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Hur är det? (How's it going?)
By Joe Warren
Herald-Tribune
NEVADA, Mo. -- They're tall, they're Swedish and they play basketball.
That's about the extent of what most people know about two Cottey players that have joined the Comets this season.
Elin Lindberg and Sara Sellin are indeed tall. At least for Cottey's level of basketball, playing NJCAA Division II.
Lindberg stands at 6-0, but with her quickness and ball handling ability, she will play small forward for Dave Ketterman this season.
Sellin is the tallest player on the team at 6-1, and she brings a variety of skills to the court which could help the Comets make a deep run in the postseason this year.
They come from the same town, Ängelholm, a coastal city of about 33,000 people in southern Sweden.
The duo played basketball together when they were younger. Sellin and Lindberg were on the same club team before high school. They played together for three years before Lindberg moved to attend a different high school. But the friendship endured.
So when Lindberg, a sophomore transfer from Casper College in Casper, Wyo., decided to come to Cottey this fall, it was a natural fit for Sellin, a freshman, to come too.
Especially the way things worked out.
"(Ketterman) brought up the question if I knew anybody else that could play," Lindberg said. "I said, 'yeah, my best friend.' And she came."
Lindberg had Sellin send the Cottey coach a tape, and Ketterman was immediately intrigued.
At a level where 6-footers can dominate, Ketterman couldn't pass up the chance at adding Sellin.
"I'm going to keep them my secret," Ketterman kept saying when asked about the two in preseason workouts.
Something tells me when the season starts Wednesday, the secret will get out quickly.
When you talk to Ketterman about the two recruits that basically fell in his lap this summer, he lights up.
"Elin is a small forward who is very aggressive to the basket," he said. "She'll create matchup problems."
Sellin is also a weapon.
"She has a real nice touch, and good range," Ketterman said. "Eighteen to 20 feet."
He said they both hit the glass hard on the offensive and defensive ends.
When the Comets run offensive sets or especially in transition, the two seem to find each other, knowing where the other will be at all times. They have played together on the court for years and it shows.
"We talk a lot (on the court)," Lindberg said. "I tell her what she needs to do, she tells me what I need to do. It's very easy to have a connection."
"We know each other," Sellin said.
The two are doing more than trying to fit in with the team, they are becoming acclimated to the American way of life. They said for the most part, it hasn't been too difficult.
"We've got a lot of American TV shows, movies and music," Lindberg said. "The U.S. has a lot of influence on Sweden."
"We speak Swedish, but we learn English in school from when we're 10 years old," Sellin said.
The two said the lack of transportation, especially in a small town like Nevada, is an obstacle.
"You've got to have a car here," Sellin said. "You can't go anywhere without a car."
"I miss my bike and the busses and the trains," Lindberg said. "I could go anywhere on my own (in Ängelholm)."
The two try to catch rides with classmates who have vehicles, whenever they can.
"We feel very dependent," Lindberg said.
"We spend a lot of time in the (dorm) room, Sellin said. "We don't feel very independent."
Besides the independence, they miss their families. Each of them have parents and a younger brother at home, who they talk to once a week.
And the food is something they've had to adjust to.
"Everything is so sweet, cheesy and fried," Sellin said with a bitter look on her face. "The healthy food, I miss that."
Even so, they both have enjoyed their experience at Cottey College, both on and off the court.
"Everybody's friendly (at Cottey)," Lindberg said. "It seems like a big family."
"I like this team," Sellin said. "Everybody is friendly."