George Reese (basketball)


George L. Reese is an American former professional basketball player. He attended The Ohio State University, where the Buckeyes went to the NCAA Final Four 1999, and won the Men's Big Ten Basketball Championship in 2000. Reese has played abroad, including France, Germany, Greece and Poland.

Early life and college

Reese graduated from Independence High School at Columbus, Ohio in 1995. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of South Florida for one year. Under coach Bobby Paschal, Reese never played any games, so he transferred to Columbus State Community College the but still did not play basketball. He then transferred to John A. Logan College, a community college at Carterville, Illinois. In the 1997–98 season for Logan, Reese averaged 20.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game and was a second-team NJCAA All-American.
From 1998 to 2000, Reese played small forward at Ohio State. He averaged 5.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in 1998–99 then in his senior season 13.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists. He was a third-team All-Big Ten Conference pick in his senior year.

Professional career

Although Reese was not selected in the 2000 NBA Draft, the Cincinnati Stuff of International Basketball League selected Reese in the 10th round in the 2000 IBL Draft. Reese professionally debuted in October 2000 with Hermine de Nantes Atlantique of the French Ligue Nationale de Basketball. In three games, he averaged 20 points and 10.7 rebounds. In November 2000, Reese signed with the Cincinnati Stuff. On April 14, 2001, Reese signed with the IBL's Trenton Shooting Stars but did not play for that team.
In the inaugural NBA Development League draft in 2001, the Columbus Riverdragons selected George Reese in the ninth round. The Riverdragons traded Reese to the Asheville Altitude on January 14, 2002. With Columbus, Reese averaged 4.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in 22 games with 48.4% field goals made; with Asheville, Reese averaged 6.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists on 36.6% field goal shooting.
The next season, Reese played in two Continental Basketball Association teams: the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Idaho Stampede. Then in 2004, he played ten games with the Florence Flyers of the USBL. He also played with the Barangay Ginebra Kings of the Philippine Basketball Association.
Reese has played in the Polish Basketball League from 2004 to 2012, with the PBL team AZS Koszalin from 2007 to 2012.