62nd Junior National Basketball Championship will bring 51 teams to New Delhi

26 boys’ and 25 girls’ under-18 teams have confirmed entry into the 62nd Junior National Basketball Championship in New Delhi from July 5-12th. The championship will be organised by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) in association with the Delhi Basketball Association (DBA). The matches will be played in fully air-conditioned indoor courts at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium.

Players born on or after 01.01.1993 are eligible to participate.

The participating teams are:

Boys: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

Girls: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

Punjab (Boys) and Kerala (Girls) won the 61st Junior National Basketball Championship, which were from October 24-31 in Vashi (Maharashtra).

CCAA Player of the Year Inderbir Gill wants to play for India

If you may recall, a little over three months ago, I wrote a short post about Inderbir Gill, the Punjabi-born, US-immigrated, Canada-bound basketball player. Gill was named the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) Player of the Year, after a glittering performance as he finished his final year at the Northern University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Prince George (Canada). He was second in scoring in the British Columbia Colleges' Athletic Association (BCCAA) this season and third in assists.

A year ago, Gill led the UNBC Timberwolves to the CCAA Men's Championship, and this year, into the Final Four. The 6-foot all point guard is a three-time CCAA All Canadian, former CCAA Men’s Championship MVP and was named 2010’s CCAA Athlete of the Year Across All Sports.

Wait, and did I mention? He's INDIAN!

Still, despite an interesting article about him in the Tribune four years ago, the young man who was born in Hoshiarpur in Punjab never received much media attention from his home-country, probably because until recently, media in India didn't really pay attention to our basketball heroes. Luckily, the 24-year-old young star, who had been contemplating his future after another stellar college season, found my post and decided to contact me.

His intentions? To come back to his roots and represent the Indian basketball team.

"I am a proud Indian and to represent India and to wear India’s basketball jersey would be the greatest honour for me," says Gill, "Basketball is on the rise in India and it would be great to be a part of it."

Gill's ties to India go way back - hailing from the state of Punjab which has given the country several glittering past and present basketball stars, perhaps he always had the game in his veins. Gill was born in 1987 in the city of Hoshiarpur in North Punjab. His parents did a good job in passing on the sporting gene his way: His father, Parminder Singh, led Punjabi University football team in early 70s, while his mother, Sital Kaur, played basketball for Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jalandhar.

But before he found the 'basketball gene' in his system, Gill had another dream as a child. "Like every Indian, I was a fan of cricket and wanted to be a cricket player," he says, "I did not know anything about basketball. In fact, when my mom brought a basketball home, my friends and I used the basketball to play dodgeball!"

In 1998, when he was just 11 years old, Gill's family left India and immigrated to the United States. Here, he settled in the city of Spokane in Washington State in the year 2000. It was here that he basketball journey took off: Gill used his quickness and natural instincts to master the game and was soon selected for his high school basketball team.

Gill is a quick, athletic point guard, who likes to push the ball in transition and play an up-tempo game. He describes his strengths as being an ability to penetrate to the rim and find his teammates for easy baskets. "Basketball is the ultimate team sport," says Gill, "And I get as much joy of making a nice assist as scoring myself. I take a lot of pride in my defense and feel that it is a big part of my game."

But no amount of success comes before the hurdle, and Gill had to suffer some, too. At 6 foot nothing, he was always undersized for a sport where bigger usually meant better. His other biggest obstacle, he describes, was his late start in the game. "I was 12 when my family moved to the United States. I started playing a year later and learning all the fundamentals and trying to make up for the years not playing basketball was hard to overcome."

But Gill overcame his late start, and pretty much everything else that came his way. Gill joined his high-school team, and after that headed to Everett Community College (Everett, Washington). After a low-key first season here, Gill burst into the scene in his second year, where he led the Trojans in scoring, steals, and incredibly, in rebounds, starting all 16 games of the season. By the end of the 2006-07 season Gill found himself in the Conference All Star team, and a season later, in Canada, representing UNBC.

He was immediately a perfect fit here, leading the team to their best-ever finish at the National Tournament in his first season (4th), and being named in the BCCAA first team all star. A year later came the glory - UNBC went 17-1 over the course of the season, finishing at the top of the conference table. Gill was named the CCAA Male Athlete of the Year across all sports, but saved his best for the CCAA National Tournament. Behind 32 points and 6 assists by Gill, UNBC won the CCAA National Championship, and Gill was named the tournament's MVP. A year later, the CCAA recognised him as Player of the Year.

It's an impressive resume, indeed, and a hallmark of a player who has fought the odds not only to achieve individual success and accolades, but also make a mark in the way good point guards are supposed to - by winning.

"Winning is what motivates me on the basketball court," says Gill, "I love to win and the challenge to try to win every game I play is the biggest factor of motivation for me."

Now, Gill will be hoping to bring his skills and his motivation back home, to upgrade the talent pool available in the Indian National Men's side, and on the way, guide his journey back where it began. With the right coaches surrounding the National side and the right focus in helping the game grow in India, Gill's talents will come in more than handy as India hope to climb a rung in the basketball ladder.

"One day, I would like to see myself playing at a high level professionally, represent India in basketball tournaments and be a part of the Indian basketball," he says, "I believe that with my hard work, determination, and a desire to continuously improve my game, I will eventually achieve my goals."

It's a great dream, indeed. And now, as a bonus, I would like to leave you with a short highlight clip of Inderbir Gill, from his stellar last season at UNBC. Enjoy!

Indian Senior Women to take part in William Jones Basketball Tournament in Chinese Taipei

A 17-women team of Senior Indian basketball players have been chosen as probables for The 33rd William Jones International Basketball Tournament, which will be held from July 31-August 4 in Chinese Taipei. The women’s tournament will be held at the Taipei Gymnasium in Taipei City.

A selection committee constituted by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has chosen a short-list of 17 players after observing their performance at the coaching camp at the KD Jadhav Stadium in New Delhi. The final team consisting of 12 players will be announced one week before the tournament begins.

Senior Women probables for 33rd William Jones Basketball Tournament:

Geethu Anna Jose
M. Pushpa
Anitha Pau Durai
Smruthi RK
Bharti Netam
Prashanti Singh
Harjeet Kaur
Akanksha Singh
Raspreet Sidhu
Asha Hegde
Aruna Kindo
Kruthika Laksman
S. Kokila
Sneha Rajguru
Shireen Limaye
Sonika
Amruta Bhuskute

The William Jones Cup is an international basketball tournament held annually in Taipei, Taiwan. It was named after Renato William Jones, a basketball promoter and one of the founders of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Other women’s team who have confirmed their participation in the women’s event this year are Japan National Team, Chinese Taipei National Team, Samsung Women’s Team, and Chinese Taipei University National Team.

This will be the first international action for the Indian National Basketball Team under new American head coach, Pete Gaudet. The tournament will also serve as preparation for the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women, to be held in Omura/Nagasaki, Japan, from 21-28 August.

Zak Penwell: Indian Basketball’s New Workout Plan

Nothing fills a need better than what is exactly needed to fill that need. A perfect fit to an incomplete jigsaw puzzle.

Let me explain: What is the most common criticism against the performance of the basketball players in India? If you asked me, the answer woyld be fitness and athletic ability. For too long, our stars have been one step behind our athletically-charged opponents, and for too long, have Indians worldwide heard that they weren’t ‘athletic enough’ for basketball. Not explosive enough. Too Weak. Too Slow. Too Tired.

During the Asian Games basketball tournament last November, a well-coordinated Indian Men’s team showed flashes of brilliance under Coach Bill Harris, but were never fit enough to keep up their concentration for the entire duration of their games. Most recently, India’s finest women’s player Geethu Anna Jose, the only Indian to be offered trials with the WNBA, was overwhelmed by the strength of the American players she went against at the trials.

Player strength and conditioning was the great missing piece of Indian basketball’s jigsaw puzzle: it isn’t true that Indian basketball players aren’t athletic enough; we just haven’t been given the right guidance to develop our bodies to its complete potential.

Enter the missing piece: A month ago, American Zak Penwell was hired by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) as its first-ever Strength & Conditioning (S&C) Coach. Penwell comes to India after combining a world of athletic-conditioning education and experience. He was brought alongside other American coaches Kenny Natt and Pete Gaudet, who will be working with the Indian Men’s and Women’s teams respectively as head coaches. Penwell, meanwhile, will focus on S&C for both teams, as well as the players on the junior national programmes.

“A sport like basketball has certain demands that every high-level coach will make,” said Penwell on the importance of his role with the Indian National sides, “They need to be good athletes, jump higher, hold their position, run faster, handle fatigue, concentrate and be sharper… My job is to give the players all the tools they need to perform at their best.”

Penwell believes that his role is more than that of just a fitness trainer – he prides on being a coach, instead, reaching out to players to increase not only their physical abilities but also to toughen them up mentally for their challenges. “At the highest level, the players need to focus on their skill and their tasks in in-game situations. If a ball-handler believes that he or she can dribble past an opponent, their legs shouldn’t betray him. A player should focus on their skills and tactics and not be held back by physical limitations.”

As the BFI’s Strength & Conditioning Coach, Zak Penwell will be responsible for developing and implementing specialized nutritional, strength training, and conditioning programs for all Indian national men’s and women’s teams. He will also advise Indian coaches throughout the BFI system to enhance and nurture the development of top basketball talent throughout the country.

Penwell comes most recently from Scotland’s Sportscotland Institute of Sport, where he worked with athletes from a range of national teams including swimming, basketball, sprint canoe, judo, rugby, golf, curling, triathlon, and field hockey. Since 2006 he has spent over 40,000 athlete contact hours in the weight room, with over 550 elite collegiate and international-level athletes. Penwell is a graduate of the U.S. men’s and women’s college basketball power the University of Connecticut, where he earned two degrees from the top Kinesiology program in America.

Bottom line: the BFI couldn’t have chosen a better fit for its needs in India. Penwell feels that the ‘perfect fit’ was mutual. “There is amazing potential for the game here, but little in the field of Strength and Conditioning,” Penwell said, “That is why it’s an exciting opportunity to start with a fresh slate, do the things the right way, and watch the right system flourish. My strengths fit perfectly with Indian Basketball’s needs.”

“I’m here to impart a championship mindset.”

Although Penwell has experience in assisting almost 20 different sports, he is in India for basketball and basketball alone. “Everything I train the players for in the gym or on the court will have a direct, practical application during game-time,” he said, “They should know how each exercise will translate directly to basketball.”

In his first few weeks working at the camp in Delhi for the Indian Senior and Youth National Basketball teams, Penwell has learnt the needs of the players and his approach to working individually with several of the men and women here. “The first goal for us here is that the players need to get stronger,” Penwell says, “Along with strength training, we will work on improving their agility and getting the basics right.”

Being strong and fit enough to avoid injury also plays a crucial role in success in basketball – no team likes to play the biggest competitions with its best players are on the bench nursing an injury. Injury Prevention will become a major part of Penwell’s focus.

Of all of the criticisms that might befall Indian players, here’s one that we can do little about: height. But Penwell has a plan of countering height by increasing conditioning in other areas, such as jumping ability (or ‘jumpability’, as he calls it), positioning, and being fitter to simply ‘outwork’ opponents on the court. “Our players have to have the stamina to keep performing even when their tired. It’s about Total Recovery – recovering to their full ability in the shortest amount of time.”

“I have no doubt of the player’s potential,” he adds, “All I ask for is a 100 percent effort and attention to detail. The athletes we have can be made into winners.”

During his three-year stint, Penwell hopes not only to improve the strength and conditioning of the basketball players in India, but to also revolutionise the field for all sports in the country. “Once people see the changes we produce in basketball, it can be a good model for other sports in the country,” said Penwell, “It should be a success story that others can follow.”

Already, the players at the National Camp are starting to show understanding and appreciation for Penwell’s work. Both the new coaches of the Indian national team – former NBA head coach Kenny Natt and former Duke/Vanderbilt/OSU coach Pete Gaudet – are seeing a more disciplined approach to player fitness and durability than in the past.

“By the time I’m done here, I hope to see basketball in India achieve things it has never achieved before,” Penwell says.

A perfect fit, indeed – because basketball lovers in India will walk step-by-step with Penwell so that all our dreams can be achieved.

Aftershocks of a Draft

So the NBA Draft is over, and a bunch of young players have bolstered mostly weak rosters, but unfortunately, the future of the league is an uncertain as it has ever been. It doesn't help that, with the Lockout (#LWord) looming, some of the best young players such as Harrison Barnes, Perry Jones, and Jared Sullinger decided to skip the draft and go back to school for another year. Yes, the talent crop might look weaker on paper than past years, but take a closer, scrutinised look and you'll find out how several teams upgraded themselves the right way, via drafting crucial pieces or via trade.

So here are the top 14 (lottery) picks of the 2011 NBA Draft. The order is a little different from what you would expect, because several teams pulled off trades on draft night. The most crucial one was the Sacramento Kings pulling off a three-way trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Bobcats. The Kings received the 10th pick from Bucks and John Salmons. Bobcats received the 7th pick from Kings and the Bucks' Corey Maggette. Bucks received Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston, and 19th pick from Bobcats and Beno Udrih from Kings.

Kapeesh? It will make more sense when you look at the draft list now:

1) Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving
2) Minnesota Timberwolves: Derrick Williams
3) Utah Jazz: Enes Kanter
4) Cleveland Cavaliers: Tristan Thompson
5) Toronto Raptors: Jonas Valanciunas
6) Washington Wizards: Jan Vesely
7) Charlotte Bobcats: Bismack Biyombo
8) Detroit Pistons: Brandon Knight
9) Charlotte Bobcats: Kemba Walker
10) Sacramento Kings: Jimmer Fredette
11) Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson
12) Utah Jazz: Alec Burks
13) Phoenix Suns: Markieff Morris
14) Houston Rockets: Marcus Morris

The first thing I wanna mention is that, after the first 2 picks, the draft became as unexpected as it was expected to become, if you can follow my drift right there. Canadian forward Tristan Thomas took the biggest jump to be picked 4th. Two of the biggest starts in College Basketball last year - Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette (Say his name in the TIMMY! voice from South Park: JIMMER!! - fell to nine and ten respectively. My Knicks continued to torture fans by another questionable pick at #17 in the form of defensive guard Iman Shumpert. And the likes of Kyle Singler, Jeremy Tyler, and Josh Selby fell into the second round.



First off, let's start with the Cavs, who took little time in putting an end to their post-LeBron-depression-era by bringing in Duke's point guard Kyrie Irving. No surprises here: Irving is talented indeed, and scouts see shades of a poor man's Chris Paul in his leadership and his on-ball skills. Irving's going first also continued to usher in the hand-check-rule era of point-guard domination in the NBA. After Derrick Rose and John Wall, he was the 3rd PG in the last four years to be picked #1. Clearly, their is a major shift in focus in the league, with PGs getting more and more respect around the NBA. With the fourth pick, the Cavs kinda shocked people by picking Tristan Thompson, especially over guys like Jonas Valanciunas (who is a bit of an unknown project).

Another bit to note obviously was the international flavour in this draft. 6 of the first 7 picks were born overseas. The league continued to have an increasing number of international players picked in the draft - in my NBA-India article today, I suggested that the league should be named to the IBA - International Basketball Association!

Minnesota did what we expected them to do - pick combo-forward Derrick Williams. But now with a plethora of forwards in a similar position on their side, they will have to trade someone. My money is on Michael Beasley saying goodbye to any hopes of balling alongside Ricky Rubio.

One of my favourite picks this year is Turkish PF/C Enes Kanter, who went third to the Jazz. Kanter is freakishly talented, boasting the game of a slightly bigger Carlos Boozer. Because of his foreign origins, he was a bit of a mystery man in the league, but I'm glad the Jazz took a chance with him - I think he will prove to be a star in a league that is forgetting the importance of skilled post-players.

In Jan Vesely at 6th, the Wizards added the guy people call 'Euro Blake Griffin', mostly because of his athletic/dunking ability. The Wizards had a great day at the draft, as they also added a good defender in Chris Singleton as the 18th pick and a stable point guard in Shelvin Mack at 34. They will form an exciting young nucleus around John Wall, Andray Blatche, Nick Young, and JaVale McGee.

My favourite movers and shakers of the draft though were the Bobcats. With the 7th and 9th picks, the Bobcats immediately overhauled their roster by bringing in the person many are calling the next Ben Wallace - Bismack Biyombo, and of course, the player I feel who deserved to be a top 3 pick this year purely based on his winning mentality - Kemba Walker. With the acquisition of veteran Corey Maggette, the Bobcats can finally move on to a new, exciting direction.

At 10th, the Kings brought in the draft's surest ticket in JIMMER!! - JIMMER!! is also the best shooter of the year, and although has questions in his defensive ability, he will bring excitement back to Sacramento. It's a gamble indeed by the Kings, but if it pays off, their nucleus of JIMMER!!, Tyreke Evans, and DeMarcus Cousins could be one to watch for the future.

At 13th and 14th is the wonderful story of the Morris brothers, Markieff and Marcus - Twin big men separated just by seven minutes at birth and a little more than seven minutes at the NBA draft. Markieff went to the Suns and Marcus to the Rockets.

Apart from the names mentioned above, a few other teams made notable moves that I feel should be mentioned here:

- Portland lost Rudy Fernandez to Dallas and Andre Miller to Denver, but they got Raymond Felton in return. I like it.
- Denver made a savvy pick at 22nd by bringing in hustling big man Kenneth Faried.
- Dallas, the best team in the league, just got a little better by adding versatile backcourt player Fernandez.
- Boston got a good player at 27th in JaJuan Johnson.
- And the Spurs traded away PG George Hill to the Pacers, and got the 15th pick in return, who they turned into small forward Kawhi Leonard.

So there we are... The picks have been made, the trades finalised, and the rosters taking shape. All that's left is to hope for the NBA Basketball next season...

... And of course, the 2012 draft! With so many big names dropping out this year, 2012 will be STACKED! Anthony Davis, Harrison Barnes, Perry Jones, Jared Sullinger, Austin Rivers, Quincy Miller, James McAdoo, Michael Gilchrist, Bradley Beal... learn those names now - you will be hearing again, same time, next year!

Pete Gaudet – Q&A: The Hoops Scientist

If basketball was a science, then Pete Gaudet would be found in the lab all day: mixing the right chemicals to make the perfect compound, perfecting the timing, jotting down his results and then mixing again to sharpen up his final product, and then meticulously detailing each piece of information and piecing everything together to make his work better and better.

The way Gaudet looks at it, basketball is a science. The American coach, who has been appointed as head of the Indian Sr. National Women’s team, brings with him over 40 years of experience coaching hoops at American High School, College, International, and Professional level. But when asked about why he accepted such a drastic change of scenery to come and coach in India, he answered: “At the end of the day, the basketball is still round, and my workstation is still the gym… Basketball is still basketball.”

And there are few people more versed in the chemicals that comprise the compound game of basketball than Gaudet: Over the course of his career, Gaudet has coached both men and women at the highest levels of American college basketball, including positions at West Point, Duke University, Vanderbilt, and the Ohio State University (OSU). He has extensive technical and international basketball experience to add to his resume.

While at Duke, Gaudet won two NCAA men’s championships as Assistant coach to the legendary Mike Krzyzweski (Coach K). He made seven Final Fours, coached eight All-Americans, three national players of the year, and 12 NBA draft picks, including Grant Hill, Christian Laettner, and Danny Ferry. When Coach K took a leave of absence in early 1995, Gaudet was promoted to interim head coach.

Gaudet and Coach K also worked together with the Army basketball team, and before joining Duke, Gaudet coached Al Arabi, a club team in Kuwait. He has travelled to over 25 countries in conjunction with baseball, conducting clinics in Italy, Nigeria, Italy, Korea, Senegal and Canada.

After Duke (1983 - 1995), Gaudet worked at Vanderbilt and OSU, holding both men’s and women’s assisting coaching positions at Vanderbilt and was a women’s coach with the latter. While in OSU, Gaudet wrote a book called ‘Practical Post Play’, which is an essential guide for post players and coaches.

At OSU, he worked with Tamika Raymond, who was the former coach of the Indian Women’s team, and encouraged Gaudet to take the job after her. Last month, Gaudet was signed alongside two other world-class coaches for Indian Basketball – Kenny Natt (Indian Senior Men’s team) and Zak Penwell (Strength & Conditioning Coach).

Gaudet is currently working at the National Coaching camp at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi as the team prepares for the 24th FIBA Asia Championship for Women, to be held in Omura and Nagasaki, Japan, from August 21-20, 2011.

A week into his time in India, I got the opportunity to speak with Gaudet about the challenge that lay ahead of him.

Hoopistani: Why did you choose to take this coaching opportunity in India?

Gaudet: I was very intrigued about this job when I first heard about it. I was contacted by [former India Women’s coach] Tamika Raymond about it, whom I used to work with at OSU – she told me that it would be a great experience for me. She told me that the girls love the game, but that they need teaching.

In the past, I had usually avoided the Head Coach position because it doesn’t come with the basketball teaching/developing opportunities. But here, I knew that I would be able to teach the game. In the past, I have worked with players of all levels, and with men and women.

I understood that IMG/Reliance was going to be presenting me with a good challenge here in India. Plus, coming to another country wasn’t a problem for me – I have coached around the world!

Finally, in the past I had mostly worked with college players, with whom you have to balance playing and studying times, as they are still students. With this opportunity, I can work with this team on my own time.

Hoopistani: As you said – you have coached around the world. Tell me a bit about your experiences.

Gaudet: In College, during the regular season, I had to work with the team. But in the off-season I had the option of taking part in specific camps around the world. I’ve enjoyed working with post players a lot, and have been a regular attendee of Pete Newell’s Big Man Camp in Hawaii. Internationally, I have done clinics in Nigeria, Korea, Italy, Qatar, Israel, and Canada, and also travelled to Yugoslavia, Spain, Greece, and Serbia.

In Kuwait, I coached a professional club team for eight months. This is my first time in India.

Hoopistani: What have been some of the highlights of your career so far?

Gaudet: I’ve spent 40 years in basketball as a coach, and the best thing that I’ve experienced have been the relationships that I have established with players and other coaches in this time. It has been great to have mentored so many basketball players.

Aside from that, I treasure the two National Championships that I won with Duke (1991 and 1992).

With Duke, Vanderbilt, and OSU, I have been proud to have been part of teams who have competed at the highest level of NCAA College Basketball, playing against some of the best teams.

Hoopistani: How do you expect your challenge in India to be different from that you faced in the US or in the other parts of the world?

Gaudet: My India challenge is about being here and now, and not about anything I’ve done in the past. Players are players – Just like the players I’ve worked with before, these players in India have a championship in which they are trying to compete. My job will be to prepare a team of advanced players and make sure they keep improving.

More than good basketball plays, I want to have good basketball players. Yes, you can’t have control over the players you have, but my challenge will be to ensure that every day when they leave practice, they realise that they have become better players.

You can have no ego about a change of scenery like this. Whether you are working with the best players in the world or not, basketball is still basketball. At the end of the day, the basketball is still round, and my workstation is still the gym. It’s still 5-on-5. I have worked with professionals and with 10-year-olds, and I have enjoyed both, because teaching basketball is very satisfying – it has got nothing to do with having superstars. Young players have an advantage in that they are more receptive to improve themselves.

Hoopistani: What have you learnt about the Indian team in your short time with them?

Gaudet: The women’s team have been very receptive to the knowledge I have shared with them. They understand that they have to perform at a high level. The most important thing is that they love to play the game of basketball.

Hoopistani: How will you hope to raise the level of the team’s performance?

Gaudet: My background is in defense, and that is what I believe in. I want them to enjoy playing defense, and learn the importance of stopping the opposition players. It is important to find players with the skills and passion for defense.

Basketball is a creative game, and I also believe in giving the players’ the freedom to be creative. But they have to be good enough to handle this freedom.

We may not have the biggest or the strongest team, but we have enough athletic ability to be good defensively and find a way to counter size with quickness.

It’s important to find out what each of the specific players is good that, and then make them enjoy it. Hopefully, I can get all of the players to contribute to the team in some way.

Hoopistani: In Geethu Anna Jose, you have a dominating post player who was also the only Indian to be offered WNBA trials. How do you plan to maximise her talents in your team?

Gaudet: Using Geethu in the post will be one of our weapons. She has the right skill-set to be successful. But in a full game of basketball, post players do not actually get too much time on the ball. For Geethu to be effective and make the most of her time, the other players in the team have to get her the ball. Post players like Geethu can’t reach their full potential without the help of the others.

She will also then be able to free up the other players, to provide them with driving lanes to score and with open three-point shots.

Hoopistani: Looking ahead – do you think the game of basketball has a future in India?

Gaudet: If we can make the most of the commitments made by IMG/Reliance, with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), we can really hope to see the game improve here. I want to see this sport gain more popularity, see more basketball gyms, and more kids playing the game.

The popularity of the sport can grow through the Indian team’s performance – if this team if able to perform well, maybe they can set up the building blocks of a future for the game in India.

Hoopistani: What are your goals for your term here in India?

Gaudet: I want to raise the standard of the game here and show young people that, if they work hard, they can end up playing at a high level. I want them to approach basketball not just for the game but to achieve great things.

Men's Notable Wimbledon First Round Matches

27. Marin Cilic vs Ivan Ljubicic: The Croatians will meet for the second time in their careers at the All England Lawn Championship in the first round. Cilic had two nice wins over Arnaud Clement and Thomaz Bellucci at Queen's Club on grass before he had to withdraw from the tournament due to an ankle injury. It seemed like a precaution so that Cilic wouldn't further injure the ankle before Wimbledon. Cilic is looking to make it past the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the first time in his career but he has played pretty well in his four years at the All England Lawn Championship. Ivan Ljubicic also played at Queen's Club but he only survived two rounds, as after his first round victory over Ryan Sweeting, he lost to Radek Stepanek in three sets. Ljubicic's worst surface is grass. His career record on grass is under .500 at 22-25. The farthest he has ever gone at Wimbledon is the third round.

Prediction: Marin Cilic over Ivan Ljubicic in 3 sets.

22. Alexandr Dolgopolov vs Fernando Gonzalez: The 22 year old Dolgopolov will only be playing in his second Wimbledon this year. In his first tune-up for Wimbledon, he beat Robin Hasse in the first round before losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second. He lost at Eastbourne in the first round to Carlos Berlocq in two sets the next week. Dolgopolov has only played 9 matches in his young career on grass, so he doesn't have nearly the experience that Gonzo has on the surface. The advantage for Dolgopolov coming into the match is that he has played a lot of good tennis in 2011, while Gonzalez has not been able to get on the court much. After the U.S. Open, Gonzo had to get surgery on his right hip and his right knee. He didn't return until the end of April but has been out since then. Wimbledon will only be Gonzalez's second tournament of the year and first on grass. He will definitely show some rust because of his long layoff. Gonzalez has played pretty well on the surface before, as he made a quarterfinal run back in 2005.

Prediction: Alexandr Dolgopolov over Fernando Gonzalez in 4 sets.

John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut: The rematch of the longest men's tennis match in history is upon us. Last year for three days, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut battled it out on court 18 in the first round for an astonishing 11 hours and 5 minutes until John Isner finally won in the fifth set 70 to 68. To put that in perspective, the longest match in Australian Open history between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco back in 2009 lasted 5 hours and 14 minutes. The fifth set of John Isner's match against Nicolas Mahut took 8 hours and 11 minutes alone. The fifth set of their match required a record 138 games. Isner also set the record for most aces in a match with 113 and Mahut also had 103 aces, which is the second most by a men in a match. Before the draw for Wimbledon came out this year, John Isner joked with his now close friend Nicolas Mahut, "Watch us play each other." Mahut replied, "No, there's no way. That's not even funny." Although there was a 0.7 percent chance that Isner would play Mahut in the first round for the second year in a row, it has occurred and obviously there was a lot of reaction. Andy Murray said, "Isner vs mahut drawing each other in the first round after last year is the most amazing thing I've seen in tennis! Centre court anyone?!" Andy Roddick said, "Isner/mahut again. Unreal Do they play it on the same court???" Patrick McEnroe said, "ISNER MAHUT rematch in round 1. Since I have'nt been able to get my big brother on twitter yet I will say it-you cannot be serious." Isner said about the rematch, "we're going to enjoy it and laugh at it at the same time." 

Prediction: John Isner over Nicolas Mahut in 5 sets

32. Marcos Baghdatis vs James Blake: Marcos Baghdatis has always loved to play on grass. He made it to the semifinals in 2006, the quarterfinals in 2007, and the round of 16 in 2008. In his tune-up tournament for Wimbledon at the UNICEF Open in the Netherlands, Baghdatis won three matches before losing to Ivan Dodig in the semifinals. The success that Bagdatis has had on grass is the opposite of how Blake has been on the surface. He has lost in the first or second round 6 out of 8 years and in the other two years he only reached the third round. The combination of Blake's lack of success of grass and his recent play makes it a difficult task for him. The last ATP tournament Blake played in was in the beginning of April. He has been recovering from a knee injury that caused him to miss much of the clay court season including the French Open.

Prediction: Marcos Baghdatis over James Blake in 4 sets

Finally... Ricky Rubio is coming to the NBA

I will be lying to you if I said that I didn't have more than a passing/professional interest in this story. Ever since his dominating performance at the FIBA Europe U16 Championship (more on this later), I've been enamoured with the young Spaniard's game.

Yes, a lot of super-talented young players have come and gone over the past few years: some have lived up to their expectations (Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin) and some have disappointed (Greg Oden, Hasheem Thabeet, Michael Beasley (mostly)). But there was always something different about the young Spaniard. Rubio's gifts were more mental than physical. Even as a teenager, he was mentally a step ahead of the adult players he played with in the Spanish League or in international competitions for Spain. It seemed that, somehow, the kid just gets basketball. If you know about him, I shouldn't have to point you to his highlight videos for proof. Hell, I'll do it anyways.

News broke a couple of weeks ago that the Minnesota Timberwolves, who drafted Rubio 5th in the 2009 NBA Draft, had finally signed him to a contract. Due to his contractual agreements with FC Barcelona, it took Rubio a few more days to announce the deal, and on a press conference on June 17th, he finally announced that he will be taking his talents to Minnesota.

FINALLY! Barring any Lockout-related tragedies (#LWord), we will finally be able to see the magical young point guard in action in the NBA this season. I have been waiting a long time for this: I first heard about Rubio via a SLAM Magazine article by Lang Whitaker back in 2007, and I was immediately curious to see if his game could back up his accolades.

Rubio has been the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish ACB League, when he made his debut for DKV Juventut as a 14 year old in 2005. 14, and playing amongst adults in probably the second-best domestic league in the world. He played for Juventut for four years. But it was his performance at the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship that cemented his young legacy.

During the tournament in August 2006, Rubio achieved two triple-doubles and a quadruple-double. In the 110–106 double overtime Final victory over Russia, Rubio scored 51 points, grabbed 24 rebounds, made 12 assists, and stole the ball 11 times! He also forced the first overtime with a three-point, buzzer-beating shot from mid-court. Rubio was subsequently named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament after leading it in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

He was named FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008, was voted the Spanish League's best point guard in 2008, and was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year in the 2008-09 season. In his four years, he won a FIBA EuroCup championship and the ULEB Cup championship with Joventut. Ricky was recognized as Europe's overall best basketball player by being named Mr. Europa in 2008.

2008 was the same year that Ricky was selected in the Spanish senior national team for the Beijing Olympics. At 17, he was playing point guard maturely for essentially the second-best team in the world. He started in the final against Team USA, and showed incredible offensive and defensive vision in a losing effort. Ricky was later part of the Spain team that won the EuroBasket 2009.

At 18, after declaring for the NBA draft, and promptly taken by the Timberwolves as their 5th pick, Ricky decided not to go to the NBA, or rather the Timberwolves, and his contract was bought from Joventut by FC Barcelona, with whom he announced that he will stay for at least another two years before crossing the Atlantic. He has since won the Spanish League Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, FIBA European Young Player of the Year for three straight years, the MVP of the Catalan Cup in 2009, and the EuroLeague Rising Star award in 2010.

His Barcelona side has won everything in Europe with him and with plenty of other stars, including the EuroLeague and the Spanish League.

Across the pond however, Rubio's controversial decision to stay in Spain another two years made him a very unpopular person in the NBA circles. Fans questioned his toughness to stick with NBA players, and they questioned his toughness to stay away from home in the first place. From sunny Barcelona to the very not-so-sunny Minnesota. From the Spanish League to the world's most competitive basketball league in the NBA. Is he overrated? Are we judging him too much based on YouTube? His meager statistics last season with Barcelona were 6.5 ppg and 3.5 apg. He even lost his starting spot at one point in the season.

Do we believe the hype?

Yes, I say, but now, with some careful doubt. Yes, there are a lot of question marks surrounding his game. Yes, he has digressed slightly over the course of the season. Yes, he is a scrawny little kid about to be fed alive to the big boys.

Those were the cons. These are the pros:

- He's still only 20 years old, and already has 6 years of professional senior basketball experience. He has represented Spain's senior national team since 2008 and Europe's best basketball team, Barcelona, for the last 2 years. He has won a lot. At this age he already has a winning blueprint all over him. He has learnt well, and while most players of his age are still rookies, his adjustment won't be to the pro game, it would be to the game in the NBA, something that, given some time, he will be able to master.

- Don't be fooled by the size - Ricky pestered two of the NBA's best point guards in Chris Paul and Deron Williams defensively in the Olympics. And is other tiny-looking guys like Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, and not to mention Steve Nash can make it, why not Ricky?

- Don't be fooled by the stats either. In his 1 year with Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A in Europe, Brandon Jennings averaged 5.5 ppg and 2.2 apg. But the European system is much different to the NBA and the stats are not comparable In the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks for the last 2 years, Jennings has averaged 15.8 ppg and 5.3 apg. And even those stats lie. Players with European experience or European style of play such as Jennings, Tony Parker, and Rubio don't need big stats to be effective. They do it via defense, making the extra pass, and just being complete ball players instead of being scorers or passers. In this sense, I have no doubt that Rubio will be successful in the NBA.

Now the question is: will he actually stay in Minnesota. The Timberwolves, with Rubio, will probably run a starting lineup of: Rubio, Wesley Johnson, Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, and Darko Milicic. But their advantage is that they also have the second pick in the NBA draft, which will probably be used for 6 foot 9 combo forward Derrick Williams. Now someone out of Love, Beasley, or Williams will have to go. Who will it be? And will the T-Wolves give Rubio away in a deal with one of them? There are doubts if Rubio will be motivated/happy to play in Minnesota, but he has value and the Timberwolves can get a good player in return for him by sending him to a big market.

A lot of questions abound the Timberwolves right now, and no one knows what their line-up really will look like when (and if) the season starts. No one is sure if Rubio will be there or not, but one thing is for sure, we will definitely, finally see him play on the big stage. In an article I wrote last January, I was sure that Rubio was exciting enough that, one day, he could become one of my favourite players in the league. I still believe it, and I'm hoping that after seeing him play in the NBA, some of you will start believing it too.

Challengers To Rory McIlroy If He Begins To Fall

Rory McIlroy's first two rounds of golf at Congressional were as close to perfection as you could come by in a major. He hit 32 of 36 greens in regulation and played bogey free golf until the 18th hole in his second round when he hit his second shot into the water and settled for a double bogey. Rory followed up his 6-under par, 65 first round with a 5-under par, 66 second round. McIlroy first two rounds at Congressional were record breaking. McIlroy is the youngest leader of the U.S. Open after two rounds since Walter Hagen led the U.S. Open in 1914 at the age of 21. His total score of 131 is the lowest two-day score in U.S. Open history breaking Rick Barnes's record of 132 in 2009 at Bethpage. Rory's six stroke lead over Y.E. Yang after 36 holes ties a U.S. Open record for the largest lead after two rounds with Tiger Woods when he was leading the field at Pebble Beach by 6 strokes in 2000. However, McIlroy is just 22 years and has only won 2 professional tournaments in his short career. It will take two low rounds from another golfer and McIlroy to come back to the pack in order for other golfers to get into contention for the championship. Crazier things have happened before though. Here is a list of challengers that could cause McIlroy trouble if he begins to get into trouble.

Y.E. Yang: Normally when you are 5-under par at a U.S. Open through two rounds, you are sitting in a very, very good position. This year is not a normal year. With Rory McIlroy's unbelievable first two rounds, Y.E. Yang finds himself six strokes behind the leader in second place. This is not unknown territory for Yang though. In 2009 at the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club, Yang was 1-under through two rounds and six strokes behind the leader, Tiger Woods, who was at 7-under. Yang got to within two strokes after the third round and then won the tournament over Woods by three strokes the next day. There are similarities between Hazeltine and Congressional as well. Hazeltine at 7,674 yards was the longest course that a major was ever played at. The 7,574 yards of Congressional make it the third longest course in major history. Yang has come from way behind before to win a major, so he has that experience to provide him confidence that it can be done. The guy has also played some pretty good golf himself. He has been able to minimize his mistakes and scramble to save pars on some big holes. Yang has shown that he has the focus to forgot about Rory and worry about his own game. When asked about playing with McIlroy in the third round, Yang said, "I'm not going to chase anyone. I'm just going to play my game... Anything can happen in golf.  know it's a different level of golf, but anything can happen." If there is one hole that Yang needs to try and salvage a par on, it is the lengthy 11th hole. The 494-yard monster of a par 4 has caused Yang trouble for two days and he has bogeyed the hole twice in his first two rounds. Out of the 11 par 4's, the 11th hole has the highest average score at a 4.45 and there has been a course low 17 birdies on the difficult hole.

Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, and Sergio Garcia: These three highly regarded golfers are all sitting in third place at 2-under par and 9 shots behind McIlroy. Although it will be very difficult for these guys to catch McIlroy, if one of them can shoot a crazy number like a 66 or a 67 on Saturday, that would put them in contention to catch McIlroy on Sunday. Kuchar's first round of 72 was all over the place but he showed in the second round that he can play well at this golf course with a 3-under par 68. The sixth ranked player in the world finished tied for 6th in last year's open and began to catch fire in the second round. He will have to continue to play well on the par 5's as he has done in the first two rounds. On the 6 par 5's of the golf course, Kuchar had 5 birdies and a par. Zach Johnson and Sergio Garcia have had two pretty solid rounds. Zach shot a 71 on Thursday, while Sergio shot a 69 and then the two flip-flopped scores on Friday with Zach shooting a 69 and Sergio shooting a 71. Of the three golfers, Zach Johnson is the likeliest to not play a good third or fourth round. He has never played well at the U.S. open with his best finishing coming in 2007 when he finished tied for 45th. Zach's 69 on Friday was his first round under par in his career at the U.S. Open. His average yards per drive of 274.1, ranks 177 out of 187 PGA tour golfers and that doesn't help on the extremely long golf course of Congressional. Sergio has played well at the U.S. Open before and could mount a comeback. He finished in the top ten three years straight from 2001 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2007. Sergio left open the possibility of getting into the hunt when he said, "Overall I think it was a nice round to start with. There's still a long way to go. We haven't done anything yet."

Brandt Snedeker and Robert Garrigus: These two golfers are both ranked outside of the top 45 but are dangerous players if they begin to hit their stride. Snedeker and Garrigus had two solid early rounds, as both of them shot 1-under in both of their first two rounds. Like Kuchar, Johnson, and Garcia, they sit at 2-under par and 9 shots behind Rory. Snedeker knows that he will need some help from McIlroy in order to be in contention for the title. He said, "If he keeps playing the way he’s playing, we’re all playing for second place. That many shot lead going into the weekend, if he keeps playing the way he’s playing, it’s going to be impossible to catch him. You’re trying to shoot the lowest number you can. I personally won’t look at the leaderboard all weekend because there’s no point.” Snedeker has struggled on the par 3, 13th hole. He bogeyed the hole on Thursday and had a double bogey on the hole on Friday. Garrigus has voiced the same opinion as Snedeker. He said, “You can’t be aggressive out here, only in super green-light situations, because there are only a couple of flags you can even shoot at. Even with the greens soft, it’s just stupid to do that.” Garrigus won't be overly aggressive and fire at every pin to try and catch McIlroy. He will "do the same thing" and hope that McIlroy falls back into the pack. Robert Garrigus can really hit the ball off the tee. His average driving distance of 308.5 is the third longest on the tour, which is suited very well for the extremely long golf course of Congressional.

Hoopistani Mocks the 2011 Draft

We are just 6 days away from perhaps the least anticipated NBA Draft of all time. I'm sorry if that's the worst possible way to start an article about the Draft, but it's true - this year promises to present one of the weakest draft classes in a long time. It's going to be slim pickings for the teams announcing their pick on June 23rd, and what's worse is, it's hard to get excited about the future of these youngsters in the league when there is the dark cloud of 'possible lockout' (TheLWord) hanging gloomily above it - how can we be excited for the future if we aren't sure of a future?

That said, at the end of the day, NBA teams will be adding fresh new talent to their squad and hope for them to become the stars of the future. Before writing this article, I checked out the players who are the stars of today, and I'm going to simplify the 'star' argument by choosing the 2011 All Star Teams. In the pool of 25 players in the 2 teams (Yao Ming was selected but injured, so a replacement was chosen), there are an amazing six former #1 draft picks, and 18 overall picked in the top 5! Criticize the choices of NBA owners all you want, but 18/25 picked in the top 5 shows that some of them know what they're doing (and others pick Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh).

But there's hope for the low picks too. Amongst the seven players outside the top 5, we find the last four NBA Finals MVPs: Dirk Nowitzki was a 9th pick, Kobe Bryant was a 13th pick, Paul Pierce was a 10th pick, and Tony Parker, who didn't make the all star team this year but was the 2007 Finals MVP, was picked 28th. The lowest all star in terms of draft ranking? Manu Ginobili, who was shockingly picked 57th in 1999.

What does this all teach us? You'll get an all star when you pick high, but don't knock the low picks, because there could be a champion hidden somewhere.

So without further ado, here are my predictions for the lottery teams (top 14) of the 2011 NBA Draft. I have used knowledge from three reliable sources to help me come up with my list: DraftExpress.com, SLAM Online Mock Draft, and NBA.com Mock Draft. Of course, this prediction is made considering that there will be no picks traded to other teams, in which case, different teams will have different needs to fill:

1) Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving
2) Minnesota Timberwolves: Derrick Williams
3) Utah Jazz: Kemba Walker
4) Cleveland Cavaliers: Jonas Valanciunas
5) Toronto Raptors: Brandon Knight
6) Washington Wizards: Enes Kanter
7) Sacramento Kings: Jan Vesely
8) Detroit Pistons: Bismack Biyombo
9) Charlotte Bobcats: Jimmer Fredette
10) Milwaukee Bucks : Kawhi Leonard
11) Golden State Warriors: Marcus Morris
12) Utah Jazz: Alec Burks
13) Phoenix Suns: Chris Singleton
14) Houston Rockets: Tristan Thomas

I feel I should explain a few decisions.

Kyrie Irving seems to be the lock for the first pick, and most people believe that Derrick Williams follows next. When Cavs won the draft lottery, I was sure that they would translate it into the Duke PG. The 2nd pick seems to be settled for Derrick Williams too.

This is where things get interesting, and unlike most rankings, I have picked Kemba Walker to go over the likes of Brandon Knight and Jonas Valanciunas. Scouts be damned - all I know that inspirational college winners are a good sign of winners in the pro league too. If I'm Utah, I'm bringing Kemba in and making him the permanent replacement to Deron Williams.

Since Cavs have already picked a PG in Irving, I say they skip Brandon Knight and pick Valanciunas with their 4th pick.

The other choice I feel I must explain is Jimmer Fredette to Charlotte. Jimmer's stock as been up and down the last few weeks, with teams failing to understand whether or not he could become a star in this league. He was college basketball's best scorer but there are doubts about his ability to play in the pros and defend the bigger guards. For the draft, some say he could go to the Kings, as high as 7, while others have him slipping to Utah or Phoenix at 12-13. I feel 9 is a good spot for him: The Bobcats could certainly use his scoring tenacity and he will learn a thing or two about defense down there, too.

I am also intrigued to see how the international prospects in the draft - Jonas Valančiūnas (Lithuania), Enes Kanter (Turkey), Bismack Biyombo (Congo) - perform in the lottery.

So let's cross our fingers and wait. Let's hope that some of these players become all stars and MVPs of the future, and let's hope there is a season on time come November so we can see them in action!

Pulling For Christopher DeForest At The U.S. Open

On June 22, 2008, my father, my brother, and I were going out at night to play some holes at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey. Mountain Ridge was hosting the 52rd annual Ike Championship the next two days. The Ike is a very prestigious amateur golf tournament for players in the Metropolitan golf area. While my dad, my brother, and I were about to play the 13th hole, we saw a golfer playing a practice round in preparation for the Ike the next day. This golfer was named Christopher DeForest from Illinois University. Chris was a really nice guy and could really hit the ball. We walked a few holes with him and my dad told him some things that he should know about the golf course. For the next two days during the Ike, my dad, my brother, and I watched Chris play his 54 holes of the tournament. In the first round, DeForest shot a 2-under par, 69 and was tied for fifth and four strokes behind the leader. He finished tied for sixth, as he shot a 74 in his second and final round of the three round golf tournament. After his final round, Chris threw me his Illinois golf ball that he had been using and I still have that golf ball in my room to this day.

Chris went to Rondout Valley High School in Accord, New York. From 2007 to 2011, he attended Illinois University and played on their golf team. In his freshman year, he set the Illinois record for the lowest single 18-hole score when he carded a 63 in the final round of the D.A. Weibring Invitational. He finished in the top 10 of the Big Ten Championship in all four years of his college career and he was a two-time All-Big Ten first team performer.

DeForest qualified for the U.S. Open after winning a play-off in a sectional qualifier at St. Charles Country Club in St. Charles, Illinois. After finishing his first round at 1-under par, DeForest began to play unbelievably well in the second round. He finished the second round at 7-under par and was 8-under par for the tournament. Since DeForest was tied for second and there were two spots available for the U.S. Open, he played in a three-way playoff. It took Chris two holes in the playoff but he walked away with second place and a chance to play at Congressional Country Club in the 111th U.S. Open.

I had been watching the U.S. Open all day on television when suddenly the telecast showed Chris DeForest playing on the very difficult 10th hole. At the time the young kid from New York was 2-under par after his front nine, as he birdied the par 5, 6th hole and the par 4, 8th hole. DeForest hit a 20 foot birdie putt on the 10th to go to 3-under par and was tied for second at the time in his first ever professional golf tournament. I was so pumped for Chris and I finally had a reason to cheer because Phil Mickelson was giving me nothing to be happy about with his sloppy play. I followed Chris for the rest of his back nine on my computer and it was a very eventful back nine. He only had one par on the back nine on the 14th hole. After his birdie to bring him to 3-under on 10, he had a double bogey on 11. That is how the rest of Chris's back nine went. He birdied 12 but came back with a bogey on 13. He bogeyed 15 but rallied with birdies on both 16 and 17. Although Chris double bogeyed the par 4, 18th hole, he had a tremendous first round and finished with an even par of 71. His six birdies on the day were tied for the most in the entire field with Rory McIlroy. 

Any golfers first professional golf tournament has to be nerve wrecking. This is magnified when your first professional tournament is at the U.S Open. DeForest said about playing with guys like Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy, "They are just people, just like we are, and some of those are better at golf than others. I qualified. I'm in the tournament like they are. I'm going to be as nervous as can be, but I'm going to enjoy myself this week." Despite the fact that Chris is playing in his first career professional tournament at the U.S. Open, Chris had an outstanding first round and should be proud of his performance. I am looking forward to watching Chris and I am hoping that he does well for the duration of the U.S. Open and also his future PGA tournaments. He has tremendous grace and class and is a great player to watch because of his ability to drive the ball incredible distances. I will definitely be pulling for Chris to have a great final three rounds at the U.S. Open.

After shooting an even par, 71 in his first round of professional golf at the U.S. Open, Chris DeForest is tied for 22nd and is looking to build upon his opening round.

With Rory McIlroy Off To Another Strong Start At A Major, He Will Try To Avoid Another Collapse

In the first round of the British Open at St. Andrews last year, Rory McIlroy shot a 9-under par, 63. His performance was the lowest ever first round score in Open history and tied the St. Andrews course record for the lowest score. He followed his first round performance with a second round 80, the lowest score in the second round of any player to make the cut that year. Although there were bad weather conditions with a lot of wind, McIlroy's second round display was very disappointing especially after he jumped out to such a great start first round. McIlroy said about his second round, "It was just very, very difficult out there. I just let it get away from me a little bit. I could have let the round get away from me, if I'm quite honest." McIlroy finished 8 shots behind the winner Louis Oosthuizen.

At this year's Masters, Rory McIlroy once again jumped out to a great start at a major, as he was tied for the lead at the Masters after the first day with a 7-under par, 65. The 22 year old young star was looking to avoid another meltdown after the first round of a major. McIlroy said after his first round that he didn't expect another collapse at the Masters. He said looking back at his British Open, "At the time, it was very disappointing. But looking back, it was probably very valuable in my progression as a golfer... I have that experience to draw on especially being in a similar position to last year at St. Andrews... I'll be thinking about how I can do things better tomorrow than I did that day in St. Andrews... I feel like I'm better prepared to tee off in the second round of a major with the lead. It's possible that I can go out and shoot another 65, but I know that it's also very likely that I'm not going to do that. So if I do find myself in a bit of trouble, I'm going to have to stick in there, grind it out, and that's something that I feel as if I learned to do at St. Andrews." McIlroy shot a 69 in the second round and a 70 in the third round and had a four shot lead going into the final round of the Masters but he imploded in the fourth round and shot an 8-over par, 80. The four stroke lead that McIlroy squandered was the biggest of a third round leader at a major since Jean Van de Velde lead by 5 strokes at the 1999 Open Championship and lost to in a three-way playoff. His final round was the worst round in history by a golfer leading after the third round of the Masters. Many people compared McIlroy's meltdown to Greg Norman when he entered the Masters with a six stroke lead in 1996 but lost by five strokes to Nick Faldo. For the second time at a major, McIlroy collapsed.

McIlroy said after his final round collapse at the Masters, “You know, I’ll have plenty more chances. I know that." After his first round at Congressional County Club in Bethesda, Maryland, McIlroy has another great chance to walk away with his first win at a major. For the third major out of the last four, McIlroy is leading the pack after the first 18 holes. He birdied 6 holes, 3 on the front nine and 3 on the back nine, and didn't have one bogey on the day. He shot a 6-under par, 65 in the first round of the U.S. Open and leads Charl Schwartzel and Y.E. Yang by three strokes.

McIlroy's challenge for the next three rounds of the tournament will be to not have a repeat of his second round at the British Open or his final round at the Masters. McIlroy seems like he has put his Masters collapse behind him, as he said about his bounce back from that tournament, "I don't know if it says that I've just got a very short memory or, I don't know. I took the experience from Augusta, and I learned a lot from it. But I feel like these good starts in the majors are very much down to my preparation and how I prepare for them. But yeah, I mean, you can't, you're going into the U.S. Open. You can't be thinking about what's happened before, you've got to just be thinking about this week and how best you can prepare and how you can get yourself around the golf course. I think you definitely have to analyze the parts that you want to do better. But I stopped, I really stopped thinking about it a week after. You really try and pick it apart and pick things out that you could have done better, but after you do that and you're happy with everything that you've sort of taken from it, then you've just got to move on. I just took, mostly just from the Sunday just being so tentative and trying to keep ahead of the field instead of playing a free-flowing game like I usually do. That's one of the big differences." 

McIlroy said, "I felt like I handled the second round at Augusta this year a lot better than I handled the second round at St. Andrews last year." McIlroy is hoping that he will handle the fourth round at Congressional a lot better than his fourth round at Augusta. McIlroy definitely has the tools and the ability to win a major but will he be able to move past his prior collapses and hand in four solid rounds at a major?

The Boston Bruins Overcame Home Ice Advantage To Win The Stanley Cup

For the first 6 games of the Stanley Cup Finals, only the home team could muster a win. Weather the games were close in Vancouver or blowouts in Boston, only the home team could walk away victorious.

The Canucks took the first two games of the Stanley Cup at home. In Game 1, Roberto Luongo pitched a shutout, as the Canucks blanked the Bruins 1-0. Luongo had 36 saves in between the pipes. Game 2 was another close game but the Canucks once again were victorious at Rogers Arena in overtime 3-2. Luongo was great with 28 saves in the net. In Game 5 in Vancouver with the series tied at 2, the Canucks won another close game 1-0. Luongo had his second shutout of the series with 31 big saves in net.

When the series was in Boston, the Canucks were a different team. Although Roberto Luongo said, "I like playing on the road, almost more than at home. The opposing crowds pump me up," Luongo looked horrible in net in Boston and the Bruins offense was firing on all cylinders. For the Canucks offensively, they couldn't score on Boston netminder Tim Thomas at TD Garden. In Game 3, the Bruins won 8-1 after the score was tied at 0 after the first period. Game 4 was another Boston victory in Boston. Luongo was pulled early in the third period after allowing four goals in a 4-0 loss. In a must win for the Bruins at home in Game 6 with the series at 3-2 in favor of the Canucks, the Bruins once again were great at home with a 5-2 victory. They scored 4 goals in the first 10 minutes of the first period and the Canucks had to pull Roberto Luongo from goal once again.

If you watched the Canucks in Vancouver and then in Boston, you would think that they were two different teams and you would think that Roberto Luongo was two different players. In 3 games in Vancouver, Luongo had 2 shutouts and allowed 2 goals on 95 shots. When Luongo was in Boston, he let in 17 goals and had just 51 saves. The Bruins even admitted that they play much better at home than on the road. Brad Marchand said, "It's always easier to be at home. We feed off the energy, off our fans. They just bring out the best in us." Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg voiced a similar opinion, as he said, "I guess both teams are just really comfortable playing in front of their home crowd, feeding off the energy and playing well. It looks like we're comfortable with the way we played. Just as they did, we feed off the energy in our building." Zdeno Chara added, "It just seems we play better at home. On the road, we have some lapses, do some things wrong and do some things right. You have to pay attention for 60 minutes." 

The advantage of playing at home in the Stanley Cup Finals has been a trend for years. Of the previous 80 Stanley Cups, the team with home ice advantage had won 57 times including 19 of the last 23 and 11 of the last 12. Since 2009, the home team was 17-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals coming into the Canucks- Bruins Game 7. In 2009 and 2010, the road team won just 1 game. The home team was also 12-3 in Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Lucky enough for the Vancouver Canucks and especially Roberto Luongo, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals was back in Vancouver at Rogers Arena. Daniel Sedin said, " We're 3-3 and we won al three games at home and we have the fourth game at home. So we have the seventh game at home and we'll take that. We are confident." The Bruins would have to get over their road woes or they would fall in Game 7 and have to watch the Canucks lift the cup.

Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien said, "We've created ourselves another opportunity and it's up to us to take advantage of it but we've got to be hungrier than we have been the last three times in Vancouver." Bruins defensemen Johnny Boychuk added, "It's the last game of the season. This is what you play for. Obviously, it's a little kid's dream to win the Stanley Cup. And to do it on the road, it doesn't matter where as long as you win it." The Bruins had to change something up this time in Vancouver, so injuried forward Nathan Horton squirted a bottle of melted ice from TD Garden onto Rogers Arena and the Bruins were a different team than the three previous times they were in Vancouver. The Bruins took advantage of their fourth chance to knock off the Canucks on the road in Game 7. Tim Thomas was great, as he had been all series, home or away. The real key was the Boston offense, which scored four goals including one shorthanded goal to help the Bruins win their first Stanley Cup in 39 years since 1972. The Bruins overcame home ice advantage that had been so useful to the Canucks to win the Stanley Cup and walk away with Lord Stanley.

Inter-School Basketball League tips off in Bangalore

After successful implementations in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai last year, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and IMG-Reliance launched the first ever inter-school basketball league in Bangalore on June 16th with the help of the Karnataka State Basketball Association (KSBBA).

10 boys' and 8 girls' school teams from around the city will be taking part in this competition. In each division, the teams will be divided into two groups of five, who will play against each other in a double leg (home and away) system through the course of the season. The best teams from the two groups will qualify for the knockout rounds.

The group games are scheduled to be held from June 16 - July 2, 2011, at the various schools in Bangalore.

Participating Teams

Boys

Group I: Christ School, Sri Kumaran Children's Home, Delhi Public School (Bangalore South), Bishop Cotton's School, Kendriya Vidyalaya (Hebbal).

Group II: St. Joseph's Indian High School, National Public School (Rajajinagar), Poorna Prajna Education Centre (PPEC) (Indiranagar), Vidya Niketan School, Mallya Aditi International School.

Girls

Group I: Mary Immaculate Girls' High School, Sri Kumaran Children's Home, Stella Maris Schol, National Public School (Rajajinagar).

Group II: Bishop Cotton's School, Mallya Aditi International School, New Horizon Public School, Carmel Convent High School.

UPDATE: Go here to get daily results from the Bangalore School League.