Andre McGee is an American professional basketball player of Phoenix Hagen

Phoenix Hagen

Phoenix Hagen GmbH is a German professional basketball club that is based in Hagen.-History:The club was founded in May 2004 in the wake of the insolvency of former top club Brandt Hagen. Brandt Hagen was forced to cease club operation in the Basketball Bundesliga immediately in December 2003...

. McGee's family has a history of playing college basketball. His father Anthony McGee

Anthony McGee

- Biography :Born 8 July 1954 in Highgate London, McGee is one of six children. Growing up next to the Tate Britain McGee acquired an early interest in art particularly fine paintings. He was educated in Chelsea, although at age 14 he dramatically left school to work in Pinewood Studios...

 played basketball at Long Beach State. His oldest brother, Tony McGee

Tony McGee

Anthony Eugene McGee is a former professional American football player who played fourteen seasons in the National Football League. He played in two Super Bowls for the Washington Redskins...

, played at Eastern Washington University

Eastern Washington University

Eastern Washington University is an American public, coeducational university located in Cheney, Washington.Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided into four colleges: Arts and Letters; Business and Public Administration; Science, Health and Engineering; and Social & Behavioral...

 and older brother Antoine McGee played at the University of Colorado

Colorado Buffaloes

The University of Colorado Boulder sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's team are called the Buffaloes or Golden Buffaloes . "Lady Buffs" referred to the women's teams beginning in the 1970s, but was officially dropped in 1993...

.

High school career

He averaged 22.3 points, 4.2 assists and 3.7 steals per game as a senior at Canyon Springs High School

Canyon Springs High School

Canyon Springs High School is a public high school located in Moreno Valley, California. Founded in 1987, it is part of the Moreno Valley Unified School District....

 in Moreno Valley, California

Moreno Valley, California

Moreno Valley is a city located in Riverside County, California.A relatively young city, its rapid growth in the 1980s and the first decade of the 21st century made it second-largest city in Riverside County by population, and one of the Inland Empire's population centers. As of the 2010 census,...

.

College career

McGee was the starting point guard

Point guard

Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...

 for the 2008-09 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team. He says he chose Louisville because "Louisville is the best college sports town in the country, hands down, and Coach Pitino is the best coach in college. I would have been dumb to go anywhere else."

Health Concerns

Over the course of his High School and Collegiate careers McGee has suffered many, sometimes severe, symptoms of what was identified in college as Sickle cell trait

Sickle cell trait

Sickle cell trait describes a condition in which a person has one abnormal allele of the hemoglobin beta gene , but does not display the severe symptoms of sickle cell disease that occur in a person who has two copies of that allele...

. He currently takes IVs in the locker room before every game, and a trainer is available with oxygen on the bench at all times to combat the athletically induced symptoms.