 was the seventh edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament. The tournament, involving 24 teams, started on July 4 and continued through the championship game on Jul ...

. He scored two points in a 76–53 win over War Tampa in the first round.

International play

In May 2014, Black was among the 24 players who earned an invitation to the training camp for USA Basketball

FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship The FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship is the Americas basketball championship for players under 18 years that take place every two years among national teams of the FIBA Americas zone. Before the 2006 edition, the tournament was played by unde ...

at the

United States Olympic Training Center The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Sprin ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

References

External links

Illinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Leron 1995 births Living people Abejas de León players African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Brazil American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American men's basketball players Argentino de Junín basketball players Basketball players from Memphis, Tennessee Flamengo basketball players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Novo Basquete Brasil players Small forwards 21st-century African-American sportspeople