Trevor Gruis Will Continue Basketball Career in Sweden

Former South Dakota center Trevor Gruis' dream of playing professional basketball is taking him places.

Gruis is on his way to Sweden to play with Jämtland, a Swedish basketball premier team. The Ellsworth, Minnesota native, is heading to Östersund in August to begin training camp.

In a USD press release, Gruis talked about how the opportunity came his way:

The team recently hired a new coach and has been looking to make changes to move up and become more competitive than they have been. I’m looking forward the opportunity, especially because Americans have a pretty big role over there.

The move overseas is one of mixed emotions for Gruis:

It’s definitely been a dream of mine to play after college in some aspect, so I’m definitely excited to go play there. I’m both excited and nervous. I think Sweden will be a good country, but I’m nervous to leave the United States and my family for the first time.”

Gruis hopes that this is just the first stop of a career in professional basketball, a journey he hopes leads him back to the United States some day:

It would be awesome if I got picked up by the D-league or something like that, but I’m not going to hold my breath on that opportunity. I’m going to make the most out of this by playing for a few more years until my body tells me I shouldn’t be playing anymore.

The 6-10 center wrapped up his career with the Coyotes with 102 consecutive starts, 1,340 points, 767 rebounds and 112 blocks.

USD alums Charlie Westbrook and Tyler Cain are currently playing professionally.  Westbrook spent one season in Italy before joining the NBA D-league, while Cain has played in Latvia for the past four seasons.