First Pre-Season Games

Hola,

We have played three preseason games since the last time I posted. We played Valencia last Tuesday night in the village where we had training camp about 40 minutes away. It was in a pretty small gym but the crowd was very enthusiastic and loud. They were all cheering for us as it was considered a home match for us. Valencia beat Barcelona a few nights before playing us and I believe we lost to them by 17.  We were in the game for the most part and cut the lead to 6 in the last quarter but let the lead get away at the end with free throws. I started and finished the game scoring 8 points. I hit 2 threes in a row at the beginning, which was a nice feeling. During these pre season games ten of us play pretty equal minutes. It will be interesting to see how that changes as we play more games and enter the regular season. This was Valencia’s fourth preseason game and our first and I think that showed.  I believe we can compete with them though which is a good thing as I’m told they are a top five team in the league.

This past weekend we played in a mini tournament in Guadalajara, which is a city just east of Madrid about 4 hours away from Murcia. On Friday, we played an ACB team from Madrid named Estudiantes. We didn’t play well on either end of the court in this game and lost by 9. I had 5 points and didn’t shoot the ball well in this game. I was able to get some good looks which is a positive but wasn’t connecting on enough of them. This was a game we should have won if we would have played an average game. Nobody for us seemed to play well and it was a disappointing loss as we also lost the opportunity to play against Real Madrid in the finals on Sunday (one of the top 2 teams in our league).

Yesterday, we played in the 3rd place game against Obradoiro. This game we came out ready to play and hung on to win by 2. We had the lead up to 16 but with turnovers and a technical foul late in the game we let the lead slip away. With a minute to go in the game we were down by 1 with the shot clock running out. The ball was rotated to me on the wing and I hit a 3 as the shot clock buzzer sounded to put us up 2.  They scored a 2 on the next possession and we got the ball back with 23 seconds left. We ran a pick and roll play and were able to make a 2 in the lane with 4 seconds to go to win by 2. It was a lot of fun to get our first win and drive home in a better mood. I finished the game with 7 points. Robbie Hummel and William Buford played for Obradoiro, but only William played and had 2 points I believe. It was nice talking to them and seeing some familiar guys. They seem to be enjoying their situations as well.

Overall, I believe I have been playing well on both ends of the court as I try to adjust to the different style and game over here. It has been fun getting to know the guys more on and off the court and create the chemistry needed to win. I have started 2 of the 3 games, which is a positive as a hope to get a lot of playing time and help my squad in any way possible to get wins.

I finished the first season of Homeland and suggest it to anyone interested in TV shows. My good friend and former Iowa basketball manager Dan Cincinnati suggested it to me and he  was right on. Im in the middle of Dexter now. I was disappointed by the outcome of the Iowa State game on Saturday. Hope our offense can figure it out soon as UNI is a good team (just ask Wisconsin). I still believe in the squad and think we’ll change this season around in a down Big Ten conference. I just saw on Twitter that Coach McCaffery and Coach Hoiberg have offered a Davenport kid that hasn’t played a high school game yet. Must be a good talent!

Hope all is well with everyone.

Adios!