Name: Brian Qvale Position: Center Height: 6-11 (2.11m) Weight: 265 (120kg) College Team: Montana Grizzlies Nationality: American Birthplace: Williston, North Dakota Birthdate: 11/3/1988 Drafted: Automatically eligible for the 2011 NBA Draft but was not drafted by an NBA franchise.

Backgrounds: Growing up in Qvale household was anything but small as father Sanford was a 6-foot-8 offensive lineman and 1974 NFL Draftee of the Buffalo Bills from North Dakota State. His brother Brent, now 6-foot-7, is currently an offensive lineman at Nebraska University. One would think all that football blood flowing through Brian would steer him to the gridiron, but his mother Carol was a basketball player in college for North Dakota-Williston.

At Williston High School Qvale was extremely active, earning 12 letters in 4 sports: football (4), basketball (4) and baseball (3), and finishing with one in track. Scholarship offers in baseball and football really started to blossom during his junior year, but these offers dried up once it became clear that Qvale would give up baseball and football to concentrate of basketball.

Qvale’s recruiting situation didn’t materialize quickly until his AAU team took road trips to Las Vegas where he outperformed higher rated prospects. He often states that the coaching he received at basketball camps at Iowa State and Gonzaga aided his development. Suddenly, Idaho, Washington State, Montana, Wichita State and Wyoming all came running for Qvale’s commitment. In the end he found Montana was the more favorable environment. He also looked forward to playing with his AAU buddy, Derek Selvig.

In his senior year Qvale took Williston High School to a third place finish in the North Dakota State championship, averaging 21 points and 11 rebounds per game. The white chip recruit was rated in the top 800 players in his class and was a mere project during his freshmen and sophomore years. But Qvale took a huge leap in his progress and had a breakout year. This undoubtedly helped the University of Montana to a NCAA tournament berth after a 4 year drought.