it has been one of the tryingyears in our history of basketball. This letter is directly addressed to you.

On behalf of GBA Marketing I would like to thank you for affording basketball the opportunity to be highlighted on the web. Undoubtedly one of the most important mediums todate.

I just Hope and wish that we could find a way and further mprove this relationship and make it more viable.

I believe that every team should keep stats for their games because it would give them a chance to work on their weaknesses that would come up on the sheet.

The teams could scan and email them to us so that we include them in the articles. I like what UJ assistant coach Molupe is doing in that department and I was pleasantly surprised to see him keep stats for one of the LOP game.

There are plenty of other teams keeping stats but they remain in the minority.

Ciao, V

it is always interesting to see team and individual stats. they do not have to be advanced; as a start just coach, players, points, fouls etc….things that can be found on each game’s score sheet …. create a web thing people, what you say…:)

The women’s finals was a game of mental toughness by both teams. The stats below (only to 55-51 as I got caught in the excitement and did not complete them) show that this was not a purist’s game:

UJ TUKS
Score 51 55
Possessions 86 77
Points per Possession 0.59 0.71
FG % 42.3% 47.9%
2 FG % 58.3% 55.6%
3 FG % 6.3% 25.0%
FT % 42.9% 30.0%
OR % 36.0% 21.9%
to % 27.9% 26.0%

UJ started strongly (first 3 possessions, 6 points). Tuks did not fold and came back with its own run to take a lead. UJ then went on another run in the second quarter to lead at the half. Third quarter – Tuks first 3 possessions 6 points. UJ’s first 3 possessions, 3 turnovers. Let me mention some of the heroes of the game – in the first 3 quarters Nikki scored 19 points – over 40% of her team’s points to that point. Takalani and Sibo continuously leaked out to create 2 on 1 fast break opportunities. Raquelha’s two huge threes at the beginning of the 4th quarter should have buried UJ. But UJ played through that. Pupsie played tough the whole game – constantly cramping and yet played on and well – again, my kind of toughness. Charmaine kept taking the ball to Tuks and had 11 key points – 3 of those from the free throw line at the end of the game and an important basket to give UJ the lead 56-55 at the end of regulation. Siphokazi helped UJ build an important big lead in the first half, scoring 11 points on 5 out of 6 shooting in the 1st half. Excellent. Lungile’s mental toughness was evident in her making the big 3 to bring the score to 55-54. Up to that point she had taken and missed four 3’s. That’s toughness! Gomotso shot the 3 free throws with confidence and was not afraid of the pressure. Loved it. In general both teams played excellent defenses at crucial times. Mandla and Nikki made some excellent adjustments in the game – timeouts taken, adjustments to defense and some key substitutions.

In the first half of the men’s final I thought that VUT did a great job of forcing the pace of the game. They pushed the ball, took the ball inside and created lots of wide open outside shots. Toka did a great job driving inside and playing with Thabang K. Philani was shooting more, which was a positive for VUT. Amogelang (when he was in the game) and Thabang Glass (the old Thabang was back!) kept UJ in the game in the first half. They really played well both offensively and defensively. The turnaround in the game came when Nhlanhla had to sit for an extended period of time with foul trouble. At that point UJ was down 10 points. UJ then played the way they should have played the whole game – going for the jugular, increasing the tempo of the game by playing good pressure defense and taking good shots and taking them quickly. Despite Mbulelo having one of his drives blocked, UJ (Thabang and Mbulelo, mainly) kept driving hard to the basket and this led to Lucky and Thabo’s big threes which killed the game.

Finally, the UJ fans and the few VUT fans made the game fun. A wonderful day at basketball. Lets see what LOP can do in response.

Molupe Thelejane

I am a subsciber to the Japanese philosophy of ‘Kaizen’, this philisophy to most who are involved in management aned quality control is very the ultimate Total Quality Management (TQM) principle. According to Kaizen nothing is ever perfect, as a manager one should always be looking to improve even when things are going right.

It is through this philosophy that today the a Japanese car manufacterer is the no 1 car seller in America and throughout the world, ie Toyota. This philosophy is totally against the American philosphy of ‘if it ain’t broke dont fix it’. It is through this philisophy that I am constantly looking qualitative ways to improve basketball from all perspectives, playing or administating.

Therefore, I totally agree with Neo, Tukkies must not wait until they loose ten matches before they realise they need someone not engaged in the battlefield to be able to manage strategy effectively. I have always argued that the reason that Tukkies have been able to dominate is because of the collective brain power that possess on the court, through Nikki, Sibo and Be.

As the UJ coach noted, they planned to run Tukkies rugged, knowing full well that if Sibo and Nikki get physically challenged this will impact on thier strategic brain advantage of Tukkies. Before the final I warned that if Tukkies wanted to win, they should have sabotaged UJ by ensuring that Melupe does not make it to the games by nook or crook as not only will they have to contend with a very capable Mandla but also Melupe’s brain power.

Easy games you will win with or without a coach, but the difficult ones when you need to play and also need to coach those are the ones that get away from you. Im in a situation where both the teams that I play for, the coaches are also playing. TUT vs UJ, Pts Heat vs Wits Alumni & Egoli, all those games needed some 1 to think from a coach’s point of view. I think TUKS more than capable of beating UJ hands down but it all boils down to the decisions made on the court and on the bench, you cant make both calls at the same time and expect to have outstanding results.

Nicky and Sibo have all the knowledge and they showed that when Tuks beat UJ not once but twice in the USSA. Getting a third person, not necessarily a head coach but an assistant, can offer a them a different perspective. Besides its hard to give instructions when you huffing and puffing during a time out….

that happens everytime in basketball as each team will have their run during the game. what is important at the end is the decision making process during crucial moments. we all know that someone or a team will sure make a mistake and the lucky team will win. the same goes to the weekend game.

overall that was a good game and you can see that the two teams are well coached. i am anxious to see what is going to happen during the women’s tournament among these teams and hope that they all bring their full squads unlike last year.