By Jonathan Okanes, Cal Athletic Communications
BERKELEY – When Roger Moute a Bidias was younger, he had designs of leaving his homeland to play his chosen sport at an elite level.
He’s done that – he just chose a different sport along the way.
Growing up in the soccer-is-a-way-of-life culture in Cameroon, Moute a Bidias immersed himself in the sport like so many young children in his country. He talked to his father about possibly playing professionally in a foreign land someday. Soccer was his passion.
But something happened on the way to the professional pitch – Moute a Bidias grew. As he became taller, he told himself he should at least give basketball a try. After all, he had three brothers that played the game, including seven-year NBA veteran Luc Mbah a Moute.
After attending a camp put on by his NBA-playing brother, Moute a Bidias found himself following the path of Luc and fellow brother Emmanuel, who played at UC Santa Barbara and Texas State-San Marcos. He moved to the United States for high school and excelled, ultimately earning a scholarship to play at Cal.
“I was very serious about soccer,” said Moute a Bidias, who has started the past two games for the Bears. “It was a passion of mine. Back home, we say we are all born with a soccer ball in our hands because that’s all you see. When the national team plays back home, all the businesses stop. There are no cars on the street. Everybody is watching the game.”
But Moute a Bidias ended up liking basketball as well, and as he reached his 6-foot-6 frame and continued to learn the game, it became his new passion.
Unlike many, playing college basketball was not a lifelong dream for Moute a Bidias – despite the fact that Luc helped UCLA to three straight Final Four appearances and Emmanuel had reached the Division I level as well. While his brothers played a lot of basketball as kids, Moute a Bidias rarely joined in.
“We’ve always had a hoop at the house,” Moute a Bidias said. “I’d always watch them play but I was never really interested in it. Soccer was my passion. But I grew taller and I tried basketball. I got into it and started liking it, and I just kept playing.”
Moute a Bidias wound up at Monteverde Academy in Florida before completing his prep career at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass. He said he had never even heard of Cal before former assistant coach Gregg Gottlieb approached him after coming to see one of his teammates on a recruiting trip.
“I had no idea what Cal was,” Moute a Bidias said. “When I started doing a little research, I liked it a lot. The one thing I remember Coach Gottlieb saying is that I’ll really like the Bay Area. I went home and looked up the Bay Area and thought it was amazing.”
Even after two of his older brothers came to the United States to play, Moute a Bidias was still pretty unfamiliar with the college basketball landscape. He and his family visited Luc once at UCLA and only were able to see his games when the Bruins played in the Final Four.
“The only thing I knew about college basketball was Duke and UCLA,” Moute a Bidias said. “I was able to see Luc play once or twice, but I had no idea it was this big thing. The only time they showed his games back home was when he played in the Final Four.”
Moute a Bidias said he’s connected with a handful of other Cameroon natives on campus – one of which he found after he saw someone wearing a Cameroon soccer jersey. He feels fortunate to be attending the No. 1 public university on the planet while getting a chance to play college basketball in the process.
“Coming from Cameroon, I had a lot of friends that lived with less than a dollar a day,” he said. “I have family members that lived in poverty. God blessed my family.”
