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 2006_Gotham City Games (New York) |
An Inside Look at the Gotham City Games |
| Team Analysis (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER): Last updated 12/12/2006
DREAM LEAGUE WARRIORS: This will be the second time a combo team of Dream League players joins together with the USAB Warriors, a predominately Chinese men's team, for a tournament. They did it 2 months ago at the Maximum Output tournament in NYC and finished seeded 2nd after round robin play where they defeated a tough DaBu squad (a ranked team in the DL rankings) before bowing out to TLC in the playoffs. This team consists of Chinese, Thai, Hawaiian, and a half-Japanese/half Puerto Rican players. They will possibly be the most ethnically diverse Asian American team in the field. It's far from the same version that DLNY usually brings out to the DL National tournaments, but will run on the same philosophy that is essentially - let's learn each other's games as we go. They are a blend of youth and old fogies ranging from college aged players to guys old enough to have a family. Nic Echevestre, who was the MVP at the Las Vegas Invitational in 2005, holds an LA Tigers pedigree (#13 in our national rankings) and played collegiately at UC Santa Cruz, will head their attack. DLNY perennial All-Leaguer, C Brandon Chock, figures to be working overtime inside against the many players who will be bigger than him.
| NEW YORK CRUISERS: The Cruisers have had several pieces who have travelled to the Dream League national tournaments in Vegas and Houston including Houston 1st Teamer PF Tony Hu, who works with center George Chan, to form one of the most potent big man duos in the country. Hu was simply unstoppable in Houston against the likes of Houston OCP and the Houston Underdogs (despite a last second miss to tie the game that was caught on video.) The Cruisers problem for Gotham is that Chan will be missing for Friday and Saturday due to a previously planned snowboarding trip. Without Chan, the burden will fall heavier upon the likes of SG CB Liu and PG Stan Yeung. Liu is no stranger to the national scene as well and teams who don't know him will find out plenty quick if his 3-point dagger is on. Without Chan, it's hard to say as the Cruisers could be facing, for once, teams bigger than them. They remain a favorite to do well though. If they can survive pool play decently and get a favorable seed, all will be well when Chan returns on Sunday. A quarter-finalist in this year's Chinese Nationals in Boston, the Cruisers have been picking up local NY/NJ championships at a rampant rate. They lost in last season's DLNY Finals on a last second miracle 47-footer by Nik Nayak, whom many IndoPak teams know. They are a finalist in the current season as well with the championship set for Wednesday and Thursday (if need be.)
| NEW YORK D-UNIT: With D-Unit's core all spread out, this team has proven to be very inconsistent for the past few tournaments though they have been a long-standing member of the national IndoPak scene. Under the influence of captain Akshat Tewary, they look to continue to gain their cohesiveness. With new additions to the team for this tournament, D-Unit is looking to make a statement. D-Unit started around 8 years ago with veterans like Tewary and Manu Thomas. It has probably been two years since the core players last played in a tournament together as their old stalwarts are sprinkled amongst other cities' rosters now (including the Maryland 5Pillars, one of DL's IPB tournaments. In 2005, at the DC IndoPak Nationals, D-Unit finished in the Final Four before bowing out to the Dallas Bandits, a DL Houston Tournament participant earlier this year. High flying Varun Bhartiya has recovered from a foot injury that bothered him in the latest DLNY season and will be ready to lead this team. Add to the mix, PF Mo Ghumman (if he isn't tied up with residency work) over the weekend, and this team has to be considered a favorite.
| NEW YORK FISTS OF FURY: The Fury, an Asian-American team out of New York, has been around for less than a year. They have good talent and are still familiarizing themselves with each other's respective games. They are big and skilled at the forward position (their best asset), but not particularly athletic. The addition of Christian Stevens, however, should elevate their total athleticism. The Fury have a self-admitted tendency to play to the level of their opponent (good or bad). They keep things close and make a push to win in crunch time when their veterans (including Jeff Moy and Ren Hsieh, who will be out due to torn cartilage in the knee) try to come through when it matters most. The Fury participate in New York’s Fastbreak basketball league and have become the cardiac kids of the league with their exciting style and penchant for winning games on last second shots.
| NEW YORK HEATKEEPERS: This New York/New Jersey area IndoPak team consists of players who have all played at least at the high school level and include a few members with collegiate experience including captain and point guard, Manny Singh who has played on the international circuits as well as at Fordham University and Mercy College. Shooting guard, Kevin Prasad, was a St. John's University backup SG. Their frontline is a strength as they feature 6’4” Mike Rajenderan and 6’9” Jimmy Sayed, who is currently feeling out colleges to see where he will make his presence known.
| NEW YORK RENEGADES: A Korean-American team from New York/New Jersey, this run and gun squad is nearly always at the top of the various leagues and tournaments they enter into. The winner of back to back RPI tournaments from 2003-2005, the Washington CYC tournament in 2004, and two-time champs from the Fastbreak league, the Renegades just finished the current Dream League New York season with a loss in the semi-finals. This team was actually founded 20-some odd years ago and is a regular participant in the Korean Nationals every two years. They recently lost who is arguably their best player, Mike Kim, to California, but with players like Pete Prassos, James Choi, and Eddie Wang, they still figure to make massive noise. They have had little national exposure in their 20 odd years since they rarely leave the New York metro area. It's a shame since they very well could be climbing our national rankings as they have the talent to be in there.
| NEW YORK YAMATO BALLERS: The NYC Yamato Ballers is captained and coached by Toshiyuki Koizumi, a former amateur player from Japan who has been running an all Japanese team in New York for two years, playing in various leagues all over the five boroughs. The team consists mostly of players coming from Japan with various basketball backgrounds. Several of their players have found their way to the United States to test their skills by trying out for the ABA as well as some other semi-professional leagues along the eastern sea board. For the Gotham City Games, Koizumi has joined together with Jonathan Guilfoile from the Funkytown Ballers in the Dream League to form a new team. Some familiar Dream League faces will be a part of this team such as All-Leaguer, center Yoshi Kagitomi, and several other Funkytown players. New to the Asian circuit will be Sho Koshimura, who has tried out for the ABA in the past as well as other key players with some amateur experience.
| OHIO BROWNS: The Ohio Browns Basketball Club was founded in February of 2003 when they first participated in a tournament at Indiana University during Masti. It's unclear whether Tom Coverdale came to watch. Since then, they have played in IndoPak Nationals in Chicago, Dallas, Tampa Bay, and Washington D.C. The team is based in Columbus, OH at THE Ohio State University which means they are having a jolly good time given the strength of their football and basketball programs this year. Currently the team has been on a hiatus due to jobs, schools, and other extenuating circumstances. Though the team has gone through many ups and downs and roster changes, they are using the Gotham Games as a stop to come together in preparation for this summer's Toronto National Tournament. Athletic Anand Satyapriya figures to make noise, Karthik Nalluru is a young kid on the rise, and Saket Agrawal is their ace defender. The concern here is whether these young buck(eye)s will take to the town a little too hard and come hungover on Saturday/Sunday morning.
| PHILADELPHIA CMF CMF is a Philly-area team who was put together about 4 years ago through tournaments they used to organize and win. Their first foray onto the national scene came last winter when they participated in the Toronto IndoPak Nationals. They carry a deep roster anchored by the 6'4" Shannon Abraham in the middle. With more exposure to the national circuit, this team figures to become a player for a long time to come.
| PHILADELPHIA FAY: Philly F.A.Y. made its debut in 2004 at the Toronto IndoPak National tournament with a runner up performance. A team strictly comprised of players of Indian decent, Philly F.A.Y. has become one of the up and coming teams on the IPB scene. Other notable accomplishments are the 2006 DCIPNBT Final 4 and 2006 Chicago IPNBT Runners Up - an impressive accomplishment. The team has a few carryovers from the old Philly Brown Sugar IPB team that knocked people around in the 90's. An uptempo team who will play anyone, anywhere, anytime. They will be without two of their college players (including silky smooth Naveen Mohuiddin) for this tournament, but still figure to be competitive, if not a favorite to go far. This group has been ranked in our National Rankings.
| TRI-STATE INVASIAN: TSIV is a veteran team of the Dream League in New York and several players on this tournament's roster have participated in national Dream League tournaments in the past. They will be led by the MVP of DLNY, Shawn De Los Reyes who comes with his running mate, guard Kevin Park to boost this already formidable line-up. De Los Reyes is the kind of player with the ability to take over games, but the question here is whether the group will be able to mesh well on the run since De Los Reyes and Park don't regularly run with captain Andre Liu's guys. De Los Reyes has played in the DL-Houston All-Star Weekend Tournament earlier this year where he earned 2nd-Team All-Tourney and All-Defensive nods. Liu has been to the DL-Vegas tourneys before and so understands well the type of contests his team can expect. Arif Ansari, a veteran of the IndoPak circuit will help man the middle along with Chinese National's experience Jiang Yu, who is usually a double double waiting to happen. Canadian Sung-Mo Cho adds experience, but will shooting guard Ming Mui's recently ankle sprain and Dave Wong's hip pointer keep them from giving the outside dimension the team will need? A sidebar we feel must be pointed out is that De Los Reyes is one of the few players of Filipino descent in the tournament. For whatever reasons, the Fil-Am team representation has been much harder to get to participate and hopefully they will start to come out in the future to make this even more of a true pan-Asian American experience.
| VIRGINIA YOUNG GUNZ: This team is young and untested as this will be their first national tournament together. Word is, it's actually their first tournament together period. With their oldest player being 23, Virginia is not kidding when they say they are Young. 6'4" Chris Henderson, 100% Indian, figures to lead the way for this group of hungry ballers representing VA, FL, and NC who play with no fear.
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