News - Former Ohio State Teammates Star Allen & Andrea Walker will Team up again Overseas!!!

(Andrea Walker & Star Allen - Ohio State Years)

Teammates Again! (The biggest Summer news from the 2011 woman’s transfer market is out if Eastern Europe where a club has recently acquired not just one former Buckeye but two!)

On June 18, overseas internet reports circulated from Romania stating (link) that a club called CSM Satu Mare officially announced the addition of Buckeye Andrea Walker (2006-2010). A month later in late July, Satu Mare released (link) the names of few more acquisitions for the upcoming season which included one of Walker’s Ohio State teammates Star Allen (2005-2009)!!

CSM Satu Mare is a club named after the capital city of Satu Mare Country which is located in Northwestern Romania (near bordering Eastern European countries Hungary & Ukraine) CSM Satu Mare is one of the best squads in the Romanian League. They finished second in the 2011 league playoffs and are also slated to represent Romania in the 2011/2012 EuroCup Competition (the second highest level of play in European Basketball)!

Andrea Walker is already a known commodity in Romania. After a stint in Spain, Walker played the second half of her rookie season with Central Romanian club Gheorghe. The second year pro to be helped Gheorghe make the playoffs and was also named as the import player of the year by Eurobasket.com (finished as one of the league leaders in blocks and rebounds) Walker will be joined in Satu Mare by Annemarie Parau, a teammate from Gheorghe who also happens to be one of the top players from Romania.

Columbus, Ohio native Star Allen played part of last season in the Portuguese municipality of Carcavelos where she routinely dropped double-double performances for a club called Quinta. The addition of a talent like Star Allen automatically places Satu Mare as one of the top contenders for the Romanian League Championship. We think some in the Romanian league will regret the day that Allen & Walker were allowed to be on the same team lol! Regular season play in Romania will begin in early October.

Instances of former Buckeyes ending up on the same pro roster are very rare, but this type of situation has actually occurred in recent years. Daequan Cook (2006/2007) & Byron Mullens (2008/2009) are currently both members of the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they were not teammates in Columbus. Terence Dials & Matt Terwilliger were briefly reunited when T.D joined Paderborn Baskets of Germany in November of 2009. And in the early summer of 2010 Dials played with James Sullinger during the Chinese NBL import scrimmages. We can now add Andrea Walker & Star Allen to the list of pro teammates from tOSU. Go Buckeyes & Good Luck!

News - Ohio State Great Jon Diebler Joins Panionios B.C. for 2011/2012 Season!!

(How do you say Jon Diebler for three in Greek?!? Buckeyes All Day!)

Let's Get It (The destinations for the stars of the 2011 Ohio State Rookie Class are now set. Jantel Lavender has been holding it down with the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks for months now. David Lighty faces the tough task of competing in the Italian Serie A & Euroleague, Dallas Lauderdale will setup the fort in the country of Poland, and now Jon Diebler is slated to play ball in Greece!)

#33 to Hoop in Athens - There seemed to be rumors a plenty about where former Buckeye great Jon Diebler would play for the 2011/2012 season. Initial stories contained speculation about Diebler possibly playing in Italy or Germany, rumors then came out regarding the reported interest from Greek club Olympiacos. Yet, fate would eventually provide for anther team from Athens, Greece to acquire the Big Ten Conference's all time three point field goal scorer.

Mid-Summer Timeline - Greek media outlet sport.gr first reported (link) major interest in #33 from a A1 club named Panionios B.C on July 27. Another site Sport24gr. then came out with press info (link) about a Panionios offer to the former Mr. Ohio Basketball on August 4. Panionios made the official announcement of adding Jon Diebler on the following day (August 5) with subsequent confirmation (link) from media outlets in the States.

Greek League - The Heba A1 aka Greek A1 League has traditionally been considered as one of the best domestic basketball leagues in Europe. We place the A1 (along with Russia & Serbia) in a group of European Leagues that predominately feature a more half court, defensive oriented type of game as opposed to the higher paced styles of Spain, Italy & France. The last twenty years of Greek Club basketball has resembled the old Big Ten football conference of the 70's with two clubs (Olympiacos & Panathinaikos) being responsible for 17 of the last 20 league championships.

Greek fans would certainly remember & recall watching a couple big Buckeye names who competed in their home country. Scoonie Penn played two stints with powerhouse Olympiacos (2006/2007 & 2010) and Lawrence Funderburke was a member of PAOK BC during the 1995/1996 season (Lawrence actually played with a young Peja Stojakovic for PAOK before rejoining Pea on the Sacramento Kings..a little known basketball fact) Othello Hunter made his European debut in Feb. 2010 with Greek Club Ilisiakos as well. Something tells us that Greek fans will know another Buckeye very well after this upcoming season.

It is currently difficult to say how strong Greek League competition will be in 2011/2012 (especially with mostly incomplete rosters). There has been much off-season documentation about the negative effect that Greece's economic crisis is having on Basketball cubs budget wise. One sure bet is that Panathinaikos & Olympiacos will probably remain strong...players are remembered by their games against those two Euroleague level squads so it will be especially fun to see Diebler compete against them.

Little is known about the other squads in Greece after the top two, but an interesting tidbit from Diebler opting for a mid-level type of team in Panionios is that this may be a situation where the 2011 Portland Trailblazers draft pick can feature or showcase more of his all-around game. According to reports, Jon Diebler signed a one year contract with Panionios (without an NBA lockout out-clause) We can't wait to see clips of Diebs lighting up the nets in Athens!

Columbus Dispatch - Diebler Signs With Greek Team

WNBA Named Katie Smith as One of the Top 15 Players in League History!!

(7.23.2011 - Katie Smith receives her Top 15 WNBA award from league President Laurel Richie - San Antonio Texas - WNBA All-Star Game -NBAE/Getty Images)

(It is hard to believe just how fast time scoots by, but the Woman's National Basketball Association has been in operation for 15 seasons now. We remember watching the 1997 inaugural game as curious fans. And we can also remember being a bit more interested in the league when a former Buckeye by the name of Katie Smith started with the Minnesota Lynx to begin a WNBA career that would eventually lead to multiple championships with Detroit.)

Despite the WNBA's occasional financial troubles, and the obvious hurdles of marketing a woman's league to the U.S public, it is great that there is a top level Woman's basketball league in the States for young women to dream about and possibly compete in. Here's to another 15 years of WNBA basketball.)

Tremendous Honor - The WNBA has been in celebration mode all season long in recognizing their 15th year anniversary of league play. In the first half of the season, fans, players, and coaches voted to select 15 superstars of the past and present to honor as the best 15 WNBA players of all-time.

The top 15 players, which was announced at the 2011 WNBA All-Star game, included greats such as Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and Buckeye legend Katie Smith! Katie's illustrious WNBA career includes two League Championships with the Detroit Shock (2006, 2008) and a WNBA finals MVP award (2008). She's the WNBA's all-time leader in 3-point field goals, and also holds the distinction of being the leading scorer in Woman's basketball history (ABL & WNBA). Congrats Katie!

From CBSsports.com - (link)

Katie Smith, 5'11" guard/forward

"All-time leader in 3-pointers in WNBA, 2nd all-time in minutes played and freethrows made, 3rd all-time in points scored, 5th all-time in field goals made, 10th all-time in assists, 2-time WNBA Champion, 1-time WNBA Finals MVP, 2-time All-WNBA 1st Team"

In addition to those accomplishments, Smith has also earned three Olympic Gold Medals (2000, 2004, 2008) & two FIBA World Championship Gold Medals (1998, 2002) with Team USA. She is also the only player to win championships in both the ABL and WNBA (Smith won with the Columbus Quest of the ABL in 1997 and 1998, and Detroit Shock in 2006, 2008).

WNBA.com - WNBA Honors 15 of the top players in league history (Great Summary)

Video of Katie Smith being honored at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game!




The Top 15 players of WNBA History

(From left to right - standing - Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson, Yolanda Griffith, Ticha Penicheiro, Lisa Leslie, Lauren Jackson, Katie Smith, Tamika Catchings.)

(From left to right - sitting - Cynthia Cooper, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Cappie Pondexter, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Becky Hammon)

Web - AZS Koszalin 2010/2011 Season Video!

(Team AZS Koszalin 2010-2011 - Poland)

Web - According to late July 2011 reports, George Reese will return to Polish League club AZS Koszalin for a fifth straight season. Here's a very nice 2010/2011 season video with #9 Reese & AZS Koszalin brought to us by www.GeorgeLReese.com !

News - AZS Koszalin Re-Signs Club Mainstay George Reese!!

(Buckeye George Reese at a May 2011 Press Conference - Poland)

G - Money Back to Koszalin ! - Just a day before we learned that Dallas Lauderdale's rookie playing days would take place in Poland, news broke about another Buckeye who is planning to resume his extensive career in the same country. On July 27, Polish league club AZS Koszalin proudly announced the re-signing of Buckeye veteran George Reese for what will be his 5th straight season in Koszalin!

In a spring poll on Koszalin's official website, fans of the club voted George Reese as the top player in team history. Reese has been the model of consistency for Koszalin by routinely helping them to several playoff appearances, a Polish Cup Championship in 2010 as well as representing the club in multiple All-Star Games (Reese finished as the 5th best scorer in Poland last season with 16 points a game).

Koszalin's Official Webpage - George for the Fifth Time!

AZS Koszalin 2011/2012 - Like many international teams, the team makeup of Koszalin will be slightly or maybe even significantly different form last year. Benchman Tomasz Herkt will take the reigns as the new head coach from Mariusz Karol. And fellow American imports Grady Reynolds and Winsome Frazier were replaced with J.J. Montgomery and Marshall Strickland of Indiana University. Despite these roster changes, Koszalin's starting lineup will still feature the consummate pro that is George Reese at Forward and Poland's top assist man Igor Milicic at point guard.

Eurobasket -AZS Koszalin Roster

AZS Koszalin's Official Webpage - Summer 2011 Interview with George Reese!

The above link contains a recent interview with George where he discusses several topics including re-signing with Koszalin, roster changes, obtaining a Polish passport, and a youth camp that he hosted in Poland in the Spring of 2011. And in case you didn't know, Reese launched his official website www.GeorgeLReese.com in the latter part of last season. We look forward to following George & Koszalin for the upcoming 2011/2011 basketball season!

Videos - George Reese promo spot for his Spring 2011 Koszalin community youth Camp! The welcome video for www.georgelreese.com , and an interview with returning point guard Igor Milicic!