Paul's 2007-08 Basketball Thread

[spokanehound]

This will be my basketball thread for the season - mostly NCAA, with maybe an NBA success here and there.

11/05/07: NCAA Basketball - Seattle Pacific Falcons @ Washington Huskies
Hec Edmunson Pavilion - Seattle, WA

Another season of college basketball has begun! The UW Huskies are the nearest D-1 school to me, which is nice because this season the Pac 10 is loaded. Since later on this season I will be focusing my college hoops efforts on the visiting team, I wanted to get a head start on the Huskies so I don't have to worry about them later on. An exhibition tilt against crosstown Seattle Pacific was a good way to do it. I watched as UW won by 12, but not without some fight from the D-2 school.

The arena has a bunch of different exits and players use them all, so my best bet was going to the tunnel by the court after the game and hoping that players would come back - this is common in other arenas. I was able to get about half the team this way, including Jon Brockman, Ryan Appleby, and coach Romar. Also got former NBA and UW player Eldridge Recasner on an index after someone pointed him out to me. Detlef Schrempf was also in the house but I found out too late. I didn't see Quincy Pondexter or Justin Dentmon, who are both on basketball annuals I was hoping to get done. Not a bad start to the season - I will try to come back a couple more times if possible for non-conference.

Washington
Ryan Appleby 2/2 Sports Illustrated, team sheet
Jon Brockman 4/4 Sports Illustrated, Lindy's magazine, S&S magazine, team sheet
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 1/1 team sheet
Venoy Overton 1/1 team sheet
Joel Smith 1/1 team sheet
Artem Wallace 1/1 team sheet
Joe Wolfinger 1/1 team sheet

Lorenzo Romar 1/1 Pac-10 Coaches 8x10
Eldridge Recasner 1/1 index



Next up: Gonzaga home opener (11/11)

[moses5]

Are any Brockman's for trade?

[sigman101]

Any chance you might see Recasner or Schrempf again and if so are you taking cards for 50/50??? If so I would be interested....

[spokanehound]

Originally Posted by moses5

Are any Brockman's for trade?

Not yet - I got him on the annual magazines that I work on every season (they usually also have Oregon, Gonzaga, WSU on them) plus other non-tradeable team stuff. If I get him again I will let you know.

Originally Posted by sigman101

Any chance you might see Recasner or Schrempf again and if so are you taking cards for 50/50??? If so I would be interested....

PM sent...

[spokanehound]

11/11/07: NCAA Basketball - Montana Grizzlies @ Gonzaga Bulldogs
McCarthey Athletic Center - Spokane, WA

This is one of probably only two Gonzaga basketball games I will be able to attend this season - getting tickets is virtually impossible for non-campus people unless you know people. Luckily a friend of mine is a staffer at GU so I got in for this game, the season opener against Montana. The game was pretty much a blowout, the highlight was Jeremy Pargo's thunder dunk over a couple of defenders! <Video>

After the game I went down to the southeast entrance where usually most of the players leave. I didn't have all that much time to wait, so I didn't get everyone and it seemed that some players took other exits. Regardless, I got the two players I wanted the most to sign: Jeremy Pargo and Austin Daye. Daye is a freshman that NBADraft.net currently has going in the first round in 2009 and is the son of former NBA player Darren Daye. I had him sign a newspaper article from the Spokane paper (obviously newsprint doesn't sign well, so I had made a nice color copy of it at Kinko's and the signature came out real good). Darren was at today's game but I didnt have anything for him to sign. Overall not much to write home about with autographs besides the players I just mentioned, but it was a fun game to watch at the legendary Kennel.

Gonzaga
Austin Daye 2/2 team sheet, article
Josh Heytvelt 1/1 team sheet
Abdullahi Kuso 2/2 team sheet, 8x10
Jeremy Pargo 3/3 team sheet, 8x10, article
David Pendergraft 2/2 team sheet, 8x10
Andrew Sorenson 1/1 team sheet


Jeremy Pargo 8x10

Austin Daye

[Bosox044]

Well as the saying goes: Get them while they are young Good job!

[jgnova88]

could you possibly 50/50 brockman and appleby? i badly need that SI

[spokanehound]

11/26/07: NCAA Basketball - Long Beach State 49ers @ Washington Huskies
Hec Edmunson Pavilion - Seattle, WA

This was a quick trip over to the Dub to add an important autograph for my Gonzaga basketball 8x10 collection. Long Beach State's coach is Dan Monson, who guided the Zags to the Elite Eight in 1999. I had found and scanned in a picture of Monson from a Gonzaga basketball book, and blew it up to an 8x10 the best I could. Luckily, the crappy weather that had plagued the area today stopped by the end of the game, because the Long Beach bus was parked in a completely uncovered area with no shelter to speak of. After the game, Monson was pretty quick in coming out to the bus, following several players. I asked him to personalize the autograph, saying I was a huge Zag fan and alumnus. He wrote "To Paul, Go Zags / Go Beach, Coach Dan Monson". I got the autograph I wanted and quickly peaced out since it was chilly out there. Not really a big-name success post here but definitely significant for my personal collection!

Long Beach State
Dan Monson 1/1 8x10

[LAinperson]

Sweet succuess. Austin Daye is an incredible player i played againist him last year.

[spokanehound]

12/02/07: NBA Basketball - Golden State Warriors @ Seattle Supersonics
Hotel / KeyArena - Seattle, WA

It took me awhile but I finally got around to doing an NBA team. I went out for the Warriors and couldn't find their hotel in the morning. Turns out, they were staying at the one hotel I had forgotten about. It had snowed yesterday, a rarity in Seattle, and it was cold and rainy all day so keeping items dry was a priority this afternoon. The hotel setup wasn't too bad - the staff put out a couple of ropes by the door that players had to walk by on their way to the bus. The overhang was just large enough to block out the rain but random sprinkles and drips were an annoyance.

The Warriors were generally willing signers. The exception to this was Baron Davis, who didn't sign on his way out to the bus. Also, of all players Austin Croshere ignored us before the game. The other players were good for at least one. I was getting cards done plus custom 3x5-sized photos; I don't invest much into NBA hounding so I only have one or two items per player, and use a large spiral-bound index card album that can fit 3 cards per page. Definitely low-budget compared to my hockey arsenal - I made the 3x5-sized custom photos for guys I had 0 or 1 cards for. When most players had left, Don Nelson came out and signed for the 3 of us that bothered to stick around after the first bus left. We didn't even see a few players (Azubuike, Pietrus, Perovic).

I jogged the 1.5 miles between the hotel and arena, and did the tunnel before the game. The setup inside KeyArena is not too great - gates open an hour before tipoff, and autographs can only be obtained at the tunnel as players are leaving the court after warmups. Also, the tunnel is surrounded by aisleways which they keep clear, so collectors have to line up in the rows against the aisle and then cross the aisle to the railing when a player is coming. Despite the weird regulations I did a little cleanup on guys who were one per at the hotel. Troy Hudson, Al Harrington did another card each, and Austin Croshere did 1 per with an amazingly craptastic signature (see below). I didn't want to stick around for postgame since it was pouring and not many Sonics usually stop after the game anyways. Overall I'd say this was a nice late start to my NBA season!

Golden State
Marco Belinelli 2/2 card, 3x5 photo
Andris Biedrins 1/1 3x5 photo
Austin Croshere 0/2, 1/2 cards
Baron Davis 0/1
Monta Ellis 2/2 card, 3x5 photo
Al Harrington 1/2, 1/1 cards
Troy Hudson 1/2. 1/1 cards
D.J. Mbenga 1/1 3x5 photo
Stephen Jackson 2/2 cards
Patrick O'Bryant 1/2 card
Mickael Pietrus 0/2 inside before
Brandan Wright 1/1 3x5 photo
Don Nelson 1/1 3x5 photo

Didn't see Kelenna Azubuike, Matt Barnes, Kosta Perovic.

[spokanehound]

P.S. Interesting off-topic note from the game today: during the first quarter, some spotlight attached to the jumbotron malfunctioned and all of a sudden smoke started to float from the top of the scoreboard, and several small flaming ashes floated down to the court. They immediately stopped the game, and took 15 minutes to lower the whole thing to the court to extinguish the small fire and sparks. Nothing really major here, it was just cool to see the scoreboard being lowered and raised in the middle of a game.

[spokanehound]

12/29/07: Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA); Tennessee Volunteers/Gonzaga Bulldogs (NCAA)
Hotels - Seattle, WA

I left Seattle today on an Amtrak train to Montana for the New Years weekend, but not before hitting up a trio of basketball teams downtown. The University of Tennessee was in town to play against Gonzaga in the "Battle in Seattle" game at 1pm, followed by T-Wolves and Sonics at 7pm. I hadn't prepped much of anything for the T-Wolves since I didn't have time to get to the card shop this week, so I made one 4x6 each for players for whom I had nothing. The hotels for each team were all within a block or two of each other, making the timing for this very tight. Meeting up with dandickau12, we learned that the bus for Minnesota's morning shootaround would leave around 10:45, pretty close to when Tennessee and Gonzaga were to come out. (The T-Wolves would be holding shootaround at the Sonics practice facility instead of at the Key) We did the T-Wolves first, all the while anxiously looking towards the next block down the street at Tennessee's hotel to see if any players were coming out. Only five graphers total did the T-Wolves, and we were able to snag Mark Madsen, Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, and Ryan Gomes. Players came out in bunches; there was a large group with Telfair and others, but I went for Corey Brewer since I had a Sports Illustrated cover for him.

Right after getting Brewer, I left the Minnesota hotel and walked up the street to the Vols hotel. The bus was parked across the street and players had to walk all the way over so access was no problem. I only concentrated on guys I needed, but got whoever else I could if players weren't coming out in clumps. After only about ten or fifteen minutes of waiting around, JaJuan Smith came out first but I was distracted and didn't realize who it was until it was too late. Lofton was next, and he quietly signed everything for me. Two SI's (part of a 50-50), two custom cards I made, and the team sheet. Not much of an autograph but he was nice enough to do all five items. The rest of the team filtered out and I got some guys on the team sheet, including J.P. Prince and Tyler Smith. Tyler also signed two custom cards (he is listed by NBADraft.net as being a first round pick next year). Surprisingly, yet another Smith on this team, Ramar Smith, said "I'll get you at the game." Well, there goes that idea since I won't be at the game. Bruce Pearl came out and signed my two customs, adding "Go Vols!" after each signature. Definitely nice about fan interaction/signing.

At this point I had gotten all my important Tennessee stuff signed, so I booked it a few blocks to Gonzaga's hotel. Once again I was lucky; not much of the team had come out yet. Unfortunately Gonzaga has some sort of team policy in place about not signing before games on the road, which was probably introduced near the end of the Adam Morrison era. After a couple players said "I can get you after the game..." I didn't ask anyone else. That is, until another collector asked Jeremy Pargo and he started signing. I immediately went over and Pargo quickly signed my Lindy's college basketball annual before jumping onto the bus.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I was starting to walk back to the T-Wolves hotel figuring I had a little bit of time before the bus came back from shootaround. I definitely overestimated on the time because the Minnesota bus passed me on the street about two blocks away from the hotel. I got back as quick as I could, but by the time I arrived players were streaming off the bus! I was able to catch the last player off, the elusive Rashad McCants, who had said "I'll sign after" before shootaround. He did a quick one-per, and I almost didn't get him because he didn't see me at first (I got his attention at the last second and he signed my custom). I went around to the front side of the hotel and waited to see if anyone was out and about after shootaround. The only autograph I got was Ed Pinckney; then, noticing what time it was, I ended my day of autographing and walked to the train station, dreading the long trip ahead.

Minnesota
Corey Brewer 1/1 SI
Michael Doleac 1/1 4x6
Ryan Gomes 1/1 custom card
Mark Madsen 1/1 4x6
Rashad McCants 1/1 custom card
Antoine Walker 1/1 4x6
Ed Pinckney 1/1 card

Tennessee
Quinn Cannington 1/1 team sheet
Chris Lofton 5/5: 2 custom cards, team sheet, 2 SI's (jeffpa 1)\
J.P. Prince 1/1 team sheet
Ramar Smith 0/1 "I'll sign at the game"
Tyler Smith 3/3 custom cards, team sheet
Cameron Tatum 1/1 team sheet
Brian Williams 1/1 team sheet
Bruce Pearl 2/2 custom cards

Gonzaga
Jeremy Pargo 1/1 magazine

[spokanehound]

[spokanehound]

01/05/08: NCAA Basketball – Washington State Cougars @ Washington Huskies (Pac-10)
Hotel – Bellevue, WA

First Pac-10 outing of the year for me was a good one… #4 Wazzu was in town to play against their bitter rivals at UW. In lieu of a team sheet, I made cards for the major players on each team. I wasn’t going to be able to catch them at the arena after the game, so I had to go to their hotel beforehand. Many UW opponents stay in downtown Bellevue rather than Seattle, on the other side of the lake from the school. I was the only collector there, and luckily the rain that had plagued the area earlier in the day held up for most of my time out there.

The players started to filter out of the upscale hotel about two hours before game time, and everybody was great about signing. A few of the players even asked where I got the cards, responding positively when I said I made them. Derrick Low also signed the northwest edition of the Athlon annual. Tony Bennett, head coach and son of former Wisconsin/WSU coach Dick Bennett, was very cool about signing the composite 8x10 I am working on this season picturing all ten Pac-10 coaches. Kyle Weaver was the last one out and the bus was waiting on him so I only asked him to sign the Lindy’s annual (now I only need the Oregon guy to complete it).

Overall this was a pleasant experience; if you get a chance, get these guys to sign – they are all great about it!

Washington State
Thomas Abercrombie 1/1 card
Aron Baynes 1/1 card
Robbie Cowgill 2/2 cards (BaadN10tionzz 1)
Jeremy Cross 1/1 card
Daven Harmeling 1/1 card
Nikola Koprivica 1/1 card
Derrick Low 3/3 cards, magazine (BaadN10tionzz 1)
Taylor Rochestie 1/1 card
Kyle Weaver 1/1 magazine
Tony Bennett 1/1 coaches 8x10

[spokanehound]