Qatar Advances To Championship...

Less than 48 hours after suffering a narrow loss to Egypt by six, Qatar stepped onto the same court at the Graffa Stadium to take on the Egyptian National Team and this time delivered a 76-57 blow in the semi finals of the 4th Invitational Friendship Games held in Doha this week. Defense was the order for Qatar as they held Egypt to 31% shooting for the game. Qatar will now play for the Championship against Kasakhstan, an 87-86 winner over the USA Team Select in the other semi final. Qatar lost to Kazakhstan by five in the 1st round of the tourney. Kazakhstan has not lost in the tournament.

With the championship game being televised on Thursday evening, there was some major concern by the Qatar Basketball Federation that we would not make the final after two close losses. As a coaching staff, we really felt that we would handle Egypt this time around but still held to our schemes of playing different combinations. We have monitored our minutes very closely and have kept our best players getting plenty of rest. One of our "top 10" players had a major meltdown on the bench tonight so the showers came quickly for him. I never overreact to such situations and we are dealing with it in a quiet manner. Tommorrow a decision will be made if he stays or goes. Unfortunately, we will not be able to practice tommorrow morning like we normally do, because in Qatar, Friday is like our Sunday, and we fly on Friday to Taipei. The players have much paperwork and arrangements to make before we fly so tommorrow is their only chance. So much for championship preparation. Never a dull moment in international basketball.

Qatar Loses Two of Three

Three days, three games, and two losses for the Qatar Men's National Team that has a flair for tight games so far this summer. This time around Qatar loses to Kazakhstan National Team 75-70 and Egypt National Team 76-70. Qatar did beat the USA Select Team 89-66. The Semi Finals of the 4th Annual Doha Friendly Tournament will be played on Wednesday, June 27th. Qatar will face Egypt National and Kasakhstan will take on the USA Select. The 3rd Place and Championship Games are on the 28th. Kasakhstan was a tough pill to swallow for Qatar as they we scored 32 points in the 1st Quarter and led for (38) minutes.

The process of this training is so interesting because we are playing both ends against the middle. Winning these games cannot take precedent over trying new material and playing more people. It is such a tug of war inside to not simply go for the victories but we must stay focused on the process. We are trying to pick up the pace offensively and defensivley and when we click, these guys look awesome. When we don't, it gets ugly in a hurry. We have many interesting personalities and again, it apprears that some guys remain on different pages. We keep gravitating back to simplicity rather than more material. It would be nice to just practice rather than play so many games.

Semi Finals on Wednesday

Qatar Defeats Egypt in Thriller

Qatar notched another victory with a 70-66 nailbitter over host Egypt. The Egyptian National Team simply would not go away trailing 50-36 late in the 3rd Quarter. With (1) minute remaining, Qatar led 64-61 and 67-64 with 30 seconds. Qatar's Match Up Zone kept Egypt at bay, holding the host to 29% shooting. Qatar nailed 10 of 24 three point attempts and shot 87% from the freethrow line. Qatar will fly today back to Doha and begin preparations on Friday evening for a (5) team round robin. Teams involved besides Qatar will be Algeria, USA Select, Khazistan, and Egypt. Championship will be played on June 28th.

We are getting better, inch by inch. Still have some egos to move and opening up our transition has been difficult. If you could see the extreme fouling on the players, you would be amazed. Many times it resembles All Star Wrestling with a basketball. The players have held their composure well and have been physical back. Point guard position productivity remains an issue. I have a projection screen set up in the hotel room and watching a ton of tape. So much to teach and so little time. Learning on the fly!!

Greetings from Egypt

The Qatar Men's National Basketball Team has now traveled to Alexandria, Egypt for their next training camp. We flew in on the 17th of June and will leave on the 21st to fly back to Doha. It was another long day of travel, leaving Slovenia at 2pm and arriving in Alexandria at 4am the next day. Alexandria is a city of 5 million plus and our hotel, the Renaissance is located right on the Mediterranean Sea so is it a spectacular view. It has been quite a change again in climate and we are having trouble keeping huge amounts of sweat off the gym floor. Our game with the Egytian National Team was moved back until this Wednesday due to our late travel. Alexandria is an old city with narrow streets and crazy traffic. There are NO crosswalks anywhere so men, women, and children, simply strategically walk across (4) bumper to bumper crazy lanes of traffic, stopping on the white lines as vehicles fly past them. It is a game of vehicle russian roulette. You would not believe it. We bus to our gym twice a day and you need to hang onto your seat as the bus drivers weaves and flies past cars, talking on his cell phone. We have held a second round of individual player meetings and it is extremely interesting to hear their perspective on how the team and they as individuals are doing. We look forward to our next exam on Wednesday.

Qatar Comeback Tips Slovenia

Trailing 55-42 with (6) minutes left in the 3rd Quarter, Qatar ourscores Slovenia National Team 23-9 to take a 65-64 lead heading into the 4th. Qatar wins the contest 93-86. Slovenia shoots an outstanding 50% from the field including 11/27 from behind the arc. Qatar counters with 56% shooting and knocked down 29 of 41 freethrows for 70%. (6) players scored in double figures for Qatar. Slovenia had two very good point guards that could penetrate and dish or kick and we struggle with them. We made two major adjustments in the 2nd half, going to a 2-3 match up zone and running our open zone offense versus their man to keep our guys tighter to the basket. They seemed much more comfortable when we made these changes. Played only (7) guys double minutes so the day off today will be great for their legs. I will spend the day, cutting film to get ready for tommorrow. We have much to review as we are now getting a much better feel for this team. We fly to Egypt on Saturday and play their National Team on Sunday.

Qatar Defeats Finland

Finally... we get to play a real game and with good results- Qatar 80 - Finland 63. We traveled two hours and had some good preparation. Both teams combined for (11) straight made fieldgoals to start the game. Our Run and Jump Press started to take control in the 2nd quarter and we raced to the win. I forgot how fast the international game is. You barely have time to breath and think at the same time. (I had to give up the breathing) (24) second clock is fast and when the ball goes out of bounds, it is coming back in right now!! For us, (4) players in double figures and (3) others with eight points each. We shoot 58% while holding Finland to 43%. The players tell us they feel well rested so that is a very good sign. We play Slovenia's National Team today. The game is here is Kranjska Gora. Coach Gardow and I are reconnected at the hip in our thinking and that has made the process go much more smoothly. Coach Westlake is learning quickly about my expectations and coaching style. Coach Burgess is doing a great job with strength and conditioning. We have done nothing but take steps forward and I certainly expect that to continue.

Camp Eddie Continues...

After 5 tough days of individual instruction, film, strength training, treatment, scrimmages, conditioning, and meetings, we took a day off on Wednesday, June 6th. The coaches and players and staff were pretty well spent. Our staff took a short trip by van to Venice, Italy leaving at 6am and arriving back at 10pm. Quite simply, I can only say WOW. To travel the streets and alleys of Venice by boat and look at the beautiful architecture, pillars, shops, and cathedrals, is quite breathtaking. It is more than you can imagine. As for the Qatar National team, we are improving. It is an interesting process, to free up their minds, allowing them to use their athleticism with some structure. We had a (40) minute Maroon/White scrimmage with officials Tuesday and that helped us locate some strengths and weaknesses. Our first outside game will be Monday, June 11th. Our team combined to shoot (61) three pointers in the scrimmage hitting only 29%. We want to become an inside team first, so this has been addressed. We are still working 6 hours per day and the team has responded in a very positive manner. They have a tremendous work ethic and a great desire to succeed.

Greetings From Slovenia

After a 17 hour travel day from Doha on Thursday, we have arrived in the mountains of Slovenia. We are (4) kilometers from Italy and (6) from Austria. The view is breathtaking and the temperature is welcome. It was 122 degrees in Doha on Tuesday and 60 degrees here today. Having arrived at the hotel at 5am this morning, we will have a late lunch with the team today, and let the team do some resting and exploring. Meetings will be held this evening and we will kick off our camp on Saturday. Besides Coach Gardow and Coach Westlake, our strength and conditioning coach is Will Burgess. Will is from New Orleans and played college football at Samford. Will has been working with the National Basketball team for the past two years.