High school basketball: Men's sweet sixteen, women's elite eight

Men's final sixteen:
Nanshan HS, Nenren HS, Songshan HS, Taishan HS, Chiangshu HS, Kainan HS, Keelung HS, Kwangchi HS, Yilan HS, Sanchong HS, Hsinjung HS, Kaoyuan HS, Sanmin HS, Pintung HS, Washington HS, Youth HS

Women's final eight:
Haishan HS, Tamsui HS, Jinou HS, Taipei First Girls' HS, Yangming HS, Puman HS, Anle HS, Nanhu HS

Dacin wins 2007 Guanhu Cup title

Led by Tien Lei's 29 points and Chen Tse-wei's three timely threes, Dacin Tigers beat Kyung Hee University 76-71 and won the 2007 Guanhu Cup Invitational Tournament for the first time.

Chen Tse-wei, who had 19 points, made three three-pointers in mid fourth quarter and Lin Yi-huei added two layups as Dacin pulled ahead and help off South Koreans' rally. The title also gave new Dacin head coach Chiu Da-tsun a good start.

Kyung Hee University was runner-up for the second consecutive year.

Yulon, the Guanhu Cup winner last year, beat dmedia 95-85 in the third place game.

Ryukyu Golden King routed shorthanded Taiwan Beer 96-72 to finish with fifth place. Lin Chi-jay had 25 points to pace TB, which lost starters Wu Dai-hao, Chen Shih-nian and Ho Sho-jen to injuries in the game.

Afghanistan NT edged Pure Youth 82-77 in the 7/8 place game. Malaysia NT upset Philippines' NBC-Spring Cooking Oil for its first win while SCO finished the tourney losing all five games.

Guanhu Cup placing:
1. Dacin Tigers
2. Kyung Hee University
3. Yulon Dinos
4. dmedia
5. Ryukyu Golden King
6. Taiwan Beer
7. Afghanistan NT
8. Pure Youth
9. Malaysia
10. NBC-Spring Cooking Oil

2007 Guanhu Cup: Dacin to meet Kyung Hee Univ. for title

(Source: Apple Daily)

Led by new head coach Chiu Da-tsun, Dacin Tigers will meet South Korea's Kyung Hee University, runner-up in the tournament last year, for the title on Sunday.

Oct. 6 results:
TB 101-78 Malaysia
dmedia 101-97(OT) SCO
Dacin 79-66 Afghanistan
Ryukyu 72-70 Afghanistan
Yulon 88-81 Pure Youth

Final group standing:
Group A
Kyung Hee Univ. 4-0
Yulon 3-1
TB 2-2
Pure Youth 1-3
Malaysia 0-4

Group B
Dacin 3-1
dmedia 3-1
Ryukyu 3-1
Afghanistan 1-3
SCO 0-4

Final day schedule:
Championship: Dacin vs. Kyung Hee
3/4 place: Yulon vs. dmedia
5/6 place: TB vs. Ryukyu
7/8 place: Pure Youth vs. Afghanistan
9/10 place: Malaysia vs. SCO

Who is...Doug Creighton?

(Source: Liberty Times)

Doug Creighton, a 6-6 forward currently playing for Pure Youth Construction Group, is the second Taiwanese American player after James Mao to join the SBL. He goes by the Chinese name of Chien Hao.

6-5 James Mao, who played last season as an import, has received Taiwan citizenship and will be listed as a local this season. Mao, who came from Texas, also plays for Pure Youth.

Creighton, whose mother is Taiwanese, played for NAIA Div-II Madonna University in Michigan in his junior (7.6p+4rb) and senior year (5.8p+3.8rb) after spending two years in Henry Ford Community College. From his bio, I htink he came from Detriot area.


(Source: Madonna University)

Creighton's bio in Madonna Univ. athletics page:

Doug Creighton #5
Height: 6-6
Class: Sr.
Position: Forward
Hometown: Taipei, Taiwan/Detroit Catholic Central/Henry Ford CC

2005-06 • JUNIOR SEASON
Played in 31 games, earning 18 starting appearances • ranked third on the team in total rebounds (123) • led team and seventh in the WHAC in blocked shots (24) • led team in steals (36) • one of five Crusaders to score more than 200 points last season (237 pts.) • averaged 4.0 rebounds per contest • averaged 7.6 points per game • recorded two double-doubles in his first year with the Crusaders • had 11 points in his debut with the Crusaders vs. Spring Arbor (11/5/05) • scored 16 points and posted a career high with four steals vs. Marygrove (11/8/05) • recorded a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds vs. Indiana-Northwest (11/12/05) • had 11 points vs. Olivet (11/29/05) • recorded 11 points and three blocked shots vs. Alma (12/1/05) • had 10 points and three steals vs. Rochester (12/7/05) • had 10 points and eight rebounds vs. St. Francis (12/17/05) • posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes of action vs. Davenport (1/9/06) • scored 18 points in Madonna’s upset win over Indiana Tech in the first round of the WHAC Tournament (2/22/06) • posted a career high 19 points in MU’s semifinal loss in the WHAC Tournament against Cornerstone (2/25/06).

2004-05 • SOPHOMORE SEASON (HENRY FORD CC)
Played in all 14 games for HFCC • averaged 5.9 points per game • averaged 2.9 rebounds per contest • named team MVP • recorded a season high seven assists vs. Siena Heights (11/24/04) • had 10 points vs. Macomb (1/19/05) • had 10 points and three rebounds vs. Alpena (2/2/05).

2003-04 • FRESHMAN SEASON (HENRY FORD CC)
Helped HFCC to a 10-17 overall record • helped HFCC to a 4-12 MCCAA mark and a 9th place finish in the Eastern Conference.

HIGH SCHOOL
A 2003 graduate of Detroit Catholic Central • earned three varsity letters in basketball • as a senior, he averaged 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game and was named team MVP • had a career year in junior season, averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game • as a sophomore, he averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per contest.

PERSONAL
Full name is Douglas Maxwell McAdam Creighton • he is the son of Kenneth and Suzie Creighton • he has one brother, Mikey, and one sister, Elizabeth • he was born on March 7, 1985 • is a senior in academic standing at Madonna University • is majoring in Psychology.

2007 Guanhu Cup summary

Teams:
Group A: Kyung Hee University (South Korea), Yulon Dinos, Taiwan Beer, Pure Youth Construction Group, Malaysia NT
Group B: dmedia, Dacin Tigers, Ryukyu Golden Kings (Japan), Afghanistan NT, NBC-Spring Cooking Oil (Philippines)



Results:
Oct. 3
Ryukyu 96-79 SCO
Yulon 85-80 TB
dmedia 70-69 Afghanistan
Kyung Hee 96-56 Malaysia
Dacin 75-66 Ryukyu

Oct. 4
Pure Youth 106-68 Malaysia
Afghanistan 96-92 SCO
dmedia 82-78 Dacin
Kyung Hee 77-71(OT) Yulon
TB 85-77 Pure Youth

Oct. 5
Ryukyu 80-79 dmedia
Kyung Hee 101-94 Pure Youth
Kyung Hee 75-66 TB
Dacin 99-88 SCO
Yulon 94-74 Malaysia

Standings: (thru Oct. 5)
Group A
Kyung Hee 4-0
Yulon 2-1
TB 2-1
Pure Youth 1-2
Malaysia 0-3

Group B
dmedia 2-1
Dacin 2-1
Ryukyu 2-1
Afghanistan 1-1
SCO 0-3

Remaining Schedule:
Oct. 6
Ryukyu vs. Afghanistan
dmedia vs. SCO
Yulon vs. Pure Youth
Malaysia vs. TB
Afghanistan vs. Dacin

Oct. 7
A5 vs. B5 - 9/10 place game
A4 vs. B4 - 7/8 place game
A3 vs. B3 - 5/6 place game
A2 vs. B2 - Third-place game
A1 vs. B1 - Championship game

(Photo source: Liberty Times)

Ex-Yulon head coach dies of cancer

(Chien Yi-fei, right, and Lee Yun-kwang, source: ESPN Taiwan)

Former Yulon Dinos head coach Chien Yi-fei, one of the most respected coaches in Taiwan, passed away Oct. 1 because of nasopharyngeal cancer.

Chien (1948-2007), who was the only coach who has been a head coach for both the men's and women's national team, was known for his stress on defense and discpline. His team was always ready to play.

A former Taiwan NT star guard, Chien started his coaching career in 1980 by first coaching women's teams in the A-League. He coached Taiwan women's NT in the 1994 Asian Games and the 1995 Asian Championship.

In that same year, Chien took Yulon to the title in the inaugural CBA season (94-95) and was named coach of the year. During 1995-1999, Chien had a 148-71 record in the now defuct CBA, all with Yulon.

Chien was named head coach of the men's national team in 1999 and took the team to 2001 Osaka East Asian Games silver by starting the "Youth Movement" in the NT program. He got rid of veterans like Huang Chun-hsiung, Chou Jun-san and Lo Shin-liang and only kept players under age 22, such as Tsun Wen-din, Wu Dai-hao, Tien Lei and Chen Hsin-an. The decision drew a lot of criticism from fans and critics though.

Chien took Yulon to three-peat (2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06) in the SBL, which was founded in 2003. Although he was still the head coac on paper, he has handed the head coach responsibility to his prestige Lee Yun-kwang due to worsened condition since 2004.

Confused about SBL team changes?

Are you confused about all those changes with the SBL teams during the summer? In fact, you're not alone. I am also a little bit confused with all those ownerships, coaches and players changes. So, here we are. I'm going to try to make a list so we can get a clearer picture.

I'm not sure about all the player changes so I'm going to list only the major ones. In short, three teams changed ownerships and, thus, team names. Four teams made coaching changes. And a lot of big-name players will wear new uniforms next season.

-- Yulon Dinos
Yulon is still the team with stability. The team has been there for more than 30 years. And although head coach Lee Yung-kwang did not have a good year last season (Yulon failed to make the finals for the first time), his status remained unthreatened.

All players in Taiwan want to play for Yulon, since it offers the best environment and salary. That was why Yang Che-yi and Lee Chi-yi, both NT members, decided to leave Videoland and sign with the Dinos. In return (Yes, I know it sounded weird...), Yulon sent Hsu Wei-shen and Liu Shen-yao to VL, which is now known as Taiwan Mobile.

When all is said and done, Yulon boasts one of the best -- if not the best -- starting lineup in the league, featuring Chen Hsin-an, Tsun Wen-din, Lee Chi-yi, Chen Chih-chung and Yang Che-yi with Chou Shih-yuan the first player off the bench.

-- Taiwan Beer
The reigning SBL champ was upgraded after adding Wu Dai-hao (from ETSN) and Yang Chin-min (from Bank of Taiwan). Both Wu and Yang are NT players. That tells you TB gets stronger and stronger. In fact, I think they will have a serious rotation problem because they simply have too many good players who can contribute.

-- Dacin Tigers
Liu Jia-fa, who has been coaching this young team since 2000 and took the team to A-League finals and SBL finals, was replaced by former ETSN head coach Chiu Da-tsun. The arrival of Chiu means that Dacin will no longer a three-point shooting team because that's never Chiu's style of play. He will stress a lot more on the inside play.

Dacin added two key players, Yang Yu-min (from ETSN) and Yua Ying-li (from BOT). Yang will boost Dacin's already-strong perimeter shooting and Yua is expected to provide some inside help and defense.

-- Bank of Taiwan
This team always struggled with its small budget and kept losing players to other teams. This year it lost Yua Ying-li to Dacin and Yang Chin-min to Taiwan Beer. Losing the top two scorers was no fun, but think about this -- it lost its head coach Wei Chen-ming as well.

Wei was axed for internal reasons that no one could really figure out from the outside. And the team hasn't officially announced the new head coach. Currently assistant Lai Liang-chung is acting as the interim head coach. Anyway, BOT is looking at another miserable season.

-- Taiwan Mobile
This team was known as Videoland Hunters but is now called Taiwan Mobile Clouded Leopards after the ownership change. Head coach Liu Chih-wei was replaced by former Taiwan NT star Cheng Chih-lung. The departure of Yang Che-yi and Lee Chi-yi will definitely hurt them. Check previous articles for details.

-- Pure Youth
Daniel Jiang, the owner of Azio Eagles, abalienated the team to Pure Youth Construction Teams, one of the most successful construction companies in Taiwan in recent years. Apart from the ownership, nothing really changed.

Although Pure Youth is expected to be outmatched n most games like last year, it insists on not hiring import players in order to, what else, save money. It will be difficult for them to register seven wins -- its win total last season.

-- dmedia
ETSN ended its three-year ownership of its basketball team in July and sold it to Segway Technology for NT$ 10 million. Dmedia System Co. is an affiliation company of Segway Technology.

ETSN never made the playoffs in the past four years. And the outlook for this season is not optimistic as well. It lost Yang Yu-min and Wu Dai-hao, the best inside-outside combo on the team. Head coach Chiu Da-tsun was not retained either.

It has been confirmed that dmedia will hire veteran Wu Jian-kuo as its head coach. Wu has not been in coaching for almost a decade. Will he be able to make this team competetive? No one knows for sure. Observers worried that Wu was probably out of touch with the "modern style of play" and would be having trouble to relate to younger players.

Dmedia did add Lin Kwan-lun, who left Taiwan Beer. Cheng Jen-wei and O-Yang Jin-hen are expected to be responsible for the bulk of scoring. Word is that dmedia has hired Jonathan Sanders, who played for Videoland last season, for USD$6,000 per month.

Videoland Hunters sold to Taiwan Mobile

Taiwan Mobile Clouded Leopards


Cheng will be the new head coach

Videoland was sold to Taiwan Mobile, one of Taiwan's largest mobile phone operators, and was renamed to Taiwan Mobile Clouded Leopards. Former Taiwan star Cheng Chih-lung was named head coach of the team.

Cheng Chih-lung, who was generally considered one of Asia's best players during the late 80s and 90s, welcomed the opportunity of his first head coaching job. Cheng helped Taiwan NT to a 4th place finish in 1999 Asian Championship in Fukuoka, Japan -- the last time Taiwan was in the top four in Asia.

Cheng was also the first Taiwan player to play in China's CBA (Chinese Basketball Association). He was Yao Ming's teammates in Shanghai Sharks from 2000-2001.

Huang Chun-hsiung, Cheng's former teammate in Hungkuo Elephants during the old CBA (Chinese Basketball Alliance) days.

Taiwan Mobile will have a new look next season. In addition to the coaching change, two core players Yang Che-yi and Lee Chi-yi left the team for Yulon Dinos.

Currently the Clouded Leopards have 15 players on its roster. Lai Kuo-hong, Lin Shin-hwa, Chen Huei, Wu Yong-jen, Lee Wei-min, Hsu Kai-jay, Chen Yao-ting, Wu Cheng-yu, Hong Chi-chao, Deng An-cheng, Yen Cheng-hong were players who remained with the team. Newcomers included Hsu Tse-shin (From ETSN), Wu Min-hsien (rookie), Liu Sheng-yao (from Yulon) and Hsu Wei-shen (from Yulon).

Lai Kuei-lin and Chen Li-wei were not re-signed.

Taiwan Mobile named the team after Formosan Clouded Leopards, a subspecies of Clouded Leopard that was endemic to the island of Taiwan and is now believed to be extinct.

Videoland bought the team from BCC (Broadcasting Corporation of China) in June 2004. The team formerly known as Mars was taken over by BCC after the pro league CBA folded in 1999.

(Photo source: Apple Daily)

Yao, Bryant visited Taiwan

Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant visited Taiwan on separate tours last week. Bryant was in taiwan to promote his sneakers with NIKE while Yao was here for charity events. Here are a couple of photos:

Yao Ming







Kobe Bryant



(Source: Yam Sports)

More on 2007 Straits Cup

First of all, I'm sorry for the long absence as I've been too busy at work recently.

Well, the 2007 Straits Cup tournament concluded three days ago as Shangdong finished first in the tourney, winning all four games, and Jiangsu came second with three win and one losses. But...did anyone care about the final result after the "Meng Da Incident"?

Things went bad -- in fact, very bad -- after Meng Da punched Wu Dai-hao on the Sept. 4 game. Taiwanese basketball fans were furious at Meng Da and Jiangsu, but Meng and Jiangsu did not publicly offer their apology to Wu until more than 24 hours after the punch.

Taiwan Beer subequently pulled out of the tournament. And Meng Da was asked by the Chinese Basketball Association to leave Taiwan immediately.

Oh, yeah, the game results... There were only two games played in Hualien since TB withdrew from the competition. Shangdong beat Dacin 76-70 on Sept. 5 and Jiangsu beat Dacin 85-77 the following day.

A minor incident happened on the last day again. CTBA officials tried to pursuade a number of fans in the stands to STOP waving and displaying Taiwan's national flag. It was reported by several news channels and caused another controvercy.

CTBA claimed that the "Olympics format" was applied in the tournament, which means Taiwan participated the event under the name of "Chinese Taipei" and neither national flag should be displayed nor national anthem sung in the tourney.

For those of you who don't understand the "Olympics format" and political relations between Taiwan and China, I urge you to do a little homework. Anyway, it does make any sense to me that the so-called "Olympics format" should be used in the tournament. After all, this is only an invitational tournament being held in TAIWAN!! Fans have the rights to support their national team and wave any flag, sing any song, shout at anyone.

I really don't think we will be seeing a Straits Cup tournament after this year after all these troubles.

Standings:
1. Shangdong 4-0; 2. Jiangsu 3-1; 3. TB 1-2; 4. Dacin 0-4.