The MVP's return to Italy: Colbey Ross is a new Lion
Talent, leadership and spectacular plays in the 2022/23 season, played with the Openjobmetis Varese jersey in which he was MVP of the championship. Now, after starting the season at Budcnost, Colbey Ross returns to Italy, becoming the new point guard of Bertram Derthona.
CAREER – Born in Aurora (USA) on October 22, 1998, Ross attended Eaglecrest High School in Centennial, Colorado. In his junior year, he averaged 18.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists, being named Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year. In the following year, his senior at High School further improved his numbers (18.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5 assists per game) contributing to Eaglecrest's success in the Class 5A state championship. At the end of the year, he was elected Mr. Colorado Baketball and again Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year.
After completing the four-year period, Colbey chose the Pepperdine Waves College, with which he set the record for assists in school history (179) in his first year, in which he was included in the West Coast Conference All-Freshman Team. Over the course of his high school career, Bertram's new point guard grows in performance season after season, reaching up to 2019/20 - his third year - in which he produces 20.5 points and 7.2 assists per game, numbers that make him the only NCAA Division I player to score at least 20 points and 7 assists that year. After withdrawing from the NBA Draft, Ross returned to Pepperdine to complete his four-year term: on November 27, 2020, by scoring 33 points in the defeat against UCLA, he became the best scorer in the history of his College.
In summer 2021, Colbey begins his career in Europe, signing with ERA Nymburk. With the Czech team he disputes, and wins, the national championship. He also takes the field in six games in the BCL, in which he averages 9.2 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes of use. In the following summer, he arrived in Italy accepting the proposal of Opnejobmetis Varese, of which he immediately became one of the leaders. His spectacular plays led the team coached by Matt Brase to important results: Ross scored double figures in twenty-seven of the thirty games played and closed the season averaging 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. It was against Bertram Derthona, on 2 January 2023, that he recorded his career high for points scored in Italy (35). At the end of the year he was elected MVP and Revelation Player of the season by LBA.
He begins 2023/24 in Montenegro, wearing the Buducnost Voli Podgorica jersey, with which he takes the field in both the championship and the EuroCup. In the ten cup games played, Colbey produces 5.2 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14 minutes of average usage. Now he comes to Bertram Derthona to start a new chapter in his career.
