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The Breakers travel back to China

Chet Johnson

by Gianni Pascucci - Nov 4, 2008

Breakers to China Report - 7

Mark Dawson

by Gianni Pascucci - Nov 2, 2008

(by Coach Curt Pickering) - Our 25 day journey was quickly coming to an end. Two games remained on the schedule. Up to this point, the travel within the country had been great, other than lugging our baggage up and down steep stairs at the train station. We were not prepared for our next travel arrangements. Due to National Holidays being held during the week, many of the Chinese population utilized this time to travel and visit families and landmarks. Somehow, our scheduled airline flight became overbooked so our promoters had to do double time to get us from point Q to point R. The results were one option and one option only; an 11 hour bus trip.... Eventually, we made it to point R, Yixing. We arrived at 9 pm and were served an awesome meal at a very high quality hotel. That helped take the edge off a bit. Most of the players scheduled massages or went to their rooms to watch TV or read their emails. In my 30 years of coaching I have not seen it all but I have seen a great deal of crazy, out of the ordinary game circumstances. This next one will make my top ten list. I'm not sure it will make David Lettermen's, but mine? An emphatic yes! We were minding our own business, trailing by 15 points to the Jiangsu Dragons; yes another Dragon team. All of a sudden, we make our 'run' in the fourth quarter. With 7 minutes to play, we are within 1 point when forward Mark Dawson (6'9''-F, agency: Tank Sports, college: Long Beach St.) grabs a rebound, outlets it and 8 of the 10 players on the court run down to the Breakers end for a hopeful potential score. I did not continue to fix my eyes on Dawson and the Dragon player still at the other end. What followed was the Dragon player falling on the floor and grabbing his groin area while twisting and turning, grimacing and moaning. The trailing third ref turned around at half court, blew his whistle as Tim Taylor swished a 3 pointer. Not only did they take away the 3 points, they assessed Dawson a technical foul. If you recall a former Lakers player by the name of Vlade Divac, he was renowned for 'inventing' the emotional, 'Hollywood' Flop. He would either welcome a slight bump or physical contact from his opponent and immediately fall down, groaning and showing great facial expressions of pain and exasperation. It is possible that Vlade was this Dragon player's role model... The game changed immediately. Plastic water bottles came flying out of the seats and obviously, out of the hands of the Jiangsu partisan crowd. We naturally had to take cover as 20-30 of these objects came flying at us, in retaliation for an assumed Dawson assault on a Dragon players below-the-belt body region. It took 5-6 minutes to clear the bottles and spilled water off the playing court. For safety's sake, I kept Dawson out of the remaining 7 minutes of the game. Up to this point, he was our leading scorer and rebounder so this did not benefit us whatsoever, from a winning standpoint. We ended up losing the game by 4 points, 90-86, but more disappointing was the blemish placed on the game itself. I love the game of basketball but it is so much more than just the game. It is about entertainment and integrity. It is also about respect for each team's efforts and the spirit of competition. After the game Keith Closs (7'3''-C-76, agency: Court Side, college: Cent.Conn.St.), Dawson and I had dinner with the Dragon coach, who is American and his American player, Harvey Donnell (6'8''-C-80, agency: Octagon, college: Florida). He played three years in the NBA, made $9 million during that time but failed to improve his skills, namely a jumpshot. Thus, he is settling for $50,000 per month in China with the desire to someday return to the NBA. During our conversation, the Dragon coach said that his player had faked the 'assault' and played it up to the referee. I mentioned that I hoped it would not happen the following night. We would be playing them again; fortunately in another city. The coach assured me that he would talk to his players. The line has to be drawn on faking or trying to play the referee's; in China, the US, Europe, anywhere. It crosses the line when you incite 10,000 plus fans by misleading fans and incompetent, partial referee's to gain an advantage. It also can lead to a near-riot, which we almost had. The following night, we played the same Jiangsu Dragons and fell short once again. There were no near-riots. In fact, there were fans up in the stands that were waving the USA flag. Our players absolutely loved this and began a cheer of many fans shouting, USA, USA, USA; similar to the crowd in Fuxin a few weeks back. In a very positive response, many of the 10,000 plus fans began retorting, 'China, China, China.' It was a great display of two countries expressing their loyalties in an energetic, enthusiastic way. When the game was over, the Breakers falling short once again by 4 points, the fans all came down on the court for autographs and to just personalize with the Breaker players. It was a great display of blending two teams, two countries and the game of basketball in one unison. James Naismith would have been proud.

Breakers to China Report - 6

Curt Pickering

by Gianni Pascucci - Oct 30, 2008

(by Coach Curt Pickering ) - Our day was treated with a flight out of the gorgeous Beijing Airport, not to mention the players lustful sprint to the infamous Burger King. The Chinese government obviously wanted to impress the world as fans and athletes made their way into the country for the 2008 Olympics held in August. They did not disappoint anyone. We enjoyed visiting shops during the two hour wait and eventually boarded a plane for Bauto, Mongolia. Once we arrived to the hotel, it was 3 hours of internet e-mailing and watching Crocodile Dundee on HBO before calling it a day. September 30: When we arrived at the arena for our shootaround, I immediately thought of the movie 'Hoosiers' with star Gene Hackman. This ancient museum was something out of pre-caveman days. Obviously, the citys budget, up to this point, had not made sports top priority. Never judge a book by its cover, right? A formal luncheon was scheduled so we hustled back to the hotel and we made our way into the dining room. Nineteen to twenty dignitaries along with media were present. What preceded was an awesome bonding of conversation, food, picture taking and about 9-10 shots of their finest alcohol. In the midst of the two hour meal, each participant was asked to give their comments about this new relationship of Santa Barbara Breakers basketball and the city of Bauto. Each comment was followed by another round of 'toasts'. Did I say 9-10 rounds? I lost count at about 8 so don't quote me on the final tally. When it came my turn, I shared with them about my experiences coaching and traveling abroad and the wonderful people I have met along the way. It caused me to give thanks not only to the Bauto Sports Ministry, the mayor and our promoters but to Dr. James Naismith who invented the wonderful game of basketball. When all was said and done, the 20-some members in the room declared that we coin this new relationship, 'No Borders, No Politics, Just Basketball and Friendship.' Not to show any signs of inconsistency, we toasted to that as well. Later that evening, we put on a great show winning our game 84-73. It was our most spirited game thus far. The fans and media surrounded us after the game for autographs and I gave away multitudes of Breaker basketball cards. Bauto, known for its steel mills and with the similar look of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had won us over. Our next two days was another enjoyable dose of Shanghai. We located Friday's restaurant and rejoiced on BBQ ribs and mashed potatoes and later found a Sports Bar where they took us in like family and even gave us an original Chinese Basketball to take home. The vendors were at all street locations 24-7 so it was another two day periodical shopping spree. It was back to business as we traveled to Shangdong and played before a full capacity 8,000 fans. I swore the same 3 zebra's (referee's) were on the court that had served up 'home cooking' when we were in Fuxin. Maybe they were China's first laboratory clones. We got shellacked 74-71. The score was close but every time we made a run to tie the score, a whistle blew. Get the picture? We did have a chance to tie it on a 3 point attempt with 12 seconds left but it fell short, as did the final score. The following night in Zibol, we played the same Shangdong Golden Club but different results transpired, thanks to a newly implemented full-court press that the Dragons could not counter. We were up by 31 points and for once, the referee's were demonstrating some competency. We closed them out 77-53.

Breakers to China Report - 5

Mark Dawson

by Gianni Pascucci - Oct 26, 2008

(by Coach Curt Pickering) - Twelve days prior to departing for China, Mr. Han, our Basketball sponsor, had emailed me and asked if we wanted to spend 3 days in Beijing and see all the landmark sights. I emailed and called the players and they immediately said yes. So, our next trip from Fuxin was the beautiful city of Beijing, where the 2008 Olympics had just been completed. Over the next 3 days, we spent a half day at the Great Wall of China, walking up the vast steps for a good 2 hours and then returning down to the parking lot in cable cars. Later that afternoon, we visited the Summer Palace along with a boat ride on a large lake that adjoined the great museum. The following day, it was raining so we declared this 'Black Market Day'. There was every item imaginable at rock bottom prices at the downtown shopping center. But, like a Tijuana swap meet, you had to negotiate and in most cases the clerks would triple-team you, trying to persuade you to pay a much higher price than you intended to. Players made off like bandits, purchasing DVD's, IPods, cameras, video cams, Tommy Bahama clothes, purses, watches, luggage. This is why I had explicitly told them to travel light on the flight to China. There were several American restaurants to choose from in the area. Several players went to Outback, Hooters, Chili's, McDonald's, Subway and yes, KFC. Another option was players ordering room service and watching HBO or going on their laptops to communicate back home. On Day Three, we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The players thought they had the day off from basketball conditioning. Wrong they were. We spent from noon until 5pm, walking through these two majestic land treasures. We were all unanimously fatigued as we reached the bus to go to dinner. Was that the end of the day? No. After dining at an authentic Chinese restaurant, which again offered some very peculiar meat dishes and then taking turns calling home on the restaurant phone the players all voted to give the 'Black Market Extravaganza' one more shot. God only knows how much more the players spent and if they would actually be able to squeeze all these items into their two allotted luggage bags on the return flight home to Los Angeles. But hey, that was still another two weeks away Thursday, September 25: After a delicious breakfast, we boarded the bus for our next 'Rock Star' tour of duty. The bus dropped us off at the Beijing train station where we began the rigorous task of dragging our luggage both up and down long flights of stairs to the train. Sparks were flying and a few wheels literally fell off the luggage containers as we made our way to the 'High-speed Train', as our translator, Mr. Lee called it. A four hour journey in the full-capacity capsule led us to Chaoyang, another 4 million plus populated city. It is here, at the Yuhan International Hotel that we could settle in for 4 nights stay, a record at this point, for longest duration of time in one city. No complaints, just keeping score. At Friday mornings breakfast, I reminded the players that, 'Oh, by the way, we're playing basketball for the next 3 days'. They were eager to get back on the floor and display their skills. So, we conducted a 1 and a half hour practice, which provided great conditioning, sharpening the shooting touch and a refresher course on our offense and defensive plays. The practice was held at a school gymnasium and the question was brought up, 'How long do you think it has been since the janitor got fired or quit?' There was quite a stench coming from several doors leading to the court but we didn't ask any questions. When we drove up to the Arena to play our game at 7:30pm, we were exceptionally impressed. Coined, 'The Spaceship or The UFO' by the local media, we were met by a mob of 800-900 fans in the parking lot, which forced the bus driver to pull up close to the front doors. When we walked inside the Arena, we were even more impressed. It had the makings of an NBA Arena and once again, this city too had requested that we, the Santa Barbara Breakers play the first game ever in its new beautiful facility. We were honored and overwhelmed by the respect acknowledging us. The Jilin Tigers jumped out to a quick 13-3 lead and was flushing jumpshots from three point land. We eventually cut the lead to 37-29 at halftime and then the trio of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6'6''-F/G-76, college: W.Kentucky), Justin Johnson (6'0''-G-83, college: Mississippi) and Mark Dawson (6'8''-C, college: Long Beach St.) turned the game around at both ends of the floor and the Breakers squeaked out a 91-89 victory. We were now 2-0 in christening new Arenas in China. We were getting to like these First-time parties. Saturday, September 27: It was the usual breakfast, relax, lunch, massage, relax and ride the bus to the 'Spaceship/UFO' routine. Only this time, we were facing the Liaoning Dragons who were considered one of the top two professional teams in the CBA-China Basketball Association. I knew I forgot something before I left Santa Barbara on September 16th. Oh yeah, 3 honest, capable, competent referees. We sure could have used them on this night. At the end of the first quarter, we were whistled for 10 fouls. How many did the Dragons commit? One. So said Moe, Curly and Larry. It didn't get any better as we trailed by 18 point in the second quarter but you know that old saying, (which can be paraphrased in several various ways) 'What the Heck'? Well, we just kind of took it personal and started getting very physical. If we were going to foul out with 5 personal fouls, we might as well earn them. But more importantly, as a team we just sucked it up and gained greater focus on the task and with 4:30 left in the game, we had ourselves a 63-60 lead. Just when we dug ourselves out of a deep hole, the sand caved in; the Dragons finished the game on a 13-3 run and we lost another heartbreaker, 73-67. We all learned a lot that night. Never give up and it takes 40 minutes of play in FIBA basketball to win a game, not 30 or 35 minutes of quality play. Sunday, September 28: In our final game at the Spaceship/UFO, the Korean SkyHawks jumped out on us early, similar to the previous evening. Down by 20 points, the Breakers made another courageous comeback and closed the gap to 92-91 with 51 seconds to play. Korean teams, internationally known for being small, quick and phenomenal three point shooters, did not disappoint their traditional reputation. They buried two more treys in the final seconds to secure a 99-95 win.

Breakers to China Report - 4

Keith Closs

by Gianni Pascucci - Oct 23, 2008

(by Coach Curt Pickering) - Have you ever thought what it was like to be a Rock Star and go on the road for a month traveling in planes, trains, automobiles, plus busses? Over the next week, that is what we experienced. After our heart breaking, floor slipping loss in Qianshan, we left AFTER the game for a 5 hour bus trip to Nanjing. What this allowed was for us to sleep on the bus (which I certainly failed to do) through the early night and then check in to a hotel for 5 hours of sleep. Shame on Qianshan for not building an airport next to their new arena that we had just christened. Nonetheless, we then boarded a plane for Shengyang but just for boredoms sake, a quick bus trip to the city of Fuxin. Fuxin was a small town of 4.5 million. Small... you ask? I learned during this trip that there are 99 cities in China with a population no less than 3 million residents. The United States has only 9. We celebrated our completed trip at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The players were jubilant at the sight of 'good home cooking'. It must have been the right recipe for winning. We played the Romanian's again and this time spanked them 53-47. That sounds like a halftime score. Truth of the matter is, we are playing by FIBA rules, the international guidelines. FIBA plays four 10 minute quarters; 8 minutes less than the NBA and the same amount as college basketball. Throw in the fact that the Romanian's held the ball a great deal on offense and that sums up the low score. What was most intriguing about this game was not the sellout crowd of 7,000 but the mere fact that the game was shown live on China TV throughout the entire country. I'm not going to fib to you and say all 2 billion residents of China watched the game on TV because I know of a few farmers that we passed by earlier that day that did not have electricity in their shanties. But more colorful and sweet softening to the ears was the Fuxin Pep Band playing that American classic folksong, 'Oh Susannah'. If that wasn't enough, they then led into one of all our favorites, 'Jingle Bells'!. Was this a mockery of the U.S.A's basketball representative team, the Santa Barbara Breakers? Absolutely not! But, it certainly did throw us off as it was September 20th, not December 20th. The fans mobbed the players after the game and of humorous significance, guard Tim Taylor (6'3''-G-82, college: Wayne St., NE) ran up into the stands and led 90-100 young teenagers in shouting out loud, 'USA, USA, USA'. It was a fun way to win our first game in China and feel just a little bit at home in the process. The following morning, we took a 15 minute ride to the Chinese Basketball Academy. It is the only Academy in China that houses over 500 boys and girls in the age range of 13-17. They live there year round, honing their basketball skills while also taking up the basic classroom studies. This is a government supported program to induce the development and quality of Chinese basketball. We were besieged by all 500 or more as we got off the bus and headed into the large gymnasium. Our players, Mark Dawson (6'8''-C, college: Long Beach St.), Keith Closs (7'3''-C-76, agency: Court Side, college: Cent.Conn.St.) and Allan Purnell (6'4''-G-82, college: Pacific) put on quite an entertaining dunking show, 1 on 1 contests and signing autographs for the next hour. That was followed by a meeting with the Chinese coaches who gave each of our players and myself several beautiful gifts. One thing I have learned, the Chinese folk are not selfish. They are very generous in giving special gifts that will long be remembered. We later returned to the hotel for lunch, a nap, massages ($14 an hour) and left for the Fuxin Arena for another game against the Romanian's and great anticipation of what the Fuxin Pep Band might have in store for us this evening. Well, they did not disappoint us. Not only did they do a re-mix of 'Oh, Susannah', they added 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'. Did we get the same results that evening on the basketball court? Yes, we did. A 73-68 victory. Are we now going to be playing Christmas songs and Oh, Susannah before every Breaker game back in Santa Barbara in the months of April, May and June? Yes, we are!

Breakers working out for D-Fenders 2008-09 roster

Rasheed Harwick

by Gianni Pascucci - Oct 22, 2008

Breakers to China Report - 3

Kareem AbdulJabbar

by Gianni Pascucci - Oct 21, 2008

(by Coach Curt Pickering) - The much anticipated day finally arrived-September 16, when we left Los Angeles at 1:30pm. By 11:05am, we were walking through the Tom Bradley International Terminal, greeted by Breaker guard Tim Taylor, who resides in Pomona. Players began to trickle in and by 11:55am, Keith Closs (7'3''-C-76, agency: Court Side, college: Cent.Conn.St.), the 7 foot 5 inch center, arrived with two small athletic bags. I had explicitly shared with the players to pack light as they would want to return with many gifts and items purchased in China without a large penalty for excessive weight on the return flight home. I stayed with each player, attempting to secure emergency row and bulkhead seating for additional leg room. Not that it did a lot of good for Closs. The former center for the Los Angeles Clippers with the long gangly limbs, was very limited in the comfort mode but made no complaints. Like the other nine players, he allowed his IPod to immune his cramped positioning. The 13 and one half hour flight actually went smoothly with no significant turbulence. With the fifteen hour time change, we experienced daylight outside the cabin the entire flight until setting down on the runway in Shanghai at 6:30pm. We quickly made our way to baggage claim, climbed on a 50 passenger bus and within 10 minutes, was ushered into a luxurious hotel that overlooked the 13 million residents of Shanghai. After checking into our rooms, we were led to a dining room with a large round table that accommodated 18-20 people. Waitresses began bringing countless dishes of food and placed them on a large round glass that spun around, giving each individual the opportunity to select food they wanted and then spun it onto their colleagues. The following morning, we met for an 8am breakfast while some of the players took advantage of the internet service available in the hotel lobby. At 10am, we were on a bus headed for the train station in downtown Shanghai. The upside to traveling by train in China is that it travels 160 per hour and makes very few stops along the way. The downside is that there are no elevators, escalators or baggage helpers to assist you up and down very steep stairs leading to the train. Over the course of about 5 train excursions, most of our party members experienced wheels falling off their NEW baggage carriers as well as the very difficult challenge these stairs presented in carrying deadweight for a long distance. We eventually made destination in Hefei. We checked into our hotel, which had internet access, dined in the hotel ballroom and eyeballed identical dishes of food like the previous night. At 8pm, we left for the arena for a 2 hour practice. The players were like children on their birthday. They had not touched a basketball in 5 days and the thought of getting in a good run after 3 days of travel was pure ecstasy. After a very spirited practice, the players returned to the hotel for a snack and going to their laptops to communicate with friends and family back home. One added highlight that evening was turning on the TV and seeing Breaker player, Tyler Newton (6'10''-C-82, college: Pacific) playing for his Japanese Club team versus a Chinese team. Tyler had emailed me that he would be in China when we arrived. His team won that night but unfortunately, we were in two cities miles apart in the vast country of China. The following morning, we took the bus for a shootaround practice. We had another spirited workout and returned to our hotel for lunch. After relaxing for the afternoon, we were ready for our first game in China. Our opponent was Baschet Club from Romania. They had finished 2nd in their professional league the previous season. They were big, physical and could shoot the lights out from long range. What we learned earlier that day was that the city of Qianshan, where the Arena was located, was a suburb of Anquing. Quianshan was so proud as they were christening their new arena on this night and had wanted to do so with an American basketball team. We felt very honored that they were saving this special occasion for the Santa Barbara Breakers. The mayor of the city was there. Several television stations were present with their video cameras and it was a sellout crowd of 5,000 fans. There was only one problem. It was a very, very humid night and this beautiful, new arena lacked ventilation or central air conditioning. In laymen terms, the floor was a bonafide Ice Capades. From warm-ups until the final buzzer sounded, players were slipping and sliding on the floor, unable to get good footing for proper movement at either end of the floor. Certainly, both teams had to deal with the same conditions but the Breakers are known for an athletic, fastbreaking, defensive pressuring style of play. That was not possible on this night. The Breakers led 15-12 early in the contest, thanks to the offensive play of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6'6''-F/G-76, college: W.Kentucky) Jrs offensive efforts and the shotblocking and rebounding of Keith Closs. By halftime, the Breakers were down 35-25. One galliant effort was made in the second half, tie-ing the score at 44 all. But the three point shooting of the Romanians proved the difference as they pulled away for a 64-55 win. Although it was great to open up a new arena in the heartland of China, it was disappointing for the fans and players that the floor conditions were not conducive for quality play-win or lose.

Breakers to China Report - 2

by Gianni Pascucci - Oct 19, 2008

(by Coach Curt Pickering) - For most of the month of July, I dedicated it to being a proud Dad. My son Sage, age 11, competes with basketball for time with his dad during the heart of the basketball season (some would say that is January thru December). So, July began with a trip to Los Angeles for the Kobe Bryant Camp while Santa Barbaran's were consumed with the Gap Fire and its potential catastrophe. We had a great 5 days at the Loyola Marymount University Campus, making new friends and brushing up against Kobe occasionally. When that concluded, I attended a tryout camp for several Breaker players who were auditioning for a job with 2 professional teams in Japan. Then, I made my annual pilgrimmage to Las Vegas to the NBA Summer Pro League to both meet old friends in the NBA and recruit potential players for the China excursion. It was a great week of games and hanging out with past acquaintances. I also attended a tryout camp of 150 free agent players who were vying for jobs in Korea. The final days of July were spent traveling to the great state of Montana. Upon returning to Santa Barbara and prior to Old Spanish Days, I might add, guilt took over and I began the tedious task of processing Visa's and Passports for each player selected for the China tour. The hours led into days as I was required to receive 2 passport photo's from each player as well as their valid passports. This eventually led me to making two trips to Los Angeles to secure these items. It also necessitated learning how to meticulously fill out complicated Sports Business Visa's, unlike normal visa forms. It was now late August and with the exception of the Visas being approved, we were on course for setting sail September 16 from Los Angeles to Shanghai. During late August and into early September, I made several trips to Los Angeles to watch our players scrimmage, envisioning the chemistry necessary to unveil a successful team for China. On Monday, September 8, I was able to make payment for the Visas to the Chinese Consulate in downtown Los Angeles. We were now officially accepted for travel to the Republic of China. The final process before leaving the USA was to conduct some intense practices for the players and determine how the pieces all fit. Now it was just a matter of creating a set of offenses along with a variety of defenses: man to man; full and half court traps and zones to benefit and compliment the skills that we possessed both as a team and individually speaking. With the refined assistance of Priscilla, our team Photographer, the finishing touch was meeting briefly with our Mayor Marty Blum and the City Council Members as well as Police Chief Cam Sanchez. This journey to China was more than just basketball. We were representing the Great City of Santa Barbara. It was an honor to behold that responsibility. Thus, we were seeking their blessings in our travels to a foreign land.

Breakers to China Report - 1

Kareem AbdulJabbar

by Gianni Pascucci - Oct 17, 2008

Today, we start publishing an interesting report, written by coach Curt Pickering , about the Santa Barbara Breakers tournee in China. See here the First Chapter.
China Chronicles Part 1 : It is a 25 day excursion that I will never forget. It all started back on June 19, 2008. My friend, Terry Layton was viewing the Breakers website and noticed that we were 16-0 and heading into the West Coast Basketball League Championship later that week. He called me and said, 'Do you want to go to China'? My immediate response was, 'Sure'. Terry had taken a team over in March of 2008 and knew that the basketball sponsors were looking for a team for September/October of 2008 to play games in China. He made contact via email later that day with them. We proceeded to win the League Championship on Saturday, June 21. Two days later, I got an email from China stating that they had viewed our website and was inviting us to come over for a 17 tour to play games against their professional participating in the China Basketball Association (CBA). From that moment on, I began planning out our Dream Trip to China. I had coached in Asia previously; in Kuwait, Bahrain, United Emirates and the Philippines. But, China really captured my attention as it has become the New Frontier for basketball since the marriage of Yao Ming and the NBA in 2002. Many, many emails were to follow over the next 12 weeks as both I, the owner/coach of the Santa Barbara Breakers and Han Yulin, Promoter for Chinese Basketball began a relationship that would eventually bring us face to face in the enormously rich and spacious Republic of China. Initially, I had to build a roster that would impress not only the Chinese media but also the basketball critics who are always expecting Michael Jordan and Larry Bird to make a comeback and grace their arenas. Not a chance for that but I felt that I could at least assemble a group of individuals who would demonstrate athleticism, basketball skill and team play. That would not be an easy task as most star players would either be on NBA rosters in September/October or already playing overseas. Such was the case of Breaker stars Tyler Newton (6'10''-C-82, college: Pacific) and Adam Zahn (6'8''-F/C-84, college: Oregon) in Japan; point guard Shantay Legans (5'10''-G-81, agency: Court Side, college: Fresno St.) in Holland and 7'1 center Rashid Byrd (7'0''-C-81, college: E.Oklahoma St. JC) in Mexico. Josh Merrill (6'9''-F-74, college: UCSB), MVP of the WCBL, was expecting his first child so he too, was not available for the tour. Since I did not provide a big bonus or championship ring for my players who had accomplished an unprecedented 18-0 record during our 2008 spring season in the WCBL, I decided the most loyal gesture I could demonstrate was to offer this great trip to China to our remaining 5 players who was part of the undefeated season. Four of the five quickly accepted when I gave them the official news the last week of June.