The roster coalesces

Well the roster is starting to come together, with both our imports officially signed, sealed and hopefully soon to be delivered!

Here are the details for Tim Kruge:

Name: Timothy J Kruge
Age: 23
Height: 6’8”
Weight: 240lbs

Valley Christian High School (1999 – 2003)
Led the team to their first State title junior (2001-2002) and senior year (2002-2003)
Small school player of the year two years in a row in Arizona (2001-2002 & 2002-2003)
During High School played during summers with a club team and toured

Point Loma University (2003 to 2007)
Played all four years as a starter at the 4 (Power Forward) or 5 (Center) position.
2005: All-American honorable mention sophmore year
2006: All-American junior year
2006: Junior year led nation in individual field goal percentage (69%)
2005-2006: Team MVP
2005-2006: All-Conference team sophmore and junior year
Junior and Sophmore year averaged 9-10 rebounds and 17-18 points a game
2005: Sophomore year toured Romania playing university teams with xtrememissions
Other
2005: Toured Hong Kong and Southern China with an Asian team. Played in a tournament against the national teams of China, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Phillipines. Lost in the Finals to Hong Kong. Started for this team and averaged 10 rebounds and 20 points.
2007: Toured with AIA through Canada this past summer.

Tim is a solid player and a great person, and will be a tremendous addition to our team. Coupled with the return of Mike Jones (Moncrief…who knows, I have never really figured that one out…) the team has a great base to work from.

Just for those that haven’t seen it, here are Mike Jones details:

Name: Michael D Jones
Age: 26
Height: 6’7”
Weight: 225lbs

Booker T. Washington High School (1996 – 1999)
Freshman Year, led Freshman team to Championship Game. 14.2 ppg 8.7 rpg.
Sophomore Year, 7.8 ppg 4.8 rpg playing Varsity. Championship year.
Junior Year, 10.6 ppg 7.2 rpg playing Varsity. Semifinals year.
1999-2000 Transferred to Central High School
Central High School (1996 – 1999)
Senior Year, 17.6 ppg 9.6 rpg. Finished season 15-14 – Semifinals year.

Stirling College (2000 – 2004)
2000: Freshman Year: 9.5 ppg 2.8 rpg. We had a losing season this year.
2001: Sophmore Year: 11.7 pprg 7.7 rpg. We had a winning season this year.
2003: NAIA All-America honors.
2003: NAIA Division II Second Team All-America after averaging 18.7 ppg. and 10.2 rpg. Shot 52.7% from the floor, including 44.2% effort from behind the three-point line.
2001-2003: Named KCAC "Player of the Year" as well as Unanimous First Team All-KCAC
2003: Named to the KCAC "All-Defensive Team".
2003: Season Free-Throw Percentage – 91.5%
2000-2004: Career Free-Throw Percentage – 85%
Named most prolific three-point shooter in the history of Sterling College basketball and holds records in:
o Most Three-Point Field Goals in a Game – 8 vs. Kansas Wesleyan in 2002
o Most Three-Point Field Goals in a Season – 84 (2003-2004)
o Most Three-Point Field Goals in a Career – 252 (2000-2004)
2004: Led Sterling in the following categories
o Scoring (18.7 ppg.)
o Rebounding (10.2 rpg.)
o Field Goal Percentage (52.7%)
o Three Point Percentage (44.2%)
o Free Throw Percentage (91.5%)
o Steals (60)
o Blocks (46)
2004: Broke the single season rebound record at Sterling which stood for 42 years, grabbing 327 rebounds breaking Larry Caywood's record of 295 set in 1961-62.
Concludes College career with 1,510 points in 119 varsity appearances.
One of fifteen to players to score over 1,000 points at SC and ranked fourth on the career scoring list.

Other
2004: Graduated with a Communication Degree from Sterling College in May 2004.
2004: Harlem Globetrotters. Played for 2½ seasons touring all over the United States and Overseas.
2005: Rochester Razorsharks, won the ABA Championship.
2006: SBL East Perth Eagles. 9-14 record.
2006: Rochester Razorsharks.
2007: SBL East Perth Eagles. 8-15 record.
2007: SBL East Perth Eagles won several club awards in averaging: 24.5ppg 10rpg 2.3apg 1.2spg
2007: Brunei Cup in Asia with the Darwin All-Stars. Team came in 4th Place.

So our roster as it currently stands…not all these players are currently contracted, but they form the core of our squad:

Andrew McLennan
Clint Burbage
Jarrad Balcombe
Jeremy Nichol
John Taylor
Jon Moon
Kosta Ilic
Lucas Offereins
Mike Jones
Nathan Friend
Neil Purcell
Nick Donlagic
Tim Kruge

There are still one or two possible additions, however this will be the basis for 2008 and I think it’s the strongest squad we have had to date. It’s particularly pleasing to see some of the younger players coming through and working hard to earn a place in the SBL squad.

Hard work of the pre-season

It’s tough to try and balance so many competing objectives, and sometimes I wonder why exactly I’m doing this. I’m sure everyone goes through the same issues with what they do. Going through the process of recruiting, developing juniors, identifying and pushing for imports, producing team philosophies, plays and playbooks, organising fitness plans and gym passes, planning training sessions, identifying venues and scheduling training sessions, conducting training sessions with too many players and no coaches…lets just say sometimes it gets on top of you.

I envy the clubs that have their own stadiums and courts. I envy the clubs that have enough money to not only pay their imports, but also their loyal local players that are usually more deserving of being paid having gone through the tough times. I envy the clubs that have developed a strong culture and attracted good solid coaches to help them continue to build their program.

But we continue to work hard and build the Eagles to those levels also.

Enough of that, aside from trying to do too much with too little, the pre-season continues well. The SBL squad has come together well and aside from an injury here and a work commitment there, so far we are looking good. Of course the rest of the league has taken yet another step up also. It’s funny I thought last year was the strongest the league has been in years, and we would take a step forward and be right up there. Just as we take a step up, so does every other team in the league hahaha. Anyway if it was easy the end result wouldn’t be as satisfying now would it.Currently we have the SBL squad, and a skeleton crew of Division One, U23’s and some U18’s players training. We will hold Division One and U23’s tryouts in the next week or so (we will advertise on the website and forums). The numbers have been pleasing for this early stage of pre-season, and everyone is keen and committed.

And so it starts...

I wrote a blog entry late last year to kick off 2008…but as with the best laid plans I had to postpone it. Not much point if players haven’t been confirmed, courts are yet to be booked etc etc.

Getting past the rambling, I have been working on 2008 for months now. I have made some significant changes to the way I am approaching the new year, and the plans for the team. The good part is that we are building on a solid base, and this third year of my tenure I am hoping that things start coming together.

First news is signing of players. In my last blog for 2007 I mentioned the hard work of recruiting. Well it really is. Trying to retain, recruit and improve is harder than I ever thought it would be as a junior coach. Anyway, the outcome is that we have retained a solid core and made a few key acquisitions. Perhaps the most important acquisition is thanks to the hard work of the East Perth board members, we are adding a second import to our lineup.

We had an SBL dinner on Friday 14th December at Hogs Breath in Northbridge. What can I say, I like a good steak J We had the president Fred Pesqua, SBL Director Matt Elliot, Assistant SBL Coach Geoff Warner and wife Anne, and Team Administrator Kelly Wigg present. Also present were players Jon Moon, John Taylor, Michael Jones and Andrew McLennan who signed contracts. Neil Purcell was unable to attend and signed his contract the next day.

We are currently finalising negotiations with our second import, Tim Kruge a 6’8” PF/C from Point Loma University. Tim was an All-American, received various NAIA awards and was his team MVP a number of years. He was injured his senior year, however he has toured with Athletes In Action through Canada in 2007 and is healthy and ready to go. Just as importantly he is a person of good character and we look forward to welcoming him to the team.

Also Jarrod Balcombe has returned to play for the Eagles in 2008. Jarrod was attending High School in New Jersey, however a number of issues arose and he is now back in Perth for the year (likely returning to the US for 2009). Whilst it is unfortunate that it didn’t work out for him, it is tremendous news for the SBL team to have a junior of Jarrod’s calibre back in the squad and will provide him with some valuable game experience.

So all up that forms a 7 man core for our 2008 campaign, one that I am very happy with.

A number of other juniors are also coming through into the SBL development program. Some individuals sessions were held during the months of October and November, and these juniors will be participating in the SBL pre-season. I am also talking to other players and those talks will be ongoing over the next few weeks to continue strengthening our lineup.

I have made some changes to our pre-season program from previous years. Each year I try to look at lessons learnt, and one of the things I believe that has held us back in previous years is starting the pre-season too early and also not getting on the court early enough.

In 2008 we commenced our pre-season program on Sunday, 6th January. This was a court session and whilst we will do some pure physical sessions, we will be doing a lot more court specific fitness activities. In prior seasons we have commenced with off-court fitness work such as Kings Park runs, Jacobs Ladder and beach runs and haven’t hit the court until as late as early February.

This year we will hit the court first thing, and occasionally insert an off-court session. Our on-court sessions will have large amounts of game specific fitness activities. I believe this will allow us to be more prepared for the season, and in particular our style of basketball.

So now it’s head first into the pre-season!