Photo by: KoreamJournal

Kelvin Kim is special not only because he is the third baller that we interviewed. He is more than that.

If you are a basketball fan living in the state of California, then you have probably heard of Kelvin Kim. Kelvin has gained himself some mad fame by becoming the first Korean and Asian to ever play on the prestigious UCLA Men’s Varsity Basketball Team.

Despite having a prolific high school career at El Toro High School in Orange Country California, where he was named 2004 South Coast League MVP, Kelvin has always had his share of doubters. Many judged Kelvin’s game by his height and claimed that he is fit for the Junior College level or prophesized that Kelvin will never play at the next level. But the doubters did not bother Kelvin who kept on playing and proving himself on the court. During Kelvin’s Senior year of high school, he got some scholarship offers from the east coast schools such as Boston University, Colgate, Columbia University, and many more. But Kelvin chose to walk on as a freshmen to UCLA to be close to his family.

“I didn’t know if I was ready to move that far and I really wanted to focus on academics [and] basketball. I tried to find a school that fit both of those needs. Kelvin’s parents, co-owners of a small construction business in Orange County, could make the short commute to Westwood to see Kelvin play.

Before transfering to UCSD (He is a junior now), Kelvin was AKA the Chosen One at UCLA. Although playing sparingly as a walk on freshmen, Kelvin’s popularity rose rapidly as the fans started recognizing the 5’5” Asian guy on the team that sat on the bench amongst the 6’6”s. The UCLA student section, a passionate group known as The Den, would chant Kelvin’s name “Kel-Vin, Kel-Vin” and UCLA Coach Ben Howland would finally bow to crowd pressure and insert him into the game.

This was two years ago.

Last year, Kelvin brought his game to a different University of California School, UCSD. Although he transfered schools, Kelvin continued to electrify the crowd. “I made the decision to transfer from UCLA at the end of last season.” Kim explained. “I just wanted to go to another school where I’d have a better opportunity to play ball.”

At UCSD, Kelvin has achieved his wish. Kindly listed at 5′10 in the profiles, Kelvin’s name sits in the roster of the University of California San Diego’s Men’s Varsity Basketball Team. His bulky build (alliteration) seems suited for a wrestler’s or a football player’s. Nevertheless, Kelvin is a baller, a very good one. As the starting point guard of the UCSD Men’s Varsity basketball team last year as a sophomore. He averaged 8.8 points per game and led the Tritons in assists (3.8) and 3-point percentage (50).

After having a successful season at UCSD, Kelvin is breaking the sweats and hitting the weights for a marvelous junior year. “My strengths are my shooting and my passing ability”. He also emphasizes the need to use his head in the game to overcome the size deficit. “I can’t dunk. I really can’t”. For a NCAA player to be not dunking is a shame.

Such a sin can be forgiven only in the case of the awesome “Kel-vin Kim,” who sat down with us to talk about his career as a basketball player.

Before listening to the interview, watch this video for some background information about him.

Click here to listen to the interview. [Right click the link, and save as to download]

As usual, here’s the table of contents.

• Opening
• Introduction
• Who Is Kelvin Kim?
• Basketball @UCLA
• Kelvin’s Style Of Basketball
• What He’s Working On
• His Height Disadvantage
• High School To College
• Why UCLA
• Other Asian Players?
• His Interest In Playing In Korea
• His Goal As A Player
• Inspiratioal Speech
• Can he Dunk…?
• Inspirational Speech
• Closing

Photo by: draftexpress

Not too long after the start of the 2007-2008 season, the ACC powerhouse University of Maryland men’s varsity basketball team received its first commitment of the class of 2009. His name is Jin Soo Kim. Standing 6-foot-9, weighing 170 pounds, Jin Soo Kim plays the shooting guard or small forward position, depending on the needs of his team. By signing with Maryland, Jin Soo becomes the first Korean player to ever play in the NCAA division one basketball leagues.

Looking back, it was not an easy route that awaited Jin Soo, who first came to America in 2004 as a freshman in high school. After getting recruited at the Adidas All American Camp, Jin Soo’s quest to the promised land began. Despite risking many things, Jin Soo came to the US to achieve his goal of playing in the NBA. But let alone the NBA dream. For a guy who has never lived in the US before, English was a primary problem. Now knowing the language, there was not much Jin Soo could do in the classroom. “The first year was one of the hardest times of my life”, confesses JInsoo who states that he thought about going back to Korea countless times.

As a freshman, Jin Soo was a starting forward for Montclair Prep, a strong basketball school in California. But to fill his needs of playing at the highest level of high school basketball, Jin Soo transfered to South Kent School of Connecticut, one of the best basketball schools in the country. Now, Jin Soo ranks as one of the top 25 class of ’08 shooting guard prospects and has verbally committed to play with the University of Maryland Terrapins.

“Many elite basketball programs recruited me. Yale University, Stanford University, Duke, University of North Carolina were interested in me. But coach Williams (Coach of Maryland) and the needs of the team seemed to fit me the best,” explains Jin Soo on his decision to attend University of Maryland.

This triumphant victory seems to mean a lot for the Korean basketball fans who have been desperate to see a Korean native in the big leagues. Japan’s had its KJ Matsui, China’s had it’s Derrick Low but Korea has never had a native make it to the promised land. By passing the last obstacle (the University of Maryland SAT cut off score of 650) , Jin Soo is now officially qualified to play in the big leagues, and maybe even more.

“It was disappointing how I wasn’t getting any playing time”

After missing one game during his freshman year when his grandfather, who lived with him growing up, had a severe stroke, he never played. Never.

He had a great preseason that year. “The coach was very happy with how things were going,” said Ko. “But from that day, I never played.”

Obviously, he had some conflicts with his coach.

“But I kept working hard. I kept hitting the weights. I wanted to improve.”

The “0″ playing time did not discourage him to play basketball. He still loved the game.

He did not mention if the conflict between the coach was racial, but he did mention the quote of the year.

“On the basketball court, race doesn’t matter”

Of course, race doesn’t matter on or off the court. But it shouldn’t matter even more on the basketball court.

Read his blog here.

Listen to the interview here with Kosaku Yada who will play in bJ League next year. [right click the link "here" and save as to download].

Here are the table of contents.

• Introduction
• Ko’s Introduction
• Why He Chose Basketball
• High School Basketball
• Ko’s Position
• College Recruits
• Academics
• His Playing Time
• “Keep On Playing”
• Going Pro In Japan
• Japanese and American Basketball
• What Ko’s Working On
• Possible Career in Korea?
• Ultimate Dream
• Ko on “GIRLS”
• Inspirational Speech
• Closing

Click on Picture for Highlights of 2002 Asian Games men’s basketball finals. (Korea vs China).

Photo by: Asia-Basket

It was a thrilling victory for the South Koreans who did not win a game against China since 1982. Some people call it a “upset” but for others it was an expected win.

On the Finals of the 2002 Asian Games Men’s Basketball Championship, the unknown Korean Men’s basketball team defeated the Chinese team that had two current NBA players Yao Ming and Mangke Bateer. The score was 102-100. Yao, taken first over all in the 2002 N.B.A. draft by the Houston Rockets, had 23 points and 22 rebounds for China, which led by 84-71 with slightly more than three minutes left.

With 25.5 seconds left in the game, the Chinese were in the lead 90-83. “At that point, we were hoping for a miracle”, says the starting point guard of Korea at that time Lee Sang Min. Little did he know that a miracle would really happen. When China was inbounding the ball, the speedy Korean guard Kim Seung Hyun stole the ball and assisted Hyun Ju Yup to score an easy two. After about five seconds, Kim Seung Hyun stole the ball again and this time Assisted Moon Gyung Eun for a three point shot. The Koreans had scored 5 points in approximately 5 seconds. Then Koreans decided to intentionally foul in hopes of the Chinese missing the free throws. The Chinese guard Wu Heidong, a very high percentage free throw shooter, missed both free throws, giving the ball in Korea’s hands with 10 seconds to go with 2 down. There was no strategy. Hyun Joo Yup, the small forward of the Korean team drove into the basketball, made a spin mood, and double faked his defender and tied the game. The champion would be decided in overtime.

In the overtime, the Korean team played with heart and heart alone. Once again there was no strategy. “We didn’t really have a set offense at that point. Everybody knew where to be and what to do”. What a coincidence.. In the end, Korea defeated China 102-100 in overtime and became the champions of the 2002 Asian Games.

Looking at Korea’s victory, one can point out the importance of heart in basketball. China, who had a 7′5 center and a 6′5 point guard had a far taller team than Korea. But in the end, the heart defeated height.

Photo by: Michael McCann

“I don’t have a nickname. I’m just Yuta”. Yuta Tabuse (pronounced Ta-BOO-say) is the first player with Japanese Nationality to play in the NBA. The Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, and the Los Angeles Clippers are all teams that were interested in Tabuse’s game. After getting on the roster of a bunch of summer league teams, Tabuse intrigued many NBA executives with his flashy playing style–think Jason Williams the Pre-Hubie Brown Version).

Unfortunately for Yuta, there are many obstacles that may get on his way from playing with the “big boys”. For one, Yuta is only 5′9 and weights 165 pounds. For a guy who is trying to play in a league where the average height and weight are 6′7 and 225, yeah. But the NBA has had some short, and small successful players. Spud Webb, Earl Boykins, Mugsy Bogues, and Jemeil Rich were all under 5′10. Tabuse also possesses a rather modest background for an NBA prospect, having only played in Division II college basketball (at BYU-Hawill), as well as playing in the ABA, the minor leagues of professional basketball.

Despite all these hardships, Yuta’s future seems to be open like a basket waiting to be slammed on by Vince Carter. Due to his popularity in Japan, and the erratic style of play, Yuta is making many NBA scouts and executives want him on their teams. The attempt of the NBA to attract a more global audience seems to help Yuta as well. Even though he is 27 years old, in a world where the top 10 picks are almost always under the age of 19, Yuta is still a considerable prospect.

So will Yuta Tabuse be the Hideki Matsui of the NBA? Perhaps, he will get out of the zone that so many players are struggling to get out of. From stardom in the minor leagues, to the bench warmer in the NBA, only time will tell.

Photo: Getty Images

For the South Koreans who had not won a game against China since 1982, the victory was sweet as honey. Maybe even sweeter.

On the Finals of the 2002 Asian Games Men’s Basketball Championship, the unknown Korean Men’s basketball team defeated the Chinese team that had two current NBA players Yao Ming and Mangke Bateer. The score was 102-100. Yao, taken first over all in the 2002 N.B.A. draft by the Houston Rockets, had 23 points and 22 rebounds for China, which led by 84-71 with slightly more than three minutes left.

With 25.5 seconds left in the game, the Chinese were in the lead 90-83. “At that point, we were hoping for a miracle”, says the starting point guard of Korea at that time Lee Sang Min. Little did he know that a miracle would really happen. When China was inbounding the ball, the speedy Korean guard Kim Seung Hyun stole the ball and assisted Hyun Ju Yup to score an easy two. After about five seconds, Kim Seung Hyun stole the ball again and this time Assisted Moon Gyung Eun for a three point shot. The Koreans had scored 5 points in approximately 5 seconds. Then Koreans decided to intentionally foul in hopes of the Chinese missing the free throws. The Chinese guard Wu Heidong, a very high percentage free throw shooter, missed both free throws, giving the ball in Korea’s hands with 10 seconds to go with 2 down. There was no strategy. Hyun Joo Yup, the small forward of the Korean team drove into the basketball, made a spin mood, and double faked his defender and tied the game. The champion would be decided in overtime.

In the overtime, the Korean team played with heart and heart alone. Once again there was no strategy. “We didn’t really have a set offense at that point. Everybody knew where to be and what to do”. What a coincidence.. In the end, Korea defeated China 102-100 in overtime and became the champions of the 2002 Asian Games.

Looking at Korea’s victory, one can point out the importance of heart in basketball. China, who had a 7?5 center and a 6?5 point guard had a far taller team than Korea. But in the end, the heart defeated height.

Hello Basketball Fans! A nice present for you is on the way!

An exclusive interview with a Japanese Baller from Harvard University(?!) who is preparing for a crazy season in the BJ professional leagues in Japan sat with us on skype for a podcast interview. Soon we will be posting up the interview so keep checking!

Many of you who dream of playing ball professionally may have opposing parents that are worried about your academics. But what if you could have the best of both worlds? Kosaku Yada, called by his friends as “Ko”, has had a fabulous life in both worlds.

Growing up in a small town and attending a small school in Newport, Oregon, Ko was always the center of attention by his teachers, and by his coaches. “In most of my AP classes, there were only two students. So it was like private tutoring”. This enabled Ko to keep up his grades in school. On the basketball court, Ko’s performance steadily improved. Playing on a top AAU team and all state selections his junior and senior years in high school were not everything that Ko had to offer. “After graduating, I was invited to play at an Western All Star Camp and that’s when the college coaches really started recruiting me”. Ko says that at this camp, coaches from a variety of Ivy League schools and the Naval Academy started recruiting Ko. At the end, the decision was between Harvard and Naval Academy and Ko chose to attend Harvard University. “I had to look in the long run in case the basketball thing didn’t work out”.

After coming to Harvard, Ko’s basketball life was not what Ko had hoped it to be. “My sophmore year I missed a game due to personal issues and after that I never played”. Clearly, the coach seemed to have had something against Ko. After deliberating a lot on transfering to another school, Ko decided to quit the team his senior year.

After graduating from Harvard, Ko flew all the way to Japan to play in a basketball league. “A coach offered me to play on his team right away after seeing me play”. One could see that Ko’s physical aspects and his shooting ability made the coach want Ko on his team.. And now, Ko is preparing for his first season in Japan.

“I think that my biggest strength is my shooting. I can shoot from anywhere anytime”.

A Japanese baller that went to Harvard. That is something that the media would go crazy for. We were fortunate to interview this sensation before he was exposed to the national media in Japan.

So keep checking for our soon to be posted ALL EXCLUSIVE interview with Ko Yada, the first baller from Harvard University!

Photo by: IvyleagueSports

An Asian basketball player who’s only 6’2” (with shoes) throwing the ball up in the air, catching it with one hand to finish it off with a slam dunk is not the typical image you have about Asian basketball players. In fact many of you will be saying “Asian basketball players?” Some of you will go, “Do they even exist other than Yao Ming? ”

Despite all these doubts, KJ Matsui has succeeded in making a name for himself in Manhattan. An Asian baller that made it to the promised land, the NCAA division one basketball league, KJ Matsui, starting shooting guard of the Columbia Lions basketball team decided to join us and talk a little about his basketball life and educational life.

First, here’s a quick video from Youtube about KJ.

Yes, as we previously said he sat with us on Skype to have a nice little conversation. You can listen to the conversation below. Rather than like an official interview, it was more like a friendly conversation. So, what did we talk about? Here’s the table of contents.

• Us Introducing Ourselves To KJ
• KJ Introducing Himself
• KJ’s College Offers
• KJ’s Pre-Game Routine
• KJ’s Childhood Basketball
• KJ On His Game
• KJ’s Dream
• KJ On Japanese And American Basketball
• KJ’s Attitude Toward Studying
• KJ’s Social Life
• Words Of Advice From KJ

Listen to the conversation here. You can also download it to your iTunes [right-click the link and click “save link as” or “save target,” then open with iTunes the link above].

“My goal is to go to NBA, but I don’t think the chances are high,” said KJ. Even though humble he is, he still dreams to go to NBA.

Whether he makes it to the NBA or not, Matsui’s accomplishments are certainly one of a kind. And the words of advice at the end of the conversation should be a good inspiration for those of you ambitious to play basketball in the NCAA.

Photo by: Pictopia

Growing up in Japan, Matsui was more used to “slurping” his noodles. He says he really enjoys the sound. But he says that in America, he tries to get rid of the slurping. Other than this slurping problem, Matsui’s stay in America according to Matsui, causes him to change a lot of his old habits related and unrelated to basketball.

Matsui first came to America to attend Montrose Christian high school in Maryland to play basketball for the famous coach Stu Vetter. “When I was in 8th grade, my coach came to Japan for the Nike All Asia Camp and there I asked him if I could play on his team”. “The coach said yes after I proved that I can play at his level”.

With his blunt courage, Matsui suceeded in bringing his game to another level. In America, Matsui started dominating both in the classroom and on the basketball court. By his sophmore year at Montrose, schools came running to recruit Matsui who had a 4.0 GPA and a hot hand from the trey. “University of Richmond, Princeton, Cornell, University of Portland, and Davidson all started recruiting me since my sophmore year”.
“I had a big time offer from University of North Carolina to play one year walk on and then next scholarship. But the education and the location of the Columbia University was what made me commit to Columbia”.
Matsui says that he did not want to risk going to UNC where he was not guaranteed playing time. “They said I might play if I try hard, but I didn’t want to risk it”. “Also, coach Jones (Current coach) recruited me really hard”.

Now, Matsui has turned into a combination of Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan. A prolific shooter and a strong leader of his team.

Perhaps, soon, I will have my first NBA player friend.

Photo by: Jenatknox

Like there are the Major Leagues, the AAA, AA, and the A in baseball, there are many levels in basketball too. Among those levels, where do you think Korean basketball lays? Pretty low, no? In fact, some of you might even say your local varsity high school team might beat the Korean national team.

“Eui Kwon Jung is a six foot six ( pretty tall for an Asian eh?) forward that is both capable or running and dunking, two things Asians over the height of 6’3 are known to be incapable of doing.

Eui Kwon had lots and lots to say about Asia and Korean basketball.

Jung’s face showed a lot of regret for Korean basketball. When asked how it feels to be underrated just because he is Asian he said

“I think that Asia is known more as a soccer continent. Also most Asians are short compared to the Western people made people think that Asians cannot play basketball”

When I asked Jung about the difference between American and Korean basketball, to my surprise, Jung pointed out the culture. “Korean players are like robots. They play basketball with no heart” “It’ s like a job” But American players have lots of heart”

As if they had been playing basketball for 15 hours a day, (actually some teams do), the eyes of the players are like those of helpless dogs in an experiment.

I didn’t have to ask to figure that the word ‘fun’ didn’t exist in Korean basketball.

A wise man once said, “Basketball is played by heart, not height”. Jung and I both agreed that the program has some major construction to do from the roots.