Japhet McNeil Looking To Go In A D-League Direction

Japhet McNeil is a 24 year old 183 cm guard from Brooklyn, New York. He played at east Carolina from 2003 -2006. He then transferred die_junge_Liga to Bridgeport(NCAA2) for his senior year in 2006-2007. At Bridgeport, he played 31 games averaging 16.6ppg, 4.0rpg, 4.9apg, 4.0spg, FT: 67.3%, FGP: 38.3%, 3PT: 34.6%. Last season, he played his rookie season in Germany in the Pro A for USC Heidelberg (highlight video)playing 30 games and averaging 14.8ppg, 3.1rpg, Assists-1(7.9apg), Steals-1(3.5spg), FGP: 45.4%, 3PT: 24.1%, FT: 63.3%.

He spoke to German Hoops about Basketball and life.

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John Bowler Will Pay Any Price To Win With Telekom Baskets Bonn

John Bowler is a 25 year old 206cm center from Chicago playing his fourth season in Germany with The Telekom Baskets Bonn. He played at eastern Michigan from 2002-2006. His best season was his senior year where he played 28 games averaging 20.1ppg, 10.8rpg, 2.5apg, FG: 54.9%, 3PT: 28.6%, FT: 72.3%. He came to The Telekom Baskets Bonn in 2006. His best season was 2007-2008 where he played 39 games averaging 12.1ppg, 5.3rpg, 1.1apg, 2FGP: 56.0%, 3PT: 41.9%, FT: 70.5%. he has reached two BBL finals and one BBL Cup final. John spoke to German Hoops about basketball and life.

You are playing your fourth season in Bonn with a lot of success. Are you a guy that by nature likes to stay in one place?

Yes I am. I really enjoy it in Bonn. Coach Koch makes it very comfortable to play for him. It is hard to replace wining the way we have in the last years. I like to be happy and have found happiness and want to continue to win.

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Qarraan Calhoun Playing Basketball For A Special Someone

Qarraan Calhoun is a 23 year old 203 cm forward that is playing his first season in Germany with The Deutsche Bank Skyliners. He is from Long Branch, New Jersey and played at Bridgton Academy in Maine averaging 19.0ppg, 4.0bpg, 3.0apg. He visited three schools in three years, before turning professional. In his freshman year, he played at St Johns playing 31 games and averaging 5.9ppg, 4.0rpg, FGP: 41.4%, 3Pts: 30.6%, FT: 63.1%. In his second year, he played at Barton County CC (JUCO) playing 31 games and averaging 16.8ppg, 7.3rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 47.8%, 3PT: 31.8%, FT: 62.8%. Last season, he played at Houston (further informations, video) playing 33 games and averaging 10.2ppg, 5.3rpg, 1.1apg, 1.1bpg, FGP: 46.6%, 3Pts: 35.0%, FT: 59.0%.

German Hoops had a chat with the young American about basketball and life.

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Jeromes Diary Entry #15 Preseason Blues

Losing to Bamberg by a lot, didn´t really help us to see where we are at and where we have to get better. We would not sit on this test forever. We were facing Ludwigsburg on Tuesday. Against my and also Colemans former team. It was good to see some old and common faces again. Talking about David McCray, Philip Heyden and Ziyed Chennoufi. I met Tim Koch at the parking lot. I used to hang around with Tim a lot. I mean he was my class mate, teammate and also my study hall mate. I didn`t get the chance to talk to my roommate last year David Michalczyk.
It was an unoffical game. But my family was there to watch. It was also good to see we were playing in the Rundsporthalle and not in Ludwigsburg new gym. I have never been in there, but I heard that the new gym is amazing. Ludwigsburg does really have a great team this year. Just by its names. Kyle Bailey, Quadre Lollis, Domonic Jones, Richard Chaney and Kyle Visser. I think they can really be on top of the league this year. Our formation was very shorthanded. We were just nine guys. Lee, Chris and Per were still missing. We were starting with Kevin, Basti, Rocky, Robin and Coleman.

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John Allen And His Key For Success Is Playing On Instinct

John Allen is a 26 year old 196 cm shooting guard/small forward, who is playing for The New York Phantoms Braunschweig this season. He is a a swingman who can be a huge problem for lots of defenses; can deliver some driving dunks and also display a deft shooting touch from the perimeter; and this double dimension make him a very tough player to guard. He comes from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Allen went to Seton Hall from 2001-2005 and was a very important player in his time there. He never averaged less than 11,4ppg in his four years. His most productive season was the 2002-2003 season where he played 30 games averaging 14.0ppg, 5.1rpg, 2.7apg.

He took no time resting a few months after graduation and in May signed with the New Jersey Flyers of the USBL playing 21 games and averaging 21.7ppg, 7.2rpg, 3.0apg, 2.0spg, FGP: 47.7%, 3FGP: 39.0%, FT: 73.8%. He then went to Finland for the 2005-2006 season playing for Kouvolan Kouvot playing 44 games and averaging 19.8ppg, 7.7rpg, 2.6apg, 1.6spg, 2FGP: 55.3%, 3PT: 35.2%, FT: 81.9%. In 2006-2007, he went to Israel to play for Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan playing 27 games and averaging 15.3ppg, 4.5rpg, 2.8apg, 1.1spg, 2FGP: 50.0%, 3PT: 46.3%, FT: 81.5%. In 2007-2008, he had his first tenure with The New York Phantoms Braunschweig playing 34 games and averaging 13.2ppg, 4.2rpg, 3.7apg, 1.4spg, 2FGP: 47.4%, 3PT: 28.3%, FT: 75.4%. Lasts eason, he played in France for Strassburg playing 31 games and averaging 8.5ppg, 3.7rpg, 2.6apg, 1.0spg, FGP: 45.9%, 3PT: 30.6%, FT: 84.7%.

John spoke to German Hoops over the phone during training camp a day before he got injured and will miss two months.

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Teamcheck: New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig

For sure Braunschweig’s basketball project has seen better times. During the 2002/2003 campaign the team made it to the semi-finals and was close to beat reigning champion Alba Berlin. With a huge lead in game 4 Braunschweig’s public announcer mentioned that tickets for the finals could be bought after the game. But Berlin fought back, managed to win game 4 and sealed the deal in game five to advance to the finals.

Ever since 2003 Braunschweig could not make it to the play-offs. Just three years later in 2006 the team finished the season at the bottom of the table and almost had to face relegation. Only the extension of the league to 18 teams and the provision of a wildcard helped Braunschweig to stay in the league.

Names like Demond Mallet, Pete Lisicky, Joakim Blom, Szymon Szewczyk or Gordan Firic are still vivid in the minds of supporters. There had been some promising teams in the last couple of years. Head coach Emir Mutapcic mainly relied on Americans in his rotation while talented germans like Flavio Stückemann or Jannik Freese had to sit on the bench.

In 2008 the Phantoms got really close to a play-off spot and finished the season on 9^th position. Expectations were high for the 2008/2009 season and with the re-signing of Andrew Drevo and Kyle Visser and the addition of point guard Will Franklin and wingman Dustin Salisbery the foundation of Mutapcic’s team looked pretty good. But an eight game losing streak at the end of the season ended all post season dreams. After 34 games Braunschweig found itself on the 12^th spot. The team had earned a reputation for losing close games and certainly an era had come to an end.

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Jeromes Diary Entry #14: Can we get a lucky fairy please!!!

We were missing him for a long time, but now Robin Benzing arrived in Ulm. It`s been two years since I had met him the last time. He is a nice guy and so talented. He is very skilled for his size. Hard to believe. We were going hard in practice this week after we got back from Austria. Everybody was very focused and the pracitce was intense. I am very astonished how fast Robin picked up the all of our plays. I think we had the best practice on Thursday.

Everybody was fired up for our next test game against Bamberg at Saturday. It was war out there while we were playing five on five. No easy lay ups. Nothing. We were only nine guys thou, so Coach Olatunde (Tunde) was practicing with us and was playing on the young team. The young guys (Nermo, Darko, Michi, Tunde and Me) were competing well against our Stating Lineup. They got a little bit frustrated and Chris just threw me to the ground one time while I was trying to set a backscreen on him. He is strong. Didn´t expect to fall that hard. I liked that roughness though.

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Teamcheck: LTi Gießen 46ers

For the second time in their storied history (after 2004), the Gießen 46ers finished the season in a relegation position in the standings. Fortunately for the BBL’s lone remaining original team, 2009 also marked the second time that the club stayed in the league even though they did not make it in sportive terms. While in 2004 Hagen and MBC Weißenfels were relegated due to financial reasons this time the BBL provided the 46ers with a wild card. The wild card proved to be the forgiving end to an otherwise very forgettable season. The turbulent year saw, in order, the following strange things: Perennial bench warmer Florian Hartenstein (career scoring avg. 2.8 ppg) started the season on a mean streak, averaging 14.5 ppg through the first two games. Former German international Robert Maras failed to display anything resembling a quality starting center. Longtime fan favorite Gerrit Terdenge just looked old. Both of them have since signed with second division (Pro A) teams. Veteran guard Danny Lewis left the team, feeling dissatisfied with his role. The team brought in two American guards to try out as replacement for Lewis, playing both of them in league games and opted to cut Brandon Worthy in favor of Ricky Hickman. Former scout-turned-coach Simon Cote was fired, head of basketball operations Vladimir Bogojevic took over coaching duties. This meant that assistant coach Gerald Wasshuber had to work with the third coach in less than eight months. Maurice Jeffers suffered a season-ending injury. Since the deadline to sign new players had already passed, Gießen brought back previously cut Brandon Worthy, looking desparately for some offense.

Former german national player Bogojevic could give the team some new inspiration with a two game winning streak when he took over. But in the last 10 games only one more win could be secured. Still german talent Jannik Freese thinks that Bogojevic did a good job and is looking forward to the new season:

“Vladi gave us a new look as a team, we are more of a defense first, fast break team now, I think thats suits the players we got very well, and if we stick together and play as a team we can be a good team.”

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Josh Carter Looking To Make A Mark With Oldenburg

Josh Carter is a 20 year old 201 cm shooting guard/small forward playing his first season in Germany for the BBL champions EWE Baskets Oldenburg. He is from Dallas, Texas and played four years at Texas A & M. In the fall of 2005, he was a 16 year old freshman on the team. In his senior year, he played 34 games averaging 13.8ppg, 4.3rpg, 1.7apg, FGP: 43.3%, 3Pts: 39.9%, FT: 84.7%. He had two duels against 209 NBA top pick Blake Griffin losing both games against Oklahoma, but having a deadlock with Griffin at 32 points a piece. He reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2007 and also played with the USA National team in 2007.

Josh sat down with German Hoops during pre season to talk basketball.

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Jeromes Diary Entry #13: Additional Memories Of Pre Season In Austria

Our Sunday and game preparation was a little bit different today. We were watching the sights of the city Gmunden. It is a wonderful city. I do really love the fresh and natural air.Everybody seemed a little bit rusty today. Our OT loss against Wels did cost us a lot of energy. But we wanted to beat Gmunden this time. We played them already in the preseason and suffered a horrible 20-point deficit loss. This shouldn`t happen this time. We were starting very well and the game was always tied. Everybody did a great job.

We do really have an offensive powerhouse. Chris, Cole and Rocky do really now how to put points on the scoreboard. The roster of Gmunden is very old. Deteri Mayes is for example 35 years old and known as the Austrian legend. He had a great game. He is a dead eye shooter and was hurting us a lot. I think I did an excellent job while I was on the court. Mayes did beat me over the middle one time and did hit an difficult step back jumper. I mean I cannot complain. He finished the game with 28 points. His knowledge and his routine is impressive. He is just using his brain. Just like Boyle. He knows when to cut, how to cut etc…

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