Dikembe Mutombo's nephew Harouna Mutombo played college basketball for the Western Carolina Catamounts from 2007-12.
As a part of Bridge the Gap TV, Bashinelli has interviewed figures including Paleontologist Richard Leakey, former NBA player and Humanitarian Dikembe Mutombo, and the Founders of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.
He added Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith, Dikembe Mutombo, Craig Ehlo, Grant Long, Christian Laettner and the team went on a six year run of averaging 50 plus wins per season.
The team decided to rebuild again following that season, resulting in trading away Steve Smith for JR Rider and Dikembe Mutombo for Theo Ratliff, Nzar Mohammed, Toni Kukoc and Pepe Sanchez.