berthoop

According to the Belgian press, playing on Boxing Day did not make all EuroMillions League actors happy: most foreign players do not have much time to enjoy the holiday season or fly back to their home country to join their family, it also ties clubs' staff and workforce down at a period of the year when most people simply take time to enjoy the holiday season, etc. Bert attended the most exciting match-up of Round Thirteen: the derby game between both mid-range teams Belfius Mons-Hainaut and Basic-Fit Brussels . The game took place at the mons.arena in Jemappes, Belgium in front of a nice attendance on Boxing Day. Swedish talent Dino Pita (6'5", born in 1988) did not play for Brussels (he left the club for family reasons a few days later and was released for the rest of the season) but the visitors could definitely count on their Belgian international point guard Guy Muya (6'4", born in 1993) who was back in action after a few days of rest due to an ...

Having been a Member of the USBWA-U.S. Basketball Writers Association since September 2003, I usually welcome fall and winter with great enthusiasm since the NCAA basketball season usually starts then. I have always followed college basketball action with great attention. I remember having been a great fan of e.g. Steve Alford of Indiana , Patrick Ewing of Georgetown , David Rivers of Notre Dame , Danny Ferry of Duke , Danny Manning of Kansas , Rony Seikaly of Syracuse , J.R. Reid of North Carolina or Christian Laettner of Duke when they were involved in their own university basketball program. Not to mention that I have often been impressed by coaching legends like Bobby Knight (esp. when he was at Indiana ), Jerry Tarkanian , Mike Krzyzewski , Jim Boeheim , Lute Olson , John Thompson ,  Rick Pitino or the late  Jim Valvano. Now that the 2016-17 NCAA basketball season has just started, I get hooked on YouTube and watch talented young athletes play hoops...

Bert and his son attended the Proximus Spirou Charleroi vs. BC Telenet Oostende basketball game at the Spiroudome on Oct. 28th, 2016. The one and only Belgian basketball "Clásico"! They could not have been better seated, at first row right behind the bench of BC Oostende . Nice to follow the speeches, mood swings and pep talks of BCO 's Croatian Coach Dario Gjergja during timeouts! Around 5,000 people attended this excellent basketball game in Charleroi, Belgium.   Serbian forward Marko Keselj (age 28, 2.06 m) and Belgium's national team member Pierre-Antoine Gillet (age 25, 2.01 m), both injured, were unavailable for BC Oostende and the three Belgian international players Kevin Tumba (age 25, 2.06 m), Loic Schwartz (age 23, 1.95 m) and Ioann Iarochevitch (age 27, 2.06 m), on the injured list for Spirou , did not play in the game.   The home side started slowly and did several mistakes in defense, allowing BC Oostende to take the lead in the fi...

Belgian Lions Kevin Tumba (ankle) and Ioann Iarochevitch (mesniscus) as well as Canadian swingman Jevohn Shepherd (knee) were on the Proximus Spirou injured list before the game against Crelan Okapi Aalstar of Coach Steve Ibens on Oct. 14th, 2016. Therefore, the Spirou staff worked hard last week and managed to find two US substitutes who were already allowed to play the game against the Okapis . Head Coach Fulvio Bastianini can count on Bryan Davis (age 29, 2.08 m, Texas A&M '10) and Brandon Bowman (age 31, 2.06 m, Georgetown '06) to help the Spirou team in the next few weeks indeed. With experienced players such as last season's Belgian Scooore! League MVP John Tofi (age 32, 2.03 m) or athletic US forward Bill Amis (age 28, 2.06 m), the Okapi squad still looks well-balanced this season.   In front of a sparse attendance, both teams started the game at a rather slow pace but quickly managed to speed up the tempo: 7-6 after five minutes played ...

It was a full house at the Hall Octave Henry in Namur on Feb. 20th, 2016 as the Belgian Cats (Belgium's women national team) hosted Poland for the FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 Qualifiers . It was the occasion for 1.200 enthusiastic fans to enjoy a great basketball game with superstars Ann Wauters (1.94 m, center, born in 1980) and Emma Meesseman (1.92 m, center, born in 1993) on the Belgian side and with Ewelina Kobryn (1.93 m, center, born in 1982) on the Polish squad.   After several attempts missed on boths sides due to nice defensive plays, unexpected turnovers or simply bad shots, Emma Meesseman in offense and Ann Wauters in defense showed the way to the Cats . Nice responses and hard work in the paint by Ewelina Kobryn as well as efficient shooting by Julie McBride (1.65 m, point guard, born in 1982, ex- Syracuse ) allowed the Poles to stay close at half-way in the first quarter. The Belgian team played well and digged a first gap at 16-10 but strong ...