2010 PUCHONG OPEN (Schedule) : EX-UM Team

To ALL EX-UM players those are taking part in Puchong Open 2010,

The following are the schedule :

14/10/2010 (Thu) - 9.15pm : EX-UM vs PANDAMARAN
16/10/2010 (Sat) - 7.45pm : ASIA TECH vs EX-UM
21/10/2010 (Thu) - 7.45pm : EX-UM vs TOWN PARK

23/10/2010 (Sat) - 7.45pm : EX-UM vs UNITED TEAM

Venue : Taman Wawasan, Puchong Basketball court

Carlsberg Schedule

Above is the latest / final Carlsberg Schedule. The changed dates has been circled in red.

Please note UM & Ex-UM games are on :-

(1) Friday, 26 Dec 2008 (UM v Lian Yew 8 pm, Ex-UM v P. Cheras 9:30 pm)

(2) Saturday, 3 Jan 2009 (Carlsberg v UM 8 pm, Ex-UM v CSK 9:30 pm)

(3) Tuesday, 6 Jan 2009 (Xian Club B v UM 8 pm, Xian Club A v Ex-UM 9:30 pm)

Our 1^st game remain unchanged and is this Friday.

Carlsberg Schedule

Above is the games schedule for Carlsberg Competition.

Please note that our 1st game is 26 December 2008.

Please note that the 2nd game on 27 December 2008 is being changed. There should be NO game on 27 December 2008.

Carlsberg Open 2008/09

Full team groupings are as below. The first TWO (2) teams listed in each group are seeded (considered "stronger") teams. These include UM (but not Ex-UM).

Carlsberg Open 2008/09

Carlsberg Open manager's meeting was held yesterday, 7 Dec 2008.

A total of 25 teams will be participating. UM has been drawn into
Group D whilst Ex-UM is in Group E.

Full list of team grouping is as per the picture above.

Game schedule will be out the next few days. UM & Ex-UM games are
expected to start from 21 Dec 2008 and onwards.

Game format is as follows :-

ROUND ONE

6 Groups (A-F) of 4 teams each (2Grpups with 5 teams) - total 26 teams.

12 seeded teams including UM. 2 in each group.

ROUND TWO (Last 12)

2 teams advance from each group. Total of 12 teams - divided to 3
groups of 4 teams each (AB, CD & EF).

ROUND THREE (Last 6)

2 teams from each group advance. Total of 6 teams - re-draw & divided
to 2 groups of 3 teams each.

FINAL (Final 4)

Top 2 teams from each group advance to Final.

Top team from each group plays for 1st / 2nd
2nd team from each group plays for 3rd / 4th placing.

Sultan Cup 2008 - Update

UM has completed the Sultan Cup competition, finishing with a 1-2 win-loss record.

As expected, the team's performance showed how "not-ready" the team is for competitive basketball, especially on the defensive end.

Whilst the team played adequate / average defense, it was nothing like the tough, pressure man-to-man defense or trapping zone defenses that UM is famous for. There were repeated defensive breakdowns, missed assignments, "lost" assignments, failure to help and "illegal" defense (allowing opponent to pass the ball past halfline).

On offense, the Read and React offense showed great promise and potential. The coaching staff are confident that once the "Dribble Penetration - Circle Move" (Layer 1) is "habitualized" and other Layers are added on and similarly habitualized, the offense will allow our players to maximise their offensive skills and will be near impossible to "scout" or counter.

Some 1st year / junior players also showed great promise and potential, showing that they can play under pressure situations and perform reasonably well. Other 1st year / junior players clearly have a long way to go before they are ready to compete.

However, the competition also showed that our players clearly need to spend a LOT of personal time practising their shooting and following the competition, twice-weekly personal shooting sessions have been implemented.

Despite the rush (to register) and the "non-readiness" of the team, the competition was well worth our participation as it allowed us the opportunity to get a better understanding of our players, the team, the suitable rotations and a preview to this year's team's identity.

The team certainly has not "found its identity" yet and we will need much more practices, friendly matches and competitions for us to achieve that.

Coach Loke Yew

Sultan Cup - Schedule & Roster

UM's 1st round schedule is as follows:-

Sunday 5/10/2008 - 1930 (7:30pm) : Game #1 - Kajitsu v UM
Tuesday 7/10/2008 - 2000 (8:00pm) : Game #2 - UM v Puchong BA
Sunday 12/10/2008 - 1700 (5:00pm) : Game #3 - UM v UTC

Full schedule and results can be found at www.selangorbasketball.com

Click on the "Read more" link below for the full roster and important explanation.

The players selected to participate in this competition are NOT the "final" UM varsity team. The players selected below are selected for this current competition only. Players not selected for this competition are expected to continue to attend practices and continue to have equal chance (based on skill, ability, attitude and committment) of being selected for the next competition, or ultimately for the "final" UM varsity team.

The players selected to participate and represent UM in Sultan Cup Div II 2008 are:-

1. Chan Poh Guan (C)
2. Chong Kok Way
3. Fong Kean Chang
4. He Long Fei (1st year)
5. Kelvin Kiew
6. Khoo Khai Horng
7. Lee Chen Wee
8. Lee Zhin Han (1st year)
9. Lew Chee Ching
10. Lim Chee Sheng, Jensen
11. Lim Jinn Wen (1st year)
12. Ng Saik Poh

Sultan Cup 2008 - Update

Again my apologies for the lack of updates recently. I have been busy with work, doing a lot of overseas travels.

UM is taking part in Sultan Cup Div II 2008.

Our registration was submitted late as we did not receive information until after the closing date. Fortunately, based on our good relationship with Selangor Basketball Association (SABA) and the goodwill buult up over the many years, SABA made an exception and accepted our late registration.

Unfortunately, we have been drawn into a very strong group, with both Puchong BA and Kajitsu in the same group. Also, our practices so far has been repeatedly interrupted by circumstances, non-availability of (lighted) outdoor basketball court and bad weather (we have not even got to use the indoor basketball court even once yet this year!), our team is poorly prepared for competition right now.

As a result, we do not have any specific goals as far as achievement in the competition. Our goals will be:-

1. To grow and mature further as a (new) team;
2. To find our new rotation (each team has its own ideal rotation);
3. To gain competition experience, especially for the 1st years; and
4. To gain practical experience in the application of our newly implemented "Read and React" offensive system.

My next post will set out UM's 1st round schedule and the team selected to participate in this competition.

All non-selected players are encouraged to attend the competition games to gain experience through observation.

All Ex-UM players are highly encouraged to attend to provide moral support and valued suggestions.

3rd/4th Placing Ex-UM v Myth

Xballer League Game Update

After 3 months Xballer League has finally come to an end. Although we lost our final game to finish 3rd Runner Up (4th), this has been one of Ex-UM's best performance in a lomg while.

A lot of the credit must go to Chuan whose youth, size and athleticism makes us a totally different team.

However our success is also due to the development and maturation of players like Ming Lip, Leong, Bik Yih and Juin Haur, giving us much more depth than we've ever had.

Our final game was against Myth again, the same opponent in our 8th game. During our 8th game we only had 6 players and was without Ben, Leong or Chuan. We lost that game by 43 points (51-94)!

Myth was big, physically strong and shot the 3 point shot extremely well.

This time however we had almost all our players (except for Ben). We set the same goal of staying close to give ourselves a chance at the end.

Myth was ultimately still a very big and physically strong team. Whenever the got the ball in the paint, it was virtually impossible to stop them from scoring without fouling.

Pin was also late so we didn't have our usual starting unit. Juin Haur did well stepping up and filling in for Ben but defensively Ming Lip kept missing rotations and we had a tough time on defense.

That allowed Myth to jump out to 19-10 lead after 1 quarter.

When we finally had our front court of Sem, Pin and Chuan on the floor together in the 2nd quarter, we were able to press often, with great success. We quickly closed the gap and trailed only by 3 points at the half (28-31).

And for the second straight game, our bench players also played steady and well (though when Ming Lip and Leong were on the front court, the unit were not effective on the press).

That allowed us to stay close the rest of the game. Unfortunately, we just couldn't stop them when in close and we couldn't quite catch them up.

FINAL SCORE : 55-59
We finished as 3rd Runner-Up / 4th.

Scoring disribution for this game:-

No. 6 Hung - 0+0+2+0=2
No. 7 Leong - 0+0+0+2=2
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+5+0+5=10
No. 9 Chuan - 4+6+4+2=16
No.10 Pin - 0+0+0+4=4
No. 11 Sem - 4+5+2+4=15
No. 12 Loke Yew - 0+2+0+0=2
No. 13 Ming Lip - 2+2+0+0=4

Having observed our team and compared to other sronger teams, if Ex-UM is to continue to improve, we will have to improve (1) our individual ability to create shot opportunities for each other by being able to dribble penetrate and pass (2) improve our medium distance shot accuracy and (3) perhaps most importantly, improve the speed of our shot release.

Well done Ex-UM!

Ex-UM Semi Finals vs OAE

Xballer League Game Update

What a fantastic game we had last night! We were 4th seed playing against OAE the 1st seed with a 9-0 record.

Our 1st game in the league round had been against OAE too. We lost that one badly by 44 points! (42-86)

But then that was our first game in the competition and for many of us (myself included) was the first competitve basketball game in a long while. Also we didn't have Chuan (who had yet to be invied to play for us) and didn't have Pin (injured ankle).

Still, OAE was clearly the overwhelming favorite for last night's game. Our goal was to keep the score close and not let OAE run away with the game so we'd have a chance at the end.

OAE started out playing man-to-man immediately and our early efforts to post Chuan up was not effective. Early in the game it didn't look like we'd be able to achieve our goal of staying close as OAE jumped out to an 11-2 lead, forcing us to take a time out.

Afer the time out, we settled down and adjusted to OAE's man offense by posting Chuan higher and managing to get a few lob passes in for easier baskets.

More importantly we stepped up our half court defense and started flying by every 3 point attempt and rotating and covering for each other.

That allowed us to gain control of the game rhythm (they missed, we pushed the tempo, we scored and they had to slowly inbound). The rhythm therefore allowed us to go into our "230" half court zone press early and OAE did not handle it well at all. After the time out we went on 12-2 run to take a slim 1 point lead by the end of the 1st quarter (14-13).

We started the 2nd quarter with 4 bench players (Haw Keat, Juin Haur, Ming Lip & Leong) with Ben (who had got a few minutes' rest in the 1st quarter). That unit played excellently and stayed close to OAE. OAE maintained a 2 or 3 point lead only throughout the 1st half of the 2nd quarter.

We then subbed the 1st unit in (except Ben who needed to rest) together with Hung. Unfortunately this unit did not maintain complete focus as a unit and had several defensive breakdowns allowing OAE to pull out to a 7 point lead by halftime (28-35).

As the 2nd unit had played well and I wanted the whole 1st unit (me, Ben, Sem, Pin and Chuan) together, I had a 2nd unit without any starters, start the 3rd quarter (Haw Keat, Bik Yih, Juin Huar, Ming Lip and Leong).

That 2nd unit played fantastic and cut into OAE's lead, drawing within 2 points. At the 5 minute mark, the 1st unit returned and this time, played much better, staying within 2 or 3 points at all times. After 3 quarters we only trailed OAE by 3 points (45-48).

With full confidence in our 2nd unit (the same one that started the 3rd quarter), we started the final quarter with the 2nd unit again. Again they played great. Not only did they keep the score close, they even caught up and took a 2 point lead.

At the 6 minute mark, we subbed the 1st unit back in. The 1st unit even managed to take a 4 point lead ourselves with about 3+ minutes left. Unfortunately, OAE hit a few 3 pointers and free throws and regained the lead and pulled out to a 6 point lead (63-57) with less than 1 minute left.

We took a time out so we could advance the ball and in bound at the half line. We had already run our "line" inbounds play several times and each time OAE knew and expected the lob pass and kept a player back to deny that pass. But coming out of the time out, they forgot and I managed to hit Chuan with a long pass who was fouled and hit his shot for a 3 point play. Chuan hit his FT and drew us within 3 (60-63).

We went into our zone trap and caused a turnover. We ran our half court offense and Pin hit a BIG 3 point shot to tie the score (63-63).

We played good defense and OAE missed and Pin got the rebound with 3.9 seconds left. OAE players tried to trap Pin but Pin managed to dribble out of trouble and OAE made a big mistake. With 3.9 seconds left and Pin still in our back court, OAE player was called for a foul on Pin's drive. OAE was in "red flag" situation so that meant Pin was shooting 2 free throws with 3.9 seconds left and the score tied. All we needed was 1 of the free throws.

Pin missed both free throws! Over time!

In overtime, again OAE pulled out to a modest lead. With less than 20 seconds left, we still trailed 70-74. Then Sem hit a big basket (72-74) and we trapped and got the ball back. We took a time out and drew up a play for a 3 point shot.

I inbounded to Pin and OAE fouled Pin in the act of shooting! Pin got 3 free throws but we needed all 3 to win this time. Pin hit the 1st 2 to tie the score (74-74) but missed the last.

2nd Overtime!

However late in the 1st OT, Sem had fouled out. Midway thru the 2nd OT, Ben too fouled out. OAE finally pulled away and with less than 1 minue left had a 6 point lead (82-78) and possession.

That forced us to foul intentionally on defense and to take quick 3 point attempts on offense. Unfortunately, OAE made their free throws and our 3 point shots wouldn't go in.

FINAL SCORE : UM lose 78-88

Scoring disribution for this game:-

No. 4 Haw Keat - 0+0+0+2+0+0=2
No. 5 Ben - 0+6+0+0+0+0=6
No. 6 Hung - 0+2+0+0+0+0=2
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+2+2+0+0+0=4
No. 9 Chuan - 7+0+4+7+4+4=26
No.10 Pin - 2+2+3+3+2+0=12
No. 11 Sem - 5+0+6+0+5+0=16
No. 13 Ming Lip - 0+0+0+3+0+0=3
No. 15 Bik Yih - 0+2+2+3+0+0=7

Although we lost the game in the end, as I said at the beginning, WHAT A FANTASTIC GAME!

All players played their hardest and as best they can AND all played great. I am so proud of our team and the players.

Next game later this evening (Sunday) 5:30pm vs Myth for 3rd/4th placing.

Well done, Ex-UM.

Ex-UM Game #8 v Myth

Xballer League Game Update

Ex-UM's 8th game yesterday was against Myth. Myth is largely considered the 2nd or 3rd strongest team in the league. They were not so strong that we had no chance against them but ...

... we only had 6 players again! The last time we had 6 players, most of the main players were present. This time our top scorer (Chuan), fastest player (Ben) and sharpest shooter (Leong) were all absent.

Present were myself, Pin, Ming Lip, Haw Keat, Juin Haur & Hung - undermanned AND undersized. Bik Yih was also present but had a sprained ankle and were did not plan to play him unless absolutely necessary.

We started the game poorly. Lots of defensive breakdowns giving up many wide open shots. Offensively we also turn the ball over many times. Juin Haur and Ming Lip especially made some "rookie" mistakes. But the rest of us also did not execute well. Myth players were big and physically strong and had many deflections and created many turnovers. They started with a blazing 15-0 run before we finally scored our first basket (3 poiner by Haw Keat).

Myth's No. 12 also got "hot" and hit 4 3-pointers in the 1st quarter alone.
By the end of 1st quarter we were down 31-9.

Throughout the game we had no answer for Myth's size, speed and accurate outside shooting. Their size and speed allowed them to deny the inside, close out at us ont he 3-point line and prevent dribble penetration. Their No. 12 also continued to stay hot right up to the end of the game. he finished with 10 3-pointers, a few from several steps behind the 3 point line.

As the game went on, Juin Haur settled down and started to play better and better. In the end he played the best amongst us all but we need him to start out steadier and settle down faster.

Haw Keat and I ended up playing the full 40 minues. Neither of us shot well due to Myth's speed at closing out and due to fatigue.

FINAL SCORE : UM lose 51-94
Our record is now 6-2.

Scoring disribution for this game:-

No. 4 Haw Keat - 3+0+0+0=3
No. 6 Hung - 0+3+2+0=5
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+2+4+13=19
No.10 Pin - 2+4+2+0=8
No. 12 Loke Yew - 1+2+0+0=3
No. 13 Ming Lip - 3+2+0+8=13

Next game tonight (Sunday) 8:30pm vs Kajitsu. We need more players to attend!

Ex-UM Game #7 v SST

Xballer League Game Update

Ex-UM's 7th game yesterday was against SST. SST is the team our Kheng Sun is playing with!

However Kheng Sun was not free to attend the game and did not play yesterday.

SST had 1 shooting guard (No. 7) who is very good at shooting (& making!) 3 pointers. Additionally, SST was made up of veteran players who preferred to shoot 3 pointers.

Game start was delayed due to heavy rain. When the game started the court was still very wet and slippery. These conditions heavily favored SST as we could not fastbreak or play an uptempo game.

We started out playing our preferred zone defense in the hope that we could focus our defense collectively to deny their No. 7 (we had in previous games succeeded in defending opposing teams with 1 or 2 sharp shooters despite us playing zone defense). Unfortunately, whether due to the wet court or lack of focus, we were not able to stop SST's outside shooting.

In just the 1st 5 minutes of the 1st quarter, SST hit FOUR 3-pointers (3 by No. 7) and jumped out to a 16-2 lead!

In the meantime the extremely slow pace of game (due to wet conditions) really took us out of our usual rhythm.

We quickly went to a man defense whilst putting Ben on No. 7 (who was quite a quick perimeter player too). Our man defense was much more effective as SST players lacked ball handling skills. We closed out the 1st quarter on an 11-2 run to draw to 13-18.

However towards the end of the 1st quarter, No. 7 had started to post Ben up in the paint and was giving Ben some difficulty. In the second we decided to try Juin Haur on No. 7. We felt Juin Haur was quick enough on the perimeter and tall enough in the post. Juin Haur came up BIG for us, playing excellent defense on No. 7 (holding No. 7 to just 2 points in the 2nd quarter) and even hitting a 3 pointer of his own. We finally caught up in that 2nd quarter at 21-21 and even took a 4 point lead with 3 seconds left in the half but SST No. 11 hit a 3 point shot from 3/4 court distance (!) to draw within 1 (31-30) at half time.

In the 3rd, with the court finally starting to dry out, we started to push the tempo, dribble penetrate and play a faster game. In order to have our starting 5 on the floor at the same time, we put Pin on No. 7 and Pin also did a great job defending No. 7. Haw Keat hit 2 3-pointers, Pin, Chuan and I all hit a couple of shots each and at the end of 3 quarters, we had a 9 point lead (51-42). Our lead would have been bigger but we kept committing fouls and SST took advantage, scoring 8 of their 12 points in that quarter from the free throw line.

Our second unit started the 4th and continued to play well, maintaining a 9 to 12 point lead. Juin Haur continued to play excellent defense and on offense, hit another 3 pointer and a jump shot. Bik Yih too hit a 3 pointer with the shot clock running down.

With 5+ minutes to go and an 11 point lead (61-50), we substituted the starters back in. At this point, the game looked firmly in hand.

That was when we hit a drought and SST went on an 11-0 run with their No. 12 hitting 3 consecutive "lucky" 2 point shots, a low post score by their No. 14 despite being guarded by the taller Chuan and a 3 pointer by their No. 11 to tie it at 61-61 with about 2+ minutes left.

The next few possesions were empty. Finally with about 1+ minute left, SST No. 14, their post player drew a foul and went to the free throw line where he only hit 1 of 2. Suddenly with a little less than 1 minutes left, we were trailing by 1!

We ran Set 3 with Ben as the cutter. Worried of our Chuan in the post, SST defense left Ben wide open at the 3 point line ... and Ben made his 1st and only 3-point shot of the night! (64-62). What a BIG shot!

On the next possession, I managed to deflect the ball and caused a turnover with 30+ seconds left. We then held the ball till the end of our shot clock but could not find a good shot. I did not want a shot clock violation (which would have allowed SST to call time-out and advance the ball) so I ended up taking a contested shot, 3 or 4 steps from behind the 3 point line.

It was an air ball but more importantly avoided a shot-clock violation. SST rebounded the miss but had only 9 seconds left.

We played defense and SST players were too slow in advancing the ball and ended up taking and missing a rushed, heavily contested, 3 point shot.

FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM win 64-62.
Ex-UM is now 6-1.

We were however very, very LUCKY to have won the game, which equally easily could have been won by SST. Fortunately, our "end-game" execution was steadier and better than SST's.

Scoring disribution for this game:-

No. 4 Haw Keat - 0+0+6+0=6
No. 5 Ben - 2+0+2+3=7
No. 7 Leong - 0+2+0+0=2
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+3+0+5=8
No.10 Pin - 4+2+1+0=7
No. 11 Chuan - 2+8+7+0=17
No. 12 Loke Yew - 0+3+4+0=7
No. 13 Ming Lip - 5+0+0+2=7
No. 15 Bik Yih - 0+0+0+3=3

With this win, we are through to the semi finals even if we lose our next / last 2 games. However if we want to avoid OAE in the semis, we will have to win at least 1 of our next / last 2 games (against Myth and Kajitsu) this coming weekend (6:30p Saturday vs Myth and 7p Sunday vs Kajitsu).

Thanks to all the Ex-UM supporters who attended the game and suppored us.

Ex-UM Game #6 v Friends

Xballer League Game Update

Ex-UM's 6th game today was against Friends. Friends had 1 shooting guard (No. 15) who is very good at shooting (& making!) 2 pt fade away shots.

We knew his abilities from a friendly match he played (with Puchong BA) against UM recently. They also had a very tall (but thin) center.

We therefore adjusted by focusing our defense on No. 15 & boxing out No. 10. No. 15 still scored 14 pts. but what surprised us & allowed them to lead after the 1st quarter (15-14) & stay close the whole 1st half (UM led 30-25 at half) was their team captain No. 8. For the game he hit 7 3-pointers & 2 2-pointers for 25 points! And he shot 3 point shots at a very high percentage, often after 1 of us, & sometimes even after 2 of us had "flown-by".

At our end Chuan arrived late & as usual (whenever he arrives late) had a tough game. He played almost the whole 2nd quarter, had MANY close in, easy shots & free throws ... And missed them ALL! As a result we never could really get any separation from Friends.

Our bench too did not play well today.

Fortunately Pin, Ming Lip & Leong kept us in the game in the 1st half (the 3 combined for 23 points in the 1st half).

It took Chuan another 1/2 of the 3rd quarter before he finally got his game together. But once he got it together (starting with a couple of made free throws), he scored 17 straight points for us! We pulled out to a commanding 16 point lead after 3 quarters (51-35).

We started the 4th quarter with a few bench players. And we promptly started the 4th quarter with 4 straight turnovers allowing Friends to go on an 8-0 run to cut our 16 point lead down to 8 only!

We had to put the starters back in quickly and after 1 more turnover, managed to get the game back under control, with Chuan drawing fouls (and making free throws) and Pin, Ben & I trapping & stealing the ball back several times off our 122 half court zone press.

Friend's No. 8 still kept them close for a while with 2 more tough, contested 3 point shots. But we finally started closing out better and challenging 3 point shots, with Leong and Pin blocking a few, and were able to re-establish our lead.

FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM win 71-53.
Ex-UM is now 5-1.

Scoring disribution for this game:-

No. 4 Haw Keat - 0+0+1+0=1
No. 5 Ben - 2+2+0+0=4
No. 6 Bik Yih - 0+0+4+0=4
No. 7 Leong - 2+4+0+0=6
No.10 Pin - 4+5+0+1=10
No. 11 Chuan - 0+0+16+13=29
No. 12 Loke Yew - 0+3+0+4=7
No. 13 Ming Lip - 6+2+0+2=10

Well done guys. The starters covered for the bench this game. We hope the bench will come back strong next game. That's what team work is about ... everyone covering for everyone.

This was an especially important game for us as Friends had (before this game) the same 4-1 record as we had.

Tomorrow's game 7:00pm vs SST (our Kheng Sun is playing with that team).

Ex-UM Game #5 vs Swoosh

Xballer League - Game Update

Ex-UM's last Sunday's game was against Swoosh, a non-chinese, team comprised mostly of former UiTM players.

Individual fundamental basketball skills of their players were not particular good but they did have 2 VERY big (bit chunky) and tall centers and most of their players were athletic. It therefore became important for us to (a) box out and control our defensive rebounds and (b) play a fast game to tire out their bigs.

When both their centers were in, we really had a tough time trying to box both of them out. Fortunately, their fitness were not good and our front court players could repeatedly beat them down court so that we either scored on primary or secondary fast break, or drew fouls. Eventually, they couldn't keep both centers on the floor at the same time (as they kept giving up fast break points) and could only keep 1 of them on the floor at a time. That allowed us to box out their lone center and control the boards much better.

On offense, Ming Lip continued is excellent play (and was top scorer with 24 points) and Leong continued his high percentage shooting. Chuan was his usual aggressive and effective self. Pin also was very effective offensively especially after some one from our bench "bet" him a Heineken if he makes his free throw (which he did!!). Ben had a bit of an "off" day as he missed a few easy shots but still played a steady game and good defense.

Overall, again, a good team effort. All players are beginning to play better and better especially our bench. Both Juin Haur and Hung had their second straight steady and aggressive game ... applying the "kiss" principle ... keep it simple and steady. All players however have to react better to on-ball pressure in our back court and support players being pressured (especially when that player is a front court player who just got a defensive rebound and not the PG).

Although the score stayed close in the 1st quarter and the 1st half of the 2nd quarter, we could see that Swoosh's player's stamina were disappearing fast. When the starting unit went back into the game, fresh, at around the 5 minute mark of the 2nd quarter, we made our push and had a 15 point lead by half time. From there we just kept building and building on the lead and won the game comfortably.

Scoring distribution (by quarter):-

No.5 Ben - 0+2+0+0=2
No. 7 Leong - 0+4+3+2=9
No. 8 Juin Haur - 0+0+2+0=2
No. 9 Kok - 0+0+4+0=4
No. 10 Pin - 0+7+4+2=13
No. 11 Chuan - 5+5+2+4=16
No. 13 Ming Lip - 9+5+2+8=24
No. 15 Bik Yih - 0+0+0+2=2

FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM wins 72-37
Ex-UM's record is now : 4-1

Next games this coming weekend :-

vs. "Friends" at 6:30pm on Saturday, 21/6/2008; and
vs. "SST" at 7:00pm on Sunday, 22/6/2008.

Ex-UM Game #4 vs. C. Timber

Xballer League - Game Update

Yesterday's opponent was an outside shooting team. Many of them shot the 3 point shot extremely well especially their No. 15 and No.11. They also shot FTs extremely well.

However they were all "catch & shoot" type of shooters and were weak at dribble penetration & low post.

We therefore concentrated on "chasing" them off the 3 point line & "side guarded " them, forcing them to dribble. All their shots off dribble were misses.

On defense, our opponent played a 122 match up zone with players face guarding us at the perimeter instead of shifting to the ball. This left a lot of room for our post players as well as dribble penetrations and we scored relatively easily.

So long as we stayed focus on defense and concentrated on denying their No. 15 and No. 11 the 3 point shot, our score would steadily pull away. We scored 28 points in the 1st quarter but also allowed them to score 19 points on 4 three pointers, 5 FTs and only 1 two point shot.

We played better defense in 2nd and 3rd quarters (allowing only 13 and 14 points whilst scoring 16 and 24 points ourselves). At half time we led by 12 points and after 3 quarters, by 20 points).

I myself had poor 2nd & 3rd quarters. Several poor passes / turnovers by me. And Kok too had a poor 3rd quarter (lots of lost / fumbled ball). Fortunately other players stepped up - Hung was crucial in helping us rebuild our lead at the end of the half (they had closed to within 6 before we pulled back out to 12). Ben was solid throughout and our starting front court played great (fantastic passing to each other) and carried us most of the game especially in the first half.

Since Chuan and Sem was not with us yesterday our front court was limited to Ming Lip, Leong and Pin (all 3 started). Whenever any of them needed to rest, we had to sub Juin Haur into the front court. Juin Haur had a shaky first half, making a lot of mistakes and unforced turnovers. Our front court of Ming Lip, Leong and Pin had to play substantial minutes in the 1st half. Even I had to take a turn in the front court to give them some rest but I was ineffective and the short stint in the front court really tired me out.

But Juin Haur accepted our challenge tohim and gathered himself at half time. He played great the entire 2nd half. Nothing extraordinary but just playing within his skills (which is good), giving us crucial, solid minutes with great defense, rebounding, hustle and no turnovers / mistakes. That allowed our starting front court to get some rest and me to concentrate on PG duties. Juin Haur even gave us 7 points in the 4th quarter playing within the team offense.

Kok still lacked focus on the defensive end but found his offense in the 4th quarter and at one point scored 9 straight points to keep us comfortably ahead. I also finally found my game in the 4th and was able to handle the opponent's pressure defense comfortably and had some assists.

Overall a complete team effort. Ming Lip was top scorer but almost all players scored and score distributioon was pretty evenly spread out.

Scoring distribution (by quarters):
No. 5 Ben - 8+2+2+2=14
No. 6 Hung - 0+0+2+0=2
No. 7 Leong - 4+4+2+0=10
No. 8 Juin Haur - 3+0+2+7=12
No. 9 Kok - 0+0+0+9=9
No. 10 Pin - 4+4+3+2=13
No. 12 me - 1+0+3+0=4
No. 13 Ming Lip - 8+6+8+2=24

FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM win 88-69.

Ex-UM record is now 3-1.

Well done Ex-UM!
Next game is tonight 8:30pm vs Swoosh.

(ps - this post was typed out on my handheld and posted via email. Pls forgive any typing errors)

Ex-UM Game #3 vs Rockets

Xballer League - Game Update

Ex-UM played its 3rd game last night in Xballer League held at SS3 against "Rockets".

10 Ex-UM players turned up for the game (which is much better than 6 only for the last game!).

Rockets had 1 very tall center and 1 very accurate 3 point shooter. Fortunately, their other players were only average players.

FINAL SCORE : Ex-UM won 88-62.

Ex-UM record is now 2-1.

Offensively we played quite well (as the score shows), especially Chuan & Sem. Chuan scored our 1st 15 points! Also Rockets could not defend our baseline in-bounds play resulting in scores on all (except the 1st) baseline in-bounds.

Rockets aslo tried man-to-man defense in the 3rd quarter. We si.mply ran a play to isolate Chuan in the low post. Chuan scored or assisted and we scored (some times even 3 point plays) on each and every possession Rockets played man defense. They soon gave up trying to man us.

Defensively though we played just average (again as the score shows ... giving up 62 points is way too much). We played a zone defense (212) throughout as their outside shooting (other than that 1 shooter) was poor. However, there were many defensive breakdowns / missed assignments / easy lay ups etc.

Fortunately, Rockets had difficulty with our 122 half court zone press. We pressed selectively and created quite a lot of turnovers and rushed shots.

As we did not video the game, the only stats we have are from the score sheet. The following is the scoring (points) distribution:

Chuan (30), Sem (17) with three 3-point shots, Kok (12), Leong (9), Ben (6), Juin Haur (4), Coach (4), Bik Yih (4), Pin (2).

Next game is Sat 14 June 6:30pm vs C. Timber @SS3.

Puchong Open - Schedule

Schedule Changes!

Puchong Open starts this weekend as originally scheduled but the games have changed. Ex-UM's first game will be on Sunday 20th April 2008 at 7:00pm (1900hrs) @SS3 vs. OAE. Please note the change.

Full schedule (for this weekend) as follows:

Saturday 19 April 2008

6:30 pm (1830 hrs) SST Team vs Friends
8:00 pm (2000 hrs) Swoosh v Myth

Sunday 20 April 2008

5:30pm (1730 hrs) Kajitsu vs SS3
7:00 pm (1900 hrs) Ex-UM vs OAE
8:30 pm (2030 hrs) Rockets vs C Timber

Puchong Open - Schedule

Its official! Games will start on 19/4/2008 Saturday

Ex-UM's first game will be against "Friend" @7:30pm @SS3

Players please be early. Other Ex-UM/UM members please come and show support!

Other Fixtures:
19/4 Saturday 8:30pm Swoosh v BU3
20/4 Sunday 6pm OAE v Kajitsu
7:30pm Michael Liew v Kinrara

UCBL - Schedule

Latest news!

I've just been informed by the UCBL organizers that the Opening Ceremony this Sunday, 30/3/2008 has been postponed indefinitely as the Minister of Youth who was supposed to officiate it could not make it. The Manager's Meeting will still be held at 3rd Floor, Berjaya Complex (opposite Berjaya Times Square) at 9:30am, on Sunday 30/3/2008. UM players do not need to attend this meeting.

However, the competition games themselves are now planned to be held after MASUM!! Tentatively, around June.

That means we won't have any competition to make our final adjustments or test different unit combinations before MASUM. We will have to arrange for as many friendly matches as we can and will likely end up (like last year) still making adjustments into the 1st round of MASUM itself.

If any player or Ex-UM member is able to help arrange for (reasonable quality) friendly matches, please contact the Coaching Staff and/or Team Captain, Chen Wee. We have the use of the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9pm to 10:45pm and we can use either of these time slots for friendly matches..

UCBL - Schedule

UM will be taking part in the Universities-Colleges Basketball League or UCBL, which will kick off this weekend, Sunday night, 30/3/2008 @Berjaya Times Square.

All participating teams including UM will be required to play a short, 10 minute, exhibition game there. Official UCBL competition games will be played later at MABA Stadium, KL. I will post details of game days/times when I have them later.

So far this year, UM has only managed to take part in Carlsberg Open competition. UCBL is therefore critical to UM's preparations for MASUM and is likely the last competition we can take part in before MASUM, which is scheduled for 21-28 May 2008 at UMS, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

UCBL will provide us a very good opportunity to fine tune our 1st/2nd unit combinations, as well as making our defensive and offensive tweaks to take into account the loss of last year's (crucial) players and the addition of this years new players.

We hope Ex-UM players will take this opportunity to drop by and support/encourage our UM players.