Preseason in Italy

Hey everyone how is it going? I thought I’d take the time to give everyone an update from the tournament last weekend in Italy. I originally wanted to do a day by day blog while I was out there but internet ended up being a little too expensive (10 Euros for 4 hours) so I just kept a day by day diary.


Bormio, Italy Day 1:

We started the day by meeting at the gym at 9:30am. From there we packed 10 players, 2 coaches, and 2 staff members into 2 mini buses. Before I go any further I have to say that the French version of a mini bus is not the same as what us Americans would consider a mini bus. You are probably thinking of something like a short bus or something that is suitable to carry a good amount of people. Well that wasn’t the case! These mini buses were more like Scooby-Doo hippie vans. Now try to imagine 10 basketball players trying to fit into these little vans. We somehow managed to get everyone into these tight vans but the real task was surviving the 8 hour drive to Bormio, Italy. Let’s just say that it was a real struggle for everyone throughout the trip. However on the bright side, it was one of the most beautiful drives I ever seen. It’s hard to explain but we drove along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, along the edge of the mountain overlooking everything. It was just gorgeous, what an amazing view. Of course I had to forget to pack my camera so I wasn’t able to take any pictures for you all.

We finally arrived to our final destination a little after 6pm. After settling into our rooms, we had practice at 7pm. It was just a light practice, just to get our body moving and get our legs stretched out. Practice only lasted about an hour and after that we had dinner at the hotel and then it was lights out for me. I was exhausted and excited to be lying in the bed.

Bormio, Italy Day 2:

 Day 2 would be game day but also would be the first time seeing Bormio during the day. It is a small community up in the mountains and is one of the most beautiful small towns I have ever seen. I know I keep using the word beautiful but seriously everything was. The room I was staying in had a mountain view. I could open up the patio door and see everything, it was nice. If you’re interested I am sure you can Google Bormio and find some pictures so you can get an idea of where I was at.

 Anyway we started with breakfast at 9am followed by morning practice at 10. For practice, we just ran through some of our plays and put up some shots. After that we had lunch at the hotel and then we were on our own till game time. The game was scheduled for 5:45pm against a team from Turkey. This game was a great test for us as we were playing against a team who will be competing in the Euro league. For those of you who don’t know, the Euro league is a big deal in Europe basketball and is the prime league to play in and where the money is at. I hope to be playing for an Euro league team next season if I’m not playing back in the states! But back to the game, we won by 20 points. It was kind of a surprise but shouldn’t have been for this team. We played well together and played great team ball. I said this before but we have so many different options that I think it’s going to be hard for teams to match-up against us. The Turkey team tried switching to zone defense hoping to slow us down but we just picked that apart. The funny thing is that we haven’t even worked on our zone offense yet this season. There wasn’t any set plays or anything, coach just let us play and we just naturally clicked on offense. After the game we all felt pretty good about ourselves and we’re feeling optimistic about this upcoming season. I think a lot of the guys including myself are excited about some of the things we can accomplish as a team this season. HTV isn’t considered one of the big teams in France but I know we’re going to surprise some teams this year. All of us already have the playoffs in the back of our mind but we know we need to keep working hard and let things play out.

 From a personal standpoint from the game, I would say I played well, played an all around game. I did a little bit of everything; scoring, rebounding, steals, and assists. I didn’t get to see any stats after the game so I don’t have any numbers to provide you with. This will be it for day 2, time for some sleep.

 Bormio, Italy Day 3:

 We started the day the same as the day before, breakfast followed by practice. Tonight game was at 8pm so we had a little more time to ourselves today. After morning practice a couple of my teammates and I took a stroll through the downtown area. There was nothing too exciting about the downtown area, just a bunch of shopping places and café everywhere. It was cool just to get out walking around chatting with the teammates.

 The game tonight was against a team from Russia. By the way none of the teams competing in this tournament are from Italy; all the teams are from a different country. I thought this was weird considering we’re playing in Italy. The team we played against tonight had a couple of former NBA players such as Gerald Green and JR Brimmer on their roster. I thought it would be a great match-up for me to go against Green but instead I had to spend my time chasing after their 3 point specialist. That was not cool, tonight was one of those time I didn’t feel like chasing after anyone, especially through tons and tons of screens. The guy I was going against was a good shooter, he was able to get off a couple of threes but that was it for him. The game was played at a fast pace, just up and down the court. Both teams kept going back and forth at each other but we were able to control the lead most of the game. Well that is until the last minute of the game. With about 30 seconds to go in the game and their shot clock was winding down, they threw up a desperate 3 point shot by their post player and it went in. We missed our shot on the other end and they won the game by 5 points. As a team we missed a lot of easy lay-ups and free throws which allowed them to stay in the game. It was a tough loss to take but at the same time we understood it was our fault. Again there wasn’t any stats sheet after the game so again I don’t have any numbers to share with you. Day 3 is over with, my body is feeling sore and it is definitely time for some sleep and hope I can recover for tomorrow game.

Bormio, Italy Day 4:

 The start to this day would be a little rough. My body was pretty sore, it was like every movement I made I felt some kind of pain. Coach gave us the morning off so there was no practice and felt good to sleep in a little. I did get up for some breakfast but quickly made my way back to bed.

 Our game would be at 5:45pm against another team from Turkey. This would be our third game in 48 hours so you can imagine that everyone just wanted to get this game over with. Our bodies were just hurting and playing another game was the last thing we wanted right now. You would think the other team is feeling the same way but we’re the only team in this tournament to play 3 straight games in 3 days. Not to make any excuses but some of these teams have been out here for a week or more and only played 2 games. Anyway we got off to a fast start and to a 20 points lead in the first quarter. After that I think everyone thought we could just ride it out and conserve our energy. We became less aggressive and they became more aggressive; they were able to get back into the game and trim our lead down to two points at half time. We tried to make a strong push at it again in the second half but they just kept fighting keeping the game close. We were able to maintain the lead throughout the second half until the last minute. Again we lost the game in the last minute. This time coach wasn’t so happy with our play but it is what it is. We talked it out and that was the end of it. Even though we lost the last two games in the last two minutes, I felt we had a good tournament. We played against some good competition and I know we’ll be more than ready when the season starts. We will be staying one more night and then making the long drive back to France early tomorrow morning. Our next tournament will be 3 games again Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Paris. Our first game will be against Vichy again so I’ll be looking forward to that game. I will post again after that trip but until next time love, peace, and happiness.