illmatic88
Member
Hello everybody. It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted. Looks like I've missed quite alot. First off, congrats to Riyadi for the title. Tough luck for Mouttahed. Hope the competition will be even better next year.
The rumors about the offseason signings seem to be indicating that. If Sagesse can get Jean Abdelnour then they have their 1,2 and 3 spots set. Also, if they sign with Matt Freije then they'll only need a good 5 and that's a team that can contend for the title and Asian Club Championships for sure.
Anybody know if LBC or any other channel will be broadcasting the exhibition games for the NT prior to the Olympic Qualifiers?
assad06 - Yes FIBA decided to extend the 3 point line
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/24352/arti.html
25-26 April 2008
All below-mentioned rules will come into effect as of 1st October 2008, i.e. after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
PR N°25 - Art. 2.2.4 Three-point field goal area
The distance of the three-point line shall be 6,75 m (and not 6,25 m as present).
Haven't had much time to post between university and work. Final exams coming up so I just wanted to post a few articles I typed out while I got some free time about 2 imports we had this year in the league, Kevin Johnson and Derrick Tarver, in case someone was interested.
I stumbled upon these articles just a few hours ago by accident. After Leon Powe's great performance today, I decided to re-read an article about him printed back in the April 2003 issue of SLAM Magazine #68. After flipping through the pages I found a small article about Tarver then just one page back there was another about Kevin. AND ONLY 2 more pages back another mention of former Riyadi player Scotty Thurman and his past NCAA heroics. Small world indeed. ( They also mention that Anderson Hunt who was the NCAA Tournament MVP back in '89 played in Lebanon. Anybody remember him?)
Anyway here they are:
HEART AND SOUL by Ryan Jones
Motivation is never a problem for Derrick Tarver. When the U. of Akron junior needs a spark, he need only remember how quickly the game could be taken away from him. The Akron native spent his first two college seasons blowing up the JuCo ranks in Texas and California, averaging 28 and 31 ppg. Choosing a return to his hometown over offers from Fresno State and Texas Tech, Tarver got a scare when his twin brother, Darren, suffered a heart attack last May. In the midst of making his own D1 mark at George Mason, Darren found his playing days were over. Tests showed signs of the same condition in Derrick, but after having a defibrillator implanted in October and getting a clean bill of health, he joined the Zips for the ’02-’03 season. “For a minute, I thought I wouldn’t be able to play,” Derrick says. “That’s why I work so hard. I dedicated my season to my brother. I’m just fortunate.”
So are the Zips. Through their first 12 games, the 6-4 Tarver was averaging 24 ppg. “What I’m doing now doesn’t surprise me,” he says. “ My whole life, I’ve been underrated. I just keep working.” With motivation like that, the work comes easy.
HOMEGAME by Ben Osborne
Tulsa senior Kevin Johnson may have the bloodlines for football, but the Golden Hurricanes are thankful he chose hoops. "My father (Marshall Johnson, a Baltimore Colt in the mid 70's) was in the NFL for a couple of years, but he saw the ugly side of football with injuries and politics." tells Johnson, considered by some the most underrated player in the country. "So when my brothers and I took to basketball instead, he was very supportive of that."
Johnson’s folks were supportive all around, home schooling Kevin from fourth grade through high school. For hoops, the Houston-area native linked up with a team of fellow home-schoolers from the region, and he also did the AAU thing. “The experience was the same as playing for a private school, and I went to a lot of camps, so I don’t feel like my basketball upbringing was any different than most top players,” explains the 6-8, 222-pound forward.
Johnson was certainly recruited like a top player, and he couldn’t be happier with his choice. After a redshirt season in ’98-’99, Johnson has steadily increased his importance to the ultra-solid Tulsa program, lifting his per-game scoring average each year to this season’s 17.2, which looks lovely next to his 7.4 rpg and 2.0 bpg through mid-January. “As a team, we feel it’s obvious that we can play with any team in the country,” Johnson says. “And I’m at the point where – whether people know who I am or not – I can play with any forward in the country”
Just found it interesting that Bassel Bawji, who daniab has been updating us on, is also a Houston-area player (Lebanese of course) who will be playing for Tulsa. And Bassel's height and weight? 6-foot-8 inches, 225-pounds of course
. Pretty similar to Kevin wouldn't you say 
The rumors about the offseason signings seem to be indicating that. If Sagesse can get Jean Abdelnour then they have their 1,2 and 3 spots set. Also, if they sign with Matt Freije then they'll only need a good 5 and that's a team that can contend for the title and Asian Club Championships for sure.
Anybody know if LBC or any other channel will be broadcasting the exhibition games for the NT prior to the Olympic Qualifiers?
assad06 - Yes FIBA decided to extend the 3 point line
http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/24352/arti.html
25-26 April 2008
All below-mentioned rules will come into effect as of 1st October 2008, i.e. after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
PR N°25 - Art. 2.2.4 Three-point field goal area
The distance of the three-point line shall be 6,75 m (and not 6,25 m as present).
Haven't had much time to post between university and work. Final exams coming up so I just wanted to post a few articles I typed out while I got some free time about 2 imports we had this year in the league, Kevin Johnson and Derrick Tarver, in case someone was interested.
I stumbled upon these articles just a few hours ago by accident. After Leon Powe's great performance today, I decided to re-read an article about him printed back in the April 2003 issue of SLAM Magazine #68. After flipping through the pages I found a small article about Tarver then just one page back there was another about Kevin. AND ONLY 2 more pages back another mention of former Riyadi player Scotty Thurman and his past NCAA heroics. Small world indeed. ( They also mention that Anderson Hunt who was the NCAA Tournament MVP back in '89 played in Lebanon. Anybody remember him?)
Anyway here they are:
HEART AND SOUL by Ryan Jones
Motivation is never a problem for Derrick Tarver. When the U. of Akron junior needs a spark, he need only remember how quickly the game could be taken away from him. The Akron native spent his first two college seasons blowing up the JuCo ranks in Texas and California, averaging 28 and 31 ppg. Choosing a return to his hometown over offers from Fresno State and Texas Tech, Tarver got a scare when his twin brother, Darren, suffered a heart attack last May. In the midst of making his own D1 mark at George Mason, Darren found his playing days were over. Tests showed signs of the same condition in Derrick, but after having a defibrillator implanted in October and getting a clean bill of health, he joined the Zips for the ’02-’03 season. “For a minute, I thought I wouldn’t be able to play,” Derrick says. “That’s why I work so hard. I dedicated my season to my brother. I’m just fortunate.”
So are the Zips. Through their first 12 games, the 6-4 Tarver was averaging 24 ppg. “What I’m doing now doesn’t surprise me,” he says. “ My whole life, I’ve been underrated. I just keep working.” With motivation like that, the work comes easy.
HOMEGAME by Ben Osborne
Tulsa senior Kevin Johnson may have the bloodlines for football, but the Golden Hurricanes are thankful he chose hoops. "My father (Marshall Johnson, a Baltimore Colt in the mid 70's) was in the NFL for a couple of years, but he saw the ugly side of football with injuries and politics." tells Johnson, considered by some the most underrated player in the country. "So when my brothers and I took to basketball instead, he was very supportive of that."
Johnson’s folks were supportive all around, home schooling Kevin from fourth grade through high school. For hoops, the Houston-area native linked up with a team of fellow home-schoolers from the region, and he also did the AAU thing. “The experience was the same as playing for a private school, and I went to a lot of camps, so I don’t feel like my basketball upbringing was any different than most top players,” explains the 6-8, 222-pound forward.
Johnson was certainly recruited like a top player, and he couldn’t be happier with his choice. After a redshirt season in ’98-’99, Johnson has steadily increased his importance to the ultra-solid Tulsa program, lifting his per-game scoring average each year to this season’s 17.2, which looks lovely next to his 7.4 rpg and 2.0 bpg through mid-January. “As a team, we feel it’s obvious that we can play with any team in the country,” Johnson says. “And I’m at the point where – whether people know who I am or not – I can play with any forward in the country”
Just found it interesting that Bassel Bawji, who daniab has been updating us on, is also a Houston-area player (Lebanese of course) who will be playing for Tulsa. And Bassel's height and weight? 6-foot-8 inches, 225-pounds of course
. Pretty similar to Kevin wouldn't you say 
