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Episode 9: Mess with the Bull, you get the horns - featuring Chris Bryant
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Squin and Lachy are back to review round 7 of the NBL1 East 2023 competition. They quickly recap the Round 7 results, review the women's games between Manly-Waringah Sea Eagles vs. Sutherland Sharks; and Newcastle Falcons and Sydney Comets. They also briefly discuss the exciting men's game between Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Spiders vs. Bankstown Bruins.
More importantly, Squin and Lachy are joined by a very special guest - Chris Bryant from the Inner West Bulls. The Tallahassee native is sending shockwaves through NBL1 East with poster-dunks and consistent double-doubles. The power-forward tells his story of becoming a Bull and his time in Australia.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Teaser
00:00:15
Speaker
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast showcasing the NBL One East competition for 2023, where we try to review and preview the current and future rounds of the NBL One East, and we try and sneak in a couple of play interviews here and there where we can. As usual, my name is Jacinta Gobbin from the Central Coast Crusaders, and with me is Loki France, the legend from the Sutherland Sharks.
00:00:45
Speaker
Hello, Locky. Hey, Squint, how's it going? Not too bad. It's been a whirlwind of a week. So, uh, it is, uh, yes, the sec episode, this episode recording has come up very quickly, but I'm really, really excited for this episode because we will have Chris Bryant from the Inner West Bulls, the power forward all the way from Tallahassee, uh, in the United States, uh, as our guest today. But
00:01:12
Speaker
First, we have some business to attend to being the results and a couple of game recaps.
Merchandise and Special Events
00:01:18
Speaker
But before we get stuck into that locky, you are wearing a Manly Waringa Sea Eagles jumper today. Tell us about that.
00:01:27
Speaker
went to Manly and, okay, I went to Manly for the game on Saturday. And so I actually, okay, I'm just a merch fiend. I love merch. So I reached out to Alex Delaney because Manly, wearing his website at the time, didn't have a merch link on it. I was like, I've never seen a merch stand at your stadium. Do you guys actually like sell merch to the public? And she was like,
00:01:51
Speaker
I got you. So I went up to Manly on Saturday for the game and Alex Delaney hooked me up with a Manly jacket. And as I tweeted, if players think they can buy my support with a club jacket, they're absolutely right. So other MBL One East clubs take note because as Lockie said, he is a merch fiend first.
00:02:12
Speaker
Sutherland shark supporter, second, he will wear anything and everything. And if you go and follow Locky on socials, you will know how dedicated he is to supporting, especially women's sport by buying lots of jerseys and soccer shirts. And you've got quite a cool collection, Locky. So this one's just adding to it really. It certainly is. My whole front wardrobe is actually just jerseys.
00:02:37
Speaker
And our friend on the podcast, Nick Walker, shared with me a photo on Instagram that he also bought some Central Coast Crusaders socks when he came to watch a home game versus Canberra. So he's also getting around and purchasing some very cool merch, but he's also getting around to as many NBA one East games as possible to experience what it's like at other clubs other than his home club of the Hills Hornets.
00:03:05
Speaker
Good on you, Nick. Uh, and, uh, hopefully you're enjoying the game so far, but let's get into it. If we're talking about socks, everyone don't forget to buy your pink socks because, uh, pink round is not this weekend coming up at the next, so May 12th to 14th round. So get your pink socks, donate to breast cancer awareness, all that good stuff.
00:03:29
Speaker
That's a really, really good point, Locky. I'm glad you brought that up because they are some pretty cool hot pink socks. I think the NBL one has tweeted a couple of links where you can purchase the socks. They may even be able to find a link on their Instagram, but to hold us accountable, Locky will share it on the Eastcott game Instagram as well to try and encourage players to buy
Round 7 Results and Highlights
00:03:50
Speaker
lots of socks. I'm sure you'll be ordering a pair or do you already have a pair from last season?
00:03:54
Speaker
I don't actually have a pair from last season, so I will have to order a pair. Definitely. Yes. I do have a pink jersey. I have another wadding pink jersey from last season or two seasons ago. So. Oh, maybe this season we can aim to try and get an MBL One East team pink jersey because sometimes they're not always readily available. That's right. So yeah, good job. Good point, Lockie. Aiming to get those pink socks. So now we can get into the results of MBL One East 2023 for round seven.
00:04:23
Speaker
This week, lock here your tasks with the women's league. So take us through the results. Yeah, so of course, one game short on what we expected after the Canberra COE, both men's, I think both women's and women's games were postponed. So first game of the week was we saw the return of Lauren Nicholson for the Sutherland Sharks, but mainly Waringa Too Good on their home patch, 91.65.
00:04:49
Speaker
Aubrey Widonga hosted the Penrith Panthers and got the 86-68 victory. Violet Morrow was on fire again for Bankstown as they knocked off Hornsby Coringa 91-60 travelling up to the brick pit. Maitland snuck home against the Hills Hornet 69-59 with Rachel Williams back in the lineup for the Mustangs. They've now won four on the trot.
00:05:17
Speaker
In the West, again led by Michaela Domkins and Leilani Mitchell picking up a 73-66 win over the Central Coast Crusaders. North.
00:05:29
Speaker
absolutely monstered Illawarra in a 114 to 56 win. So massive game, lots of players are chalking up good start lines for the North Bears in that one. And then Newcastle, or they did it by committee, scoring an 86-70 win over a Sydney Comets team that did have Vanessa Penussis back in the lineup. So yeah.
00:05:54
Speaker
Bit of an interesting week to say the least, especially bookended by Sutherland with Nicholson returning still falling to a 26-point loss and comments with, you know, Penoosa's heel and Croucho all in the lineup falling to Newcastle.
00:06:08
Speaker
Yes, this is why we'll come back time and time again on this podcast and say it's been an interesting week. There were some unpredictable results and that's why we love the league. And I was talking also to the assistant coach of the Lady Bandits, Sammy Mack. Shout out to Sammy Mack. He was also saying the same thing about the changes in the ladder and the results are always so exciting every week.
00:06:31
Speaker
to stay updated with and that's why we love the league. It's going to go down to the Y and the women's comp especially this season. Oh, 100%. I mean, who's going to get finals, you know, host, you know, early stages of finals, who's going to sneak into finals? Yeah, you could, you could throw a blanket over the mid pack at the moment. It's that close.
00:06:56
Speaker
Yeah, sounds good. And for me, I will take us through the men's results for this round. So kicking off with the Hornsby Keringai spiders hosting the Bankstown Bruins, losing that 170 to 71 in overtime in another heartbreaker for the spiders. And we'll get into that game a little bit more later on. But my goodness, the amount of lead changes in that final period was outstanding.
00:07:23
Speaker
Definitely one for the basketball fans. And then the Norse Bears beat the Illawarra Hawks 101 to 75. The Hawks were missing a lot of their key players with the likes of Davo Hickey, Tim Conrad and Lucas Waxy Walker. All absent and obviously still Noah Pagotto was still absent as he looks like he's still overseas or is yet to come back into the roster. So Norse without Junior Madut
00:07:52
Speaker
getting it done down in the Bear Cave. And Newcastle Falcons also claimed the scalp of the Sydney Comets in the men's, winning 89-74 also at home. Manly Waringa Sea Eagles this time hosted the Sutherland Sharks. They lost 71-89.
00:08:13
Speaker
Aubrey Wodonga Bandits hosted the Panarith Panthers in another very close contest. Unfortunately, the Bandits losing 80 points to 81. But shout out to Panarith Panthers for getting their second win of the season.
00:08:28
Speaker
And Hill's Hornets defeated Maitland Mustangs in what was probably a very important win for the Hornets. They won 82 to 76 at home. Then the weekend was finished by the inner West Bulls absolutely crushing the Central Coast Crusaders, 102 to 55.
00:08:49
Speaker
So, yes, like you said, Locky, another very interesting round, some very important wins, such as, as I mentioned, the Heels Hornets over the Mustangs, the Paneras Panthers over the Bandits, the Falcons over the Comets. It's like a, it's like a soapy Locky it could write itself.
00:09:06
Speaker
It certainly could. I just want to make mention because of course, Sutherland played Illawarra on Tuesday after we recorded last week's episode. In that match, Brandon Frere from Illawarra came down from a contest around the basket and
00:09:23
Speaker
don't know some sort of leg injury it looked like but he didn't return to that game and obviously and he didn't play against Illawarra against North sorry and also we saw David Hickey didn't play I'm not sure if it's related but he did look like he twinged something in the game against Sutherland but did return so not sure if that's related to that or if something else has happened
00:09:48
Speaker
Interestingly, also for Norse, no Mike Golding, because he was actually playing on 3x3 World Tour with Lucas Waxey Walker. Correct. He sure was. So we saw Mike Golding very probably good three weeks ago now as a coach for the University 3x3 Aussie Championships at UNSW. Yeah, so now he's getting an opportunity to showcase his talents in a similar way. So best of luck to him over there.
00:10:15
Speaker
And probably, you know, I think Coach Angus Burke was a little bit worried going into that game against the Hawks, not having Junior and Mark Golding, but they pulled off a win. So I'm sure Coach Burke is very, very relieved. Definitely. Just bank it and keep moving.
00:10:33
Speaker
going to keep moving. Exactly. So a couple of games. So for this episode, we're going to have a look at the Manly versus Sutherland Sharks game and the Newcastle versus Comets game in the women's competition. Then we'll be looking at one game for the men's competition being the spiders Bruins game, purely because we'll have Chris Bryant later on as an interview.
00:10:56
Speaker
to cover a lot more about the inner west bulls. So that will give us a little bit more content and feel for the men's competition. But like you said, you attended the manly Sutherland game while they played away, hence how you got your lovely new hoodie. Talk us through what you saw.
00:11:17
Speaker
Well, what I saw was a Sutherland team that just looked like they couldn't find a rhythm. So very first play of the game, Charge call on Lauren Nicholson.
00:11:28
Speaker
Um, and that kind of set the tone. Uh, so other than a few calls didn't go their way in the early stages. And I don't know if it kind of got in their head, but it's certainly, um, yeah, it really affected their ability to get, uh, into a rhythm. And manly really had, um, no such worries as manly rarely do. Um,
00:11:54
Speaker
Also, something that rankled Sutherland on a few occasions. There was just a few, like the shot clock not starting when they inbound the ball at the baseline. So just bringing the ball up and, you know, the player gets to half court and the refs realize, oh, the shot clock hasn't started. And it just, yeah, it happened. Jane, the pain.
00:12:17
Speaker
It happened a good few times and it actually really started to frustrate, especially some of the Sutherland players. I think, you know, I felt they felt like they weren't getting the rub of the green with the refs, you know, and the shock clock mess ups. And yeah, just.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, a few outside influences affecting them. And the foul count did end 23-15 in manly favour. And a lot of Sutherland's fouls were concentrated among four players as well. So Nicholson fouled out late, Liv White had four, Matty Norris had four.
00:13:00
Speaker
Kelly Horvatter came off the bench. She finished with four in 20 minutes. So yeah, just when that kind of thing happens, it really makes it hard to get anything rolling. And manly took full advantage. Once again,
00:13:18
Speaker
I think this will be the only place where anyone on the manly side gets credit for their performances because once again, all five starters finished in double figures. And Zoe Miller then had nine off the bench in 18 minutes coming off a minor ankle injury. But they just keep playing team ball. They're well drilled. They didn't give anything away. If you've watched Southerly throughout the year, you know that Liv White loves
00:13:45
Speaker
a steal when you pass across the top of the arc. She's liable to just take off like she's playing rugby sevens and go to the rack. She had zero steals and the Sharks finished with four fast break points. So, mainly just, yeah, really honed in on not only what they wanted to do, but what they didn't want to do. They still had, I mean, they still had 14 turnovers, but Sharks had 18. So,
00:14:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's just, I mean, modern manly now, they're eight and one. So they're looking really, really good. Sharks, they got it back to, I think within six in the third quarter, but you're not going to win any games shooting 26.7% from the field. You know, 23 of 86, they had what? 24 more shot attempts.
00:14:50
Speaker
Manly 25 of 29 at the line. I will say the free throw shooting was unexpectedly good. Well, maybe not unexpectedly for these teams, but unexpectedly for what we see in MBL1 East. 25 of 29 for Manly Warringa and the Sharks are perfect. 12 of 12 at the line. So they certainly didn't let themselves down when they got the opportunity. Lauren Nicholson, eight of eight. Maddie Norris and Callie Hovada, both two of two.
00:15:10
Speaker
than Manly did, helped by 24-0 boards.
00:15:18
Speaker
Yeah. I noticed that the, you know, in the fourth quarter, Manly had like a 20 point run and they outscored the sharks in the fourth quarter, 23 to eight. Um, is that in correlation to the foul trouble that Sutherland saw themselves in? Um, a little bit and a little bit, um, just a little bit of frustration. I don't know. Like not.
00:15:42
Speaker
Not giving up, just like, you know, you kind of, your head drops, you know, you feel, just one of those days where it feels like everything's against you. It just didn't feel like the energy was there. And it sort of just once, once it got a little bit away from them, it really got away from them. But I do just want to make a point that Sutherland's defensive rating is now 11th in the league. And their net rating is now negative. So they're giving up more points per possession than they're scoring.
00:16:13
Speaker
So despite, you know, they've got the best assist, but they assist on more baskets as a percentage than any other team, but they're just not scoring that much. And against Manly, they actually only had 11 assists on 23 made field goals, whereas Manly had 19 on 28 made field goals. And.
00:16:36
Speaker
Aside from Callie Hovada and Maddie Norris shooting seven of 12 from date, the rest of the team shot 0 of 19 from three point range. That hurts. That hurts, especially against a manly team that are however many shooters. I mean, I know in this game, they had another five people in double figures, including the Delaney sisters, the Henderson sisters and Kim Hodge.
00:17:01
Speaker
So, you know, the Spice Force Five, as we call, as I can call them now. That's a deep cut for any old Spice Girls fans out there who have watched the movie too many times like me. But yeah, and it looked like Zoe Miller is still coming back from injury because she only played 18 minutes. But she still had nine points, three rebounds, three assists. But otherwise, fairly well evenly spread.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, I think that is a reflection of their ball reversal, taking the right shots at the right time and obviously getting the ball to their scorers in the right way.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I mean, it's something we've talked about it just about every week. We're not talking about the game in depth. We're probably making note of it later in the later in an episode, because it's always team ball. It's always finding the right player in the right position. And you know, they shoot, they shot 45% from the field, they shot 48% from two point range, you know, they're just doing what they what they have to do. And
00:18:08
Speaker
It can't be fun defending a team where all five players are true scoring threats. Well, did Sutherland play any zone? Not, not a huge amount. I didn't look, honestly, I was watching, but I was, um, I had this bad, I had this horrible ability to kind of tune out when I'm not watching for commentary. Um, but I mean,
00:18:39
Speaker
Mainly art, I mean, it's so, I mean, no matter what you do, you still got Kim Hodge there in the middle and she's always going to be a focal point. Six of 14 from two point range. Um, I'm just noticing now, Tony Henderson was six of eight from two point range. Um, yeah. Uh, these two players are really good at getting to the rack.
00:19:04
Speaker
Well, I mostly asked because their game in the previous round against Penrith was really close and Penrith's played zone most of the game and it looked like that.
00:19:20
Speaker
mainly worth struggling a little bit to get some better shots inside and be able to penetrate and dish and move that zone a little bit better. And when they're outside shots aren't dropping, you know, their scoring dries up. So I thought that perhaps Sutherland would be prepared with his own, given that that was so successful for Panerith the week before. Yeah, they also, Panerith, Sutherland have some pretty good, um,
00:19:50
Speaker
Like, oh, I, you'd expect with like Nicholson and Hov out of there that, you know, the defense, even like playing man defense would be like up there, but they've got to reintegrate Nicholson into the lineup as well. Yeah. Um, that's something that, um, yeah. Look, mainly good value for their win. Um, but I think Sutherland will get better.
00:20:15
Speaker
with Nicholas and having more time with the team, but how much more time will she have with the team? She could get an Opals call up in a couple of weeks. Yeah. And we saw this week, a lot of our Opals have headed over to start their WNBA training camps. And then we know that the Asia Cup is going to be hosted in Sydney on the last week of June slash started July. So it's going to be pretty soon where they're going to have to have an Opals camp again.
00:20:44
Speaker
at some stage, whether that be, what is it now? It's just turned May, June, I mean, they have to have at least one camp between now and the Cup. Yeah. Well, I mean, if they're eight or nine Aussies in WNBA this year and they're all in that squad and the squad was 26. So they've still got to cut down what 17 or 18 players down to 12. And they're not going to do that without seeing the players in a camp.
00:21:12
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. How many games are Sutherland going to have with Nicholson? I just made, I did make note of something. I can find exactly what I wrote down. Let me have a look.
00:21:33
Speaker
So it doesn't, so yeah, they're five and four now and they've got to get, they do play Bankstown's COE and Comets in three of their next six, but also Hills, Penrith and Hornsby.
00:21:47
Speaker
So they're going to want to make sure they get those three against Hills, Penrith and Hornsby and then come out swinging in those other three if they're going to make a move up the table. Yeah. Most of the finals contenders are going to be banking wins against Hills, Penrith and Hornsby. No disrespect to those three teams, but
00:22:05
Speaker
You can't be a finals contender if you're dropping games to the lower teams. And of course, they finished the season with Aubrey away, manly at home, and then Canberra away. So they probably want to be making a charge back up to get in touch with those top four teams if they want to not leave themselves too much to do to secure a good finals position. But manly, absolutely flying.
Game Recaps and Analysis
00:22:34
Speaker
Yeah, they certainly are. They're definitely looking like the top tip for the championship at this point in time. They certainly are. They head down to Albury next week and then they've got hills. Tough road trip and then Bankstown. Tricky couple of weeks, but nothing they haven't
00:23:01
Speaker
You know, they've got through runs just as tough so far this season. I remember, you know, at the start of the season, we were talking about their, their opening few games and yeah, it doesn't matter who, who stands in front of them at the moment.
00:23:14
Speaker
Yes, and speaking of important positions on the ladder, the second women's game that we're going to review today is Newcastle Falcons and the Sydney Comets because they're also two teams who are pretty strong contenders for the championship this season.
00:23:31
Speaker
Comets starting the season with a six and zero run and have now found themselves after this loss to Newcastle on the weekend. Comets are now sitting at fifth place. So before we get into that nitty-gritty, what did you make of this game, Locky? Well, much like the
00:23:55
Speaker
Manly Sutherland game, it was the team that shared the scoring that got the win. If you look at Comet's overall season stats, the usage percentages for Vanoose's Crawl Short and Shyla Heel are...
00:24:12
Speaker
Mammoth whilst Newcastle is a lot more spread. And on a day when Nicole Munger didn't have her usual 20 and 20 or whatever silly number she wants to put up, other players stepped up. Abby Curtin had 20 and nine. Kate Kingham buried four of eight. There you go, buried four of eight.
00:24:32
Speaker
Their new import, Micaiah Gray, 15, Emily Foy, 12 off the bench, and Nicole herself chipping in 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Whereas we look on the other side for Comets, of their 70 points, Heel, Crosshore, and Pernussis combined for 63 of those.
00:24:56
Speaker
Oh, wow. Ouch. Seven total points for the rest of the team. Yeah. Big three, indeed. Cross shot, shot 50% from the field, but Panusas only shot four of 14. Shyla Heel on the eight of 22 from the field. Admittedly, well, to be fair, Shyla got to the line a lot. Shot 11 of 12 at the line. Panusas seven of nine at the line. But they only shot three of 13 from three.
00:25:29
Speaker
Newcastle gave up 36 free throws, which is well over their season average. They had a check on Hoops DB, Dunkenberg's website. If you haven't checked it out, it is a tremendous resource. Oh, the guy's a genius. And he's doing everyone the biggest favor because these are stats that
00:25:47
Speaker
A, I didn't know could exist and B, we would never have otherwise have access to such good stats. So hoops DB on Instagram and online as a webpage. I might, I might sound a bit outdated saying it like that on a webpage, but you know what I mean? Google it.
00:26:04
Speaker
Uh, and yeah, highly recommend you get into that. It's so good because that's actually what I went to look for where I found the start that they get, they concede 19 free throws a game. I conceded 36 and committed 25 fouls, but you want to play physical defense?
00:26:21
Speaker
going to commit fouls. You got Shyla Hill going to the rack. You're going to commit fouls. It's the trade-off. Are you happy to play your physical defense? Be, you know, absolute lockdown as possible. Are you happy to commit a few fouls if it means maybe rattling the opposition a bit, getting them off their game? That's the trade-off you got to go with. And whilst Newcastle, you know, they had
00:26:46
Speaker
All five of their starters had three or more fouls. Kingham, Gray and Munger had four apiece. Foy had three. But you know, if it works, it works. You know, they kept Comet shooting percentage low. Yes, they let them get to the line. But, you know, if they're going to defend like that and it's going to work for them, more power to them.
00:27:12
Speaker
And I noticed as well on the official stats on the MBL1 website that Christie Bultitude actually coached this game. And it looks like Marty McLean and Keely McLean's not on the list either. So I'm guessing they were both away. I'm guessing so. Christie also coached last game, I'm pretty sure as well.
00:27:33
Speaker
Yeah, wow. Way to get a great win, Coach, altitude. Very good. What I found interesting too is since Shyla has come back into the fold for the Comets, I shouldn't say back, but since Shyla has come into the Comets, Hannah Griffin, unfortunately,
00:27:49
Speaker
hasn't been getting a lot of court time, which I find surprising considering she was getting quite a bit at the start. Do you feel like once the likes of Jada, you know, heads overseas and Shyla also heads into Opal's camp as we were mentioning with Loz Nicholson, then hopefully Hannah will be able to get a few more minutes.
00:28:10
Speaker
I certainly hope so. Cause remember she dropped 30 odd for Maitland in a game last season. She's been training with the flames. Um, you know, she's down here. She's, I mean, she moved to Sydney from Maitland. So, you know, she probably could have chosen a couple of clubs. Um, made me look very silly saying I was on the call for manly comments a couple of weeks ago, as you know, and I said in the pregame, um,
00:28:36
Speaker
With Penusa Seattle, it could be an opportunity for Hannah Griffin and she stayed on the bench. So I don't know if something's happening there or she's just not getting minutes. She was suited up. That game before, I didn't really notice on the bench. I'd love to see her getting more minutes if she is indeed available. Yeah. Because I think she's a real talent. And I mean, in this case, it doesn't matter what I think, she has demonstrated that she's a real talent.
00:29:05
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And she's still young, she's still got a long way to go. But her work ethic is there. And you know, she, like you said, she moved purposely from Maitland to Sydney to give her improve her game and give ourselves the best opportunity. So hopefully it will all work out for her. It's still early days. But I just thought it was interesting that she didn't take the court. But just looking at some of the analysis stats, as you mentioned before, the points from the bench for comments was only three, as you mentioned, you know, the
00:29:35
Speaker
how many points Panousa's cross showing heel combined created. But points for the bench from Newcastle was 20. And what I found interesting is Newcastle's points in the paint was 38 and comments were still 30. I thought that was interesting. I thought perhaps Newcastle would have had a bit more of an edge over comments on the inside considering they don't really have a true center.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah, but I just know that McGinnis can only play at 11 minutes. So they weren't, I'm like just harking back to the game against Sutherland where at times I was just getting it into her on the block with regularity, whether she'd pass out or shoot. So maybe just deciding that going to the rack was better than, you know, getting it in there.
00:30:26
Speaker
Yeah, I just think because the likes of Curtin and Munger for Newcastle, they're quite versatile and you could have a guard that's smaller than in height or stature and Munger and Curtin have the skill set to be able to
00:30:41
Speaker
post up another guard one on one that might give them some more opportunities for points in the paint. Yeah, so I just thought that was interesting. And similarly to the Manly Sutherland game we just spoke about, all in the fourth quarter, Newcastle just went on a run. They won that quarter 25 to 12 with a run of 11 in the fourth. So it just all seemed to be falling a little bit apart at the end there for the comets.
00:31:08
Speaker
Yeah, it was a three point game with 10 minutes to play and Newcastle just kicked in the last. And so timing is of the essence as we're expecting to have our special guest, Chris Bryant from the Inner West Bulls come on very shortly. So I'll just give you a quick recap of the Hornsby Spiders versus Bankstown Bruins game in the men's competition. It was a one point thriller that went into overtime and as I mentioned previously,
00:31:36
Speaker
the lead changes, the incidents, the drama, especially even in that overtime period was good enough for a soap opera, basketball fans alike would have just been loving it. And what I found really interesting is that it just really all came to circumstance, except in overtime there was one particular moment I feel like really changed the momentum
00:32:03
Speaker
uh to be in favor of the Bruins so what happened was Ben White from the Spiders uh he got a rebound he had his elbows out keeping the ball high trying to just create some space and it looks like he did clip Hayden blankly from Bankstown now certainly wasn't intentional from when I watched the game uh it was initially called a foul and then upgraded to an unsportsmanlike foul I would love to hear
00:32:34
Speaker
opinions of the fans on this call if you go back and watch the replay in the fourth because this meant that then the Bruins had two shots. After that those two shots I think it meant that they were up by one and then the spiders went down the other end and scored a layup of a pick and roll and the Bruins though went back and scored off a lovely dump inside but let me just I think I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here with this game. Let me go through some stats
00:33:04
Speaker
uh like you know as expected for Hornsby led by Sharif Sapaya with 22 points three rebounds um
00:33:13
Speaker
Quabena Brefo had a great game. He played the most minutes of everyone for the spiders. He played the 41 minutes and 45 seconds, which, you know, I'm just tired reading that. That's an extraordinary amount to play. He ended up with 14 points, three rebounds, and he shot at 85%. Sorry, I'm going to round that up to 86% shooting six from seven.
00:33:36
Speaker
And Ben White had a double-double in 25 minutes with 12 points and 10 rebounds. And the pick and roll between Ben White and Sharif Supaya showed a lot of promise. And I imagine that Coach Hesh is going to use that a lot more often this season as the go-to when the shot clock winds down to 10 seconds or less because
00:33:59
Speaker
They were a very handy combo. It was just unlucky that Ben probably missed some bunnies there in the stretch of the game where he was open for a few layups. But look, it happens to the best of us, mate. So absolutely nothing against you. Bankstown Hayden blankly ended up with 23.6 rebounds and he shot
00:34:20
Speaker
He showed 25%, but I think probably the timing of his shots were what was important in this game, especially making those free throws at the end, where he was 12 from 12, my kind of player, 100% from the free throw line. And he did make a really nice jump shot in the OT, which really put Bruins in touch with the win. And he was backed up by Jack Lopez, who played 45 minutes.
00:34:48
Speaker
even more than pressure. That's the whole time, including over time.
00:34:53
Speaker
That is a captain's knock. I mean, if he wasn't getting the six pack by the end of the game, what's a guy got to do? He ended up with 16.7 rebounds for assists and three steals and probably doing a hell of a job on defense. But speaking of defense, to be honest, some other notes from this game other than the one point loss, it was actually the Hornsby second
00:35:20
Speaker
one point loss in a row. So that's, that's got to be tough for the team. But hopefully, I'm sure under coach Hesh, they'll find that as a character building kind of thing and come back stronger in the next round. There's a couple of other notes from the game. Some of the on ball defense, for me, the defense was really waxing and waning this game. There were certainly patches where on ball defense wasn't the best.
00:35:45
Speaker
lots of people either coming out of stance or drop-stepping a little bit too far, opening up that driving lane a little bit too far, allowing the likes of Supai to find a way, and even Hayden Blankley finding a way. And I think I got to give out a shout out to Jonah Perez, who I think had a really beautiful assist under the basket to Joshua Shepherd, which was the final points for the Bruins to secure the win. That play, it's worth going back in the highlights for that really nice play.
00:36:15
Speaker
I was just about to mention that. Yeah, it was really good. Just on your point on the defence, because what I noticed, I just, I caught a bit of the overtime and I noticed that Bankstown actually had a fail to give in overtime at the end there. Yeah, they did. They did, you're right. I noticed, so I went back and looked at the stats and saw they only committed 12 fouls for the game. Is that good defence or not engaged enough on defence?
00:36:44
Speaker
I'm going to be critical and say it wasn't engaged enough in defence. For both teams, to be fair, there were lots of holes opening up, like I said, on ball, but also in the second line of rotation. So some of those great plays and great passes under the basket, they look good, but when you go back and have a look, they were just massive holes.
00:37:03
Speaker
in the defence for each team. Except for that one by Jonah Pyre is at the end that won the game. That was actually quite well contested. And Joshua Shepherd's basket was actually quite well contested too. But inside of the earlier parts of the game, it was very, very holy. It was very Swiss cheese. But otherwise, like, I mean, in terms of the result, in terms of getting a game to go to OT, I think is this the first game we've had?
00:37:30
Speaker
in this season that's gone to OT? No, I think there's been one other. One other. I don't know where it was, but I'm pretty sure there's been another OT game, but they've been pure and far between. Funny or close games, just not going to OT. Yeah. And a really big stat that I'm sure people are going to look out for. Hornsby Korean Guy Spiders of their total 70 points had 48 points in the paint.
00:37:58
Speaker
which I think is really, really great to see. The biggest run they had was 11 during the game. And Bankstown only had 26 points in the paint. So I think that obviously playing to Hornsby's strengths or maybe reflective of some of the holes in that second line of rotation on D. So that pretty much covers my recap of that game. Have I missed anything there, Lockie?
00:38:24
Speaker
No, I think you're pretty much bang on there, Squin. Yeah, I didn't catch a whole lot of it, but I saw it. And especially in the overtime period, what you pointed out, the play, it was not just the play to win the game, but if I remember correctly, the play to tie it up right at the end of regulation was pretty good as well from Bankstown.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yes, it was actually, yes. So, you know, Bankstown really keeping it exciting, keeping it as late as possible. And I just want to, as the stream ran out, you could see as Sharif tried to get the game winner off, very, very well guard. I can't remember who by.
00:39:07
Speaker
All of them. It was like three guys just suffocating him. I think the player who initially was guarding him came over afterwards and helped him up because you can see how Sharif just puts the team on his back offensively every week. And he must have been crushed to be so close to getting that win after, you know, two one point losses in a row.
00:39:30
Speaker
And I just, I just really hope he just goes off for 40 and they get a win there at the brick pit. It would be so great to say, cause he's doing so much for that team. Well, they played the Hornsby, sorry, they play the Penrith Panthers and Aubrey or Donga Bandits next round. So there is opportunity now for Hornsby to take these last two character building losses into these games against Penrith and Aubrey or Donga Bandits to get a couple of sneaky wins.
00:40:01
Speaker
Fingers crossed for the spiders, no disrespect to Penrith or Albury there. And that concludes our quick wrap of the round. And now we're going to get ready to interview Chris Bryant, so stay tuned.
Interview with Chris Bryant Begins
00:40:18
Speaker
All right, we are back at the East Got Game podcast, the unofficial MBL One East.
00:40:25
Speaker
and unofficial NBL1e's podcast. I still haven't gotten that nine episodes in. I still keep saying the unofficial podcast. Maybe I'm just manifesting too much. Nonetheless, we are very, very delighted to be joined by a very special guest.
00:40:41
Speaker
He is a 6'8 power forward from Tallahassee. He graduated from the Miami Red Hawks, which is a Div 1 NCAA college in the Mid-American Conference with a degree in Social Work, Human Development and Family Studies. Also the star of the Tallahassee Southern Kings in the Basketball League and a certified fan of Drake.
00:41:02
Speaker
and a social media hype guy. We are joined by Chris Bryant from the Inner West Bulls, AKA CB. How are you going, buddy? What's going on? Hey, I'm doing good. I'm just excited to be on the night with you guys, excited for the opportunity, you know, just chilling with my host family, getting ready to have dinner, you know, after we get done.
00:41:26
Speaker
Yes, I feel you on that. I do appreciate you joining us. Definitely in the middle of dinner time to record this episode. So was that, now I tried to give a bit of a varied intro to have you on the show, you know, Tallahassee Native, degree in social work, all of those things true. Did I get it right? Yeah, you actually did get it right. That was an amazing intro.
00:41:54
Speaker
I tried to keep it spicy and I know that you're a Drake fan because I've noticed that you've tweeted a lot of Drake lyrics, am I right? Yeah, I do love Drake. Drake's my guy. Hopefully I get to meet him one day. Maybe one day if you play for the Raptors, right? You can give him a high five court side. Yeah. Well, we can bring him here. Hopefully I get to the NBL and invite him over. Yeah. Maybe you can interest him to invest in an NBL team or something like that. That'd be kind of cool. Yeah, that'd be dope.
00:42:23
Speaker
So tell us, Chris, where did basketball all start for you? How did basketball come into your life? For me, basketball started from you when I was about three years old. When I came out the womb, I was a very tall and long baby. I always tell people this fun fact about myself as
00:42:44
Speaker
When I was in year five and grade five, I was 5'11". So I was going to school, playing basketball in the morning and dunking on the elementary goals. It was crazy.
00:42:58
Speaker
Wow, and for context, I'm 5'11 right now. I'm sure you were head and shoulders above everyone else at elementary school. Did anyone else in your family play basketball as well? Or did you go to a elementary school or a high school that was very basketball focused?
00:43:20
Speaker
Well, as far as my family, my momma ran track. She attended Florida State University in Tallahassee. So that's why I would say I get my speed from. As far as athletic, nobody played sports, but my mom is 5'11", my dad is 6'4", and my grandfather is 6'5". And I'm the tallest person in my family, and one of the only guys in my family to go pro and make it this far.
00:43:50
Speaker
Wow. Representing. I liked that. I liked that a lot. Lucky, were you going to chime in there? No, no, no, no. I was just, um, so you played for Central Florida Community College and then made the jump to D1. We're seeing more and more, uh, players in Australia doing that nowadays. Um, can you give us any insight into, into what it's like going from JUCO to NCAA D1?
00:44:16
Speaker
Well yeah, JUCO was a good experience. Just a lot of high profile basketball with guys that enter the portal that maybe things didn't go right at their first destination and they're looking to get a second chance or maybe even their first chance. So it's kind of like a place where
00:44:32
Speaker
You get a second chance or a first chance to prove yourself. Get your name out there and try to make your next situation the best situation for you. So it was a very high intensity, probably a lot of good guys, guys that's ranked in the top 25. I just so happened to be ranked in the top 15 when I was in junior college myself. So just making that jump and just keep on believing in yourself and try to make it to that final destination.
00:44:59
Speaker
Yeah, because I think most of what people from the outside, when they think of JUCO, they just think of Last Chance U. Not all like that. No, it's not all like that. My school was actually College of Central Florida. When I went there, I ended up transferring from Florida, Atlanta University down to Boca Raton, Florida. And when I went there, we had just won the championship of College of Central Florida. When I got there, we was ranked number one. So we was playing.
00:45:26
Speaker
all the top teams, and we might've been number one for probably the first 10 weeks until we finally got knocked off, but every game was a big game, a high profile game for us. So, no, Juco was really fun for me. I enjoyed it. Had a great team. Most of our guys was 6'4 and taller, so I wasn't the tallest one on our team, but we practically was a D1 team in Juco.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah, because I think on paper, a lot of people will assume that there's a big difference in the standard of play between Duco and NCAA Div 1. Is there much of a jump going from one to the other in terms of how fit you've got to be and where your skill level's got to be at?
00:46:09
Speaker
I don't think it's a difference. I think it's a difference in just when you go to D1, you'll probably play more bigger guys because you know you got guys who's been there from freshman to senior. You got guys who's all-American, all-conference. So you're going to get some big profile guys. I know when I went to Miami my last two years, I ended up playing like I'm really a powerful to stretch forward, but I ended up having to play the five position there.
00:46:39
Speaker
because our firemen at the time had got hurt. So I had to step in and for the last two seasons I just went against a bunch of guys that was at least my height to 7'2". So be able to get that experience to hold your own against guys that I might be bigger or might be considered better with a better resume at the time. It really puts a lot of your shoulders to
00:47:04
Speaker
One, put the work in on and off the court, doing your research, doing your homework. I'm a guy that likes to research who my opponents and who I'm going through. So I used to always just research, watch a lot of film, and then make sure I knew what they liked, what they didn't like. So when it came to game time, I was prepared. And I was even that much more comfortable, just in case that person was either taller than me or weight-wise bigger than me.
00:47:32
Speaker
And when you had to step up from that four roll to the five, and you mentioned about going against bigger bodies in terms of weight and height, what were some of your existing skills that you were able to transfer into a five? So for example, the times where I've had to play a four or a five, and I've definitely often come across people who are a lot stronger than me. I tried to use my agility and quickness to try and front them in the post rather than trying to beat them in a strength contest I knew I was going to lose.
00:48:02
Speaker
What were some of your assets that you were able, as a foreman, being able to bring in that five spot? Yeah, I would say for me, I'm more of a, you can say I'm more of a bully myself, even though like far as weight, I'm not as big. But against those guys, I know with my skill set is very unique, me being 6'8", 6'9".
00:48:22
Speaker
not your typical four or five men. I could do a little bit of everything. So I always knew, you know, if a guy was, if he was bigger than me for his weight, then I can stretch him out to the, to the three point line, you know, get one or two moves going, get downhill. Or for an example of the guy was taller, the guy was just taller than me.
00:48:44
Speaker
But he might not been as big then I could just use my my strength But not not alone with that my my length as well because I have a seven to expand So just utilizing getting to that mid-range get into my spots pump faking getting over guys and getting to their bodies to get calls And just shooting the outside shot three-point to the mid-range and just trying to draw files and make it just harder for
00:49:08
Speaker
And I would just say, I guess one of my biggest attributes of my game is sprinting the floor. So just trying to out sprint, out work everybody, any little chance that I can get. If I can get eight points off just running the lane and beat them down the court, that's eight more free points that I help my team with. Lucky you got anything?
00:49:33
Speaker
I just, I was just looking at this next question that, uh, Squint's got written down. Squint, you know me, I'm a basketball nuffy when it comes to, uh, you know, leagues around the world and knowing about different leagues. And I got to admit the, uh, the basketball league, the Tallahassee Southern Kings, uh, not something I'm familiar with. Um, can you tell us about that league?
00:49:56
Speaker
Yeah, so I think the league has been around, I think going now to like six years. So I would say it's more of a third level league in the state. So you will have NBA, you have G league and really you didn't have nothing, nothing else really to
00:50:12
Speaker
look forward to or maybe even get an opportunity for yourself. And there's this guy that's named Marvin Magli. He's the co-owner of the basketball league and he presented the league to America. And they have about, it's still growing, but it's probably about 30 to 40 teams around in different conferences and having
00:50:37
Speaker
all-star game. To me, I would say for me, I would say it was more of like a middleman league, like say of maybe things didn't work out the way that you wanted after college or with an agent or you just didn't have nowhere to play. He was a league now that was presented to you where
00:50:57
Speaker
you can go and play and get an opportunity to maybe play in your hometown or get paid to play in another state and go around and still get whole game film stats, highlights. So it's a growing league, but I say it's a great league because without that league, I probably wouldn't be here today. So it was a league that helped me further my career when I had bumps in the road and I needed somewhere, you know, to rejuvenate my career to
00:51:26
Speaker
continue to keep on playing. They was able to, I actually was able to get an opportunity to play in my hometown for the last time because I played in my hometown in high school and in high school I was a household name ranked in the top 100 in America.
00:51:45
Speaker
3A player of the year, two high school championships, one undefeated. So for me to be able to get the opportunity for people who didn't get to see me play in college and so forth, they got an opportunity one last time to see me play in the States and do my thing one last time. So it was a very special year and just a special league that's growing as well.
00:52:09
Speaker
And I think people maybe take for granted just how good the setup is here with MBL one and even Waratah league and big BNC will back in the day where you have, you can come home and you just have your local club has a semi-professional team. And literally every, you know, every town you can pretty much go back and play at a really decent level. And in the States, that hasn't really always been the case, at least not in organized basketball.
00:52:37
Speaker
Right, right now. So for them to bring that league, and I know them personally, met them personally, the owners and co-owners to do that. And then to, like I said, to have an opportunity to play.
00:52:51
Speaker
in front of friends and family and travel and go through my ups and downs as well, being back home and, you know, with distractions and things of that nature. It was just a cool and fun experience. And I felt like if I didn't go through that, it wouldn't prepare me for, you know, where I am now in the NBA one with the inner West Bulls. So how did you find your way to the inner West Bulls?
00:53:16
Speaker
Man, this is a very, very intriguing story. So my season with the Tallahassee Southern Kings ended around the middle of June. And after the season, I got invited to go try out with the Orlando Magics.
00:53:35
Speaker
the Lakeland Magics. It's on my Instagram profile, so I got an opportunity to get that trial and got some good feedback. I also got a chance to play, well I got a chance to try out for the NVLC, so that's a
00:53:51
Speaker
National Basketball Association of Canada, Canada League for the Winsor Express. Got a chance to go up there and show my talents. And I'm a guy that does a lot of networking. So while I'm networking, I'm putting all my, you know, everywhere that I'm going.
00:54:08
Speaker
Because I did have some offers. I had some offers for Ukraine. I had some offers for Mexico. I had some offers to Russia. But I was like, man, for me, I have a four-year-old daughter. Her name is Mia. So for me, it's like you have to make the most calculated risk, not only for you, but for your daughter as well. So funny story. I was on LinkedIn.
00:54:32
Speaker
And at the time it was, yeah, I was on LinkedIn and was putting everything out there. And this was Thanksgiving around the time of Thanksgiving. So I'm eating with my best friend and his family. And some had just came across my mind. I was just like, man, I wonder what everybody in the world is doing right now.
00:54:50
Speaker
It's like, hmm, they're probably watching some football and they're probably drinking and eating food, but everybody's probably like chilling and on their phone. So I just saw happen to make a post saying that, hey, Chris Bryant, I'm still out here, free agent, you know, still looking forward, you know, a place I can call home, like, you know, serious inquiries, hit my email, hit my phone. And it had to be a blessing for all of this to happen for me because
00:55:17
Speaker
When I made that post, a coach that I used to play against in the TBL, his name is DeMarcus Berry, he used to coach Sutherland. I think he used to coach for Sutherland. He was Sutherland coach the first year I worked for the clock. So funny story, that's actually Blake played for him too in the TBL for a Tampa team as well. This was before I even knew Blake. But long story short, I made the post and
00:55:47
Speaker
He mentioned my coach, Daniel Kim, he mentioned his name up under it. And I was like, I was like, who's Daniel Kim? So when I clicked on it, I seen insulin said Daniel Kim and it's an NBL one. I was like, oh, what is this?
00:56:04
Speaker
So he ended up being me, and he was like, hey, man, I see you've been grinding. I see you've been doing your thing. And he was like, I feel like I could be a blessing towards you. I was just on the phone with the coach, and he is looking for somebody like yourself and your skill set. Now, he told me that nothing is given, but I feel like this is a great opportunity for you, and you'll be in Sydney, Australia. So when he told me that, I was like,
00:56:30
Speaker
Oh, no, I'm getting the job. The job is mine. The job is mine. So I'm a person that manifests a lot of things. And he was like, you know, you got to impress him. You got to do all the right things, say all the right things. I was like, listen, the job is already mine. I'm already putting it in the air. It's already mine.
00:56:46
Speaker
And with Coach Daniel Kim, we got to talk and build a relationship. He got to learn the kind of person that I was. And granted, he had a bunch of other people that he could have chose. But we built a relationship. And he told me, he was like, I can just hear it in your voice how much that you want this opportunity.
00:57:10
Speaker
A couple of weeks went by, I was working in the States as a paraprofessional, like a teacher's helper in the States. And funny story, I had, unfortunately had got fired. And unfortunately got fired. And like the next week, Daniel Kim called me, it was like, you know, it was like, just wanting to call you today and let you know that, you know, we want to offer you
00:57:36
Speaker
a contract to come play for us and the NOS Bulls. And I just, I just broke down and cried, man. I just couldn't believe it. Like, I couldn't believe all my hard work and everything that I had did. And to, you know, to reach my goal and to finally be out here, I was like, you know, you just don't understand, like, how much this means to me to be able to get this opportunity. And I was like, whatever you need from me, if that's just a
00:58:06
Speaker
to run the court, you want me to rebound, you want me to score 23 points a game, it doesn't matter. I'm going to do everything in my power to try to win as a championship. And so from that point on, we've been building our relationship every single day. It's kind of more of like a best friend than a coach, but as a coach as well, because we have similar backgrounds and I'm always able to talk to him about any and everything. So it just makes.
00:58:32
Speaker
It makes this situation a lot sweeter coming in with the guys and him giving me pointers and things that I can get better because I'm always wanting to get 1% better. It really doesn't matter to me how many points I score, how many rebounds I score. He can tell you that I'm always looking to get better after each and every game. What can I do to get better? I'm looking at family.
00:58:53
Speaker
How can I make more of an impact not only on the game, but with my teammates and relationships and stuff like that as well? So he's been putting me in the right position to be successful from day one, and I've just been grateful ever since.
00:59:06
Speaker
That was the best story ever. I love that story. Me and Lucky were already basketball nerds. We commentate deep dive from the stats and whatnot. But the stories like that is the reason why you start a podcast and you stay in basketball and you talk to athletes because I love those stories. They're the stories I look for.
00:59:29
Speaker
And for you, because, you know, when you said it was on LinkedIn, I was like, I actually saw your LinkedIn profile when I was doing some research for a decent intro to have you on the show. And that's when I knew like, no, this guy's kind of serious. And he's A, you said you're good at networking. And I can completely back that up. You are very good at networking. You're very active on socials. You got the LinkedIn profile, like you said.
00:59:55
Speaker
And you're certainly putting yourself in the best possible position to get a great opportunity. And I'm so glad that you're rewarded by having someone like Coach Kim, who's a great coach, give you this opportunity to come and play in Australia. Now, you know, apologies that it is winter, but I imagine that's the easy trade off to have to deal with an Australian winter to come over and get an opportunity to play in Australia, right?
01:00:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I got here, I got here in the middle of January, so I did get the summer and was able to enjoy the, to be honest with you, being here in Australia, it reminds me a lot of Florida. It really does with the, you got some palm trees, you got the beach, you got the people, it's not as humid. It's very humid in Florida, but it's not humid here,
Chris Bryant's Experience in Sydney
01:00:50
Speaker
so I love that. I love waking up and
01:00:52
Speaker
seeing the tall buildings and just going to try new things and going to all the different beaches and people trying to show me around. So to be honest with you, since I've been here, all my teammates says that I've done more things here than Australian people that live here. I've been to the bridge. I walked the bridge and went to the opera bar. I've been to a Lebanese wedding out here. I got invited like my third week out here. Don't ask me how.
01:01:21
Speaker
I'm just able to make some magic like that. A mental AFL game, a real cool with a lot of the Kings players. So ever since I've been here, we've been going to all the Kings games. And maybe the only thing I haven't done really was probably hop on the ferry yet and maybe like.
01:01:37
Speaker
go to manly or something like that. Just do some adventures or something like that. Or see kangaroos. I haven't seen them yet, but I know they're not in town. I know probably when we go to Canberra, I see some kangaroos. But a lot of my teammates are impressed of how I'm just able to get around and meet new people because I'm a people's person. So my coach tells me all the time that all the people that he done coached and been around players, NBA players, he was like,
01:02:06
Speaker
I've never seen nobody network for them to get to know somebody that's not from here so quickly and so swiftly. So we're still trying to find out what I can do with that type of gift, but I think it's just my aura to be able to talk and people gravitate towards my energy. So I think it's just a blessing in the skies really for me.
01:02:29
Speaker
And I don't think, yeah, people take for granted as well the power of social media, including the likes of LinkedIn to make those connections, but also being able to back it up with being reliable with your communication, having a positive attitude and tone to your communication as well. I think, you know, showing the kindness that as well that people have, that goes a long way when it comes to doing, I guess, on paper, what is a business deal of signing a contract as an athlete.
01:02:58
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, my coach tell me all the time, like, your character is all you have. I believe it in the same way, because somebody might not know you, but they might ask, you know, how's his character? Like, is he a good person? Is he not a good person? Is he a person in the community? And my whole thing was, I was like, when I come to Sydney, I'm not changing. I'm going to be the same person that I was at home when I was a leader. I feel like even with basketball, I mean, for me, LeBron James is my,
01:03:26
Speaker
is my idol. Like he sets the bar, he sets the pedestal for me. So for, you know, for me to try to idolize somebody that, you know, a man in his community, he gives back a people person is not scared to put himself out there or, you know, help with, you know, go show up to kids games or do something special for somebody. Like I always say if people view me here as a superstar, I want to be a star where that, you know, I'm hands on, people can touch me and know that
01:03:54
Speaker
I put my pants on every day, just like the next person do. So I'm never too high, too low with anything, but I try to do as much as I can to just give back because basketball, you only can play basketball for so long. And people remember the little things that you can do in the community. So like, currently I stayed with a host family and I went to
01:04:18
Speaker
The youngest one, I went to his elementary school, and it's a small school with 200 kids. And I went, and it was a guest speaker, and all the kids just...
01:04:27
Speaker
rallied around me. And now he's like the coolest kid in school. He's like the coolest kid in school. So doing things like that, helping out with our younger team. I do local comp for the Nutribate Blazers. Or I just show up to, if it's a game or something like that, I just show up and let people just talk to me and ask me questions or sign autographs.
01:04:56
Speaker
And it makes kids day, because I remember when I was growing up and being in elementary school, we never had an athlete or somebody like that come to the school and speak. So things like that, kids don't forget. They hold that with them forever. So I want to make an impact like that. So if I don't end up playing in Australia for the rest of my career, kids would be like, hey, I remember this one athlete that came. His name was Chris Bryant.
01:05:24
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? It was just the nicest, sweetest guy, like one of my favorite athletes of all time. So that right there, it means more than meeting basketball.
01:05:32
Speaker
Yeah, I still remember the import that we had at our local team way before it was Waratar and NBL1 from 30 years ago. Ernest Neziga-Mizabo, I still remember his name because he did the exact same thing as you. Came to our schools, did the holiday camps, was always trying to like give back to the community and make himself known as he is the import for the team, come and watch the team. And yeah, I mean, the,
01:06:00
Speaker
I think that stuff that looks small on the outside makes a massive impact.
01:06:04
Speaker
For sure, for sure. I definitely agree. So I think now we, I've done some appearances at North Sydney Elementary School, me and Blake, and a couple of the girls' team. And the kids enjoyed it so much that they invited us to come back and show the kids how to play basketball. So be able to just have that impact and the kids get to watch us. And when they come up to me and Blake and be like, ducky, ducky, ducky, ducky, ducky. He's like, you know, these kids are,
01:06:34
Speaker
Then don't forget that, or we find ourselves doing the gritty out there every 20 minutes with them. So doing things like that, man, I love it, man. It brings a big, warm, welcoming to my heart. It really does. Australia, are you lucky? You got the next question. Well, we switched to Encourt.
01:07:01
Speaker
Did you have any like prior expectations of what MBL One East would be like? And are they meeting those expectations, exceeding them? Or are they just different? I would say, you know, before I signed, you know, my coach gave me an assignment. He told me to watch the finals. Canberra and I think it was Maitland. Was that up last year?
01:07:26
Speaker
Yeah. So I watched that and me and him both broke down the film. And that was probably one of the things that impressed him was how I broke down film. I kind of break it down like a coach, like, oh, this player does this, this player does that. And he was blown away. But when I seen the level and I seen the competition, I just seen who was in the finals.
01:07:47
Speaker
just watching the games and stuff, I was looking and to be honest with you, I was licking my chops. I was like, oh, I feel like I can come in here and I can dominate off rip. I just felt like I was like, once I learned, you know, the style, the foul calls and things of that nature, I still almost get in trouble by trying to call timeout on a loose ball. So it's still some little small, little minor things, but
01:08:14
Speaker
Man, since being over here, my first game I had 27 in four steals. I had the big, I guess, everybody's calling it the dunk of the year, but I had the big dunk that shocked the whole league when I first got here. So I was like, well, that really helped me a lot. But I would say it probably took me about three or four games just to get adjusted.
01:08:39
Speaker
not only with just the time difference, but just the style. I would say more in America is more of a body, body contact files. And here's more like if you reach in, you're getting, you're getting that call. So I remember a couple of preseason games.
01:08:56
Speaker
I had one or two games I found out and I was like, man, I gotta stop reaching. I was just like, I know I can take it, but if you don't get it, they blowing that whistle. So, no, once I started making the adjustment and I actually listened to, I listened to the NBA one news when you actually mentioned me and you was like, you know, very versatile, powerful, kind of could do everything like,
01:09:23
Speaker
you know, both ends and you said exactly what it was in my mind like.
01:09:27
Speaker
I think once he gets adjusted that, you know, it's going to really start to take over. And it was probably around my third or fourth game where I just broke out. And I told my coach, I said, I figured it out. I said, you know what, I figured it out. So once I figured it out, my whole thing is just being consistent. So I'm very comfortable, really cool with the refs. So sometimes I do a little bit of swearing, but, you know, they just pull me to the side and be like, CB, stop swearing.
01:09:58
Speaker
I'm very aggressive. But now I got a good relationship with them and they let me play my game and let me do my thing. So for me, I'm very comfortable with the league and I feel like it's still more than I can do and I can give and more game.
01:10:15
Speaker
that I have that I can show. So for me, I think I didn't over exceed expectations, but I'm never too high, too low. I always just want to get better. My whole thing of it don't really matter how successful I get, how can I get better? So I'm always looking to just getting better each and every day to show more and more people or people around the league that, hey, this kid, he can play at the highest level. And my goal is to play at the highest level here.
01:10:43
Speaker
Now, thank you for a, I mean, it's always hard doing an episode of a show where you're like, hey, have a look at this talent, and then the risk of that said talent you've recommended don't come through. So thank you after. Thank you for doing me the favor of validating my
01:11:02
Speaker
preview of the league and saying, hey, you got to watch out for this guy, see me. I thank you for stepping up and showing that I was right. So I think you did me the favor than anything else. I mean, I told you, I do my homework. So I'm always, I'm always in tune to see like who's doing what, who's killing around the league, you know, see if my name is getting mentioned or our team is getting mentioned.
01:11:23
Speaker
And even if my team don't get mentioned, I'd be like, you know what? There's more that I gotta do. There's way more than I gotta do to make sure that we get the recognition that I feel like we deserve. So I'm always motivated each and every day. I always find something small to motivate me. My coach does a really good job as well, doing that for me and Blake and making sure that we're always on our toes and never comfortable. But I'm a person that never gets comfortable. I just always wanna get better.
01:11:49
Speaker
So, well, in that case, keep an eye out for the most recent episode, the new episode of the MBL One show that's going to be released this week because you may get some good news in that episode. You may like the content for the east on that episode. That's all I'm going to say. No, I'm excited. I can't wait. To be fair, I mean, you talked about the fouls and I did chuckle when you said that they call a lot of hands fouls because you're right.
01:12:15
Speaker
they do and even coaching juniors uh you know which is the direct pathway to playing something like mbl one it's exactly the same so when i was coaching juniors it's always like look i don't even care if you play defense with your hand behind your back just don't put your hands in because anytime you just put the doubt in the referee's mind of putting your hand in whether it's a foul or not they're going to call it and to your credit you found out your first game
01:12:41
Speaker
But then ever since, no, that's okay. But yeah, that's okay. I mean, I've, you know, you've found out one game of the whole competition so far. And ever since then, you've had no more than three. So I feel like you're, you know, full credit for you to you for adjusting so quickly. Sounds like those preseason games definitely, you know, worked out well as well. So give you enough time to get used to adjusting as well to
01:13:10
Speaker
the style of play and the physicality and what is going to be called and what's not going to be called. So yeah, credit to you, you haven't been found out since the first round. Yeah, and I hope to go the rest of the season like that because I know how much my team need me and how much of an impact I make on the floor. Plus, I want to play, so I don't want to sit on a bench. Sorry.
01:13:35
Speaker
Team's flying high at the moment, right at the top of the table. Um, you think you guys can stay there and what do you need to do to help InnoWest need to win a championship? Yeah. I mean, uh, I hold the old was to, you know, prove that we could be at the top of the ladder. I know, uh, last year the team was two points away. Um, lost against Sutherland from getting in the playoffs.
01:14:00
Speaker
Then of course this year the league is growing and it and more teams. So, you know, my whole mindset is trying to win a championship. So one being at the top of the ladder proves and shows.
01:14:13
Speaker
you know, how disciplined and how serious we are of, you know, just showing everybody or just not in Australia, but all across the board of how serious we are, how deep we are. I mean, you have guys like me, and then you have a, I always call them the best shooter in the league. You have Blake, knockdown shooter. You got Alex Tisha, who is, you know, that's like my little brother, but he's like another import. You know, we got Tony Talaves, who did play NBA on one.
01:14:41
Speaker
We got Johnny Mays, you play Cam. We got a whole bunch of, we got a whole bunch of pieces in a veteran group. And I feel like I always try to compare my teams to somebody like in the NBA. And I feel like we are the Miami Heat when LeBron was there, but his second year.
01:15:01
Speaker
Like that second year, it was a whole bunch of veteran guys. They was locked in. They knew what they wanted to get to. They knew the goal and they knew how to get there. And, you know, they ran with their leaders and they ran with their squad. And we have a very good positive group where everybody's a leader, not only the captains, but everybody has a voice on the team. You know, when we're not doing something right, you know, we huddle up at the end of practice and we, you know, we analyze practice and we talk about what we need to do.
01:15:29
Speaker
of what things that we need to accomplish before going to the next game. And everybody has positive responses because everybody has the same goal. Yeah, a group of guys, veteran guys, that's around with the same goal. It's contagious. You're never going to have somebody that's off track. Even if they would want it to, they're going to jump on board because winning solves everything. And we win as a team. No one person is bigger than the team.
01:15:55
Speaker
Yeah, being at the top of the ladder now, being number one, I'm very happy. I'm very proud, but we're not finished. We're not done. We've still got more to prove. We have about a six-game road stretch coming up that's going to really test us and show how consistent we can be and see that we can separate ourselves
01:16:19
Speaker
from other teams and we know that every other team is, you know, looking at us and looking, you know, that we're at the top of the board and they want to beat us. So we don't take none of these games or we don't take none of these weeks for granted. We always want to come in and prepare and make sure that we're ready going into the, you know, to the next contest. But for your second answer, I would say for me, for me, my whole thing is just being consistent.
01:16:43
Speaker
Stay consistent, do what I do best, run the floor, make shots, make free throws, have an impact with my energy. Because the team really rallies around me, so just stay even, kill. I feel like I'm doing very well of getting myself to the line and being very efficient. As far as my last couple of games, I haven't really missed probably more than six shots in total.
01:17:08
Speaker
Last game was 10 for 13 with 26 points. So just stay consistent, stay even kill and keep being a leader on and off the court and letting the team know that, hey, I got your back regardless if you make shots or you miss shots. We're not gonna always make shots, but well, we have the same goals, same mindset, and we all have positive energy. And that starts with me and Blake in particular.
01:17:36
Speaker
as we stay right there and stay positive with our group, then we'll get to those hard times and those games where we're getting battle tested and we'll push through. So for me, it's all about leadership and being consistent the whole time. Are there any teams out there that you have on your radar that you think are going to be quite challenging? Because I know that you're preparing to play the Falcons, Newcastle Falcons, this weekend. Is that someone that you can see as a bit of a challenge?
01:18:05
Speaker
Yeah, Newcastle got some good guys, at least four guys that, you know, scoring double digits. They have cherry, big solid, big solid big that likes to score. So that's my new challenge of the week. And, you know, this is sort of our road stretch. I feel like this is like a whole new season for us because the first half was like, okay, can we win and can we be consistent and can we finish out games how we, you know, how we supposed to.
01:18:33
Speaker
you know, before we get on the, before we get here. So we was already kind of foreshadowing like, okay, we need to handle business until we get to the second part of the season. Now that we're at kind of almost at the halfway mark, it's for me, it's almost like a new season for me, because all the rest of these games are going to be on the road. And you know, it's hard to win on the road going to somebody else's house, their crowd and their people and their reps. Um,
01:19:01
Speaker
It's just gonna be, it's gonna be a fun road, but it's gonna be challenging this too. And I really can't wait to just, you know, get a lot of these games under our belt fires on the road. I look at us as a villain, like the villain team. And I embrace that very well, going into other people's home and, you know, getting that win over them. So Newcastle would be one. North is really good.
01:19:27
Speaker
Ella Warren would be a good test. And Canberra would be another good test for us as well. And we play a lot of them on the road, so there's going to be a lot of really good games. And we have to make sure that we come in with the right mindset, focus, making sure that we're going over the scout, we're looking over film. And we're ready to prepare it and always tell our team before every
01:19:50
Speaker
really before every away game that we have to come in here with the mindset that we're already down 10. We don't have, you know, room for error to start slow and try to fight your way back. Because you might not always get the outcome that you want if you don't start the way, you know, start games how you're supposed to start. So a couple of those games and those guys looking forward to playing would be some good challenges, not only for me, but just for as a team as a whole. And we just can't wait to see how Moses as a group
01:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, you got the next six games on the road. It's a lot of games on the road in a row. So you got Newcastle, Maitland, Canberra Gunners, Illawarra Hawks, City Comets, and Panerith Panthers before you finally return home on June 24th to play Newcastle again. So yeah, that's, that's quite a stretch. Geez. Yeah, that's a brutal draw. It's fun. I mean, that's what, let's just play basketball for it to go through the highs and the lows and the
01:20:51
Speaker
and the tough road, you know, traveling. So I'm actually excited to see a couple of these nice gyms. I know it's going to be pretty cold. Some of them are going to be pretty cold, but I know, like, Comet's got a nice gym. Canberra has a nice gym. Illinois has an amazing court. So I just can't wait to go in there and, you know, see the fans get booed and, you know, trying to hush them up, really.
01:21:14
Speaker
Make sure you don't step on the sideline at Comets. It courts a couple of feet skinny. In both directions. I don't think it's a regulation size court in length, so you'll be able to run double. Oh, that's good. As long as I can outrun my mess, I'm fine.
01:21:38
Speaker
Now, conscious of time, the last question we've got before we reveal our all-star five for round seven is, who is CB off the court? Man, who is CB off the court? CB is first a father.
01:21:54
Speaker
I'm a person that always calling, checking at home with my four-year-old who's very proud to say back home to all her friends and teachers that my daddy is playing in Australia.
Chris Bryant's Personal Interests
01:22:06
Speaker
So I'm a family man first. I love music.
01:22:11
Speaker
I love joking around, being around the guys. I like skating, like actually rollerblading, like going out and doing new things. I like to eat. So maybe we all get a chance to go to a buffet or something, get something to eat, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's a couple of good places, but CB is a very chill, relaxed guy. Really, I just like to, I stay, basketball stays on my mind 24-7, so.
01:22:39
Speaker
Even when I'm off the court, I feel like I'm still working. I feel like either I'm talking to somebody about basketball or I'm promoting myself, putting myself out there or just doing like, I would say like before this last game, I watched basketball the whole day in the way, cause you know, NBA here is in the morning. So I wake up and it's like,
01:23:04
Speaker
three playoff games, so I'm watching those, then I'm watching film, and then I'm watching, you know, teams around the league, so I watched the Bankstown game, I watched the comments game, I even watched some of our girls' game and the Bankstown girls' game, was able to watch that game. And, you know, it just had me excited. Like, man, I can't wait to play, so I'm always just looking and learning and trying to get better.
01:23:31
Speaker
and just relaxing on my off time and just you know just being a regular just trying to be a regular person really like everybody else you know my job is just to play basketball that's all and I'm just blessed to be able to do that. The all-consuming lifestyle of an athlete it sounds pretty sounds pretty cool and I'm glad that you're here to do it in our NBL1 East League I mean I'm sure you could have I don't know if you've watched many games of other conferences but typically North and South are
01:23:58
Speaker
known to be the stronger conferences.
NBL1 East League Improvements
01:24:01
Speaker
But I certainly think that MBL One East has only been around now in its second year. And it's already in a year has gone up a notch in the standard of talent and play. So
01:24:12
Speaker
We're very lucky that you have come to play in the East and I'm so glad to hear that you're making the most of it. It sounds like you're having a great time while you're in Sydney too. But before we wrap up, as we do with every episode, CB, we give it all-star five for the round. And I'm going to throw to Lockie. He's going to do the women's all-star five for round seven now.
01:24:38
Speaker
Welcome to chime in with any kind of two cents you may have for our All-Stars as well. So don't feel like you have to sit this one out, but we'd love to hear your opinions if you've got it. So Locky, I'll take it over to you. I'm very keen to hear this Women's All-Star five around seven, because it would have been another hard round to pick.
01:25:00
Speaker
Yeah, fortunately there were only, um, seven games, which was made it a fair bit easier. Cause I think the last time I did a women's all-star five, we had 13 or 14 games to pick from. But, uh, so I think CB will actually be pretty happy with my all-star five because we're going to lead it off with Leilani Mitchell again, 25 points, two rebounds and nine assists in that, uh, win over the central coast.
01:25:25
Speaker
And of course, can't go past Michaela Dompkins also from Inner West with another outstanding performance of 26 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, three steals, and a block. And that 18 rebounds, well, that's, that's probably below average for her, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, when I seen it on the statue, I was like, man, I need to step my game up.
01:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, definitely shout out to the NOS women's team, Miss Donna over there representing. She's definitely a tough cookie, but she expects the best out of them. So I'm proud of Leilani, and I'm proud of all the girls getting the ball rolling for them. And I'm glad that they're able to make this accomplishment.
01:26:12
Speaker
So, I'm sure our boy Sammy Mack down on the banks of the Murray will be very happy with my next one because it's Lizzie Murphy. 28 points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals, eight of 10 from beyond the arc in an 86-68 win over Penderith. I just want to give a bit of context to this performance because I don't think it's getting as much love as it should. So, most threads in the game this season in MBL1 East Women's, we got Cezie Matthews knocked down nine in a game.
01:26:40
Speaker
And then on eight, we have Vanessa Penusis, Leilani Mitchell and 16 year old Lizzie Murphy. Wow. Those, you know, put her in that company. So I think, uh, yeah, she should be getting a lot more love than she is for that ridiculous performance.
01:26:59
Speaker
Next up is Sydney Hunter from Maitland, had 21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, 7-12 from the field, 7-7 at the charity stripe to help Maitland over the line against Hills with a 69-59 win.
All-Star Five and Standout Players
01:27:16
Speaker
And then rounding it out is Violet Morrow of Bankstown, big 30.10 rebound towards this three-steel game in a 91-60 win over Hornsby. But just with a few honorable mentions, Shyla Hill, 28-6, good at the line, shooting percentage from the field, not quite at her usual standards. Tyler Mundine, Meg Jefferson both had 20-point games. Jada Croucher, a big double-double. Lauren Nicholson as well.
01:27:46
Speaker
and Emma Mahade, Mahadi and Kate Cebom both nearly on the way to triple doubles but not quite getting one. So definitely a lot of high-level players there. So yeah, there's my five. Yeah, shout out to Violet Morrow. I actually got a chance to meet her and a very beautiful person and got a chance to watch her game and she actually got a chance to come to my game
01:28:14
Speaker
watch me play as well. I think we had a little bit about who gets the most points, but you know, she had, she had 30 and 10 and I had 26 and six. I don't think it's a smart bet for anyone going head to head on that. What's the name of that girl, Kathy? Yeah.
01:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, talk about someone who didn't need a lot of the time adjusting to the league. Like, she's just turned up and it's like, yeah, I'll play. And she's just dominated ever since she got here. Yeah, she's amazing. Just watching her play and, you know, put up those threes, how she how she do. I'd be amazed myself. So we have like a little small, little battles about, you know, who could shoot better. I'm like, well, you can't dunk. So, you know, I'm winning that. She's doing that thing proud of her.
01:29:06
Speaker
Challenge to Violet Morrow if you ever hear this to be able to dunk by the end of the MBL1E season just to get one up on CB. All right, so I'll take us through. I was tasked with the men All-Star 5 and I had a short list of 14 players, so cutting it down to five was really, really difficult.
01:29:29
Speaker
But at the top I've got Brennan Reimer from North's Bears. He had 37 points and 5 assists and his shooting percentage increased dramatically from last round to this round shooting at 54%.
01:29:42
Speaker
So that's a huge effort considering that was over against Illawarra Hawks and not having the likes of Junior Medut. So Brennan Reimer really taking in some stepping up with some scoring responsibilities there. But in the same game, got to give a shout out to Philip Duput who had 30 points and 15 rebounds shooting at 50%, also having to step up quite a bit in the absence of a lot of
01:30:10
Speaker
star players from that Illawarra Hawks lineup. Then we had Jameer Coleman from the Albury-Wodonga Bandits. We had 25 points, 10 rebounds, 3-6 and 6 steals against the Panerith Panthers, also with a very handy 44% from the field goal percentage. So this is how like
01:30:29
Speaker
This is how much we have to look into it now for these All-Star fives, because when they're rounds and rounds and rounds of great stats, I have to resort to field goal percentages. And I think it's going to get to a stage where I'm going to have to resort to turnovers, win losses, and things like that. It's getting that tight. I got two more to go, CB. The first one being your boy Blake Morrow.
01:30:53
Speaker
from the inner west balls of 21 points, seven rebounds, nine assists, flirting with the triple double against the central coast crusaders. We call them mullet man. Mullet man. I got to remember that. I got to remember that when you guys come and play at Terrigal against the crusaders again. So when I'm behind the commentary box, I got to try and remember to refer to Blake as mullet man.
01:31:19
Speaker
I'll send it to you. Yeah, good. Thank you. I got one more spot in this five CB. Can you help me out? Who's going to get the fifth spot? Oh man, no other than your boy. Yeah, it's got to be CB. It's got to be CB himself. The 26.6 rebounds and three steals also against the Central Coast Crusaders. Thought I'd just kind of like tease you there. Just dangle it there at the end there, trying to make you sweat to see if you're going to get that fifth spot. But you knew, you knew you got it. Yeah, I know I had it in the bag.
Closing Remarks and Updates
01:31:52
Speaker
And with that, that wraps up our episode for East Got Game covering round seven of the MBL One East 2023 competition. Chris, it has been an absolute pleasure to have you as a guest for this episode. Really, really appreciate you coming on. I'm sure you were really well and truly starving by now, so we'll let you go and have some dinner.
01:32:17
Speaker
but truly appreciative of your time and sharing your story and I'm so glad you did because what a story it is and how you got here and manifesting for you that your career keeps growing and that you get a get at least a training camp opportunity with an MBL team while you're here so yeah all the best to you. Thank you and I just want to thank you guys for just
01:32:39
Speaker
give me the opportunity to come on here and, you know, have some fun and chat some light on my story and also just with the team as well. So I just want to thank you guys for the opportunity. Really excited. It was really fun. Just can't wait to see you guys in person. Yes. Yes. Well, I have to wait a whole seven rounds, I think, until you're at Terry Gold. But we'll see you nonetheless. And Locky, as always, thank you for your hard work and dedication to eScott game.
01:33:06
Speaker
You've got some news and gossip. We forgot news and gossip, didn't we? We've got just a couple of things, news and gossip. So while I was up at Manly, um, unfortunately, um, sorry, Mowbray didn't play. Um, she is not on crutches, but using a crutch with an ankle injury. Uh, Zoe Miller did play MBL one, but she didn't back up in youth league.
01:33:28
Speaker
Big congratulations to Illawarra's Noah Pagotto via Port Macquarie. He has committed to West Texas A&M University. And finally, this Friday night down at Sydney Uni, 5.30pm, 7.30pm, we've got UBL basketball, UTS taking on Sydney Uni, probably 12 or 13 MBL one East players in each of the women's and men's games. The teams are flying high with just two rounds to play.
01:33:58
Speaker
So that will be live streamed or get down to Sydney Uni and catch some of our emerging stars. Carla Pittman, Alex K. Roos, Maddie Wacham, Mikey Young, Alex Higgins-Titcher, Nico Timonera, plenty of big names up there. They're young, but it's going to be a fun night of basketball and I will certainly be there. My boys, shout out to Nico, shout out to Alex.
01:34:25
Speaker
I think, I think the only thing I have really for news and gossip was that, uh, Nae Sakya from Penrose was clocked at playing only two minutes 45 against the bandits. And it turns out he wasn't even there. So, uh, not too sure how he managed to clock up some minutes where the game that he didn't even attend. But, uh, the other thing was Shyla Hill tweeted a very Brianna Stewart style cryptic tweet.
01:34:50
Speaker
with all emojis, probably hinting that she is likely to likely have secured an overseas contract when she's going to go. We don't know. We do know that, you know, she's in contention for the Opals team for the Asia Cup in a couple of months time. But my guess is that she's booked herself a European contract and we likely won't see her for the next WMBL season. So if that's the case, Shyla, congratulations. And we hope
01:35:16
Speaker
We hope to see you in a European uniform because I think it's going to be super exciting for you. So that's the only goss I got. But otherwise, thanks again to both of you for an excellent episode and for all the listeners. Thanks for listening, subscribing, liking, and we'll see you for the next episode.