With the NCAA basketball tournament field of 65 now set, Lithuania-based Basket News is taking pride today in a trio of countrymen participating in the tourney. Representing the yellow, green and red in March Madness will be:
• Deividas Dulkys, Florida State University. The sophomore formerly of Findlay College Prep managed 8.5 points and 2.4 boards per game while shooting with 39.4% success beyond the arc coming off the bench.
Smith loaded -- in the metaphorical sense
Anyone worried about former Tennessee Volunteer forward Tyler Smith’s viability in the upcoming NBA draft and/or his ability to play basketball after dealing with an arrest, court case, and dismissal from his college team within five weeks of early 2010 can put their worries at ease: Smith is back and just as good as ever.
After getting bounced from Tennessee’s hallowed halls, Smith signed a quickie two-month contract with Bornova Belediye, filling in for the injured Kendrick Brown. All he did in his first game for Bornova was go 5-of-5 on two-pointers plus a couple of threes for a team second-high 17 points. Talk about your immediate gratification.
Unfortunately, the outcome was none too gratifying for Smith and Bornova, who were crushed in the Saturday match by Eurocup contender Türk Telecom, 104-79. TT boasted a headline-grabbing American newcomer of its own in freed Los Angeles Clipper Ricky Davis, who managed a line of eight points, six assists and five boards.
This week’s “Best of the (Basketball) Net” is a serious grab bag of articles and clips brought to you by hoops-centric websites aplenty this week. Read on to check out terrible free throws, ridiculous dunks, so-so three-point shooting, and Spanish rockabilly, and have a good Valentine’s Day!
T-Mc: What can we say?
With a scene-shifting week three of Euroleague Top 16 play in the books, BallinEurope’s Francesco Cappelletti defines his surprise, from Montepaschi’s masterful play to Sasha Kaun’s success to the curse of a Panathinaikos title defense, and more. Read on!
Pianigiani’s lesson to Messina
“I think it was a masterpiece from my players. One of the most difficult games since I started coaching. We were tired, consumed, without an important player against a team that could exploit our problems. We’ll enjoy this night to the fullest”: With these words and a smiling face, coach Simone Pianigiani commented on the game between Montepaschi and Real Madrid.
Honestly, he was right; Siena got the expected reaction after a disastrous exhibition in Istanbul, but the win was huge, much more than the fans and staff were waiting for. Even more so because the victory came despite the absence of Ksistof Lavrinovic, a player as key as only Terrell McIntyre is. Real wanted Montepaschi to play a slow game, to defend strongly and to deny the top facets of the Italians’ game: fastbreaks and transition play.
Though Verena Lehner will make women’s basketball history on Friday night as the first European woman ever to suit up for the Yale Elis, she has been barred from competition since 2008 due to what was deemed a violation of NCAA eligibility requirements.
The Austria-born Lehner was discovered to have played under contract for a team in the Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga (a.k.a. the AWBL) during the 2006-07 season, clearly a conflict of statutes that state would-be NCAA players may not have ever been signed to a professional sports contract. Legal representatives managed to successfully appeal to the NCAA based on the argument that Lehner had actually paid out more to the unnamed team than had been compensated her.
Staiger comes home
When the Iowa State University Cyclones fell to the Texas Tech Red Raiders last night, 78-71, the biggest presence may well have been the missing one, namely German guard Lucca Staiger. Staiger had been ISU’s third-high scorer this season at 9.4 points per game to go with a 42.5 percent three-point shooting rate and even put the finishing touches on an ISU win Sunday night, but suddenly left the team on Tuesday to play for Alba Berlin.
“An opportunity to play professionally in my home country has come my way and I’ve decided to pursue it right away,” said Staiger via ISU-issued statement.
Local press, teammates and coach Greg McDermott were stunned by Staiger’s decision, one the player explained by saying “I came to the United States with the hope of playing professional basketball in the NBA. After the past couple of seasons in college, I’ve realized that dream has become less likely…”
McDermott theorized that “A lot of it has to do with the timing and the fact that Lucca didn’t feel comfortable enough to share his feelings with us as coaches or even some of his friends that are his teammates.”
The Alba Berlin front office has yet to officially announce the addition of Staiger to the club or its active roster.
It may not be the highest-profile signing in the basketball offseason thus far, but the move of UNC alum Mike Copeland to Glasgow, Scotland, also came with a choice quote or two from the former Tar Heel.
Copeland was part of the star-studded 2008-09 University of North Carolina team that took the NCAA championship; in fact, Copeland never received much playing time at all in Chapel Hill, ultimately averaging just over one point and about 0.85 rebounds per game.
A California State University press release from this morning is announcing that UC San Bernardino center Brandon Brown has signed a contract with Lithuanian side KK Šiauliai and thus will not be playing his senior year for the CSUSB Coyotes.
Brown transferred from Holmes Community College in Mississippi in 2008 to join the Coyotes with most of its schedule remaining and was nothing short of a major stud for the Division II team. With 200 rebounds in just 24 games, Brown ranks ninth all-time at the university in the category. He notched four games of 30 or more points for the Coyotes (including one 39-point effort), was named California Collegiate Athletic Association player of the week four times, and ultimately received the CCAA’s newcomer of the year award at season’s end.
Brown explained the career choice as necessary because “I had to make some money to support my family.” Coyotes coach Jeff Oliver is reportedly disagreeing with the decision, reckoning that Brown could have used one more year in college: “Physically he was ready to go pro,” opined Oliver, “but mentally he wasn’t.”
South Carolina media is reporting this morning that former Clemson University/Team Norway guard Terrence Oglesby has signed with Serie A club Original Marines Napoli; terms of the contract were not disclosed.
The story of Oglesby’s intention to go pro first captured the minds of Clemson fans (and college basketball fans generally) in late May when the then-sophomore made a surprise announcement that he’d test the waters in Europe rather than continue as a Tiger.
At that time, Oglesby was reportedly set to hear out offers from 15 clubs in Spain, France, Poland and Italy without representation of an agent, though most outlets reported he’d be signing with an agency before officially joining a team. It seems as though Oglesby has signed with the newly-relocated Napoli independently, however.
I love it when a plan comes together. David Hein, he of heinnews.com, FIBAEurope.com and probably 10,000 other outlets, has wrapped coverage of the just-completed FIBA U20 European Championship Men. Having returned home to Germany from the competition in Rhodes, poor David sought ideas (more of them, i mean) for another basketball column to which to set his rapacious urge to sportswrite.
I skyped him: “Since you introduced us to all these fresh new players that are moving into top professional leagues – you know, guys like Georgios Bogris – during the U20s, why don’t you write a roundup of where they’ll be in future?”
And shazam! Hours later, Mr. Hein had produced a swell column entitled, “Where U20s are heading next season.” From Bogris to Vucevic, the list of names you’ll surely be seeing next year is the following.
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