MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity's supporter newsletter says they will be taking the team to Europe in August, with games in Berlin, Munich, and Prague, with ten practices allowed to prepare (and dang it, we'll be in Munich too, but in July).  The extra prep should come in handy later in the year, especially to help bring any new recruits along.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity rising soph Carter Ruck was part of a D3 select team that traveled to Brazil and went 3-1 against a collection of local professional squads.  He had 22 points in the team's final game.

His teammate, rising senior Jacob Harvey, will represent the USA at the 2024 FIBA 3x3 Nations League Americas Conference July 22-28 in Mexico City.  He is the only D3 representative on the six member squad, which also includes members from Princeton, Butler, and the College of Charleston. Winners from this tournament (there are U23 and U21 levels) will qualify for the FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup 2024, which is a first for a Nations League Tournament.

[Ron Boerger]

Jacob Harvey was the leading scorer in today's 3x3 U23 game against the Cayman Islands, scoring 9 of the team's 21 points (and making four of the USA squad's six shots from beyond the arc).  Chile is up next.

https://x.com/TU_Basketball/status/1815858326439149653

[Ron Boerger]

The US men's team continues its undefeated run (9-0) in the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League 2024 - Americas round.  Jacob Harvey led the team with 7 points against Chile in a narrow 20-19 win, tied for the team lead with 8 in the opening game of Stop 3, a 21-15 win against Puerto Rico, and scored the game clinching bucket in a 21-16 victory over Argentina in the day's final.

While the winners of the various Nations League competitions (there are 12 U23 'conferences') qualify for the U23 World Cup this September in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the US men have already clinched a spot as defending champion.  It will be interesting to see if Harvey continues to represent the US; he did not play in Stop 1 (there are 6; only 4 of the 5 players on the team roster are available to play in a Stop) but has played a key role in both Stop 2 and Stop 3. 

In stop 4 on Friday (today appears to be a day of rest), the US plays Puerto Rico and Mexico in pool A play, with the pool winner playing the winner of Pool B (Argentina/Chile/Cayman Islands) in the Stop 4 final. 

Stop 5 (Saturday):  pool A (Argentina/Puerto Rico/Mexico), pool B (Cayman Islands/Chile/US)
Stop 6 (Sunday): pool A(Chile/PR/US), pool B (Arg/Cayman/Mexico)

[Ron Boerger]

I guess the US should pay me not to write about them as the last three days were not as successful.  They were third (of eight) in Stop 4 thanks to a 19-15 loss to Puerto Rico in the first game of the day.  Harvey led all US scorers on the day with 14 points in two games.  Stop 5 saw them place fourth thanks to a narrow 18-17 loss to Chile (Harvey had 9 points in the two games).  In Stop 6, they made the finals after handily avenging those two earlier losses, but lost 21-20 to Argentina after missing a FT to win up 20-17.  Harvey had 12 on the day but was not on the floor at the end of the game.

With their early successes, the US did win the Nations League - America 2024 title.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

They participated and they qualified.  Those are the goals for these tournaments.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity's supporter newsletter says they will be taking the team to Europe in August, with games in Berlin, Munich, and Prague, with ten practices allowed to prepare (and dang it, we'll be in Munich too, but in July).  The extra prep should come in handy later in the year, especially to help bring any new recruits along.

Per their IG the Trinity men have arrived in Munich (or will arrive after a flight from LHR).  Hopefully there will be more information available once the games get underway.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity opens their European adventure with a 74-67 win over Sluneta Ústí nad Labem, which per Wikipedia "plays in the top division NBL" of the Czech Republic.  They were third (of 12 teams) with a 14-8 record in the '23-'24 NBL regular season.

Assuming they are using the same numbers as last season, Christian Green and Dean Balo had 13 each to lead Trinity.  Gabe Parr added 11, Nate Thompson 10.

[Ron Boerger]

Today the Trinity men took on the Berlin-based BC Lions Moabit Men I team who play in the Berlin section of the German Men's Oberliga, where they were 8-8 last season, 5th of 12 teams.  This is (if we can believe Wikipedia) the lowest level in the German basketball system, the 6th tier, and the result today was a 102-39 win for the visitors.  No scoring breakdown was immediately available.

According to a post on the Moabit site, the team next takes on Berlin-based TUS Lichterfelde, who play in the North-East division of the 2. Regionalliga (5th) tier where they were 12-8, 4th place of 11 last season.  Last year's roster shows 7 players 199 cm (6'7") or taller, ages mostly 18-26 and will present a stiffer challenge. 

[D3Navy]

Trinity opens their European adventure with a 74-67 win over Sluneta Ústí nad Labem, which per Wikipedia "plays in the top division NBL" of the Czech Republic.  They were third (of 12 teams) with a 14-8 record in the '23-'24 NBL regular season.

Assuming they are using the same numbers as last season, Christian Green and Dean Balo had 13 each to lead Trinity.  Gabe Parr added 11, Nate Thompson 10.

Love seeing Nate Thompson scoring.  Also really terrific to see Gabe Parr's name.  He rode the bench with injury last season, no?  Thanks for sharing the info, Ron.

[Ron Boerger]

Here are a few minutes of highlights from the Moabit game:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvlDY1WTu4c
Post-game interview with Coach Smith:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvlDY1WTu4c

[Ron Boerger]

Final score today:  Trinity 104, TUS Lichterfelde 56 - again no other details available.  Not a bad week's effort! 

I think this was the final game on this trip.

[Ron Boerger]

More (almost exclusively Trinity) highlights from the Moabit game, love the title given:

Basketball Tiger Trinity Dunks und BC Lions Moabit Beautiful Long Pass Berlin 2024

Christian Green does what CG does, then Braxton Barry almost takes down the backboard on another dunk 

[Ron Boerger]

Continuing the school's involvement in FIBA 3x3, Trinity HC Jimmy Smith was just named head coach for the national team participating in next week's U23 FIBA world championship in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia.  The man will have some serious frequent flyer miles after these two international trips! 

A totally new team will represent the USA, defending champions in the event.

[Ron Boerger]

After sailing through pool play undefeated, the thirteenth-seeded US men defeated second seed China in the quarterfinals and ninth seed Spain in the semis before falling to third seed Germany in the championship of the FIBA U23 World Cup today.