Team Check - Vanoli-Braga Cremona (Italy - Je'Kel Foster)

(Je'Kel Foster vs Sutor Mont. - Italy 11.7.2010)

Country: Italy
League: Serie A Lega Basket
Team: Vanoli-Braga Cremona

Buckeye: Je'Kel Foster
Cremona's Roster

The continent of Europe is home to several great national basketball leagues. When we check the international websites the European fans always rank the Spanish League at the top. And then each year they rotate a list of countries in order of 'best' including Russia, Turkey, Greece, & the Itailian Serie A, where Buckeyes Othello Hunter & Je'Kel Foster are playing.

Je'Kel plays for a club called Group Triboldi Basket, otherwise known as Vanoli-Braga Cremona (Vanoli Braga represents club sponsorship, Cremona is the location - Soresina, Italy).

While this is Foster's first season in the Serie A, he arrived to a club in Vanoli CR that included some familiar faces from the German League. The starting lead guard is EJ Rowland (St. Marys),who played along with Ken Johnson for Bonn in 2008/2009..the same Telekom Baskets Bonn that fell to Je'Kel Foster's EWE Baskets Oldenburg in the 2009 German League Finals. Croatian Forward Jasmin Perkovic, a teammate of Foster's in Oldenburg also made the move to Cremona. The center is Montenegrin Blagota Sekulic, who was one of the better post players in Germany last season for Alba Berlin. Veteran Marko Milic & Atur Drozdoz round out a rotation that is formidable enough to compete with anyone in Italy.

Vanoli CR had a nice preparation stage, but they entered the regular season knowing how tough it would be to come away with wins in a tough opening stretch of the schedule. Cremona's first game was a home opener vs the defending Italian League Champion Siena on October 17th. They just barely missed the upset on the Euroleague power in a 68-71 defeat.

The next opponent, a club called Bennet Cantu is not as strong as Siena, but the game was equally as tough because it was on the road in Cantu's gym. Cremona fought hard, but would lose another close one, this time by a score of 77-75 on October 24. After dropping their first two games by a total of just 5 points, Vanoli CR found the winner's circle in round 3 at Brindisi on October 31 (71-64). They followed that up with perhaps their most dramatic game yet on November 7th with a 82-80 overtime victory over Sutor Montegranaro!

Cremona has 3 remaining games left in the month of November. They play at Biella on November 14th, host Varese on the 21st, and visit Euroleague team Roma on the 28th (schedule).