WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Posted: 14/09/2007 - 11:49 AM
Author: Bernard Wagner
With the recently concluded Tournament of the Americas in the books and most of the 2007 local basketball tournament calendars completed, this past weekend there was nothing much to do, and just casually surfing the internet I happened to come across the latest World basketball rankings, as published by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). After losing last year to Greece 101-95 in the semi-final round of the FIBA World Championship held in Japan, this year’s Carmelo Anthony/Lebron James led United States of America team won the FIBA Americas Championship for Men in convincing fashion over arch rival Argentina by the score of 118-81; and, as expected, they were ranked #1, with Argentina ranked #2, Spain #3, and Serbia and Lithuania rounding out the top five. Puerto Rico, who hails from the Caribbean region and who is fast becoming a regional powerhouse, was ranked at an amazing #12. I continued my search and browsed through the entire rankings which, strangely, ended at #73 with a closing statement that read to the effect that all remaining countries whose names did not appear in the seventy-three ranked teams, in effect carry zero ranking. The jewel was not ranked. Inquisitively, I then went to the Belize Basketball Federation website, which is a link from FIBA’s website, in search for some explanation. The jewel was ranked at #83. I am still puzzled at the formula used in arriving at this ranking, since the FIBA rankings specifically stated that all other teams are unranked and carry zero ratings. I would welcome some explanation from our local federation on this matter.
How did we come to this? How did we come to being unranked by FIBA in just a little under ten years removed from our greatest achievement ever? Did our outstanding act pose a threat to the organizers of the Caribbean Basketball Competition (CBC) that they made sure that we were relegated to the Central America region (COCABA) in 2001?
While next year will be marked with general election fervor, for me, next year will mark the tenth anniversary of Belize’s first major victory in international basketball competition. It will mark the tenth anniversary of our boys’ remarkable and awesome performance in the 1998 Caricom Basketball Championship. It will mark the tenth anniversary when time stood still and Belizeans across the length and breath of this land, ironically in a heightened political climate, for one moment placed their political, racial and religious differences aside and rooted for Belize. They rooted for Belize when we won 94-66 over Barbados in the opening game. Even when we lost 77-75 to Bahamas in our second game, Belizeans rooted. When we won 75-69 over Jamaica in our third game of the tournament, Belizeans became wary believers. And when that feat was duplicated, this time, though, in the semis by the score of 58-52, Belizeans began to believe. The rest is history. Pandemonium broke loose at the City Center when we won 75-71 over Barbados in the gold medal game, to capture our first ever Caricom Championship.
How can we forget these guys, those memories etched so vividly in our minds? How can we forget Coach David Greenwood, who, from day one at camp, commanded respect and discipline from all players? I recall a practice that I attended, where one player (I choose not to call his name) got loose on a fast break and went to dunk the ball; unfortunately for him, he missed the dunk. “If you can’t dunk…don’t” were the first words out of Coach Greenwood’s mouth. How can we forget the open court quickness of Milton Palacio, the mental toughness of Olin Simplis, the high flying wire act of Alex Carcamo, the blue-collar work of Kent Bennett and Kirk “Shabba” Smith in the paint, and the steady and heady play of the young Keith Acosta, who was just coming into his own? Other key players were Edward “Bart” Sanchez, Claude “Too Tall” Jones, Clinton Fuller, Kenroy Smith, Roger Favela, and Fred Garcia. But where are they now? Where is Milton “Palace”? Where is Olin “Simples”? Alex Carcamo…. Kent Bennett and the other players that made this team the greatest team ever assembled in Belize?
Alex Carcamo, according to our research, played professional basketball in Israel for Maccabi Ashdod last year and averaged 25.1 ppg 11.8 rpg 3.6 apg, while shooting 60% from the field and 86% from the charity stripe. In May of this year, he signed with Guaros de Lara, a Venezuelan professional club. Meanwhile, Milton Palacio, who played 2005 with the Utah Jazz, was not re-signed; however, he has since signed on with BC Partizan Igokea Beograd, a professional ball club in Serbia. Keith Acosta still plays semi-pro professional basketball in Belize and just recently won the 2007 Belize semi-pro title with the San Pedro Tigersharks. Claude “Too Tall” Jones along with Kirk “Shabba” Smith are still playing semi-professional basketball, with their most recent team being the Belize Bank Bulldogs; both are gainfully employed fulltime as athletic coaches for the University of Belize. Edward “Bart” Sanchez has migrated to the United States, but recently played semi-professional ball with the BNE Oilers. Roger Favela’s last appearance in semi-pro ball was last year with Corozal Uprising; he did not play this past year. We have not heard anything about Kenroy Smith and Kent Bennett; however, Clinton Fuller, the last we heard of him, was playing ball in the United States and was putting up huge numbers. Fred Garcia is retired and now serves as the President of the Belize Basketball Federation.
With next year being the tenth anniversary of the Caricom Championship, I urge the local basketball federation along with the Ministry of Sports to ensure that these guys are brought in and some sort of activity held to commemorate their accomplishment. They deserve it. Straight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|