South Africa's basketball community

GBL games round up for 27/07/2008

By on July 28, 2008 in League

 

 

With plenty of games to keep the crowd on hand entertained, there were a few interesting clashes taking place at the University of Pretoria Indoor basketball courts none more so than the University of Johannesburg against Panthers.

 

University of Johannesburg vs. Panthers (Free State) – GBL Men

Having travelled 450km to honour this particular fixture, the Panthers team were up against it facing the well oiled machine from University of Johannesburg (UJ). With UJ expecting an easy time of things they soon found out that they were up against a team that was well prepared and ready to give them a run for their money.

The first quarter was a see saw battle that had both teams exchanging body blows and matching each other’s every move. The 1st quarter score was 18-12 to UJ. The 2nd quarter started like the previous one but a hint of inside game play from both teams with Thabo Letsebe (UJ number 15) and Thabang Glass (UJ number 4) doing their thing for UJ while Panthers had number 19 and 15 to thank. UJ managed to get a run going and managed to get some breathing space with a half time lead of 10 points. If both teams were adding value to the spectacle, the referees were doing their best to get too involved by forgetting to use their whistle properly. The 3rd quarter was a defensive tussle with baskets hard to come by. But when the points seemed like a luxury in the 4th quarter, UJ went to Kgomotso Loate (UJ number 12) in the 4th quarter and he found a way to the hoop through some good penetration. But instead of lying down and letting their more illustrious opponents walk all over them, Panthers kept coming back and put up some easy baskets with the help of V. Sithole (Panthers number 7). In the end, the clock was their enemy and they ended up losing to UJ with a score of 52 – 66.

University of Johannesburg vs. University of Pretoria – GBL ladies

It seems like UJ vs. UP/Tuks has become the fixture to look out for in the ladies game in South Africa. They have already met twice this year, with UP getting the bragging rights at the intervarsity game and again winning the more important final at the USSA 2008 tournament at UCT in early July.Going into this game, UJ were looking to get some kind of pride back by trying to win the GBL while Tuks lined up with a different team to the one that had taken the gold medal in Cape Town. Tuks added Nicki de Villiers and Sibongile Masangwanye ot their roster giving them a chance to get some game time after almost 2 months of inactivity. This game had at least 6 lead changes and was a close affair throughout with Tuks relying on the one two punch of Takalani Mfamadi and Requelh Molema in the front court and the hard work and defense of Bulelwa Zondi in the back court. UJ were relying on their outside game as usual passing up some good scoring opportunities inside and preferring to pop the ball back out for the guards to take long range shots. With Lungile Mtsweni shooting well in the 1st half of the Game, and Ellen Moutlwse handling the PG position as usual; it seemed as if UJ were finally finding their groove and were going to beat Tuks at home. They went into the half with a one point lead (28 – 27). This close trend continued in the 3rd quarter which ended with score (35 – 38 ) in favour of UJ. It seemed that UJ were on the brink of victory, but as the saying goes: “The game is not won in the 1st quarter but in the last one”; and as if they were teasing their opponents, Tuks came out of the 4th quarter all guns blazing and put a run of baskets together that UJ couldn’t match. Tuks eventually won the game 48 – 44 and as usual this will be seen as another UJ failure to close out an important game…

In other games…

Bedfordview Dragons vs. Wits 2nd team (Men).

In a game that looked more like an exhibition fixture, Bedfordview Dragons trashed Wits 2nd team. It looked like someone had left the tap open with the Dragons doing lay-up after lay-up against a hapless Wits team that showed little or no experience at this level. Bedfordview Dragons kept attacking their opponents at every opportunity and they really wanted to show the watching fans what their team was all about. Final score: Bedfordview Dragons 88 – 48 Wits 2nd .

Tshwane University of Technology vs. University of Pretoria (Men).

TUT came with a different mindset and put their Tshwane rivals to the sword with a balanced display of running basketball and outside shooting. This was expected to be an easy game for the Tuks boys but they were let down by poor decision making on the floor and their over reliance on the outside shot… TUT didn’t give Tuks any rest on offense and were all over them on defense forcing them to take force issues. Despite Tuks making a late run in the 3rd and 4th quarter behind the efforts of their guards’ 3pt shooting and finally going inside against a much smaller TUT, they couldn’t close out the lead that was built in the 1st half. Final score: TUT 77 – 63 TUKS.

University of Pretoria vs. Charioters (Ladies).

Some games should be stopped at half time and this is one of them. This was a mismatch of immense proportion and the fact that Charioters got to 35 is a miracle in itself. Tuks were never challenged and had an easy workout out. Charioters looked like a team of the future that should be playing in a lower division and work their way up. Final score: TUKS 89 – 35 Charioters.

Vaal University of Technology vs. University of Johannesburg 2nd team (Men).

Need I say more, VUT looked like they didn’t want to be here but they quickly were made to focus on the task at hand after some good play from the UJ second string side. With their usual coach nowhere to be found the VUT boys were missing lay-ups, dunks and being made to look average by a team of upcoming stars. Despite their dismissive approach to the game, VUT did enough to stay in front of their opponents and were ahead throughout.

Vaal University of Technology vs. Tshwane University of Technology (Ladies).

 

 

VUT were still smarting from their trip at the USSAs that saw them relinquish their student championship title and they were up against a TUT team that wanted to show that they were not in GBL to make up the numbers. TUT have a take no prisoners approach and always make it really hard for opponents to play against them. VUT have an experienced roster and were never in danger of losing this game when the game started.

 

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There Are 40 Brilliant Comments

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  1. baller says:

    i understand what you saying and unfortunately i can’t say you right or wrong for not using public transport..i believe that you have your personal reasons and will respect that..

    at the end, to me it does not matter if you south african or not as long as you a bball supporter then attend games and next time call your friends to come watch..

  2. neo says:

    Hi Michelle…..

  3. Joe says:

    I would like to pose that the we need to define basketball fans before we can say “where are the fans”?

    For instance, the reason bball is well supported in the US and EU is because most of the supporters have actually played basketball, worse so in the US cause bball is part of their culture.

    I believe that for bball to have true fans we need to create a bball culture. Again, this all begins at the grassroots. I hope I wont be shot down for saying this but, when LOP launched its league this year there was a huge turnout. The question is where are those fans? Does it mean that every time we want to have ‘fans’ in bball events we must sugarcoat this with crumping and musicians? Is this approach to creating a fanbase sustainable?

    I believe that a more sustainable fan base is the one that will attend bball games not for the extras but purely for the game itself. This fanbase is harder to create but gurantees loyalty. To create this fan base means we need to introduce bball in every school and in every play ground.

    I have not been exposed to Angola and other African countries’ bball events, but how do they manage to have fans, even in our own country. My guess is the fans love bball for bball sake, not because it is associated with crumping and MC’s.

    QUESTION, what happens if Hip Hop is no longer the ‘in’ thing? What happens when Hip Hop is dominated by rappers who swear by skating?

  4. Nthabiseng says:

    What people dont understand that hip hop is a universal language. So joe its not about hip hop bein the in thing or not. If u can get the hip hop heads to fill up the stands like they did at the espn celeb shin-ding then why not use that culture that has bein with basketball for years to get people coming to watch the games.

  5. baller says:

    i will agree with Joe and disagree with you Nthabiseng..the reasons are that, the guys who come to bball cos there is hip hop, dance or whatever don’t even watch the games..the are there to watch the rappers, dancers etc..at the end of the day, there is no one watching a game..

    i was at the LOP launch this year..and when games play, all the kids will be roaming around the indoor after a game when someone has to sing the whole basketball floor is packed..when a game starts there is no one watching..

    at the end we not creating any fans but we just adding numbers that do not benefit us in anyway..as i said in my argument earlier, we as players, administrators and coaches need to start supporting bball irrespective of who is playing..lets stop being attached to our teams and go to games only when they play..

    surely almost everyone has an LOP or GBL fixture and know where are games played week in week out..lets just make time to go there and support bball..once we do that,then its a beginning of creating our own identity and fan base..

    argument sake, have you ever seen Quinton, Joseph, Nyakallo, etc attending a game where they not playing??haha..your guess is as good as mine..we need them to come to games and whatch this kids play cos they are somehow role models..

  6. sibo says:

    Nthabiseng sori dear , i fully agree with Joe and Baller. You must have witnessed it urself last year when Tuks hosted the hip hop and 4 top high schools tournament both boys and girls 2 jhb and 2 tshwane. Yes the crowd was there I have never seen that hall so packed in my life but only when dancers were performing on basketball matches they would go and hang outside do their thing. This is not say that the bball part was not fully marketed . We did road shows but even bball players who were there when seen outside when bball was playing.

    After that event i was almost in trouble and that event will not happen again in our premises. It brought memories hip hop and bball was big event was hosted in Menlyn 2yrs back and when it was suppose to take place again he was told its not the malls culture to pull such crowd.

    Hip hop and bball are the in thing and somehow complement each other but i sometimes get the feeling that its not being linked or associated with thug life.

    Plz don’t take this the wrong way i have a son who is crazy abt hip hop and I do listen to it. But i always have to defend the life style of hip hop even to big companies.

    No doubt we need to pack the stands with fans and entertain.

    We have the masters tournament in Sep and the crowd there is bigger that what we have in our games and those are the legends in bball and owns big companies.

    I will stop now…and hope we discuss this further to convince our loyal supporters to come to the games.

  7. Baller says:

    we all know that bballers do not support bball games..the question is now, how do we bring them back to realise that their contribution is vital for the develpopment of the sport..

    for once lets not blame GBA, BSA or whoever..we need to find a solution which i don’t even have..the only thing i know is that we need all the bballers to support bball 24/7..

  8. Nthabiseng says:

    I hear what you are saying Sibo. Dont you think if basketball had the type of hype etc like hip hop has then the kids would actually watch the game, coz the kids do actually like ball.

  9. Baller says:

    honestly Nthabiseng, most kids are into hip hop and for some reason they associate bball with it..there is nothing wrong with that, the only problem is that when you have hip hop, dancers etc then bball this kids come there for dance hip hop, dancers and not there for bball..

    they never watch bball believe you me..i have been to many a events where there two are combined but basketball never gets the attention it deserves at the end..when they are told that there are no more artists or dancers, they simply pack and go and when the game plays there is no one except 2 or 3 basketballers..

    unfortunately that is our reality in S.A..the sooner we start treating the two differently and accepting that these model doesn’t work for us the better..we have to find our own unique solution to bring the kids to the sport for the love of it and to me as Joe said before, we have to go back to school basketball..

    i don’t know if you were at DSG when there were the schools finals..it was bball all day and no performers and the hall was packed and all the kids supporting their schools..to me that is where our energy should be directed to..

    the crowd was behind bball and that is what we wanna see in all our games..if schools can do that, then we must direct our energy there because at the end of the day, those kids are part of the community and they will come to Wits, Tuks and anywhere where there are bball games..

  10. TUKS SUPPORTER says:

    Yea lets make it happen…. 🙂

  11. victor says:

    I think that the whole issue here is still lack of communication from all sides. We as fans have to tell our friends to tag along and the organisers (LOP, GBA) have to advertise their games better.

    That’s my thoughts on this discussion.

    ciao,V

  12. sibo says:

    Nthabiseng: Baller has touched on issues that we need to focus on and , yes vic its everyone’s responsibility. Schools are the critical base. But also marketing a league and a once off events is different.

    GBL games are at wits this weekend lets see the crowd since its smaller that the Tuks venue.

    Lets also not forget that our sport has also been crippled for 2 decades and at least things are starting to happen this year. I always say to the current leaders being BSA/GBA, a chance is been given to turn the tables around and whatever negative comments are out there it’s because the masses are frustrated and it should’nt be taken personaly.

  13. kim says:

    My friends are toooooo rude when I invite them to these games and they threaten the refs but I will try get them to the Wits game but I wont be responsible for any wrong doin on their part(lol).

  14. Baller says:

    got a solution for you Kim..bring along a cage..haha..

  15. Vusi says:

    I say 2 all support wat u luv it will benefit us b-ball players at the end

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