Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Edwards Does It Again...

Another big weekend by Traci Edwards netted her a second-straight Queensland Basketball League Player of the Week award.

The Caboolture Suns went 1-1 last week, falling to the second-place Gladstone Port City Power, 103-94, and topping the Bundaberg Bears, 98-66.

Against the Power, Edwards matched her UWM-record 45 points on 9-of-19 shooting and had 17 rebounds. Then, in a decisive win over the Bears, she had 28 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor and 10-of-11 from the free throw line.

Traci is sixth in the league is scoring (24.3 ppg), ninth in rebounding (10.5 rpg), second in field goal percentage (59.5%), fourth in free throw percentage (80.9%) and seventh in blocks (1.08 bpg).

Here is the link to the release.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Edwards Named QBL Player of the Week

Four months after her last points as a Panthers and I continue to promote Traci Edwards and her player of the week awards. I waited until she got her first Queensland Basketball League (QBL) P.O.W. honor to give you an update on her performance down under.

First, the award. She was the Round 13 Player of the Week after averaging 23.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in a pair of Caboolture wins last weekend. She was also 20-for-29 from the field in the two games. Against Ipswich Saturday, she had 23 points and eight rebounds. Then, in a 105-60 win over Cairns, she had 24 points and 10 boards in just 18 minutes.

Eleven games into her professional career and she is averaging 21.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. She has five double-doubles, including a 26-point, 19-rebound monster vs. Toowoomba (yes, that's the correct spelling) July 11. She is shooting 56.9 percent from the field on the year, including 32-for-46 (.696) over her last three games.

In the league, she is seventh in scoring, eighth in rebounding and second in field goal percentage.

As for Caboolture, the Suns are fourth in the QBL at 10-5 and have won four-straight games.

The release from the QBL is here.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Two Panthers Earn All-Star Honors

Numerous Panthers are in the middle of summer baseball seasons, but we wanted to take a minute to recognize two of them who have been recently named to their respective all-star teams.

Ben Long, a senior in 2009 who will be coming back next year after redshirting following an injury, has been named to the Northwoods League South Division All-Star Team.

An All-Horizon League DH as a junior, Long is in his second stint with the Wisconsin Woodchucks this summer after spending 15 games with the Madison Mallards earlier this season. His combined totals on the year include a .271 batting average, five doubles, six home runs (third in the league) and 18 runs driven in.

The game will take place July 21 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Click on the Northwoods League website for more information.

Dan Buchholz, a junior in 2009, is playing for the Licking County Settlers in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League. He is in his second season with the team and is currently batting .317 in 23 games, with the team at 14-9 overall. He has driven in 11 and has an on-base percentage of .443, with both of those ranking second on the team. He has also thrown out close to 40% of runners trying to steal.

The all-star game was last night, July 15, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His 'Red' squad came up short in the end, falling 5-4. Buchholz started the game and went 0-for-2.
The GLSCL's website is available here.
The box score is here.

Tucker On Board With Pistons In NBA Summer League

Former UWM standout Clay Tucker is playing about 11 minutes per game as part of the Detroit Pistons' NBA Summer League team in Las Vegas this week.

In his relatively brief appearances, his numbers have been solid. He's averaging 7.5 points per game while shooting over 63 percent from the field. He's also made 4-of-7 from three-point range.

His best game was his first, when he scored 11 points in 16 minutes in a win over Sacramento.

Tucker finished last season in top Spanish division at Cajasol Sevilla. He averaged 17.5 points per game in 11 contests. He had played at BC Kyiv in the Ukraine for eight games earlier in the season, averaging over 15 points per game.

The Pistons have one more game remaining, scheduled for Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Jeter Back In States After Bronze Medal Win


Team USA claimed the bronze medal at the World University Games with a 91-80 win over Israel this weekend in Serbia. The US had to settle for an appearance in that contest after a disappointing, two-point loss to Russia in the semifinals.

After that, it was back to the day jobs for the Team USA coaching staff, which included UWM coach Rob Jeter. Jeter returned to the States on Sunday and is already back to work in his regular role as a Panther.

In fact, this is a key recruiting time for college basketball, with open evaluation periods during much of this month.

We'll catch up coach Jeter later this week and get a little more in-depth recap of his Team USA experiences for the main website, while also getting some summer updates on the Panthers.

Former UWM Assistant Now GM Of Golden State Warriors

We're always on the lookout for people in the sports world with a connection to UWM. Sometimes, we're well aware of those connections, especially with alums like with Bill Carollo, Mike Reinfeldt and Tony Sanneh. But every once in a while, one comes out of the blue.

In this case, the person is Larry Riley, the new GM of the Golden State Warriors. He was actually promoted to the position in May as Golden State did not renew the contract of Chris Mullin.

Riley was an assistant coach at UWM from 1970-73, way back at the very early stages of his career.

The article that triggered this discovery in an email from Google Alerts is here, but a more in-depth profile right after he was hired earlier this summer is here.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Jeter Previews Russia Game Today

I just checked in with Rob Jeter in Serbia for a brief overview on today's Team USA game with Russia in the semifinals of the World University Games.

"We take on a tough Russian team in a few hours," Jeter said. "We have come together as a team and as a result are playing better basketball. Our depth, ability to make shots from all five positions and athleticism on the boards have made us a tough matchup."

The semifinal contest actually gets started at 10:30 am CDT, so we'll know by this afternoon whether the US is playing for the gold or the bronze tomorrow.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

World University Games Hits Medal Round


Team USA pounded Bulgaria Thursday to move into the semifinals of the World University Games.

The team, with UWM head coach Rob Jeter as an assistant, will now face Russia in the semifinals on Friday. If Team USA wins, it would likely face a rematch with the hosts from Serbia in the finals. The US beat Serbia in preliminary play, though the Serbs claimed a win over the US in a warm-up tournament.

For more information on Team USA, visit the USA Basketball website.