Jan 18, 2009

Seven in a row, the hard way!


Hello Everyone,

For the seven people that voted for “more pictures and less stories” this might not be the post for you this week! I’ll start with this week’s game since it was a low key week.

The Game

We made the five hour trip to Poznan, which is a fairly big city. The bus was nice this time with a mini flat screen and some Vegas style neon lights on the inside. Of course since we splurged on the bus we had to stay at a hotel that was built before they knew how to construct balconies or have internet. The room had a door for the balcony, but there was maybe 1 foot of space. Drew labeled it as the suicide balcony because that is the only thing you could have accomplished off of it.

PBG is a team that is struggling in the league. They are 6-13 I believe, which is crazy to me because they have some talent on that team. They have 3 solid big men, a strong 3, and 2 solid guards. We jumped on them very early going up by 17 at half. We played great D in the first half and were making a lot of our shots. We like to play in bigger arenas. This was a nice sized arena that resembled Illinois University’s gym. They had very little fans that showed up. In fact I think the kotwica fans outnumber them or at least were 2 times louder. Thanks a lot to the all the fans that made the trip and supported us.

The second half was a very different story. I think the refs made a decision at halftime to let PBG get back in the game. I’m not a player that blames refs for wins or loses very often, but it definitely looked like these refs had some money on the game and needed to cover the spread. I will just throw out a couple numbers and you can make a pretty solid judgment. They shot 43 free throws, they called over 40 fouls total, and we had 2 guys foul out and 2 more with 4 fouls. On top of that I received my first technical ever (I think). I know I did not have any at butler or last year. Apparently he thought I insulted him, which was not the case at all. I told him I was pushed with a curse word before it, and he took it as I was calling him something else. When Thomas went over to talk to him about it apparently the ref said “why are you guys so mad? You’re winning, and you have won a ton of games all ready”. That is just amazing that he would actually say that. That is enough on the refs as we escaped with a four point win so I will take it.

It was a very balanced scoring with 5 players in double digits. I led the team with 13 points (2-3, 1-2 (3’s) 6-7 (foul line), and a couple assists. I hit 4 free throws at the end to seal the game for us. I have to lead the league in four point plays (making the three pointer and getting fouled) as I had another one this game. That would bring my total to 5 or 6 which is pretty good.

There were a couple positives from the game. We are 100% again. Skip had an effective game and looks like his finger is healed, while dawid also was very effective in his minutes having some finishes down low and hitting a three. Drew held the leading scorer in the league well below his average.

We play on the road again on Wednesday, shooting for our eighth straight win!

Since not much happened during the week I figured I would respond to the questions of comparing the Swedish league vs. the polish league in my opinion.

The easy answer right away would be the polish league is stronger. I feel the main reason for this is because how many Americans are allowed to play. In Sweden a team can only have 2, I believe in Poland you can have 4 or maybe more. I’m not saying American players are better then polish players, but I think when you allow more Americans it strengthens the whole league because of the effect it has from brining them in. The more Americans allowed means less spots for polish players, if teams bring them in, which means polish players must fight for the remaining spots. This makes them better as they are improving there game to take those spots (Hopefully that makes some sense).

A big difference in the two leagues is I see Sweden as more of a guard league, where I see Poland as more of a big man league. There are a lot more 6’10” (208 in Europe) and up players in Poland where it was rare to have that in Sweden. A lot of the five men in Sweden I would compare to G. Reese from AZS.

As far as the gyms go in the two countries they are very similar, smaller gyms with a lot of fans in them. In NCAA the gyms were all much bigger. Most gyms were the size of Anwil if not bigger. At butler the gym could hold somewhere around 11,000 people. I think the polish fans cheer louder and bring more noise makers to the games (which I like). I also think polish fans have a lot more songs and victory cheers. I didn’t hear anyone singing at the games in Sweden (no Sialala lalalala). I think the one big difference from the NCAA is when the home team is shooting free throws everyone is quiet. Where here they are clapping or banging the drums during free throws.

Hopefully that gives you some in sight into the two leagues from my view point. I can’t pick one league over the other because the fans in Sodertalje were very kind and seem to appreciate my game, where as the fans in Kotwica have also showed the same support!!

I was wondering if someone could help me out on where these two restaurants are as I would like to test them out and give you my feed back "dramat" "brovaria". Also I have eaten at the grill house a couple times now and it is one of my favorites.

Until next time!

“Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal”

This is BC gone for now

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brandon,

way to go on 7 in a row! :)

great action pic of ya.

don't worry about the technical foul.

Big Al

SADO said...

This technical foul was just from ass. Referees sucks yesterday.

Anonymous said...

brovaria and dramat are places in Poznań. very sorry, that you missed the chance to try them.

2 questions to you:
1)do you like these drums when free throwing?
2)did you hear when we were shouting your name before you were doing last free throws?

eM

Anonymous said...

We want another win on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!
It is not important how you do it but just win it..8th in a row....we want medal....Kotwica we believe "sialalalalalala kocham tylko Kotwice!!!!"""""""

SADO said...

Yeah Kotwica on 95th place in www.eurobasket.com rank. First time in history. Kotwica 95, Prokom 67, Polpharma 75.

Anonymous said...

to sano. its not first time kotwica is in ranking. during this season we already did.

take care S.

SADO said...

No we didnt dud3. Not this one. I am watching eurobasket all the time and i know Kotwica wasnt there.

Bcrone said...

that stinks i missed those places as well, as for the drums i don't mind them, i will make the free throws anyway!! and i did hear my name thanks!!! also we were in top 100 earlier in the season when we were 5-1 i think (we were 70th something i believe i posted it on one of my blogs)

SADO said...

May..be I dont mind. The fact is that Kotwica wasnt ever on 1st place in the league.

Anonymous said...

@SADO

We also already did :)
In points ranking standing.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your opinion. Nobody expected you could say who is the best or something like that :)
Thanks for cold blood at the end of game in Poznan
I hope Kotwica will win Wednesdays game smoothly.

moff

Anonymous said...

Brandon, the next team - Basket Kwidzyn is quite dangerous so it wont be an easy win. Please tell all the guys to be focused because if you win it you will have a peacefull almost 2 week break.
WE WANT A MEDAL!!!!!!!GO GO KOTWICA

SADO said...

Yep Micheal Kuebler is a stricky shooter. 5-6 clean shot behind 6.25 is not a problem for him. Same Chris Garner. I know you watched their games so you know all their points you can use to win.

Anonymous said...

I think, that you already know, but I'll tell you anyway. If we win next game, we will have 14-5 and it will be secound best in the whole league (polpharma 13-4 plays at asseco prokom 12-4 on wednesday)

about the restaurants in Poznań - you can still try them, it's not that far. especially if you have at lot of free time.

eM

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfrpxJZz8sA

SADO said...

I was almost 100% sure bout the score in Kotwica-Basket game. You need to make something new in your game. Playing same shit all the time you wont win guys. I hope you will think bout it and watch few games of Prokom and Czarni and you'll win next two games. See ya soon.

And rememeber: eurobasket and polskikosz.pl ranking are not important. Your fans are more important so keep working on yourself. KOCHAM TYLKO KOTWICE!!!

Anonymous said...

OK shit happens, maybe its better to play a bad game now than in the playoffs. I hope it wont destroy a good atmosphere in the team and you will be well motivated for next games. The fans are with you please show us in next games that it was only an accident:) go go Kotwa!!!!

Anonymous said...

no call for the chix wing.
clearly you are developing into a Pro...
enjoyed watching the youtube video. great victory.
try out those restaurants, if you like them we could meet you for dinner ;)
dawgdad

Anonymous said...

I saw you with food and story on last page of Przeglad Sportowy. Widzieliście?