University of Pretoria Men’s team SASSU/USSA diary 2008
Day 1 – Sunday 29 June 2008
After months of anticipation, our trip to Cape Town for the most prestigious student basketball tournament has arrived. Last night we had a send-off braai filled with much needed bonding involving both the mens’ and the womens’ first teams. Although the trip down was unnecessarily lengthy – we left at 1:00 AM and we arrived at about 19:00 PM – the spirits remained high as we arrived to a warm welcome form the hosts. After getting our game schedule, however, we were shocked to see that our first game is against UJ at 11 oclock tomorrow morning. But anyways, as they say “we gotta do what we gotta do”.
What time is it? Game time baby!!
Day 2 – Monday 30 June 2008
Ah… What can I say; today was a tough day for Tuks men’s basketball. After a bright and early start to the day we looked to do what our men’s team hasn’t done in… well lets just say a WHILE, which is beat the UJ team. Myself personally I felt that we could pull it off. After looking at our pool (consisting of UJ, UWC, UKZN and UNW) we felt that we could get first place (If we beat UJ) and hence play the 2nd placed team of the other pool in the semi final round.
But no… we suffered an EMBARRASSING defeat at the hands of UJ. I think that we can blame the loss on nerves and the lack of mental focus. After working this hard this season we should be giving the best teams a run for their money. I must admit though, it did make my day to watch the ladies beat UJ. It got me thinking, will it be Requel or Takalani for the Most Valuable Player? Doesn’t matter as long as the whole team does their “thang”. Anyways tomorrow we play both UWC and UNW. We know what we must do, and the time is now to do it. Oh yes… YEAH TUKS!
Day 3 – Tuesday 1 July 2008
Today was a totally different day all together. We turned up to the 2 games knowing that losses were unacceptable and that any loss would kill any chance at playing in the semis. Beating UWC 69 – 52 felt good especially since they held on tight until the closing stages of the game. UNW on the other hand… quite frankly we ran them over (110 – 33). In all honesty their attempts at calling a forfeit, although unsuccessful, made me feel good as a player. It was a good way to end off a long and strenuous day. Final group stages game tomorrow against UKZN which should see us to the semis, where we must step it up. One game at a time though, we don’t want to be caught being overzealous. The difference tomorrow will be who wants it more and how badly they want it.
Day 4 – Wednesday 2 July 2008
Last day of the group stages, it’s safe to say that the team showed great composure when it was needed. It was great to see the response from the ladies team after we qualified for the semis. Tomorrow we play Vaal Tech in a game where our team tactics will play a major role on the outcome of the game. Is it a classic David and Goliath story?
Personally I don’t think so, and we will have to see on the day. If we take it quarter-by-quarter and keep our focus then we could compete against the reigning champions.
Day 5 –Thursday 3 July 2008
Before the crunch semi final game against Vaal, there was a prayer led by Gino Adriaanse. Straight off the bat we gave Vaal a tough game, starting off with zone then quickly switching to a man-to-man defense. It was a close game at the end of the half, where we trailed by 5 or 6 points. Unfortunately at the start of the third quarter, Vaal turned up the heat and we got burnt. All-in-all it was a great team effort on the day and we felt that we gave Vaal their toughest game of the tournament thus far. But at the end of the day we were out of the tournament, although we do have a chance to salvage some pride in the 3rd/4th place tie against Rhodes….
Day 6 – Friday 4 July 2008
After a late night of “team bonding” today’s plan was to secure 3rd place and support the girls in their run for 1st place. Against a Rhodes team that we believed we could beat, we suddenly found ourselves 20 points behind at half time and despite a late rally from the team we were beaten by a couple of points. So we got 4th place (which blows) but at least we got to see an amazing display of basketball as the ladies beat UJ for the second time in the tournament only this time it was to win the finals.
Tonight we plan to “paint the town red” as they say, since it is our final night in Cape Town. After the final awards dinner to close the tournament, we hit the clubs STRONG! Hope to wake up tomorrow since we leave at 10 in the AM!
Information supplied by Kago Masisi (Tuks 1st team player). Work commissioned and edited by Victor Shakineza.
This what we’ve been waiting for, an informative website about the happenings of basketball in SA. I must say personally I’m excited about what I just read on the website, its pretty awesome that all the ballers in SA have a platform to voice their opinions and see what’s happening in the world of basketball. However I would like the website to include primary and high school basketball news. Namely the GSBC (Gauteng Scools Basketball Conferences) has over 40 schools and is in my opinion the biggest Basketball League. For more info on the GSBC call Danmore Chirinda on 0827685638. “basketball is life”