Daniel Gilbert (born February 28, 1983) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. Standing at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), he played professionally in four different countries. Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, on February 28, 1983, Gilbert attended the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

, and in his senior year was part of the memorable

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Ame ...

team that, led by fellow guard Turner Battle, went on an improbable run to the Mid-American Conference Championship, beating

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in the semi-finals at the

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in Cleveland. In the MAC final, the Bulls lost in

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on a tip-in by Leon Williams with 0.5 seconds remaining, thus, the Bulls failed to clinch the automatic bid to the

2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2005 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 15, 2005, and ended with the champions ...

. Gilbert, considered to be one of the best defenders to ever don a Bulls' jersey, averaged 7.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals his senior season while also setting the school record for games played in a career (118). Upon graduating in 2005, he went on to sign a professional contract with

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second division team FC Schalke. When interviewed after his signing, Gilbert said "I am excited about the opportunity to play professionally, I knew that I would play overseas some day, I am just surprised that it happened so fast." In his one season in Germany, Gilbert averaged 18 points per game, while recording his season-high 33 points in a 92–79 home victory over Rhöndorf. For the 2006–07 season, Gilbert made the move to

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, where he signed for Paul James's

Guildford Heat The Surrey Scorchers were an English professional basketball team based in Guildford, Surrey, that competed in the British Basketball League. The team was established in 2005 as the Guildford Heat by fans of former British Basketball League te ...

side, who were only in their second year of existence. A major coup for the side, Gilbert became a pivotal player in leading the club to its first ever BBL title. He averaged an impressive 16.9 points in 33.9 minutes per game. He returned for a second season to lead the Heat into the

ULEB Cup EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

, the club's debut in European competition. He aided the team to their first trophy of the season, picking up the

BBL Cup Winners' Cup The Cup Winners' Cup was a peripheral cup competition of the British Basketball League. It was a pre-season tournament competed over two legs, one home and one away, between the winners of BBL Cup and BBL Trophy from the previous season. Each leg ...

after defeating

Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Raiders are a basketball team based in Plymouth, England, currently competing in Division 3 of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. Founded in 1983 through a merger between two local basketball clubs, ...

. In 2008, he signed for

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team

Boulazac Basket Dordogne Boulazac Basket Dordogne, also known as BBD or simply Boulazac, is a French professional basketball club, based in Boulazac. The team currently plays in the LNB Pro B, the second level of basketball in France. The club plays its games in its home ...

but after one year returned to Britain to play under Coach James once again for the

Worcester Wolves The Worcester Wolves are a basketball club in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The team plays in the National Basketball League (England), NBL Division 2, the third tier of British basketball. The club was formed in 2000, and from 2006 u ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Daniel 1983 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in the United Kingdom American expatriate basketball people in Uruguay American men's basketball players Basketball players from Detroit Buffalo Bulls men's basketball players Cass Technical High School alumni FC Schalke 04 Basketball players Guards (basketball) Surrey Scorchers players Worcester Wolves players