Hoya File Photo Junior Nok Duany is part of a huge basketball family, with three siblings in Division I basketball.

When the four eldest Duany children were younger, they used to split into pairs and challenge each other to a family competition of basketball. Customarily, Kueth and Nok would face off against their older siblings, Duany and Nyagon, in a mixed-doubles game of two-on-two.

“The best team was Kueth and me,” Nok said, remembering the friendly competitions of her childhood.

But the fact of the matter is, they were all good . very good, and they showed the nation exactly that when all four of them competed in Division I basketball simultaneously during the 1999-2000 season in a feat that might be unprecedented in collegiate basketball history.

That season, Nok was a freshman at Georgetown, and her impact on the program was immediate. A starter in nine games that season, she finished second on the team in rebounding behind Katie Smrcka-Duffy (COL ’01) and third in scoring behind Smrcka-Duffy and Nathalie Bourdereau (COL ’01).

That same season, Nok’s oldest sibling Duany was a part of a Wisconsin team that advanced to the final four of the men’s NCAA tournament for the first time since 1941, when the Badgers won their only national championship. Her older sister Nyagon was a senior forward at Bradley University and elder brother Kueth was a redshirt freshman at Syracuse University. Currently a junior with the Orangemen, Kueth joined his younger sister as the only remaining Duanys still playing Division I basketball.

Not far away from a collegiate career of his own, however, is the youngest of the five Duany children, Bill, a 6-foot-8 junior at Bloomington North High School in Bloomington, Indiana where he is among the nation’s top high school recruits.

Though a successful basketball family, not one of the Duanys takes the successes of his or her opportunities for granted. Born in Sudan, Africa, during the tumultuous years leading up to a civil war that broke out in 1983 and still rages today, Nok and her older siblings are deeply concerned about the political unrest in Sudan even if they can’t remember their earliest years.

There to remind the Duany children of the dire situation in their northern Africa homeland are parents Wal and Julia Duany, both of whom have devoted their lives to restoring peace in Sudan. Wal Duany is the former prime minister of Sudan. According to his wife, he resigned due to religious beliefs.

“The government changed the law to discriminate against [southern Sudanese citizens],” Julia said. “My husband was put in prison for one year and then was placed on house arrest for another year.”

Through the help of an American acquaintance, Wal moved to the United States after being accepted by the University of Indiana. Soon thereafter, the rest of his family was permitted to join him in America because Julia was pregnant with their fifth and youngest child, Bill.

During the initial years following their move to the United States, the political involvement the Duany parents undertook was limited.

“When we first got [to the United States], they didn’t travel as much because we were younger,” Nok said, referring to herself and her siblings. “Now they travel a lot more . My dad is in Kenya encouraging peace [and] my mom travels to churches mostly in the U.S.”

As far as introducing the sport of basketball into their children’s lives, Wal and Julia initially thought of it as nothing more than a way of keeping their children busy.

“Basketball was initially just a way to keep them out of trouble,” Julia said. “From there they developed an interest in basketball.”

But to Wal and Julia, basketball was never anything more than a game, merely a supplement to what they deemed far more important: an education.

“The most important thing [my parents] emphasized was education,” Nok said. “They were not afraid to tell us that we couldn’t play in a game.”

In fact, when Nok’s older brother came home with a C average from Bloomington North High School, his parents forced him to miss a game and concentrate on his studies

“People were shocked,” Nok said of her brother’s punishment. “Ever since that, none of us took [basketball] for granted . We understand that even though we’re on full basketball scholarships, we’re here to get a degree and moreover to do something with it, because there’s always life after basketball.”

This season, Nok hopes to lead the Hoyas into the NCAA for the second time in Georgetown women’s basketball program history after three consecutive seasons that ended with a bid to the WNIT. Duany, who missed the entire season last year due to a torn ACL in preseason, will likely be a starting forward for the Hoyas, according to Head Coach Pat Knapp.

For sure there will be a lot on Duany’s mind as she prepares to lead the Hoyas toward a successful season. She will be playing for herself and her teammates, and especially for a large family rich in tradition and a nation in turmoil.