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Last week, Aitor Zubizarreta (Azpeitia, Gipuzkoa, 1995) was named Cascade Player of the Week, after scoring 45 points in a win over Evergreen. That also made him the fifth best scorer ever in the history of this college in Idaho. After two complicated years in Portland, Oregon he now resides in Caldwell, Idaho: “It has not been not easy for me, but now I feel better, I feel I'm an important player for the team,” he said to EuskalKultura.com.

Ander Egiluz Beramendi/USA. Zubizarreta is 21, he's not a kid, but his maturity is evident when he speaks. “First comes education, then, basketball.” He admits those are ideas he got from home but, by having a look at his decisions and his life, it's obvious that not just he is solid on the court, he's also a solid man in everyday life. He studies business at College of Idaho, while he's not encouraging the supporting howling of the Yotes' fans.

Last week they named you Cascade Player of the Week. Congratulations!

-Thank you. Cascade is the name of our conference and they choose a player every week. I made 23 points in one game and 45 in the next one. Thanks to that I am also the fifth best scorer in the history of the university. After that, they named me Player of the Week.

Your sports career is going well, then.

-It looks like it. Little by little.

It was 2013 when you decided to move from the Basque Country to the US to play in the university league. Portland Pilots was your first stop, but the first two years were not easy.

-There was another point guard on the team, Alec Wintering. We were friends, we lived together, but in the second year he became the captain so it was going to be very complicated for me to get play time. When I signed the contract, I didn't think of the competition I could have on the team. I was getting better, I was feeling good, and the coach was happy too. But since the contract was for four years I had to ask for permission to leave and, at the beginning, they denied me.

Eric Reveno was your coach in Portalnd. And he was who brought you to the US.

-In the Basque Copuntry I was playing for the Iraurgi Basketball Team and, when I finished high school, I knew that there it is not easy to pursue a university career while also playing a good level of basketball. So I was told it was feasible in the US. That was very important to me, because I've always had good role models at home. First comes education, then, basketball. I came to the US to do both.

Why did you choose Portland among all the different options you had?

-I spoke with four different universities, but it was always on the weekend,, over the phone or via Skype. Eric came to Azpeitia to spend a day with me and he even got me a flight to go with him to Portland and experience it first hand. That's why I signed the contract with them when I was over there.

No doubt that's a great start but, then, you decide to leave the Pilots behind and move on. What did the Yotes from Idaho have that the other universities didn't?

-They had basically what Portland had to offer me. They would pay for all my expenses, except my flights back home. Also, the coach (Scott Garson), despite being young, had done good work wiith very good teams, like UCLA, Pepperdine, Utah, Minnesota… That was, in fact, where he “hired” Zach LaVine. On top of that, Scott also came to visit me to Portland, like Eric did a couple of years before.

What's going to be your next step? Do you have any plans in mind?

-I'm happy here, now. I'm again an important player for the team, I get the ball in the very important last minutes of the games, making decisions. I make mistakes, but that's the way I learn the most. I still have another year in the US and, then, I'd like to go back to the Basque Country to play basketball. And once that's over I would like to live in the US.

Back home to play basketball and, then, back to the US to live. You never feel homesick?

-(He laughs) I feel homesick during carnival, when my friends participate in the sokamuturra… But I go every summer, and I'm going this coming summer too. Hopefully, I'll be able to play with the Basque national team. With Pablo Laso as a coach, he's great.

Not to feel that homesick you are also in a pretty good place. The Basque Diaspora is very much alive in Boise.

-I was shocked with all the messages I got on Facebook when I moved to Idaho. Some telling me they had Basque relatives, some telling me they went to see a game. Some people also want to take pictures with me. And they many times say kaixo, instead of hi, that's very nice. I am very happy here.

* These videos of Aitor Zubizarreta (one and two) are getting a lot of attention on the internet