Dusty Mike Rychart (born August 11, 1978) is an Australian-American 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 for the

Brisbane Capitals Brisbane Capitals is a NBL1 North club based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 North. The club is a division of Brisbane Basketball Incorporated (BBI), one of the major administrative basketball o ...

of the

Queensland Basketball League NBL1 North, formerly the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Queensland partnered wit ...

(QBL).

College career

Rychart attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

where he walked on to the basketball team for the 1997–98 season. After redshirting his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

year, Rychart became the backbone of the Minnesota Gophers for four seasons. While not considered flashy or high profile, Rychart was a workhorse, withstanding an academic scandal, a coaching change, sanctions, numerous players coming and going, but still managed to come out on top. As a senior in 2001–02, he earned third-team All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

honors. In 111 career games over four years, Rychart averaged 11.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2002 NBA draft The 2002 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2002, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting 57 amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, ...

, Rychart joined the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

team. He later moved to Australia and joined the Victoria Giants for the 2002–03 NBL season. However, in December 2002, he parted ways the Giants and moved to the Adelaide 36ers the following month, signing for the rest of the season. He made his debut for the 36ers on January 29, 2003, and continued on with Adelaide for a further three seasons, recording his best season in 2004–05 with averages of 21.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. During the Australian NBL off-season in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, Rychart played for the Hawke's Bay Hawks of the New Zealand NBL. In March 2006, Rychart signed a two-year deal with the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL ...

. In his first year as a Bullet, he became a championship player after Brisbane defeated the Melbourne Tigers in the grand final series. During the 2007 off-season, he played for the North Adelaide Rockets where he was awarded the Woollacott Medal and earned Central ABL All-Star Five honors, a season in which he helped the Rockets win the Central ABL championship. Following the 2007–08 season, the Bullets disbanded, leaving Rychart without a team. After a stint in the QBL with the

, the Wollongong Hawks nabbed him in July 2008 and signed him up for one season. After gaining Australia citizenship in June 2009, Rychart moved north and signed with the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Convention Centre, known colloquially as "The S ...

as a local. After two productive seasons in Cairns, injuries began to tarnish Rychart's decorative NBL career as he stumbled through the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons, managing just 29 games over his last two seasons. In 309 career NBL games, he averaged 15.1 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. After returning to the QBL in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

with the Cairns Marlins, Rychart re-joined the Brisbane Capitals in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and earned All-League honors for the first time. He returned to the Capitals in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and averaged 16.8 points and a career-high 13.1 rebounds per game. His 2015 season saw his points production decrease as the Capitals made it back to the playoffs as the No. 2 seed. Rychart continued on with the Capitals in 2016 and 2017. Rychart was ruled out of the entire 2018 season with a knee injury.

References

External links

Rychart's official websiteMVP Sports player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rychart, Dusty 1978 births Living people Adelaide 36ers players American emigrants to Australia American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in New Zealand American expatriate basketball people in Slovenia Australian men's basketball players Basketball players from Minnesota Brisbane Bullets players Cairns Taipans players Hawke's Bay Hawks players Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players Naturalised citizens of Australia Sportspeople from Grand Rapids, Minnesota Victoria Giants players American men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Power forwards