Maryland Basketball: Where Are They Now?

Jordan Williams Back With the Nets

2012-02-02T00:06:00.000-05:00

Jordan Williams (2009-11) is back in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets after his two week stint in the NBA D-League with the Springfield Armor. From InsideHoops:

The New Jersey Nets have recalled rookie forward Jordan Williams from the Springfield Armor, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today.

Williams appeared in six games with the Armor, all starts, and averaged 10.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 32 minutes. He shot .451 (23-51) from the field and .531 (17-32) from the line. He tallied three double-doubles.

In his first game back with the team, Jordan scored 9 points and 8 rebounds in a win over the Pistons for Team Williams... err.. the Nets, who dressed only 8 players for the game due to injuries and illnesses. Four players named Williams combined for 55 of New Jersey's 99 points.

John Gilchrist Joins Kosovo's Sigal Prishtina

2012-01-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

John Gilchrist (2002-05) is now playing for Sigal Prishtina in Kosovo's Superleague. From the Eurobasket website:

Gerald Inman (208-F-87, college: Rutgers) and John Gilchrist (187-G-84, college: Maryland) are two players that will strengthen champions until the end of the season. They have arrived in Kosovo capital, Prishtina, and they have begun to train with the team.[...]

John Gilchrist is a guard and during his career had played in different continents also. Except Norfolk (USA), which was his last team he played also for Banjska Bystrica (Slovakia), 36ers (Australia), Ironi Nahariya (Israel), Texas (USA) and Ventspils (Latvia). Gilchrist is a 187cm guard and 27 years old.

Gilchrist even posted a photo of his first game's stats on Facebook: 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 assists in 31 minutes, though the team lost on the road.

John Gilchrist had also briefly played in Slovakia last fall, but that stint was over before I knew about it, so I passed on posting about it. Gilchrist wrote a blog post about his short, frustrating experience there that says a lot about what life is like as an American playing for small market European teams.

Jordan Williams Assigned to Nets' D-League Affiliate

2012-01-18T18:46:00.000-05:00

The New Jersey Nets have assigned Jordan Williams (2009-11) to their NBA D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor. The New York Post says this should help Williams' development:

After forward Jordan Williams has barely gotten off the bench early in his rookie season, the Nets have decided to send him to their NBA Development League affiliate, the Springfield Armor.

The move makes perfect sense. Williams, 21, has played a total of 37 minutes over six games in the early going for the Nets, and after leaving Maryland after his sophomore season, will get a chance to play – and play a lot – for the Armor. And, because of the Nets' partnership with the Armor, Williams won't just be getting to play a lot for the Armor. He'll both be playing a lot and running the Nets' sets on offense and defense, as the Armor are using the same systems as their parent club.

New Jersey news site NJ.com says that the move was prompted by other roster needs to replace injured players, but Williams' season wasn't going well, hampered by a lack of practice time after he missed training camp and the first five games of the season:

Williams, 21, was a second round pick out of Maryland in the June draft, but he showed up overweight and out of shape when training camp began Dec. 9. The 6-9 power forward did lose weight and played his way back into shape and got into six games for the Nets, averaging 1.0 points and 1.5 rebounds. He scored his first points (four) in a loss to Boston Jan. 4, and played a career high 10 minutes in the next game, Jan. 6 in Toronto, but playing time was scarce for him otherwise. And with the Nets unable to practice much (they have practiced just twice since the season started) sending him down to Springfield of the D-League offers him a chance to practice and play some games.

Braxton Dupree Now Playing in Canada

2012-01-12T18:03:00.000-05:00

Braxton Dupree (2007-09, then transferred to Towson) is now playing in Ontario, Canada for the London Lightning. The Canadian National Basketball League (NBL) is in its founding season, taking three former Premier Basketball League (PBL) teams which were in Canada and adding four new expansion teams to go with them.

So far in three games (all wins), Dupree is averaging 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds (2.7 offensive, 1.0 defensive). The team is 16-4 and in first place in the 7 team league. The team's press release has this to say about Dupree's signing:

The first place London Lightning are pleased to announce the addition of Braxton Dupree to their NBL Canada roster, effective immediately. Dupree is a 6'8" forward from Towson University, who adds a dimension of rebounding and defense to the Lightning.

Lightning General Manager, Taylor Brown, had this to say about the acquisition. “We were lucky to get Braxton as he was coveted by many other teams after coming from Israel. Hopefully he fits in with our team this late in the season.”

As mentioned, Dupree played Division I NCAA basketball during his collegiate career. Most recently, he was playing in Israel first for Maccabi Ashdod and then was loaned to Ironi Nes-Ziona.

Nik Caner-Medley in the Eurocup Top 16

2012-01-05T18:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we talked about the Terps in the 2012 Euroleague tournament. But there's another tournament going on in Europe too, the Eurocup. It's sort of the NIT to the Euroleague's NCAA Tournament, but with the added twist that the Eurocup champion gets an automatic qualification for next year's Euroleague, so there's really something for these smaller, second tier teams to play for.

This year, one Terp has made it into the Eurocup's Top 16 round: Nik Caner-Medley (2002-06) and Valencia Basket of Valencia, Spain. In the first round, Valencia tied for first place in group D with a 4-2 record (but lost the point differential tiebreaker), and Caner-Medley scored 17 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in four starts and was the tournament's Week 3 MVP:

One of the road winners was Valencia Basket as forward Nik Caner-Medley led the performance of the team at Lukoil Academic for the win and an index rating performance of 29, that earned him the weekly MVP honors among those players in winning teams. Caner-Medley scored 27 points including 8 of 10 two-pointers and 3 of 5 threes, pulled 4 boards, had 2 steals and 1 block.

The opening round of the tournament also featured DJ Strawberry (2003-07) and Hapoel Jerusalem, but they went 2-4 in group A and failed to advance. Strawberry started 5 games and averaged 14 points per game.

Three Terps in the Euroleague Top 16

2012-01-04T18:17:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again: time to start paying attention to the Euroleague, Europe's annual tournament featuring the best pro teams from across the continent. Every year, there are a few Terps playing for the championship, and this year is no different. The Top 16 draw for 2012 has been announced, and Terps fans will want to pay close attention to Group G, where all three Terps in the tournament find themselves playing against each other.

First, Drew Nicholas (1999-2003) and his team, EA7 Emporio Armani from Milan, Italy. Nicholas is averaging 7.8 points per game while starting for his team in 8 of the first 10 games in the opening round of the tournament.

Next, Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98) and his team, Panathinaikos from Athens, Greece. Sarunas averaged 6 points in 9 opening round games for the Greens. (Regular readers of this blog will note that this was Drew Nicholas's team too for the past several years before he left as a free agent over the summer.)

Finally, James Gist (2004-08) and his team, Fenerbahce Ulker from Istanbul, Turkey. Gist started all 10 of Fenerbahce's opening round games, averaging 9.1 points and 5.1 rebounds. (Regular readers of this blog will also note that this was Jasikevicius's team last season, taking a one year free agent break from his long-time home on the Panathinaikos roster.)

The Euroleague site has some first impression analysis about the teams in Group G. Fenerbahce Ulker (Gist) is the top seed in the group, getting there with a 6-4 record in a tough opening round group A. Now their starting point guard will be sidelined for at least two games with a broken finger. Panathinaikos (Jasikevicius) and the fourth team in the group, Unics Kazan of Russia, actually had better records, going 7-3 each to place 2nd in group B and 3rd in group D, respectively. EA7 Emporio Armani (Nicholas) reached the Top 16 by going 4-6 and winning a point differential tie-breaker for 4th place in group C. Armani also faces an uphill battle with their leading scorer out for at least 4 weeks after undergoing Achilles tendon surgery.

As always, I'll try to provide progress reports for the teams as the next rounds of the tournament progress. Good luck to all three Terps, even though we know only two of them at most can move on to the quarterfinals.

Ernest Graham and Johnny Rhodes to be Honored at Comcast Center

2011-12-30T18:07:00.000-05:00

We already heard back in November that former Terp Ernest Graham (1978-81) would have his name and number honored in the Comcast Center rafters this January. Today, the Baltimore Sun reports that Johnny Rhodes (1992-96) will be honored as well:

The school has not made an announcement about Rhodes or Graham (Dunbar) — apparently because it is still finalizing its plans. Both players said they had received word directly from the athletic department. Other Maryland insiders had heard the news as well.

"It's indescribable, really," said Rhodes, who played for Gary Williams and set Maryland's single-season record for steals in 1996. "I'm just definitely thrilled and honored to be part of the guys who are up there and have had these great careers."

While no official announcement has been made, Graham's ceremony is expected to be the January 15th home game against Georgia Tech, while Rhodes's banner will be unveiled at the February 21st home game against Miami.

Greivis Vasquez Traded to New Orleans

2011-12-24T23:24:00.000-05:00

On Christmas Eve, the day before the NBA regular season begins, the Memphis Grizzlies traded Greivis Vasquez (2006-10) to the New Orleans Hornets. The short announcement on ESPN.com:

The Memphis Grizzlies have swapped guard Greivis Vasquez to the New Orleans Hornets for guard/forward Quincy Pondexter in a move designed to boost their depth with Darrell Arthur out for the season. [...]

Vasquez played in 70 games and averaged 3.6 points and 2.2 assists as a rookie with Memphis last season.

The Hornets' official blog, the Big Eazy Buzz, says that Vasquez will provide needed depth at the PG position, and should be second on the depth chart behind Jarrett Jack:

With only one point guard on the roster who has extensive NBA regular season experience, the New Orleans Hornets added to their depth at the position, obtaining Greivis Vasquez from Memphis on Christmas Eve. The Hornets dealt 2010 first-round pick Quincy Pondexter to the Grizzlies in the two-player trade.

The New Orleans Times Picayune has comments from Hornets GM Dell Demps:

"We feel this is a trade that benefits both teams," Demps said in a statement. "We will miss Quincy, and we thank him for his efforts, professionalism and work ethic. We are excited to add Greivis Vasquez to our team, organization and community. Greivis is an exciting big guard that plays with a passion that we hope will thrill our fans at the Hive."

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T18:10:00.000-05:00

The university puts one of these videos out every year. Visit the Official 2011 Holiday Greeting page for the big version of the 2011 video. While the 2011 one is nice, nothing tops the 2009 holiday video in my mind. For the past two years, I have managed to convince my kids that "Let Your Inner Turtle Glow" is a legitimate, traditional Christmas carol.

Dave Neal Coaching at Bishop O'Connell HS

2011-12-16T18:31:00.000-05:00

Dave Neal (2005-09) is coaching high school basketball this season, starting his journey up the coaching ranks at his alma mater, Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia, as an assistant varsity boy's basketball coach under Joe Wootten.

Steve Blake Looks to Bounce Back with Lakers

2011-12-15T17:51:00.000-05:00

After a lackluster season with the Lakers last year, Steve Blake (1999-2003) is looking to bounce back this season (LakerNation.com):

Blake was brought in last season to give the Lakers quality depth in the backcourt and there were even early rumblings that he would supplant Derek Fisher as the starter at some point last season. That obviously did not happen, as Fisher remained the starter and Blake seemingly saw his role decrease as the season went along. With a new coaching staff in place, Blake says that he is ready to play any role necessary to help the team win.

Blake told the LA Times that he's indifferent about being the starter, he just wants to win the NBA championship (follow the link to see the video):

Both Blake and Derek Fisher are coming off sub-par seasons, but who starts at point guard reveals to what degree [coach Mike] Brown still values Fisher's experience and locker-room clout.

"I'm going to try to be the best player I can be," said Blake, who's added some strength and has added some arc to his shot after averaging a career-low four points per game on 35.9% shooting. "I'm not going out there to try to win a starting job or anything like that. Everyone on this team is my teammate. I'm not here to try to show them up or beat them. I just want our team to be better. Whether it's coming off the bench, fine. Starting, great. It's all about us winning a championship this year."

Nets Sign Jordan Williams

2011-12-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

Jordan Williams (2009-11), a second round draft pick by the New Jersey Nets, signed a deal with the team over the weekend. While the Nets haven't released the details, the Waterbury, Connecticut, Republican-American reports that it is a two-year, guaranteed contract:

Late Friday afternoon, Williams and the Nets came to an agreement on a two-year, guaranteed contract, wrapping up a whirlwind two weeks for the 6-10, 260-pound forward. [...]

His two-year deal was hammered out by his agent, Andy Miller. Details were not released, but the website Netsdaily.com reported it was for just under $500,000. [...]

For Jordan Williams and his family, the signing ended one journey and launched another.

"When one of your kids reaches his or her goal," Leron Williams said Friday night, "it's hard to put it into words. He started this journey when he was 3 years old, but for him this is just the beginning. He wants to have a long and successful career."

Chris Wilcox Signs with the Boston Celtics

2011-12-13T17:53:00.000-05:00

Chris Wilcox (2000-02) currently holds an unwanted place in the NBA record books: among active players, he is the longest tenured without ever making the playoffs. That should change this season. Wilcox, a free agent after playing last season in Detroit, has signed a one year deal with the Boston Celtics using Boston's mid-level exception (Boston.com):

Wilcox was present as the Celtics conducted their first practice of training camp this evening. He appeared in 57 games for the Detroit Pistons last season averaging 7.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game. Wilcox also shot a team-high 58.1 percent from the field. He brings size and rebounding ability to a front court that is probably Boston's biggest weakness.

ESPNBoston.com says this was a winning move for Wilcox:

When his agent called with the list of initial suitors, Chris Wilcox didn't even have to think about the decision. After nine seasons of losing, all he wanted was an opportunity to taste the postseason. Pretty much the moment he heard the word Boston, he was a member of the Celtics.

Comcast SportsNet New England says Wilcox is happy to be there, and the Celtics are happy to have him:

Ray Allen, who played one season (2006-2007) with Wilcox in Seattle, is happy to see the 29-year-old in a Celtics uniform.

"A lot of people don't know him," Allen said. "Just the fact that he was on the West coast most of his career and playing in Detroit where he didn't play a whole lot. A lot of people don't really know him, haven't had an idea of seeing him when he gets on the floor and seeing his athletic ability... it makes the team more exciting."

Jordan Williams Home from Europe Already

2011-11-30T18:10:00.000-05:00

Never mind about Jordan Williams (2009-11) playing in Poland. With the NBA Lockout over, Williams has returned from Europe without playing a game and will now prepare for training camp with the New Jersey Nets, who drafted him in the second round of last spring's NBA draft.

Former Terp Women Overseas

2011-11-25T18:25:00.000-05:00

A quick wrap-up of all the former Terrapin Women's basketball players playing currently playing overseas this season:

Laura Harper (2004-08) is in Turkey playing for Homend Antakya Belediyes.

Shay Doron (2003-07) is in Israel playing for Elitzur Ramla again this season.

Crystal Langhorne (2004-08) played briefly for Perfumerias Avenida Salamanca in Spain this fall, but has now returned to the US. Langhorne played for the Washington Mystics in the WNBA last summer, averaging 18.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Diandra Tchatchouang (2010-11), who played for the Terps as a freshman last season, has moved back home to France and signed with Lattes montpellier Agglomeration Basket of the French LFB league. She is currently injured but should return in December. Before the season began, the Women's Basketball in France website ran a profile story about Tchatchouang's career so far, including junior club teams in France and international competition.

Demauria "Dee" Liles (2008-09) played only one season as a Terp as a JuCo transfer, and is now playing for Club Atletico Faenza in Italy's Women's A1 League.

Not currently playing overseas, Marissa Coleman (2005-09) played for the Washington Mystics this summer, averaging 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and Kristi Toliver (2005-09) played for the Los Angeles Sparks, averaging 11.2 points and 2.9 assists per game.

Jordan Williams Will Play in Poland with Zastal

2011-11-23T18:14:00.000-05:00

Jordan Williams (2009-11), locked out from playing his rookie season with the New Jersey Nets, is headed to Europe to play for Zastal Zielona Gora of the Polish PLK league (the top league in that country). Zastal is currently in second place in the league at 7-2. The news was broken on Twitter by Williams's agent, then confirmed over the weekend by Jordan Williams (@Jwilliams20) himself.

While it seems that the deal may not be finalized (translation) until Williams arrives in Poland, the team's coach is already talking about Williams (translation) like he's on the team. The team expects him to be there in time to watch their next game on Saturday, and play in his first game next Wednesday. Excerpts from the two stories:

"We are close to the formal settlement of all issues on Jordan Williams. You could say that we are on the final straight. We will also organize as soon as possible Jordan's arrival in Poland. This will happen probably at the end of this week. Therefore, I have to deny information about Williams' involvement in Saturday's match in Kolobrzeg. Jordan's debut in our uniform will probably come in the home game against Sopot, which will be held November 30," said team president Raphael Czarkowski.

----

As previously reported, Zastal strengthens its composition. Jordan Williams reaches Poland on Saturday and is to join the team, who await a duel with Kolobrzeg.

Coach Tomasz Jankowski says it is no secret that he hopes for a good game and the young American creates a significant strengthening of our team. According to the coach, Williams has good height and weight, and also has quite a repertoire of moves, can shoot with power, and is strong mentally. At the beginning of his adventure with Zielona, Jordan will fight for a place in the starting five. Tomasz Jankowski also wants to help the player's acclimatization, so if possible, Jordan Williams, shortly after landing in Berlin, will set off to Kolobrzeg, where he will watch his new team's next game.

Travis Garrison Playing for Kavala BC in Greece

2011-11-21T18:22:00.000-05:00

Travis Garrison is playing this season for Kavala BC in Greece's top league. While I can't find a news story or press release from the team about it, he's on the roster on FIBA's website and the Greek basketball site ΕΣΑΚΕ. And, for one last piece of evidence, Garrison himself tweeted (@Garrisonhoops) last week, "In Kavala, was in Athens but changed teams." (He started the season and played very briefly with Marousi BC of Athens.)

Greivis Vasquez and the Under Armour Team Videos

2011-11-19T18:06:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, I posted about Grievis Vasquez (2006-10) joining with fellow Under Armour sponsored, locked-out NBA players, including Kemba Walker and Brandon Jennings, to play exhibition games against teams in Baltimore and New York. In game 1 on November 7, Under Armour defeated Baltimore's St. Frances Academy 88-85.

The Basketball Diary (@TheBballDiary on Twitter) has posted video from two of the Under Armour games from New York City:

Game 2, November 10, Under Armour vs. Boys and Girls High School Alumni (ESPN Story about the game, which UA won 100-91.)
Game 3, November 11, Under Armour vs. Lincoln High School Alumni (ESPN Story about the game, which featured Sebastian Telfair and Lance Stephenson playing for Lincoln, who defeated UA 101-83.)

Keith Booth Joins Loyola Women's Basketball Coaching Staff

2011-11-17T18:18:00.000-05:00

Former Maryland player and assistant coach Keith Booth (1993-97) has a new job this season. Booth has joined the coaching staff for the Loyola Greyhounds Women's Basketball team. From the team's press release:

Former University of Maryland All-American and NBA World Champion Keith Booth has been named an assistant women's basketball coach, Greyhounds Head Coach Joe Logan announced today.

"We are ecstatic to have Keith Booth join our Loyola women's basketball program and excited that he is able to return home to Baltimore to continue his coaching career," said Logan.

Booth, a Baltimore native, spent the last seven seasons as an assistant coach with the men's basketball team at the University of Maryland under Head Coach Gary Williams.

Last Friday, Booth made his first return trip to the Comcast Center, as Loyola lost to the Terps in their season opener.

Ernie Graham's Number to be Honored in Comcast Rafters

2011-11-16T18:56:00.000-05:00

Former Terrapin Ernie Graham (1977-81), who played for Lefty Driesell, was among the greatest Terps on the basketball court (he still holds the Maryland single-game scoring record of 44 points against NC State in 1978), but his name and number never hung from the rafters in Cole Field House or the Comcast Center because of his off-the-court problems. But new athletic director Kevin Anderson has been set on changing that, and Graham's banner will be raised on January 11th at the Maryland-Wake Forest game. From PressBox:

Graham's No. 25 jersey will be raised Jan. 11, when Maryland plays Wake Forest. The honor is way past due. Graham not only still holds the single-game scoring record at Maryland with 44 points in 1978 against N.C. State, but he was also one of the Terps' most complete players ever. He's the 12th leading all-time scorer and was a strong rebounder, outstanding passer and solid defender.

Yet, as the years rolled by, Graham was shut out, boxed out by an athletic administration that was well aware of some of the mistakes he had made off the court, and apparently unaware of everything he had done since then to turn his life around.

Click the link and read the whole story. It's a great story of how Graham ruined his NBA career with drugs, turned his life around, and now helps keep kids off drugs and out of trouble through the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.

Marissa Coleman and Crystal Langhorne Share Their Workout Routine

2011-11-15T18:19:00.000-05:00

In an ESPN High School Sports blog story, former Terps from the 2006 women's national championship team (and current Washington Mystics players) Marissa Coleman (2005-09) and Crystal Langhorne (2004-08) share their workout routines in video form and and talk about how they got where they are today through practice, practice, and more work after practice. The videos (and accompanying text and pictures) show their nine part workout to strengthen muscles and improve game reflexes.

Parrish Brown Signs with Mazeikiai in Lithuania

2011-11-11T17:44:00.000-05:00

Parrish Brown (2005-07) has signed with Mažeikių (Mazeikiai) of Lithuania's NKL (their second division basketball league) for the season. The team's press release has a long story about Brown: his childhood playing days, his pro career, his tattoos, his favorite foods, the challenges of communicating to loved ones back home, thoughts on the NBA lockout, etc. Unfortunately, something about their website blocks Google auto-translation, but you can still cut-and-paste the text into the translator if you want to know what the whole thing says. Some edited excerpts:

This year, joining Mazeikiai is 25-year-old, 185 cm tall American Parrish Brown.

His basketball career is no different from many Americans; he played the game in college representing the University of Maryland. American students' interest in basketball great - he played in arenas with seating for twelve thousand spectators. Some games were against famous universities such as Duke or North Carolina, in front of full arenas. Many of his teammates went on to play in the National Basketball League (NBA).

After university basketball, he did not achieve the NBA basketball dream, so he decided to try teams based in Europe. "My first season, I joined Bochum (in Germany); the club finished the season in fourth place. I went back home again after the German season to try to make the NBA Developmental League but didn't succeed, so I played two years in Mexico. I fared quite well, and hoped for a contract for a third year, but was denied. I was invited to play in Uruguay instead. At the end of the season in this country, my agent offered to send me to Lithuania, so I found myself in Mazeikiai "- said the basketball player.

According to Brown, in the beginning it is difficult to play in any foreign country, and it always requires a little adjusting. It is difficult in different countries because, although the rules of basketball are the same, they are officiated differently, so the calls are sometimes confusing."I liked the German fans the most; they came to the hall with drums, making a huge amount of noise when you start the game. Meanwhile, in Mexico, where soccer is king, basketball fans were not like that. Although my teammates said that Mazeikiai fans give noisy support, during my first game I haven't seen that yet," laughed the athlete.

Greivis Vasquez and the Under Armour All-Stars

2011-11-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

Still waiting for the NBA lockout to end, Greivis Vasquez (2006-10) is playing on an all-star team sponsored by Under Armour, touring and playing exhibitions against top high schools. On Monday, Vasquez's team, which also includes UA-affiliated NBA players Kemba Walker and Brandon Jennings, defeated Baltimore's St. Frances Academy, and next they will head to New York to play schools there. From the Baltimore Sun's story:

But as much fun as Vasquez seemed to have, tossing no look passes and hamming it up with fans after he knocked down a long jumper, it's clear he'd rather be out on an NBA court.

"It's hard, man," Vasquez said when asked about the lockout before the game. "This is something to just get our mind off of what's going on. We're just trying to play. We want a fair deal, and we want to be out there playing." [...]

"I don't know what's going to happen," Vasquez said. "I could play back home [in Venezuela], but I want to play in the NBA. You want to play in the best league."

Cliff Tucker's First Reception

2011-10-26T17:45:00.000-04:00

You might recall that after graduating from Maryland last spring, Cliff Tucker (2007-11) took his talents back to his hometown of El Paso, TX to join the UTEP football team as a wide receiver. After seeing no action through the first six games of the season, Tucker caught a 10 yard pass (and picked up a first down) for his first career reception in the 3rd quarter last Saturday in UTEP's 31-17 win over Colorado State.

Jamar Smith in Japan

2011-10-19T16:36:00.000-04:00

Jamar Smith (2002-04) will play the upcoming season for the Hitachi Sunrockers of Japan's JBL league. The team briefly announced his signing (translation), and his roster profile (translation) simply has this to say:

Utilizing the speed and weapons to play with big man to contribute to the team in rebounding and defense.

"We look forward to and start a new season with Hitachi. To win the championship, I would like to play hard. Thank you."

This is Smith's second time playing in Japan. Back in 2007-08, he played for the Toshiba Brave Thunder. He played in France last season and in Italy the two seasons prior to that.

John Gilchrist Playing Again in Slovakia

2011-10-14T11:43:00.000-04:00

John Gilchrist (2002-05) hasn't played since tearing his ACL back in January 2010. But he's been working hard on his rehab ever since then, and he's finally back playing professionally this season. Gilchrist is now in Slovakia playing for SKP Banska Bystrica. The team doesn't have much of a press release about Gilchrist joining the team (just a mention in a news item about signing three overseas players which I can't link directly to, other than sending you to the team's homepage above), so I'll let John tell you about it himself, from his Facebook page:

To inform all that want to know. I'm currently at Banska Bystrica in Slovakia at the moment. I arrived yesterday & I'll be here training until the end of the season or if I'm doing well enough & get an offered from a bigger club. It's all about stepping stones in this business. I thank God for this opportunity.

During his rehab, Gilchrist developed one of the best on-line presences of any player I follow. He's active on Twitter (@jgovereasy), he has a Facebook page (John Gilchrist Hoops), he has a website, he posts lots of YouTube videos of his training, and he debuted a new blog last month. So go follow, like, bookmark, etc.!

We're Gettin' the Band Back Together

2011-10-10T12:53:00.000-04:00

It was ten seasons ago that the Maryland Terrapins men's basketball team won the National Championship. To celebrate the anniversary, this Friday at Maryland Madness, members of the 2002 team are getting back together for the annual alumni game. Four starters, Chris Wilcox, Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, and Byron Mouton, will be back for the game, along with older and newer alumni. At last! Something positive has come out of the NBA lockout!

Key players missing the game from the 2002 team will be starter Lonny Baxter, who is playing in the Ukraine, and key reserve Drew Nicholas, who is playing in Italy.

Vasquez Turns Down Contract in Israel, Stays Home to Help Community in Venezuela

2011-10-05T23:21:00.000-04:00

If you follow the news on American players heading to Europe to play basketball during the NBA lockout, you may have seen conflicting reports in the past few days about former Terp and current Memphis Grizzlies player Greivis Vasquez (2006-10). Two teams from Israel were vying for his services, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem. In fact, Hapoel Jerusalem, where DJ Strawberry will be playing this season, believed it had reached a financial agreement through Vasquez's agent. Slight problem: the guy "representing" Grevis was a friend of his, not his actual agent. Vasquez was contacted by Eurobasket.com to get the whole story set straight:

'I recently finished playing intense basketball for a few good months with the Venezuelan national team and was looking to do something other than basketball. I gave Israel a huge thought and talked to people who spoke highly of the place, however, the situation in my country isn't easy and once the opportunity of giving back to the community and working with kids during the NBA lockout came up, I couldnt say no.'

The 24-year-old Terrapins' second all-time leading scorer is undoubtedly recognized as Venezuela's biggest, most hyped athlete, knowing that along with glory and fame come great resposibilitis. 'I've decided not to play basketball abroad during the lockout so that I could run a social community basketball project. It has nothing to do with politics despite being sponsored by the private companies and the government. It's not a done deal yet, but the details of this new journey include going on tour to every city in Venezuela holding a basketball clinic for kids,' said Vasquez.

One of Vasquez's projects during the lockout is blogging for ESPNdeportes. In his first blog entry, he describes the work he's undertaking (translation) in his home country, putting on youth basketball clinics around Venezuela and raising support for better sports facilities for the nation. A public/private partnership is paying for the campaign.

Sarunas Jasikevicius Returns to Panathinaikos

2011-09-27T21:47:00.000-04:00

From 2007 to 2010, Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98) played for Panathinaikos Athens, winning the Euroleague title with them in 2009. Following the 2009-10 season, the team declined to re-sign Sarunas, so he headed to his home country of Lithuania to play for Lietuvos Rytas, then moved mid-season to Turkey's Fenerbahce Ulker.

Now, Jasikevicius returns to Panathinaikos (translation) with a one year deal rumored to be worth 250,000 euros. Quotes from Sarunas (translation):

"[...] Sometimes life plays strange games - here I am, after a year break, coming back to Panathinaikos. I am happy being here," said Jasikevicius.

"Let me start from scratch. My teammates have already started to prepare for the season together. I need time to remember the Panathinaikos game patterns and learn new ones. I want to be in good athletic shape and ready to help. [...]" said the point guard.

Greivis Vasquez Hopes Venezuela National Team Experience Translates to NBA Success

2011-08-31T18:39:00.006-04:00

There's a story about Greivis Vasquez (2006-10) in USA Today about how he hopes his experience with the Venezuelan national team at this month's FIBA Americas tournament (currently being held in Argentina) will translate into success with the Memphis Grizzlies once the NBA is back in business. Excerpt:

Vasquez is a starter for Venezuela entering the 10-team, pre-Olympic FIBA Americas tournament in Mar del Plata, Argentina, running today through Sept. 11 (gold medal game on ESPN2). The top two teams get automatic bids for London 2012.

"It's high-level basketball. It's going to be good competition," Vasquez, the lone NBA player on Venezuela's roster, said from Argentina. "I'm going to play major minutes. … It'll carry this momentum going into my second year in the NBA. I will have more experience, and that will help me a lot."

So far, Venezuela has lost two close games to Brazil and the Dominican Republic in pool play, but they're not out of the competition yet. Games against Cuba and Canada are still on the schedule this week, and in order to move on to the next round, they simply need to avoid finishing in last place in their five team group.

Gist's Drug Test Penalty from FIBA Announced: 3 Month Suspension

2011-08-30T18:10:00.011-04:00

Earlier this summer, shortly after the news of James Gist (2004-08) signing to play for Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahçe Ulker, FIBA announced that Gist had failed a drug test, testing positive for marijuana. After re-testing his samples and hearing Gist's apologetic appeal, FIBA has announced Gist's penalty: a 3 month suspension (translation), which is essentially a slap on the wrist because the suspension is retroactive to the date of the drug test, so it basically amounts to "time served". Gist will be eligible to play for Fenerbahçe on September 9, 2011, well before their season begins in mid-October.

DJ Strawberry Signs with Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem

2011-08-29T18:48:00.006-04:00

DJ Strawberry (2003-07) has signed to play this season (translation) with Israel's Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem. In addition to the Israeli Premier League, Hapoel is also slated to play in the international Eurocup tournament this season. The team's press release says:

After negotiations, Hapoel Jerusalem announces the signing of American point guard DJ Strawberry (26 years old, 1.96m) for
two years.

Coach Oded Katash said, "DJ is a hungry, young player who wants to play here in Jerusalem. He is a quick and athletic player that will add to an excellent team. He is a physical player and one of the significant features of his game is strong defense."

Strawberry, a graduate of the University of Maryland, started with the NBA Development League last season and then moved to Veritas Vilnius, where he played in the Euroleague, averaging 6.6 points and 2.8 assists in less than 17 minutes per game. In 2007, he was drafted by Phoenix with the 59th pick, and his resume also has a short stay in Italy. Strawberry finished with 2.2 points and one assist in eight minutes per game for the Suns. In total he played 33 games in NBA.

According to this interview with Strawberry from Eurobasket, the two year deal is a one month try-out, probably followed by a one year contract with an option for a second year. Go read the interview; here's an excerpt:

"Last year I had to play the unfamiliar point guard position for the first time in my career. It was an interesting experience but this season I'm looking forward to getting back into the mix of playing the combo-guard spot I'm used to."

Now, after signing a potential 1+1 year deal with Israeli Hapoel Jerusalem, Strawberry has the month of September to raise some eyebrows in the Holy Land and prove his doubters wrong, starting with the team's coaching staff. "The one month try-out doesn't really matter to me," Strawberry exclusively told Eurobasket, "I know what I'm capable of doing on the court, so, as long as I play my game, perform the way I know I can and prove my doubters wrong, I'll be fine and the contract terms don't concern me."

Lonny Baxter Re-signs with Russia's Enisey

2011-08-24T19:19:00.001-04:00

Lonny Baxter (1998-2002) has been officially re-signed for another season by his team in Russia, Enisey Krasnoyarsk:

Enisey keep Lonny Baxter for the upcoming season. The American Center remains with the team for another year.

In 2010 Enisey bolstered their frontcourt. They added Lonny Baxter to the roster. The 32-year-old center played for Besiktas two years ago. Lonny Baxter tallied 11.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per EuroCup game. In PBL his stats read 17.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists. Lonny Baxter used to play in Montepaschi Siena, Joventut, Panionios, the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls.

Baxter's stats in the Russian Premier League (PBL) last season were good enough for #4 in the league in scoring and #3 in rebounds.

Haukur Palsson Signs with Spain's Manresa

2011-08-21T22:50:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, Haukur Palsson (2010-11) surprised a lot of people by deciding to leave the Terps for a pro career in Europe. It didn't take long for him to find a team. Basquet Manresa of Spain's ACB league announced that they have signed Palsson (translation) for the upcoming season. The team's press release said this:

Manresa's 2011/12 season will launch with 11 players. The latest to arrive is Haukur Palsson, a forward of 198 cm and 19 years, born in Reykjavik, Iceland, from the American University of Maryland.

His first academic year ended with averages of 2.8 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, but should be noted that he also played for his country in the last Under-20 Division B tournament held in Bosnia. The new Manresa player ended the tournament with 22.7 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.

"He's a young player, with concern for the future, a physical fitness and athletic ideal because the team can work and have more resources, and facing difficult times of contingencies such as injury or other game players, thanks to physical ability, can help us in more than one position," coach James Ponsarnau said.

Haukur Palsson played in Under-16, Under-18, and Under-20 international competitions, all for Iceland, and now joins Manresa.

Bambale Osby Signs to Play in France

2011-08-20T12:07:00.007-04:00

Bambale Osby (2006-08) has signed to play for Aix-Maurienne Savoie in the French Pro B league this fall. The team's press release (translation) has this to say about Osby:

The club is pleased to announce the signing of the U.S. forward, Bambale Osby. Some call him "Boom" Osby.

Born in 1986 in Richmond, this 2.03M interior player (approximately 115kg, according to some sources) attended the University of Maryland between 2006 and 2008. Little by little, "Boom" won playing time (going from 7 to 27 min) and developed statistics of 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds during his senior year.

Not drafted, he decided to try his luck in Europe. With his first non-US team in Romania, Cluj, he averaged 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in just 20 minutes, and played two games in the Eurochallenge tournament, where he averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds. His 2009/2010 season is divided between three countries, freelancing in Israel (4 games), Romania (7 games) and Austria (7 games).

Last season, the native of the state of Virginia was the star of Tallinn's TTU/Kalev club (one of Estonia's two biggest clubs which play in the Baltic League Championships), averaging 18.6 points and 12 rebounds.

Osby is joining two other Terps who signed with French Pro B teams this summer, Landon Milbourne (with Limoges) and Chris McCray (with Boulogne).

Mike Jones Returns to Romania

2011-08-18T19:04:00.001-04:00

After playing in South America and recovering from injury the last two seasons, Mike Jones (2003-07, Who?) will return to CSU Asesoft Ploesti in Romania this year. In 2009, Jones won the Romanian League championship with Ploesti. The team only has a brief news item (translation) on their website about Jones's return, but Romanian news site Prahova elaborates on Jones's return (translation):

Mike Jones, one of the most spectacular basketball players to wear the blue and white jersey, is back in Ploiesti. The 27 year old overseas player came to an agreement in Romania for one season, and says he is ready to help to rekindle Ploiesti's string of successes. [...]

Jones decided 2011 is the year of rebirth and relaunch for his career with Asesoft. That is why the American is in Ploiesti for a second term, giving the managers of CSU Ploiesti and their fans even more hope. The former University of Maryland star had a path with many ups and downs after leaving Asesoft in the summer of 2009. By then the winner of Romanian Championship Cup, Jones continued his career in Argentina first with Mar del Plata Penarol, a team that would eventually win the Argentinian championship. The second part of the 2009-2010 season found Jones in the jersey of Gimnasia Rivadavia, but then problems started.

Following a serious knee injury, the American took almost a year away from basketball, with his return to the court occurring in April 2011 following a late-season offer from Guaiqueries of Margarita of Venezuela. Mike Jones's return to CSU Asesoft occurs now that has received the favorable go-ahead from doctors to continue his career playing basketball overseas. [...]

Even under the circumstances, Jones is a versatile player, able to score with ease behind the arc, find the best open shots, and finish teammates' passes with a slam-dunk whenever he has the chance.

Adrian Bowie Will Play in Poland

2011-08-03T18:01:00.003-04:00

Adrian Bowie (2007-11) has signed to play next season with Polpharma Starograd Gdanski in Poland's top pro league. From a story in the Baltic Journal (translation):

Adrian Bowie is the new playmaker for Polpharma. Starogard is therefore already on the verge of completing the team's composition for the 2011/2012 season. To complete the roster of the Polish Cup winners, they are only missing a center.

The 22-year-old Bowie is a recent graduate of Maryland, where he played for the Maryland Terrapins collegiate team. Adrian Bowie played a total of 135 games in the colors of this team. In the 2010/2011 season, he was an important part of the team, averaging 8.8 points, 3.5 assists, and 3 rebounds.

"We were looking for options on the point guard position. I must admit that we had several candidates, but went with Bowie. This is a young player from a good university, and we hope that will be useful on our team" Roman Olszewski, president of SKS Sport SA said, explaining the team's choice.

The team's press release (translation) also notes that Bowie hails from the same school that produced other great point guards, such as Steve Francis, Steve Blake, and Sarunas Jasikevicius. Last season, Polpharma finished in 5th place in the league and was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the league playoffs, but they did win the mid-season Polish Cup tournament.

Landon Milbourne and Chris McCray sign in the French Pro B League

2011-07-30T07:38:00.000-04:00

Landon Milbourne (2006-10) has signed to play for Limoges CSP Elite of the French Pro B league. The brief news item is buried on Limoges's poorly designed news page:

An American forward, author of a fine first season in France, should join the club for next year.

Landon Milbourne, an American playing for Boulogne-sur-Mer this season and with whom he reached the semi-finals LNB Pro B, has agreed to play for the Limoges club next season.

Last season, Milbourne played for SO Maritime Boulogne (aka SOMB), which will be the new home next season for Chris McCray (2002-06), who has signed to play next season (translation) for Bologne, also in the French Pro B league. (The team's website is broken, but that's the correct link for it. Maybe it will come back again someday?)

SOMB also announced the signing of Chris McCray, a great player who "can evolve our outside game." Like Milbourne, McCray is a former star of Maryland where he was captain (15.2 points in 31 minutes per game his senior season). He left the university in 2006, just before the arrival of Milbourne.

After his university studies, he played in Italy's Lega Due with Rimini and in the Belgian League for Oostende. This season, he played for the Sioux Falls Sky Force D-League (9.7 points to 44.3%, 4.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 29 minutes). "It is likely that his basketball knowledge and his immense dexterity will heavily benefit SOMB's game this season. A true free spirit, very creative, and he is a great three-point shooter," said a team press release.

Braxton Dupree signs with Maccabi Ashdod... Sort Of

2011-07-28T18:33:00.000-04:00

Braxton Dupree (2007-09, then transferred to Towson) has given up his final year of eligibility (he would have been a 5th year senior) and signed to play in Israel for Maccabi Ashdod:

Despite sitting out the entire 2009-2010 season because of NCAA rules regarding transfer players, Dupree averaged solid numbers last year with the Tigers, posting 12 points and nearly eight rebounds per game in an average of 31 minutes per contest.

Dupree went undrafted in June's NBA draft, but still has aspirations of perhaps playing in the NBA's summer or developmental league after his time overseas, in hopes of getting a shot at the NBA one day, according to ESPN.

For the first year of his contract, Dupree will be assigned by the team to play for Ness Ziona in the Israeli National League. (The National League is the country's second tier pro division; Maccabi Ashdod plays in the top pro league, the Loto League or Premier League). From the team's press release (translation):

Dupree, a Towson University graduate, signed a contract with Maccabi Ashdod, in which he was lent for the upcoming season to Ness Ziona of the Israeli National League, after which Maccabi Ashdod will have options to extend his contract for two more years until the end of the 2013/14 season. [...]

Team administrator of Maccabi Ashdod, Shai Housman, said, "While we wish to complete a foreign signing next season, Maccabi Ashdod is setting goals for itself several years ahead. As an integral part of this policy, we regularly follow other players that might fit us in the future. With our budget, we cannot compete with the Loto League's top teams, so it requires taking action in a comprehensive and deliberate way, in order to improve our chances of getting quality players for an amount of money which we can afford."

"Dupree is a young interior player and has potential. After he strengthens his abilities in the coming season, we certainly will be happy to bring him into the group in the future."

Dino Gregory Will Play in Sweden

2011-07-27T18:17:00.003-04:00

Dino Gregory has signed a deal to start his professional career with the reigning Swedish League Champion Sundsvall Dragons. Here's the team's press release (translation):

The Sundsvall Dragons has announced the signing of their first U.S. import this year, 200cm tall Dino Gregory of Baltimore. The contract is for one year and Dino is expected to Sundsvall in the near future to be with the team for preseason practice in early August.[...]

Frederick Åhnstrand, Dragons club manager:
"He is a super athletic inside player who will be a real Intimidator. He's a good defensive player who, with his athleticism, will fit into the way we play and will contribute from the post position. Dino fits perfectly into the way we play and we are very pleased to retain such a good player for our team."

The Terrapin Station blog has notes on the signing today too.

Steve Francis's New Life

2011-07-25T18:47:00.000-04:00

The Montgomery County Gazette recently featured a story about Steve Francis (1998-99) and his new, post-playing life. The story reflects on Francis's playing history, from bouncing around between high schools in Silver Spring, to the University of Maryland, to the NBA, and finally to last winter's short stint in China's pro league. Today, Francis is focusing on his charitable foundation, his new music label, and just being a dad:

The present is in Montgomery County; he returned from his home in Houston to participate in the 122nd annual Independence Day Celebration in Takoma Park. Continuing an annual tradition, he also played host to a Fourth of July community barbecue. Then he was off to College Park to host a charity basketball camp.

Through the Steve Francis Foundation, he has made charity a part of his daily life. He said he has a lot of pride in the Brenda Wilson Scholarship Program, which was named after his mother and created in 2004. [...] Francis’ agent, Carrie Potter, said the foundation has doled out $350,000 to 35 students since the program’s inception. [...]

Among its many other endeavors are the Holiday Extravaganza, a Christmas party for youth in Houston; Christmas in February, the donation of more than 5,000 non-perishable items to 700 needy families at a Houston Food Bank Food Fair; Turkey & Trimmings, a distribution of Thanksgiving meals each year since 2005; and funding the D.C. Warriors, an Amateur Athletic Union club basketball team located in Takoma Park.

Francis launched a new music label, Maserati Music, last summer that features local musicians. He made his debut with a Washington, D.C. listening party.

Andre Collins to JuveCaserta

2011-07-21T19:33:00.033-04:00

Andre Collins (2001-04, then transferred to Loyola) has signed a new deal for next season (translation) with Pepsi JuveCaserta in Italy's Serie A league.

After his last year in college with the Loyola Greyhounds, he arrived in Italy where he won the Lega Due title in his first season, and with extensive training, the award for best player of the year for 2007-2008. In December 2007 against Aget Imola, he set a remarkable scoring record - in the history of Ferrara Basket Club - 10 shots from three scored. In his first year of play in Serie A, Collins was confirmed as one of the best players: the third leading scorer among players with more than 33.5 minutes per game. During last season in Pesaro, following a season with Virtus Bologna, "Deuce" scored an average of 27 points per game. All these numbers portend, in conjunction with other additions to the team, a great season for JuveCaserta.

(Italy has two primary basketball leagues: Serie A, which is the top pro league, and Lega Due which is the second tier league. The two leagues have a relegation and promotion system where the top Lega Due teams rise up to Serie A and the bottom Serie A drop to Lega Due after every season. After his first year in Italy with Ferrara, the team won Lega Due and was promoted, so Collins's second season was also with Ferrara, but now in Serie A.)

Bambale Osby Signs on for the Playoffs in Puerto Rico

2011-07-20T19:12:00.005-04:00

While the basketball season is over in most parts of the world, they're still in the playoffs in Puerto Rico, where Bambale Osby (2006-08) has signed on for the remainder of the season (translation) with Vaqueros de Bayamon. Bayamon was down 0-2 in its best of seven semifinal series, but has won three straight games since Boom came on board. Osby scored 7 points and 4 rebounds in his first game with the team, following it up with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the his second game and 20 points and 8 rebounds in the most recent game.

Drew Nicholas Signs with Milano

2011-07-19T18:55:00.004-04:00

Drew Nicholas (1999-2003) had a year left on his contract with reigning Euroleague champion Panathinaikos, but was released anyway after he and many other teammates refused to take a pay cut from the Greek team. From Ekathimerini.com:

Drew Nicholas has left Panathinaikos after three years of titles with the team, the European champion announced on July 16.

The US shooting-guard apparently refused to take a pay cut, which has been proposed to most players of the team, and on the same day he sealed a deal with Armani Milano, according to a statement by the Italian club.

Nicholas quickly signed to play (translation) for Armani Jeans Olimpia Milano of the Italian SerieA league. Milano finished third in the highly competitive top Italian league last season, and will be good again next season after reloading with three players cast off from Panathinaikos this week. From the team's press release:

"With Drew Nicholas," said coach Sergio Scariolo, "we insert into the group not only an excellent shooter who has demonstrated his technical quality on all teams for which he played, but also a serious and positive person, who has made an essential contribution to the success of his teams in recent years."

Ibekwe Re-signs with BBC Bayreuth

2011-07-18T19:23:00.002-04:00

Ekene Ibekwe (2003-07) joined BBC Bayreth mid-season last year and quickly established himself as one of the team's best players. Last week, Bayreuth rewarded Ibekwe by signing him to a one-year extension (translation) to his contract:

The fifth position of BBC Bayreuth's team for next season is filled. Ekene Ibekwe, who joined the team in early February, will also contribute in the new season, wearing the Bayreuth jersey. The 25-year-old power forward has extended his contract by one year.

In his debut in a BBC uniform, the 2.06 meter tall American with Nigerian roots celebrated a win on 6 February in an away game in Göttingen. The Los Angeles-based powerhouse played in a total of 15 games last season for BBC. He averaged 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds, with a player rating of 12.3. The 26 year old was important, necessary for victory in the league. Six times the power forward was the highest scorer and best rebounder for the team.

"Ekene is to some extent responsible for the reversal of last season; he played with heart and passion, and he was a large part of our success in securing a playoff spot. I am pleased that we succeeded, after intensive and really tough negotiations, in convincing Ekene to pick up for another season with Bayreuth. Of course his popularity with the fans and sponsors did not escape us, so we hope his new obligation will be a good a sign for the fans and sponsors," said BBC general manager Uli Eichbaum.

Nik Caner-Medley Signs with Valencia

2011-07-16T22:21:00.000-04:00

Nik Caner-Medley (2002-06) had a great individual season playing for Asefa Estudiantes in Madrid, Spain, but the team was mired in the bottom half of the ACB league and missed the playoffs. Next season should be different, as Caner-Medley signed this week (translation) to play with Power Electronics Valencia, which finished in 3rd place last season and should be competitive again next year. Caner-Medley, who was named ACB Player of the Month three times last season, was one of the most highly sought-after free agents in Spain this summer, with three other teams seriously competing for his services:

Cajasol, Estudiantes, and Unicaja were also interested in acquiring the services of the most valued player of the last regular season. In the games he played in against those teams, he scored 14.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, and a 17.6 player rating, which allowed him to sneak into the first team all-star team ahead of former Valencia star Dusko Savanovic. Caner-Medley will now take Savanovic's place in Valencia, if Efes Pilsen eventually ends up paying a million and a half for the Serb's escape clause.

Unicaja had spoken more than once with the player asking for patience. But their number one goal was to sign Malaga's Judson Wallace and only if he opted for Barcelona would they go to Caner-Medley. The American did not dislike the option of going to the Costa del Sol, but he was tired of waiting and the appearance of the offer of Power Electronics has ended his patience.

Former Terps 2010-11 Season Round-Up: NBA, NBDL, & Minor Leagues Edition

2011-07-06T20:18:00.002-04:00

Now that I've covered all the overseas Terps, let's take a look at how former Maryland players here in the US fared in 2010-2011, complete with some self-referential links:

Steve Blake (1999-2003) played for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he averaged 4.0 points, 2.2 assists, and 2.0 rebounds in 20 minutes a game in the regular season (79 games), then 2.2 points, 2.2 assists, and 1.6 rebounds in 16 minutes a game in 9 playoff games. The Lakers made it to the Western Conference Semi-Finals. Now that we're in the off-season, Blake is probably working on his Mixed Martial Arts skills.

Blake's Lakers teammate, Joe Smith (1993-95), in his 16th NBA season, averaged 0.5 points, 1.3 rebounds in 4.3 minutes per game in 16 regular season games (4 with the New Jersey Nets prior to an early season trade to the Lakers). He appeared in 5 of the Lakers' playoff games, going scoreless. This may have been Smith's last shot at an NBA title.

Greivis Vasquez (2006-10) had a successful rookie year with the Memphis Grizzlies. Vasquez averaged 3.6 points, 2.2 assists, and 1.0 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game in the regular season (70 games). Vasquez stepped it up in the playoffs though, and scored 4.3 points, 1.5 assists, and 1.9 rebounds in only 10.9 minutes per game (13 games). The Grizzlies also made it to the Western Conference Semi-Finals. Vasquez has been spending his off season doing some important sports diplomacy in Venezuela in conjunction with the US State Department and other NBA and WNBA athletes.

Statistically, Chris Wilcox (2000-02) may have had the best season, averaging 7.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in 17.5 minutes per game in the regular season (including 29 starts in 57 games) for the Detroit Pistons. Wilcox came on strong in the second half of the season, but finished the year as the longest tenured NBA player without a playoff appearance.

As I mentioned a few days ago, DJ Strawberry (2003-07) started out the season with the NBA D-League's Reno Bighorns before heading overseas to play in Lithuania in January. In 20 games (7 as a starter) with the Bighorns, Strawberry averaged 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.0 steals in 29.6 minutes per game.

Chris McCray (2002-06) was back for his second season with the D-League's Sioux Falls Skyforce, averaging 9.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game in 29.3 minutes. McCray started 23 of 29 games for the Skyforce, which had a poor year (10-40) and missed the playoffs,

Beyond the D-League, there are several smaller minor leagues in various stages of organization and stability in the US.

Byron Mouton (2000-02) played for the Washington Greenhawks of the Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League. Unfortunately, the Greenhawks cancelled their season after only four games. Mouton averaged 27.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in the four games the team played. The team does still exist, however, and the Greenhawks recently helped local children set a world record for kids dribbling mini-basketballs, led by Mouton, Gheorge Muresan, and AND1's The Professor.

Parrish Brown (2005-07) played for the American Basketball Association's Chicago Steam at one point this winter, but he's not on their website's roster anymore.

Ryan Randle (2001-03) briefly played for the Metroplex Lightning of the United Basketball League, but the team no longer exists and their website has disappeared since the season ended a month ago.

(Don't miss the 2010-11 International Terps Round-Up, if you haven't seen it already!)

Former Terps 2010-11 Season Round-Up: International Edition

2011-07-04T19:29:00.001-04:00

As we've been chronicling for the past two weeks, it was a season of many championships for former Terps playing overseas:
James Gist (2004-08) won the Serbian Championship.
Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98) won the Turkish Championship.
Terence Morris (1997-2001) won the Spanish Championship.
Drew Nicholas (1999-2003) won the Greek Championship and his second Euroleage Championship.
Nik Caner-Medley (2002-06) also had an All-Star season in Spain.

Now, here's a round-up of the rest of our Terps who played overseas this season:

DJ Strawberry (2003-07) joined Lietuvos Rytas in Vilnius, Lithuania midway through the season. The team went 20-4, finished second in the regular season, and lost in the Lithuanian championship finals 4 games to 1 against rivals Zalgiris. Lietuvos also took the bronze in the regional Baltic Basketball League and advanced to the Top 16 round of the Euroleague tournament. In 31 games in Lithuania, DJ averaged 5.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. Strawberry started the season with the Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League, where he averaged 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 20 games.

Bambale Osby (2006-08) played in Tallinn, Estonia, for TTU/Kalev this season. TTU/Kalev finished 3rd in the Estonian regular season, going 25-7, and lost in the semi-finals of the league tournament. Osby averaged 16.4 points (6th in the league), 10.0 rebounds (4th in the league), and 1.2 blocks (4th in the league) in 38 games. Boom was a finalist in the league's slam dunk contest and the MVP of the league's All-Star game. In the regional Baltic League, TTU/Kalev went 6-16 and finished 11th. Osby led his team with 18.6 points and 12.0 rebounds in that league's 22 games. Here's an interview with Osby from the All Star game.

Lonny Baxter (1998-2002) played for BC Enisey Krasnoyarsk of the Russian PBL league. Enisey went 12-15 in the regular season and lost in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Baxter averaged 16.2 points (4th in the league) and 7.2 rebounds (3rd in the league) in 37 games, including two EuroChallenge qualifier games.

Juan Dixon (1998-2002), who had sat out a one year FIBA ban for steriod use, came back in March to play for Turkey's Banvit Kulubu. Banvit went 23-7 and finished 2nd in the regular season, but lost in the Turkish Basketball League semi-finals. Dixon averaged 8.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 14 games.

Ekene Ibekwe (2003-07) played for three different teams this season. Ibekwe started off last fall with Germany's Artland Dragons, where he averaged 8.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks in 14 games. Then in January, he was cut from the team and went to Israel, where he averaged 6.0 points and 4.7 rebounds in 6 games for Ironi Ashkelon. Soon, he was back in Germany, finishing the season with BBC Bayreuth, where he averaged 11.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 15 games. Bayreuth finished 9-25, far out of the German Bundesliga playoffs.

Travis Garrison (2002-06) played for BC Khimik in the Ukraine. Garrison averaged 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 32 games for Khimik, which went 16-32 and missed the playoffs. Khimik also played in the opening round robin of the EuroChallenge tournament, where Garrison averaged 8.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in 6 games.

Eric Hayes (2006-10) spent most of his first professional season with Leche Rio Breogan in Spain's LEB Gold league (one step below the top ACB league), then finished the season playing a single game for Lithuania's Neptunas Klaipeda. Hayes averaged 8.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 24 total games, while shooting 47% from 3 point range. Breogan went 18-16 in the regular season and lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

Landon Milbourne (2006-10) played for SO Maritime Boulogne of the French ProB league in his first year as a professional. Boulogne finished 19-15 in the regular season and lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs. Milbourne averaged 16.5 points (6th in the league), 5.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.7 steals in 39 games.

Jamar Smith (2002-04) played for France's ProA league team, Entente Orleans, where he averaged 5.5 points and 4.4 rebounds in 28 games. Orleans went 12-18 and missed the playoffs. Orleans also participated in the opening round robin of the EuroChallenge tournament, where Smith scored 7.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in 6 games.

Rodney Elliott (1994-98) played for Argentina's Boca Juniors. Elliott averaged 11.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 2.0 steals per game for the Juniors, who went 13-17 and missed the playoffs.

Andre Collins (2001-04) played for Scavolini Pesaro in Italy's Serie A league. Scavolini finished 14-16 and missed the league playoffs. Collins averaged 12.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists (4th in the league), and 2.4 steals (9th in the league) per game.

There was some evidence that Mike Jones (2003-07) had signed to play in Venezuela for Guaiqueries de Margarita, but I've had no luck finding statistics or up-to-date rosters for Venezuela's LNB, and the team's website is no longer on-line.

(Don't miss the 2010-11 Domestic Terps Round-Up, if you haven't seen it already.)

James Gist Facing Possible FIBA Doping Ban

2011-07-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

James Gist (2004-08) may be facing a FIBA ban after testing positive (translation) for Carboxy-THC (that's the chemical marijuana leaves behind in the body) last month during a routine post-game drug test on June 1st in Serbia.

Two samples are always taken, and Gist's sample A came back positive with low levels of the drug. So, if my understanding of poorly translated Turkish news and my memory of FIBA procedures is correct, sample B will now be tested by a different lab. If sample B comes back positive as well, then the ban could be anywhere from three months to two years.

Gist had just signed a new deal with reigning Turkish champion Fenerbahce Ulker last week. The team has said they will wait for the investigation to finish before management decides whether to keep Gist or not.

Nik Caner-Medley's All-Star Season in Spain

2011-06-29T19:20:00.001-04:00

Nik Caner-Medley (2002-06) had a big season this year in Spain's ACB league, playing for Asefa Estudiantes in Madrid. While the team struggled to a 16-18 record and missed the playoffs, Nik was named ACB Player of the Month three times and was a break-out star in the league this season.

In the ACB regular season, Caner-Medley averaged 14.4 points (7th in the league) and 7.6 rebounds (1st in the league) in 31 games. Nik was named to the First Team All-ACB team (translation) following the season as one of the two best frontcourt players in the league. He was at the top of the league (translation) with his 17.6 average player rating as well as his 7.6 rebounds per game and 5.5 defensive rebounds per game.

Estudiantes also advanced to the quarterfinals of the continent-wide Eurocup tournament, where Nik averaged 12.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in 14 games.

And now for your viewing enjoyment, Nik Caner-Medley highlights from this season:

...And a Q&A session with Nik answering questions from fans on the street (the questions are in Spanish, but he answers in English with Spanish subtitles). Notably from this, he's a free agent this summer, but is focusing on playing again in Europe instead of the NBA.

Drew Nicholas is Once Again a Champion in Greece

2011-06-28T19:18:00.000-04:00

Drew Nicholas (1999-2003) is once again a champion in Greece, as his team, Panathinaikos BC of Athens won the Greek League Championship for the ninth consecutive season. Panathinaikos was second in the regular season, with a 24-2 record, behind only undefeated Olympaikos, whom they defeated in the play-off finals 3 games to 1.

Earlier this season, Panathinaikos also won the Euroleague Championship for the second time in three years. Nicholas was an elite shooter and an ace defender in the tournament:

With clutch shot after clutch shot in the 2011 Turkish Airlines Euroleague title game, Drew Nicholas played a valuable role in giving Panathinaikos its sixth continental title. Nicholas, a former Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy winner, has developed into an ace defender for the Greens, but he showed in Barcelona that he still has an elite scoring touch. Nicholas came through with 14 points against Maccabi Electra to help guide the Greens to the promised land. From the time he entered the game early in the second quarter, Nicholas put the ball in the net, whether by driving through the Maccabi defense or by trusting his shooter's touch. When the final buzzer sounded, Nicholas could say that by excelling at whatever end of the court his team needed him most, he was now a two-time Euroleague champion.

In 20 Euroleague games, Nicholas averaged 9.8 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 41.5% from 3 point range. In 27 Greek League games, Nicholas averaged 9.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while making an even better 44.4% of his 3 pointer attempts. This was Nicholas's third season playing for Panathinaikos.

Cliff Tucker will Play Football at UTEP

2011-06-27T06:59:00.000-04:00

Cliff Tucker (2007-2011) will enroll at the University of Texas El Paso next fall and join their football team. Tucker participated in Maryland's spring football practices, but was not offered a scholarship, so he is returning to his hometown (El Paso Times):

Having exhausted his eligibility in basketball, he competed in spring football for Maryland, but when that school didn't have an available scholarship, he inquired about coming to UTEP.

His next game should be Sept. 3 in the Sun Bowl against Stoney Brook, in the orange and blue of the Miners.

"I've always had a love for football," Tucker said, making official his transfer to UTEP. "I've come back to El Paso every summer and I'm excited to go to UTEP."

As a football player, Tucker was recruited by most of the Big 12.

The UTEP Miners play in Conference USA, and went 6-7 last season.

Terence Morris Wins Spanish Championship

2011-06-25T19:15:00.000-04:00

This season, Terence Morris (1997-2001) and his team, Regal FC Barcelona, won the Spanish ACB regular season with a 27-7 record and ACB Championship tournament, beating Bizkaia Bilbao 3 games to 0 in the finals. Along the way, Regal Barca also won their 22nd Spanish Cup mid-season tournament and advanced to the Euroleague quarterfinals.

In 20 Euroleague games, Morris averaged 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. In 41 Spanish ACB games, Morris averaged 5.9 points and 3.3 rebounds. Following the season, Regal Barcelona announced that they will not extend his contract (translation) for next season.

Jordan Williams Drafted #36 by New Jersey Nets

2011-06-23T23:11:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to Jordan Williams (2009-11) on being drafted #36 in the NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets!

Update... Overnight Reactions:

Baltimore Sun
Washington Post
Testudo Times
Terrapin Station
New Jersey Nets with video of the GM talking about Williams
ESPN's Nets Blog and Boston High School Blog
SB Nation Washington DC
Bleacher Report and Bleacher Report

Steve Francis's Draft Day Memories

2011-06-23T06:37:00.000-04:00

In honor of the NBA Draft tonight (good luck, Jordan Williams!), the Houston Rockets have a video interview with former Terp Steve Francis (1998-99) about his draft day memories.

Sarunas Jasikevicius is a Champion in Turkey

2011-06-22T19:14:00.009-04:00

Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98) is coming off a championship season in Turkey, as his team, Fenerbahce Ulker, won the Turkish BBL regular season with a 27-3 record, won the mid-season Turkish Cup tournament title, and wrapped up their season by winning the Turkish League Championship for the second year in a row. In the middle of all that, they also advanced to the Euroleague Top 16.

Jasikevicius started the season with Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania before being released and subsequently signing in Turkey in December. In 6 Euroleague, 4 Lithuanian league games, and 2 VTB regional league games with Lietuvos, Sarunas averaged 8.5 points and 3.9 assists per game. In 24 Turkish league games and 6 Euroleague games for FB Ukler, Sarunas averaged 7.7 points and 2.4 assists.

Sarunas will be a free agent this summer, and doesn't know if he will be re-signed by Fenerbahce, but he believes he can play 2-3 more seasons (translation) and would like to play in Turkey again.

And now, five minutes of Sarunas highlights from the final game of their Championship series:

James Gist wins Three Trophies in Serbia, then Signs in Turkey for Next Year

2011-06-20T22:13:00.000-04:00

James Gist (2004-08), coming off a big season with Partizan Belgrade in Serbia, has signed to play next year for Turkey's reigning champion, Fenerbahe Ulker. (If you remember hearing about FB Ulker on this blog before, it's because it's also home to Sarunas Jasikevicius.)

Partizan played in three different leagues this season, and Gist averaged 11.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 56 total games. Partizan went 13-1 in the regular season and easily won the Serbian league's championship tournament (not a surprise; this was their tenth straight title as the big fish in an otherwise weak league). Partizan also won the mid-season Serbian Cup tournament. Partizan went 18-8 and won the Adriatic international "NLB" league regular season and championship tournament against tougher competition (it was only their fifth consecutive Adriatic championship). Partizan also advanced to the Top 16 round of the Euroleague tournament before bowing out.

Now enjoy this Top Ten compilation of Gist's dunks from this season:

Greivis Vasquez Engages in Sports Diplomacy

2011-06-16T20:38:00.000-04:00

Greivis Vasquez (2006-10) is working with the US State Department and the NBA as part of the SportsUnited program to reach out to kids in Venezuela. The Baltimore Sun had this story about Vasquez's sports diplomacy today. Excerpt:

Vasquez said he approached the U.S. Embassy in Caracas recently about doing some work for the community. Ann Stock, the State Department's assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, said that Vasquez's name came up when the State Department contacted the NBA about its program.

"Close to 65 percent of the people in the world are under age 30," Stock said. "We need to figure out ways to engage with those young people, and sports have always been a way to do that. Greivis is a perfect person for this program, because he's so personable and he's a role model to a lot of kids. He's going to learn a lot too."

Vicki Bullett To Be Inducted into Hall of Fame

2011-06-09T18:15:00.001-04:00

Former Terp Vicki Bullett (1986-89) will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. Don't remember her? Maryland's press release will fill you in:

A Terp from 1986-89, Bullett was named to the 1989 Kodak All-America team. Over the course of her career she averaged 16.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game to become one of the most decorated players in Maryland history. Bullett was a member of three ACC Championship teams en route to being named the 1989 ACC Player of the Year, and ACC Tournament MVP. She is fourth all-time in the Maryland record books in scoring with 1,928 points in her Terrapin career and is third in rebounding with 968 boards.

A two-time Olympian, Bullett was a part of the USA Women's Basketball team that won gold in 1988 and captured bronze in 1992. She played six seasons in the WNBA for the Charlotte Sting and the Washington Mystics from 1997-2001, scoring 2,018 points.

WNBA Season Begins as European Women's Season Wraps Up

2011-06-07T06:50:00.001-04:00

Three former Terps are playing in the WNBA this summer: Marissa Coleman (2005-09) and Crystal Langhorne (2004-08) with the Washington Mystics, and Kristi Toliver (2005-09) for the Los Angeles Sparks.

Many women spend the summers playing in the WNBA, but then spend the WNBA off-season, known to the rest of the world as "basketball season", playing overseas.

This winter, Crystal Langhorne played for Russia's UMMC Ekaterinburg. UMMC lost in the Women's Euroleague Final Four (but won the third place game), then bounced back to win the Russian league championship. UMMC did not lose in the Russian league all season: they were undefeated 18-0 in the regular season, then won their three playoff series 2-0, 2-0, and 3-0.

Marissa Coleman played for Hungary's MKB Euroleasing Sopron, which won the Hungarian Women's Championship after finishing second in the regular season. MKB played in the women's Euroleague competition, but lost in the round of 16.

Kristi Toliver played for Turkey's Samsun Basketbol, which finished 7th in the regular season and then lost in the quarterfinals of its league tournament.

Shay Doron (2003-07) no longer plays in the WNBA, but she played for Israel's Elitzur Ramla this year, leading her team to the Eurocup Championship, the Israeli State Cup, and the Israeli League Championship. The team finished first in the Israeli regular season as well, going 17-1. In this interview (from her own official site), Shay talked about her team's record-setting season and her career.

Lori Bjork (2009-10) played for Romania's Satu Mare this winter, where she was selected for the league's All-Star game (translation). Satu Mare finished the regular season in first place, but lost in the finals of the Romanian League Championship.

Ryan Randle in the UBL in Texas

2011-05-31T23:39:00.001-04:00

Ryan Randle (2001-03) is now playing for the Metroplex Lightning of DeSoto, TX, in the minor league United Basketball League. (There's no specific story to link to, just search for his name on the team's web page and you'll find some game notes and a roster.) The UBL consists of 7 teams in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi, and they appear to play a short schedule of 4-6 games per team. The post-season starts this week, though Randle's new team, with a record of 1-3, did not make the playoffs.

Catching Up with Matt Hahn

2011-05-14T14:24:00.001-04:00

Matt Hahn (1996-2000) has been an assistant coach for years, first working for his father, former Maryland Assistant Billy Hahn at LaSalle, then Vermont, and now Robert Morris.

This week, local news site Columbia Patch interviewed Hahn, who is from Columbia, MD, about the recent coaching changes at local schools, as well as his own career and aspirations. Here's a short excerpt from the story:

Hahn said, however, his goal is be a head coach at the Division I level.

"That is my long-term goal. I think that is why all of us who do this want to do," Hahn said. "Being an assistant is wonderful but we all one day want to see if we can do the job as a head coach."

"I feel I have prepared for it for a long time as a coaches’s kid. You never know when that opportunity may be. That is the goal," added Hahn, who said he talks nearly every day with his father, and sometimes they don’t even talk about basketball.

Drew Nicholas Wins Another Euroleague Title

2011-05-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

Drew Nicholas (1999-2003) scored 14 points in the finale as his team, Panathinaikos from Athens, Greece, won the Euroleague Title with a 78-70 win over Israel's Maccabi Electra in Barcelona on Sunday. For the entire Euroleague season, Nicholas averaged 9.8 points on 44% shooting (42% from 3-point range).

Nicholas previously won the Euroleague championship with Panathinaikos in 2009, and is now the only player ever to win both an NCAA title and two Euroleague titles (three other players have won an NCAA title and one Euroleague title).

Duane Simpkins Joins the Towson Coaching Staff

2011-05-03T18:39:00.005-04:00

After spending the past few seasons turning the basketball program around at Washington DC's St. Alban's School, Duane Simpkins (1992-96) has been hired as the new Director of Basketball Operations at Towson University. Excerpt from the Baltimore Sun's story:

Duane Simpkins, who played point guard at Maryland from 1992 through 1995, will join Pat Skerry's new staff at Towson University as director of basketball operations.

"He's a bright guy, a young coach who is connected to the area," Skerry said Friday. "He'll be a good example for the guys of what it takes to be a successful student."

Simpkins had been head coach at St. Albans, an all-boys school in Washington, the past four years. He also coached two years at Sidwell Friends School in Washington.

Greivis Vasquez Shines on the Big Stage

2011-05-02T18:39:00.000-04:00

If you're following the NBA Playoffs this spring, you know that the #8 seed in the west, the Memphis Grizzlies, featuring back-up guard Greivis Vasquez (2006-10) just knocked out the #1 seeded San Antonio Spurs, and the Baltimore Sun's Toy Department blog writes about how Greivis played a big role off the bench in the series. Excerpt:

Barely on the radar during the regular season as a rookie -- playing a little more than 12 minutes a game and scoring in double figures only five times -- Vasquez played a significant role in Memphis' seismic upset of the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs.

In Game 4, Vasquez finished with nine points in 13 minutes, including seven in a 7-0 run in the second quarter to help the Grizzlies take control of what turned out to be a blowout win.

In Game 6, Vasquez had 11 points while playing 23 minutes because of Mike Conley's foul trouble. Vasquez didn't have a turnover, and his only assist resulted in a highlight reel dunk by Darrell Arthur.

Memphis Grizzlies blog 3 Shades of Blue wrote that Vasquez played with a lot of moxie coming off the bench early in game 6 and taking on the Spurs starters. (via Testudo Times) Excerpt:

[...] Not less than a minute into his stint on the court the kid does something: first he bravely pulls down a rebound, then rushes the ball up the court, when he gets to the top of the key, he hesitates, studyimg the contour of the defense, suddenly he drives straight for Tony Parker, floating a feathery runner right over top of him in the lane. The crowd roars. His step: now a little spryer than it was, was the response that the Grizzlies desperately needed, and the Spurs certainly did not expect.

Memphis is already up 1-0 on the Oklahoma Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals, so The Grievis Show isn't over for this season yet.

Obinna Ekezie's Travel Website

2011-04-30T10:22:00.021-04:00

If you've been coming here long enough, you may remember that two years ago I wrote about Obinna Ekezie (1995-99) starting a travel business in Africa. Well, it's up and running, and they've been working with travel agents for a while now. But if you're planning on traveling to or from Nigeria this summer and you're a do-it-yourself traveler, try out Wakanow.com, which is the new direct-to-consumer travel site operated by the company Ekezie founded and runs, Zeep Travel Network.

(His company reps actually contacted me since they knew I posted news about Obinna in the past and asked if I would post an update. So if it sounds like a press release or free advertising, well, yeah.)

Parents of recruits out there in any sport would do well to Google Obinna Ekezie stories from the 1990's like this one. Ekezie used his basketball skills and his scholarship offer to Maryland so he could attend one of the best business and engineering schools in the country. That's right, read the story: he double-majored in two tough disciplines on his way to an NBA career. After his playing days were over, including four seasons in the NBA, followed by time in Italy and Russia, Obinna turned his Maryland education into successful international entrepreneurship.

Nik Caner-Medley Taking Spain by Storm

2011-04-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

This spring, Nik Caner-Medley (2002-06) has taken Spain's top basketball league (which is also Europe's best basketball league), the ACB, by storm. There's a huge feature story on Nik (translation) as the lead story on the front page of ACB.com (which would be the Spanish equivalent of being the lead story on NBA.com in the US). Yeah, it's a lousy translation, but you get used to it after a few paragraphs. Enjoy the photos. Watch the video near the end, and keep in mind that all happened in a 153 second span during one game.

This was the season that Nik took off in Spain. It started with Player of the Week honors in week 8. Player of the Week again in week 23. Then week 31. Player of the Month for February (translation). Then March (translation). Then this week, Player of the Month for April (translation, and this story has a pretty sweet highlight video to go with it). He's only the fifth player ever to get Player of the Month honors three times in one season in the ACB. Nik jokes that every time he wins an award, he has to take his teammates out for pizza, and it's starting to make him poor. There's one month to go in ACB league play, and Nik's team, Asefa Estudiantes Madrid is only in 10th place with a 16-15 record, but not eliminated from play-off contention yet, and you'd have to think Nik Caner-Medley would be a top candidate for MVP of the season.

(Photo: ACB.com)

Cliff Tucker Joins the Football Team

2011-04-13T13:11:00.000-04:00

Cliff Tucker (2007-11) recently joined the ranks of former Maryland basketball players eligible for mention in this blog, but he's not leaving Maryland quite yet. Tucker has joined the Maryland football team as a wide receiver, as briefly reported in the Baltimore Sun and Testudo Times, and more extensively detailed by Patrick Stevens' D1scourse blog in the Washington Times, who went back to an interview he did with Tucker as a freshman in 2008:

"To tell you the truth, football was kind of the No. 1 in high school," Tucker said then. "Basketball is my first love. I learned that first. All the sudden, high school came and I became a dominant football player. I just loved playing the game and everything. I just fell in love with football a little bit more. Then I just sat down and thought to myself 'I know I can't do both.' I knew it was kind of too tough. Basketball's a lot longer career. In football, you get injured and things like that."

Considering Tucker is 6-foot-6, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise he caught 19 touchdowns to go along with 939 receiving yards as a high school senior. And why not? He was likely to win any jump ball in the end zone with a defensive back, even in a football-rich state like Texas (Tucker attended high school in El Paso).

Big 12 schools such as Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M expressed interest.

I think Calvin McCall was the last athlete who played football and basketball for the Terps. He made the jump the other way, splitting time with both teams for two years before quitting football to concentrate on basketball. McCall is now coaching basketball at his old high school in Orlando, Florida.

Chris Wilcox Leaving a Good Impression

2011-04-11T18:15:00.000-04:00

Chris Wilcox is having a huge late-season revival for the Detroit Pistons. In the month of April, he is averaging 12.7 points and 7 rebounds per game, well above his season averages of 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds. And, he's doing it mostly off the bench with no real increase in his minutes. Wilcox recently scored a season high 27 points in a victory over Milwaukee. Excerpt from the Detroit Free Press:

"Chris Wilcox was outstanding," said coach John Kuester. "I thought the way Chris was so good was because of his ability to slash when people were posting up, getting offensive rebounds, showing his athleticism; something we needed and, hey, 27 points and 13 rebounds is pretty impressive."

MLive.com recently wrote about Wilcox's desire to leave Detroit with a good impression as he plays for a new contract next year:

"I just know these last games, I’ve got to go out and finish strong," he said. "I’ve got to go out and play hard and keep doing what I’m doing. Hopefully, I can leave a good impression on them when it is time for me to re-sign. I just want to be in a situation where I can grow and where I can help."

Unfortunately, with Detroit eliminated from playoff contention while the Pacers and Hornets have qualified for the postseason, Wilcox will now top the list of longest-tenured players without a playoff appearance.

Bambale Osby in the Estonian Dunk Contest

2011-04-04T07:51:00.000-04:00

Here's a YouTube video of Bambale Osby (2006-08) in the Estonian slam dunk contest. Boom is playing for TTU/Kalev in Estonia this season. He's #34 in red, in case you can't pick him out by his hair.

(Via Testudo Times.)

Drew Nicholas in the Euroleague Final Four

2011-04-03T07:00:00.017-04:00

Greek team Panathinaikos, home of sharpshooter Drew Nicholas (1999-2003), beat Regal FC Barcelona (and Terence Morris (1997-2001)) 3-1 in their best-of-5 quarterfinal series to reach the Euroleague Final Four.

In the series, Nicholas averaged 9.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in four games. Nicholas played well in the first three games, but sprained his ankle and left game 4 early, which hurt his averages. Morris averaged 5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in four games.

Panathinaikos, back in the Final Four after winning it all in 2009 and then missing out in 2010, will play Montepaschi Siena on May 6th.

Mike Jones Signs in Venezuela

2011-04-02T07:00:00.002-04:00

Mike Jones (2003-07, Who?) has signed to play (translation, and see the 2nd news item in the story) with Guaiqueries de Margarita in Venezuela. Guaiqueries hasn't updated the news on their website in almost a year, so let's go with an excerpt from the story I linked to above, from Caracas newspaper, El Universal:

Forward Steven Thomas and guard-forward Mike Jones are the two new acquisitions to the roster playing on the island of Margarita. [...]

Jones, who reached an agreement with the team according to a report on the Prosports portal, played at the University of Maryland, where he was teammates with Venezuelan Greivis Vasquez, who now plays in the NBA.

Jones previously played with Argentine clubs Peñarol de Mar del Plata and Gimnasia de Comodoro Rivadavia.

Steve Blake Does Mixed Martial Arts

2011-04-01T20:00:00.004-04:00

When he's not playing basketball, Steve Blake (1999-2003) does Mixed Martial Arts training as part of his work-out routine.

Someone should have warned Jason Terry about that before last night's Lakers-Mavs game. (Picture)

Happy April Fools Day!

2011-04-01T17:50:00.003-04:00

Happy April Fools Day, Maryland fans! Hope you enjoyed the cats today! They're all from I Can Has Cheezburger. The next news item (Steve Blake and MMA) is for real.

In all fairness, at the bottom of this post from February, I warned you that I would do this someday. :)

The April Fools Day Starting Line-Up, in case you missed any:
Sarunas Catikevicius
Landon Meowborne
Ekene Ibekitty
DJ Catberry
James Hisssst

James Hisssst Demonstrates Shot Blocking Style

2011-04-01T15:50:00.003-04:00

James Hisssst demonstrates his shot blocking style:

Happy April Fools Day!

DJ Catberry Hangs Out With Testudo

2011-04-01T14:50:00.003-04:00

DJ Catberry hangs out with Testudo:

Happy April Fools Day!

Ekene Ibekitty Shows Off Basketball Agility

2011-04-01T13:50:00.003-04:00

Ekene Ibekitty shows off his great basketball agility:

Happy April Fools Day!

Landon Meowborne Goes Up For the Winning Shot

2011-04-01T12:50:00.004-04:00

Landon Meowborne goes up for the winning shot:

Happy April Fools Day!

Sarunas Catikevicius Shows Off His Moves

2011-04-01T11:50:00.001-04:00

Sarunas Catikevicius shows off his moves:

Happy April Fools Day!

Drew Nicholas Wins 3-Point Contest at Greek All-Star Game

2011-03-17T20:00:00.001-04:00

Drew Nicholas (1999-2003) won the 3 point shooting contest (translation at the Greek All-Star Game last weekend:

Drew Nicholas repeated last year's achievement in the three point competition, shooting as he does in the official games of Panathinaikos, and was proclaimed to be the leading three-point shooter.

The Panathinaikos guard reached 16 points in the first round of the competition. In the next round, he was in second behind Teontosits Milos (19) of Olympiakos. In the finals, Nicholas was the one who won, improving his performance and coming in with 17 points while his opponent scored 13.

(Is this just an excuse to post Panathinaikos's shamrock logo for St. Patrick's Day? Maybe.)

The Juan Dixon Comeback Begins

2011-03-13T15:24:00.000-04:00

Following the news that Juan Dixon (1998-2002) signed in Turkey last week, BallinEurope has a great story on Dixon and his comeback with Banvit. Excerpt:

Thanks to an injury suffered by Antonio Graves, Turkish side Banvit had been left with a hole in the depth chart at the no. 2 spot plus a free “foreign-born player” spot on the roster – an unfortunate situation for the team, but ultimately a serendipitous chance for Juan Dixon to return to professional basketball in a comeback bid. [...]

Though Dixon continued training during the one-year suspension and he returned to The Continent once the FIBA ban was lifted with seeming interest from Unicaja beckoning, no contract was signed until recently; Banvit officials announced the deal with Dixon on Thursday and the former Terp is expected to play in today’s game against Eurochallenge side Pinar Karşiyaka.

Juan Dixon is Back

2011-03-11T18:43:00.000-05:00

With his one-year FIBA suspension for a positive steroid test in the rear view mirror, Juan Dixon (1998-2002) is back playing basketball. Dixon signed this week to play for Banvit Basketbol Kulubu of Turkey's TBL. Banvit is currently tied for 2nd in the TBL, and is making a push to challenge the top team, Fenerbahce Ulker (home to Sarunas Jasikevicius) as the season comes down to the wire. Turkish sports site TajansSpor has as good a story as any on the signing (meaning that they're the only source I found that had more than two sentences copied from the newswire). (Google translation, with my own massaging of the translation below.) Plus, as a bonus, they have an action shot of Juan on a treadmill during his team physical.

An experienced player born in 1978, Dixon won an NCAA championship Maryland. After graduating from college, he played for the Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors, and Detroit Pistons NBA teams. Juan Dixon totaled 436 games during his NBA career and averaged 8.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists.

Dixon signed with Greek team Aris for the 2009-2010 season, then went to Unicaja Malaga in Spain. He now continues his career in Europe in the Beko Basketball League with Banvit BK.

BK general manager Turgay Çataloluk, is at Acibadem Hospital in London after the completion of health checks before the agreement could became official. "The inability of Antonio Graves to play shooting guard for a while because of injury hurt our team. At this point in the season, it is difficult to find quality players who can contribute immediately. But looking at Juan Dixon's career as a player, including his European experience, we think we might only need a short period of time to adapt to the regular season and play-off matches, and should quickly be a serious help to our team," he said.

Two Terps Moving On to Euroleague Quarterfinals

2011-03-03T21:36:00.001-05:00

The Euroleague Top 16 round ended today, and two of the four former Terps in the tournament will be going on to the quarterfinals.

Drew Nicholas (1999-2003) and his Greek team, Panathinaikos, finished 2nd in Group E with a 4-2 record. Nicholas averaged 12.3 points and 2 assists and shot 42% from 3-point range in the Top 16 stage. He led all scorers with 18 points in their final road game against Unicaja.

Terence Morris (1997-2001) and his Spanish team, Regal FC Barcelona, went undefeated in Group F. Morris averaged 7.5 points and 3 rebounds. Despite playing forward, Morris took only 10 2-point shots (70%) and 23 3-pointers (39%). Morris led his team with 19 points in a game 5 win over Maccabi Electra.

While it's great to see Nicholas and Morris make it on to the quarterfinals, only one of them can make the Final Four because their teams will now play each other in a best of 5 series between March 22 and April 6.

Elsewhere, DJ Strawberry (2003-07) and Lietuvos Rytas from Lithuania went 3-3 and finished 3rd in Group E. Strawberry averaged 6.6 points and 2.8 assists in 5 games.

Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98) and Fenerbahce Ulker from Turkey went 3-3 and finished 3rd in Group H. Jasikevicius averaged 4.8 points and 1.5 assists in 6 games.

James Gist (2004-08) and Partizan mt:s from Serbia went 1-5 and finished in 4th place in Group G. Gist averaged 9.3 points and 6.5 rebounds in 6 games. Those 6.5 rebounds per game was good enough for the 5th best rebounding average out of all players in the Top 16 round.

Joe Smith's Last Shot

2011-03-02T18:38:00.001-05:00

Hoopsworld interviewed NBA veteran and former Terp Joe Smith (1993-95) about how he hopes to end his career with an NBA Championship with the Lakers. Smith has played for 12 different NBA teams in 16 seasons (including 7 teams in just the last 4 seasons) and crossed the 1000 game threshold last March.

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

"I'm ready to win a championship, forget just a playoff game or a playoff series," Smith told HOOPSWORLD. "I've won some series in my career, but I've never had the chance to get to that final series. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting there and getting crowned champs." [...]

"It's much different," Smith said about his experience in L.A. "I'm not teaching young kids how to play and what to do out there because we've got enough veterans on this team that have been through a lot of wars. They know what it takes to win, and that mindset is totally different. [...]

Smith has never won a championship or even played in an NBA Finals, and with his time running out this could be his last shot at it. He might not be the contributor he once was, but it seems like every postseason there's a veteran that helps win a game for his team. That could be Smith's role. He just hopes that game comes in the Finals.

Nik Caner-Medley is the Spanish MVP for February

2011-03-01T18:38:00.000-05:00

Nik Caner-Medley (2002-06) has been named the Spanish ACB league's MVP (translation) for the month of February. During last month, Caner-Medley averaged 20 points and 7.6 rebounds per game to lead Madrid's Asefa Estudiantes, which won all 3 ACB league games in February. (They also played games in the Eurocup tournament during the month, just so you don't think they're slacking off only playing 3 games in four weeks.)

Quotes from the story:

"I think we're playing very well as a team both in Eurocup and ACB. And I think our defense is getting stronger. The team is very focused," said American power forward.

In addition, Nik Caner-Medley prefers to play down his nomination for best player of the month of February, getting recognition for the second time in his ACB career, including May of last season. "Being 'MVP' is only important if the team wins," he said.

European teams compute a player rating for every game that takes a players complete stats into account (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, fouls, etc.). When the story says that Nik averaged 26.7, that's his rating they're talking about. Anything over 20 is a very high rating for a player to achieve in a game.

Eric Hayes is Now in Lithuania

2011-02-28T20:47:00.000-05:00

Eric Hayes (2006-10) was released by his Spanish team, Leche Rio Breogan Lugo, last week, and subsequently signed with Neptunas Klaipeda in Lithuania. From the team's press release (translation):

Neptunas Klaipeda has added the 23 year old, 193 cm tall, point guard Eric Hayes. Beginning tomorrow, the seaport town will have a basketball player who has signed a contract until the end of the season.

The American's 2010/11 season started in Spain in the second tier LEB Gold league with Lugo's "Leche Rio" Breogan team. With Breogan, Hayes averaged 22.3 minutes, 8.9 points, 2 assists, and 1.9 rebounds per game.

Parrish Brown Playing for Chicago in ABA

2011-02-17T07:28:00.002-05:00

I can't find a news story to link to, but Parrish Brown (2005-07) is now playing for the Chicago Storm of the ABA roster here). Brown was originally from Chicago before coming to Maryland as a Junior College transfer in 2005.

Ekene Ibekwe Back in Germany

2011-02-16T07:12:00.000-05:00

Ekene Ibekwe (2003-07) started the season in Germany, then moved to Israel in late December. Now, Ibekwe is back in Germany (translation) with BBC-Bayreuth. From the team's press release:

On Thursday evening, Ibekwe came from Israel to Bayreuth, and on Friday morning passed his physical exam. The first practice with the team followed in the afternoon. "I am delighted to be back in Germany and hope I can help the team in the battle for the league title. I am very happy to play for the team and the fans and I hope that I can help on defense, under the basket, and also on offense."

"We hope that Ekene Ibekwe can help in our situation, and give the team more depth after the loss of Koko Archibong. He has proven his capabilities playing in Quakenbrück and we hope he can bring his services to BBC," said BBC manager Uli Eichbaum. Coach Andreas Wagner added, "We had to play the last few weeks with no real power forward. Pete Campbell has done a good job filling this gap as well as he could. We got in Ekene Ibekwe a very good player who can hopefully help us quickly. We expect him to to quickly integrate into the team. He is just the player who was missing from our team.

In his previous stint in the German BBL with Quakenbrück's Artland Dragons earlier this season, Ibekwe had averaged 8.9 points and 5.7 rebounds.

Juan Dixon Ready to Return to Playing Overseas

2011-02-11T22:41:00.001-05:00

It has been exactly one year since Juan Dixon (1998-2002) received a one-year suspension from FIBA for steroid use on February 11, 2010, and Dixon is ready to go back to play in Europe again (scroll down to the second half of the story for the part about Dixon), and he will probably have several teams bidding for his services.

"I'm excited," Dixon told HOOPSWORLD in a phone interview. "It's been a long year and throughout everything, I've just tried to work as hard as I could so that I would stay in the best shape possible. That's pretty much all I've been doing. The suspension is over on Saturday so I'm able to play anytime after that and I'm looking forward to it. I'm very excited. I've been counting down the days. I'm tired of being here in Baltimore and I'm really looking forward to playing basketball."

While Dixon will definitely be returning overseas, he has yet to determine which team he will sign with. Many teams have expressed interest in his services, including his former team Unicaja Malaga, but he is still weighing his options. [...]

One option that Dixon and his agent, Terrance Doyle, strongly considered was entering the NBA Development League Draft. In fact, Dixon had all but decided to take that route before running into an unexpected obstacle.

"If I had played in the NBA Development League, my suspension in Europe would have started over," Dixon explained. "Just in case things didn't work out as planned in the D-League, I just wanted to make sure that I kept my options open. That's why I decided not to go there."

Updates from March 11-13, 2011: Dixon signs with Turkey's Banvit and a story about his comeback.

Baxter and Strawberry Score Wins in Contract Arbitration

2011-02-07T07:20:00.000-05:00

One of the problems of playing overseas is that the teams often have financial difficulties and fail to pay the players, particularly when the team knows that a foreign player may not have the time and patience to go through the local courts to sue the team. In recent years, FIBA has instituted the FIBA Arbitral Tribunal system to help players and teams arbitrate contract problems. The New York Times had a recent story about the tribunal system, starring Lonny Baxter (1998-2002) and DJ Strawberry (2003-07) as two players who have won in arbitration with their former teams. Baxter succeeded in getting his paid owed contract money from his former Turkish team through the program, but Strawberry has still gone unpaid because the Italian team that owes him is broke. Excerpts:

Receiving a late paycheck is an accepted reality for many American basketball players working overseas.

For the former N.B.A. player Lonny Baxter, when Besiktas ColaTurka Istanbul, his Turkish team for the 2009-10 season, owed him $120,000 after not paying him for three months, he did not take it lightly.

Baxter, 32, knew that Besiktas would be late for some payments, but, he said, “I didn’t think it would be as bad as it was once I got there.”

So Baxter and his agents exercised an arbitration clause that has helped several American players resolve labor disputes in foreign countries. The F.A.T. clause, which stands for FIBA Arbitral Tribunal, is a voluntary legal proceeding that agents are now demanding to have included in their players’ contracts with international teams.

“Clubs tend to not respect the contracts they make,” said Dirk-Reiner Martens, a longtime legal adviser to FIBA, which oversees international basketball. [...]

Other players are not repaid as quickly. The former Maryland player D. J. Strawberry was owed more than $250,000 by the Italian team Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna before a knee injury ended his season. An F.A.T. arbitrator awarded him $272,583.27 and interest in September. But Fortitudo, which is thought to be almost $11 million in debt, is not playing in Italy’s professional Serie A this season. Rade Filipovich, the president of BDA Sports International and Strawberry’s agent at the time, said his agency had no option but to wait until Fortitudo returned to Serie A in order to reclaim Strawberry’s money.

Baxter is currently playing for Siberian team Enisey Krasnoyarsk in the Russian Superleague, and Strawberry is playing for Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania.

Checking in with JD Walsh

2011-02-06T07:24:00.003-05:00

I wrote about former Terp John "JD" Walsh (1991-93) and his international basketball diplomacy a year ago, but the blog's readership has grown a lot since then and some of you might not be acquainted with Walsh's overseas work. It was one of my favorite stories from this blog from 2010, so I'm happy to find an excuse to revisit it.

Indian sports website SportsKeeda has a nice story on JD Walsh and an interview that will update the people who know JD's story and introduce the story to new readers:

In the past four years, Walsh has been all over India. Places he’s been include and are not limited to, Delhi, Kashmir, Mumbai, Punjab, Pune, Chennai, Kerala, Maharashtra, Noida, Kolkata and Mizoram. Its an understatement to say that he travels often. [...]

For him, New York and Mumbai are two places he considers as home. They say home is where the heart is. His heart was given to basketball and humanity a long time ago. Yes, the two do go hand in hand sometimes. See, when he holds a basketball camp for underprivileged orphans for CHINAR (Child nurture and relief) in Kashmir, he also shines a spotlight on their plight making it visible around the globe. It helps to attract donations for their cause.

You can follow JD's travels and work on Twitter @JDBasketball, and learn much more about Walsh's international work by going back and reading last year's blog story about him.

Jerome Burney: Personal Trainer in Atlanta

2011-02-04T07:10:00.002-05:00

Patrick Stevens from D1scourse caught up with Atlanta-area native Jerome Burney (2007-10) at the Maryland-Georgia Tech game last weekend and learned what Burney has been up to since graduating last spring:

Still, the upbeat Burney --- decked out in a Maryland warmup shirt from last year --- is putting his kinesiology degree to good use. He's working as a personal trainer for guys attending his old high school --- Westlake High.

"I'm training out of my old high school," Burney said. "I've got a guy who plays football and is looking for a school to go to, trying to walk on since he really didn't have that much time. After the basketball season is over, I'll train some of the guys on the basketball team as well."

James Gist's Euroleague Interview

2011-02-03T07:10:00.003-05:00

James Gist (2004-08) has become one of the breakout stars of the Euroleague tournament this season, and he was chosen for this week's featured interview on the league's site. In Gist's interview, he talks about adapting to the European game, the outlook for his team, Partizan mt:s, and the absurdly high energy level of the fans in Belgrade Serbia:

One thing I have always considered myself to be is a high-energy player who gets the fans going. It's been that way since I was a kid. At the University of Maryland, we had the wildest fans in America, 18,000 every night. If I could get a block or a dunk to make them wilder, I tried to do that. But it’s not about the dunk: it's about using that to get the crowd involved so you can win, which is so much more important. I feel if you get the crowd alive - with a steal, a block, a fastbreak or whatever - and that gets your teammates going, it can only help the team. [...]

As much as I love the fans in Maryland, because they give their all every game, Belgrade has to be the craziest place ever to play in. I had Maryland before this, and even in Biella the fans were packed into a small gyms, 4,000 of them making noise the whole game. But Belgrade is on a whole different level. I can't describe it. The fans here want to win it for you. With the energy coming from 22,000 people like that, they're practically on the court with us. They love the game more than we do; they just can't play.

Jin Soo Choi Drafted in Korea

2011-02-02T07:21:00.011-05:00

Jin Soo Choi (2008-10), who left Maryland last January to return to South Korea, was drafted third in the Korean Basketball League amateur draft and will play for the Daegu Orions next season:

Forward Choi Jin-soo, who played two seasons with the University of Maryland Terrapins, was selected third overall by the Daegu Orions. Choi has the distinction of being the first Korean to play NCAA Division I basketball but parted ways with the Terrapins in January 2010 after failing to keep up with his classes.

The offensively gifted forward will be coached by his estranged biological father and Orions head coach Kim Uyoo-tak. Choi’s parents divorced when he was an infant and he changed his last name from Kim to Choi in May of 2009 to acknowledge his stepfather.

“I’m not in game shape just yet but I’ll prepare for my professional debut one step at a time,” said Choi. “I don’t feel uncomfortable about playing for my father. I’m concerned that it might affect other players on the team but my priority is to perform my absolute best.”

Celebrating Five Years of Stalking the Terps

2011-02-01T00:15:00.101-05:00

I don't usually celebrate milestones, but five years ago today, on February 1, 2006, I started posting everything I knew about former Maryland basketball players playing in the NBA, playing overseas, and coaching. I had been searching the web for former players, compiled a list of links, and planned to just post them to one of those newfangled blogs, one at a time, once a day, until I ran out of material. And, on February 25th, I indeed ran out of things to post and went on vacation, unsure if I would keep up with this blog or not. I figured maybe after a few months of inactivity, I'd just turn this into a blog with funny pictures of my cat (yeah, that would have been stupid and unprofitable). My hiatus lasted about a month, and I've been posting about the Terps regularly ever since.

It started with a question that, if my site's search term stats are any indication, is the same question that many of you have asked yourselves a few seconds before you arrived at this blog for the first time: "What ever happened to Exree Hipp?" And while I never quite satisfactorily answered that, the question did lead me to search for all the other former players.

Part of my philosophy in starting the blog was that we root hard for players for four years, and we shouldn't forget them or stop rooting for them after they graduate. Once a Terp, always a Terp. It used to be that if players didn't make the NBA, they just disappeared from everyone's radar, only occasionally reappearing at the Midnight Madness alumni game or the rare Where Are They Now? story in the paper. It's hard to root for someone who plays in Serbia or Lithuania when there is no news in English. But Google search and translation has made it more accessible for me to do the work and you to follow along with me.

About half the visitors here come through Google searches for former players. (Yes, Exree Hipp is usually in the top 10, but other players cycle in and out of the top spots; Bambale Osby was #1 last month.) Mostly it's Maryland fans, but also a fair number from Europe who are just fans of our players. And there are plenty of regulars that stop by when there's a new story up, and double that amount if a bigger website links here.

A big thanks to Testudo Times and the Baltimore Sun for being those "bigger websites" that link here the most. And thanks to everyone who put this blog in their blog-rolls or posted links to my stories, especially D1scourse, Shell Games, and TerrapinStats.com, who have sent a lot of people my way over the years. And if you have a Terps blog and you're not in my blog roll, it's just because I don't know about you yet, so send me an e-mail.

So... another 5 years? Sure. Why not. Or maybe I'll just start posting cat pictures one day, slap up some ads, and become rich enough to quit my day job.

In the meantime, you should all be following and re-tweeting my Twitter feed, @MDBballWATN, and "like"ing the blog's Facebook page.

Go Terps (past, present, and future)!

Nik Caner-Medley Makes the Eurocup Top 16

2011-01-29T16:20:00.000-05:00

This month, I have paid a lot of attention to all the Terps playing in the Euroleague Top 16. But there's another continent-wide tournament going on right now in Europe: the Eurocup. The Eurocup is the second-tier tournament in Europe, where teams qualify based on their previous season's accomplishments in their national leagues and tournaments. The Eurocup winner is invited to participate in the following year's Euroleague.

This year, Nik Caner-Medley's (2002-06) team, Asefa Estudiantes of Madrid, Spain, has reached the Eurocup's Top 16 stage, where they are currently 2-0 atop Group K. Nik is averaging 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game so far in the tournament. Here's Estudiantes' Eurocup club profile and Nik Caner-Medley's Eurocup player profile.

Ryan Randle in France

2011-01-28T20:04:00.000-05:00

Ryan Randle (2001-03) has signed in France with NM1 league team Orchesien BC (a.k.a. BCO or Orchy). Randle played well in his first game (translation), scoring 10 points.

NM1 (Nationale Masculine 1) is the third-tier league in France's basketball league heirarchy, below ProA and ProB, and I think it could be called a semi-pro league.

DJ Strawberry replaces Sarunas in Lithuania

2011-01-20T06:54:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Lithuanian powerhouse Lietuvos Rytas cut ties with Sarunas Jasikevicius shortly after he led them to qualifying for the Euroleague Top 16. Sarunas moved on to Fenerbahce Ulker, another Euroleague contender from Turkey, but Lietuvos Rytas has been having trouble moving on, going through several replacements for Sarunas, but not finding the right fit.

But this week, Lietuvos Rytas signed a new American guard to replace Sarunas: one DJ Strawberry (2003-07). Did you know that this young man is actually the son of former baseball player Darryl Strawberry? It's true! And all news stories about DJ are obligated to mention this little factoid!

Lietuvos Rytas addressed a need for backcourt depth with the signing of D.J. Strawberry for the remainder of the season. Strawberry (193, 25) arrives from Reno of the NBDL, where he averaged 13.9 points and 2.6 assists over 20 games this season. This marks his second stint in Europe after starting the 2008-09 season with Fortitudo Bologna. He averaged 14.7 points in six Eurocup games, including a 29-point effort in the season opener, but his time in Italy was cut short by a knee injury. Strawberry has been in the spotlight throughout his career. His father is former Major League Baseball All-Star Darryl Strawberry [...]

In their opening game (a loss) of the Euroleague Top 16, Strawberry had not yet joined the team in Lithuania, but Drew Nicholas scored 10 points for the winning team, Panathinaikos. Yes, Strawberry and Nicholas will be competing in the same Top 16 group of four teams. And, when his suspension is over, Juan Dixon could be back with his old team, Unicaja, in the same group.

Sarunas Jasikevicius Euroleague Hightlights

2011-01-14T19:00:00.013-05:00

Wrapping up this week with the fourth Terp in the Euroleague Top 16, it's four-time Euroleague Champion, Sarunas Jasikevicius (1994-98). Jasikevicus helped his Lithuanian team, Lietuvos Rytas, advance to the Top 16 this year, including these video highlights of him getting a double-double in a game against his former team (and Terence Morris's current team), FC Barcelona. Jasikevicius is #22 in red and black, and Morris is #23 in... whatever the hell that color is.

But as soon as the Euroleague regular season wrapped up, he was cut by Lietuvos Rytas. Jasikevicius quickly signed with Fenerbahce Ulker of Istanbul, Turkey, which also advanced to the Top 16. So Sarunas plays on, as related in this news video, which is also full of his season and career highlight footage. (You'll have to sit through a 20 second commercial for the tournament on this video. Jasikevicius is #22 in gray in most of the video.)

Click here for Jasikevicius's Euroleague stats and profile.

Terence Morris Euroleague Highlights

2011-01-13T19:00:00.004-05:00

Continuing with the Euroleague highlight videos this week, here's Terence Morris (1997-2001), playing his second season with the defending Euroleague champions, Regal FC Barcelona.

In this Block of the Night, Morris (#23 in blue) bats down the ball and keeps it in bounds to his teammate, Ricky Rubio.

And in this Play of the Night, Morris gets behind the defense and everybody loses track of him as he goes up for the alley-oop jam.

Click here for Morris's Euroleague stats and profile.