Terrapin Women Wintering Overseas

As most basketball fans know, the WNBA plays its league schedule during the summer, traditionally the off-season for basketball. What this means for the players, though, is that they are free to also pursue "off-season" careers during the normal basketball season overseas. Five former Terrapin women are playing in some of the top European leagues this winter:

Marissa Coleman (2005-09) -- Famila Wuber Schio of Italy's Lega A1. Profile page (translation). During the summer, Coleman played for the Washington Mystics and made the 2009 WNBA All Rookie Team.

Shay Doron (2003-07) -- Municipal MCM Targoviste of Romania's Division 1. Profile page (translation). Doron once played for the New York Liberty, but now lives year-round overseas.

Laura Harper (2004-08) -- Umana Reyer Venezia of Italy's Lega A1. Roster page. During the summer, Harper played for the Sacramento Monarchs.

Crystal Langhorne (2004-08) -- Rivas Ecopolis of Spain's LFB. Profile page (translation). During the summer, Langhorne played for the Washington Mystics and was named the 2009 WNBA Most Improved Player.

Kristi Toliver (2005-09) -- Raanana Hertzeliya of Israel's Division 1. Profile Page. Here is a long feature article about Toliver and making big shots, playing professionally, and practicing shooting with a tennis ball with the lights out. During the summer, Toliver played for the Chicago Sky.

Bambale Osby Enjoying Life in Israel

Bambale Osby (2006-08), now playing for Ramat Gan in Israel, is enjoying life there, according to a story in the Haaretz newspaper. The story follows Bambale and his teammate, Taj McCullough, as examples of American players exploring the country's nightlife and finding a way to fit in off the court. Excerpts:

Taj McCullough and Bambale Osby of Ironi Ramat Gan - both 23-year-old Americans (Osby by way of The Democratic Republic of the Congo) - like to think of themselves as following the straight and narrow.

"We don't go out at night before a morning practice," says McCullough, adding unconvincingly, "but it has happened a few weekends that we've stayed awake until sunrise, just to see how long we could stay up." [...]

In Osby's view, "Israel is like paradise. There is good food here, comfortable weather, beautiful women and great nightspots. It's like a little America."

Exree Hipp has a Blog

Exree Hipp (1992-96) debuted a new blog in October: Talking Maryland Basketball With Exree Hipp.

Unfortunately, he posted three times in one week and then never updated again. But the posts are about Maryland Madness and Exree's experience playing in the alumni game. Hopefully, he'll come back and post more as the basketball season progresses.

Terrell Stokes: Assistant Coach at UDC

Terrell Stokes (1995-99) is now the Assistant Coach for the University of the District of Columbia, though they haven't gotten around to writing a bio for him on their website. Head Coach Jeff Ruland says that Stokes has been an important part of rebuilding the program at UDC.

Mike Jones in Argentina

Mike Jones (2003-07) has signed in Argentina (translation) with Peñarol Mar del Plata. The local paper says:

Monday morning saw the arrival in Mar del Plata of replacement player Michael Jones, who has the same name as another foreign player who had played for Peñarol at the end of the previous decade.

Mike Jones is a guard, 25 years old, 1.96 meters and 91 kilos, who graduated from the University of Maryland. When he left the United States, he tried his luck in Turkey (Mersin BSB), Cyprus (Apoel BC), and finally in Romania (Ploiesti Asesoft CSU). There, in the Carpathian league, in 37 games, he averaged 19.9 minutes, 13.2 points (59.7% 2-pointers, 37.5% 3-pointers, and 74.4% free throws), 2.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists.

According Peñarol's managers, the player is a "stepping stone" toward the the future.

The team has a website but it hasn't been updated in 2 years, so don't look for any Mike Jones news there.

Full Interview: Parrish Brown on Eurobasket

I tried to post a link to this yesterday, but Eurobasket's news links are being flaky. The link to the full interview works sometimes, but fails most of the time. So, while it was briefly working this morning, I copied the whole thing (and good thing, because as I'm rechecking links before clicking the "publish" button, the link is dead again).

Parrish Brown (185-G, college: Maryland) is a guard from Chicago, Illinois. In 2007 he graduated from the University of Maryland and turned pro. He spent his first season overseas in Germany, playing for BG Suedpark Bochum in the Regionalliga West during 2007-08. While there he appeared in 10 games and scored 26.8 points per contest and was named to the 2007-08 Eurobasket.com All-Regionalliga West First Team. From December 2008 until October 2009 he suited up for Potros ITSON of Mexico. Brown averaged 14.0 points, 3.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 10 games of the 2009-2010 campaign, before he parted ways with the team recently.

You played in Mexico recently. How is the level of competition there compared to Germany?
The competition is the same in that the games are really physical. The refs allow a lot of grabbing, pushing, holding and it's very competitive, no one wants to lose.

You left your team in Mexico in October. What happened?
The coach that brought me on the team ended up being fired, so the new coach that was hired brought in his own players.

When you were in Germany during the 2007-2008 season you dominated the Regionalliga West and scored 26.8 points per game for Bochum. What do you remember the most from your time in Germany?
I liked playing in Germany. I mainly miss the fans. The fans in Germany are very loyal to their teams and show lots of support.

You attended the University of Maryland and played with several great players there. Who was the best teammate that you had?
I had a lot of good teammates at the University of Maryland. I can't really say which one was the best because I shared a different relationship with each teammate. But I still speak with Chris McCray, Dj Strawberry, Ekene Ebekwe, James Gist and Bambale Osby.

How is it like to play for such a famous school like Maryland in huge arenas and then come to Germany and play in front of a couple of hundred fans in a small gym?
I think it's very different but you have a love for the game that it doesn't matter how many people are at the game as long as you can lace up your shoes and go out there and compete.

What is your best memory from your college days?
I have a lot of great memories from college but my best memory is my senior year when we beat North Carolina at home and everybody stormed the court. That was a great feeling to have after beating a great team in North Carolina and all the fans on the court jumping up and down and yelling.

What are you plans after parting ways with the Mexican team?
Well right now I just plan to keep working out lifting weights and working on my game until I can find somewhere else to play.

I don't like copying the whole interview like this, but until Eurobasket fixes their news database issues, this is probably the only way most of you will get to read it.