Bill Harris Q & A: "Basketball in India is a goldmine waiting to be developed"

A little more than a week ago, former Wheaton college basketball coach William (Bill) Harris was appointed as the head coach of the Indian Senior Men's Basketball team for the upcoming Asian Games. Harris is currently in Chennai working with the select squad to prepare them for the tournament to be held in Guangzhou (China) in from November 12-27.

Harris has over 30 years of experience as a head coach in the game of basketball across several institutions in the US. He retired from his position from the D-3 Wheaton College in 2009 after 18 successful years.

Before he got a chance to head down to Chennai and meet his team, I got the opportunity to converse with Harris about his decision to come to India, his coaching style, and his vision for basketball in India.

Hoopistani: What inspired you to return to coaching? How did you choose India?

Harris: When I didn't sign a new contract with Wheaton, I hadn't thought to myself that I am retiring from basketball. I love coaching and I love competition - I have a fire in my belly which made me return to the game.

Basketball is an exciting sport - I missed the feeling of walking into a loud arena and being on the sidelines directing the games.

I was initially not aware that there was an opening in the head coach position here. I was motivated to take up this challenge by the NBA and [Director of Basketball Operations-NBA India] Troy Justice who helped me in making this decision. The needs of the Senior Men's team have been described to me as the ones that fill my skill-set. I will be bringing discipline and am known for being a teacher of defensive intensity.

Hoopistani: India is a drastically different environment from your previous coaching jobs. How have you prepared for the challenges you will face here?

Harris: Soon after I accepted this position, I met a number of coaches to get their ideas and suggestions about this assignment over the last month. I have been developing practice plans, too. Facilities are different here - I have learnt that I will have to adjust to all the other things related to organising basketball practicing here, outside of just the coaching.

Hoopistani: What will be your approach when working with the Indian team?

Harris: I will take the first few days to evaluate the talent that I am working with. I want to find the most inspired and the hungriest players. I want to find men who want to compete and want to become better. I will be looking for intensity as well as talent.

We will probably be spending more time dealing with the defensive aspects of the game. One of the reasons I was hired for this job was to implement an intense, team-oriented defensive system. As I coach, I am able to see defensive intangibles that a fan doesn't see. I am looking forward to the challenge of helping this team get better.

Hoopistani: What will be the team's expectations for the Asian Games?

Harris: I'm a blank slate with the team right now. I do not have any result expectations from this team when we go out to the Asian Games. But by the end of my time here, I do expect to have a team that compete as hard as they possibly can. Most importantly, they must understand that basketball is a team sport, and individual recognition will come with team success.

India should understand that the name 'India' on their jersey is important, and not the individual names.

Hoopistani: What is your vision for basketball in India?

Harris: I hope I will be able to help build on the foundation that has been built by the BFI and the NBA in the development of the basketball programme here. Rome wasn't built in a day - we have to lay the stepping stones to our plans first.

Why shouldn't India be amongst the world's elite in 20 years? Why can't India's youth grow up to become great players? Why can't the Indian people get a chance to watch one of their own playing in the NBA? It would be my dream to watch India play the USA in the Olympic gold medal game one day and wonder who to root for!

30 years ago, Americans were very poor in soccer and went through some growing pains. We lay the right foundations then and are seeing the results now. The same thing can happen with basketball here.

This country has a large population with a lot of potential and untapped resources. Basketball in India is a goldmine waiting to be developed. It will be a progress that will take some time, but the future is bright and I'm honoured to be a part of this movement.

Refering out

So we have a house guest here this week who is tons of fun (details to come later), so posts are probably gonna be short and sweet.  Today I turn to my favorite, the New York Times.  This article was printed last week and gives a pretty good sense of how things kinda work here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/world/africa/27safrica.html?_r=1&ref=africa

Enjoy!

United States win Women's World title

It has been a great summer for United States basketball, as the US Women’s team lifted the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women title after beating tournament hosts Czech Republic on Sunday, October 3 in Karlovy Vary. The Women’s squad successfully doubled up the country’s honours for this summer as the US Men’s team had earlier won the FIBA World Championship for Men gold medal in Turkey last month.

The Americans were led by Angel McCoughtry (18 points) and Diana Taurasi (16) in the Final as they beat Czech Republic 89-69. The US Women continued to exploit their size advantage and held a clear upper hand in rebounds against their rivals in the Final.

Hana Horakova, the Czechs’ best player, was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.

The tournament’s All-Star Five were:

Hana Horakova (Czech Republic)
Eva Viteckova (Czech Republic)
Diana Taurasi (USA)
Sancho Lyttle (Spain)
Yelena Leuchanka (Belarus)

Indian referee Snehal Bendke was present as one of the officials at this event.

Some African laughs...

This weekend Tim and I had our first opporunity to throw a few back with some of our local peers when our lovely coworker and friend Khethiwe (aka KT or Katie) invited us over to chill at her place with some friends and have some beers.  It was super fun and everybody was incredibly welcoming and totally stoked on telling us about all the things we had to see and do while in South Africa, which was really cool of them.  Once we got past all those formalities, we all started sharing stories and telling jokes, and I must say they had some pretty good ones.  Warning: you have to have some sense, though minimal, of the ongoings of African politics for these to make sense.  Also, not 100% appropriate.

So, a guy walks into a whorehouse and sits down at the bar.  The bouncer watches him start chatting up one of the whores, buys her a drink, the whole nine yards, and then he whispers something in her ear, to which she responds with a slap in the face and says, "That's bloody revolting!" (sorry, have to use their awesome vocabulary to achieve the effect), and walks away.  The bouncer then witnesses basically the same sequence with another prostitute, again with him whispering something in her ear, causing her to slap this guy, and walk off shouting "You're bloody disgusting!".  So, now, the oldest whore in the place, who has been around the block a more than a few times, and done everyone and everything, has noticed these proceedings.  She decides to go up to this guy and give it a whirl, because if there is anybody that is going to be willing to do something that is apparently so vile it was her.  The bouncer watches as she approaches the man, and they go through all the formalities, chatting, he buys her a drink, and then he leans in and whispers something in her ear and she pulls back in horror, slaps him, and says "You got to be bloody ridiculous!".  Now the bouncer is curious.  What could of this guy had said/asked for that even THIS whore found insulting?  So, he goes up to her and asks her what had this man said?!, to which she replies, "Can you believe it?! He wanted to pay in Zim dollars!"

Get it?!

So Mugabe dies, twenty years from now of course because you know that bloody bastard is gonna live forever (again gotta keep their tone for full effect :) ).  So he arrives at the pearly gaits where St. Peter is waiting for him. 

Mugabe: "I'm here to check in."
St. Peter: "Ah, yes, what's the name?"
Mugabe: "Robert Mugabe"
St. Peter: "Ah, yes, of course" He flips through his book, and finds Mugabe's name. Looks up. "As I thought.  Just take the elevator right over there.  It will take you down.  Don't worry, it only goes to one place."  Flashes him a quick smile and then turns to the next person in line.

Mugabe has realized his fate now and starts panicking.  He gets in the elevator which takes him down to Hell and the Devil is waiting for him when he arrives.

Devil: "Name."
Mugabe: "Robert Mugabe."
Devil: Smirking and rubbing his hands together "Ah, yes, finally.  I have been waiting for you.  Come this way."
Mugabe: Thoroughly panicking now and trying to plot quickly to find any way out "Uh, actually, I just realized I left my bags up there, you know.  Let me go get them and I'll be right back." Attempts to flash a casual smile.
Devil: Gives an evil chuckle. "Haha. No worries.  I will just send a couple of my goblins up to get them for you.  You come with me."  An evil smile crawls across his face and he gets up and leads Mugabe into Hell.

The goblins are less than thrilled about their errand and get into the elevator disgruntled.  When they get to the pearly gates, St. Peter is gone and there is a sign saying "Back in ten.  Out for tea."

Goblin 1: "Oh great! Of course!  Now what do we do?!"
The goblins discuss their options:
Goblin 2: "Well we can't just wait.  The Devil will get pissed if we take too long."
Goblin 1: "But, we can't go back with no bags.  If we come back without doing what we were told we are in even more trouble."
Goblin 2: "What if we just hop the gates and grab the bags? It will be real quick and for an innocent enough reason.  And, plus, God sees all and so will understand why we're doing it."
Goblin 1: "Sounds reasonable.  Ups-a-daisy"  And they boost and hoist each other over the pearly gates.
St. Peter looks up from tea with his assistant and peers at the gates and sees the goblins scrambing over and says, "Jesus.  It hasn't even been 15 minutes and we already have refugees."

Booya!

Ok, hope you get a few chuckles.

China win FIBA Asia U18 Championship; India finish 13th

The talented squad of Chinese players put the final stamp on a dominating performance after beating Korea 103-80 in the gold-medal game of the 21st FIBA Asia U18 Championship, in Sana'a, Yemen, on October 1st to win their ninth title in 18 appearances at this competition.

Chinese Taipei finished in third place, Iran fourth, and Philippines in fifth.

Heading for this competition, India had assembled a team of talented youngsters who had experience playing together and had generated some positive results before the tournament, leading to heightened pre-championship expectations. Unfortunately, the team wasn't prepared to deal with the onslaught faced in a tough group, as three of their group games to Japan, Yemen, and Iraq.

The youngsters redeemed themselves slightly in the 13-16th place playoffs, rolling by Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka with considerable ease to end the tournament at 13th place. India failed to improve in their last two showings at the competition (2006 and 2008) where they had also finished 13th.

India started brightly against their toughest competitors Japan in the first game, but lost focus in the second half to go down 89-72. They suffered heavy defeats at the hands of their next two rivals, going down 95-58 to hosts Yemen and 87-58 to Iraq. As the Young Cagers had finished bottom of Group D, they were placed in the 13-16th place playoffs, where they finally showed some good play. India beat Saudi Arabia 89-75 and stomped over Middle Asia Zone rivals Sri Lanka 68-34 in the last game to retain the 13th spot.

The poor overall performance of the team goes on to show how far we still need to go to become serious threats in Asian basketball. India seem to have an easy time against teams we are supposed to beat, but regularly buck down early against any tougher competition. I'm still waiting for the day when we start making waves by in a competition like this one by causing an upset or two over some stronger teams.

There were a few silver linings to the performance, thought - India fielded a talented U18 squad that is sure to benefit from the experience. They were led by brilliant performances by Arjun Singh, who played four of the five games and averaged 22.3 ppg per contest. Other youngsters like Dishant Shah and Rakesh Kumar Yadav also showed some potential with their performances.

Rajasthan Boys and Chhattisgarh Girls hoist Sub-Junior National Championships

The IMG-Reliance 37th Sub-Junior National Championship for Boys and Girls came to an entertaining conclusion as the finals were held on Thursday evening at the Municipal Corporation Basketball Court in Kangra (HP). In front of a large crowd of fans who had been engrossed in some intriguing basketball over the past week, Rajasthan Boys and Chhattisgarh Girls emerged as champions.

In the first game of the evening, the sub-junior girls from Chhattisgarh took on a tough squad from Karnataka, who had been putting up some excellent performances in the competition. But Chhattisgarh had been the strongest team in the tournament, beating each opponent by a large margin. They proved their efficiency yet again in the final with a 63-47 victory, led once more by their star forward Riya Verma.

For Chhattisgarh Girls, this victory further cemented their domination over the Sub-Junior division. This was their ninth title in the past ten years. “We have been winning for a long time, and it was important for us to continue this winning tradition,” said Riya. Chhattisgarh were in action again in the Boys division, as the youngsters took a tough squad from Rajasthan. It was a competitive and hard-fought game in the first half, until the Rajasthan team finally began to loosen Chhattisgarh’s defensive shackles and impose their will on the game. Led once again by Mahipal Singh (28), Rajasthan opened up a 16 point lead in the third en route to a 54-40 victory.

“We are repeat champions, and it feels happy to win here!” said Mahipal, who will leave Kangra after some legendary performances, “I will move on to a higher division next year and I want to continue winning!”

In the third-place match-ups Delhi Boys defeated Madhya Pradesh Boys and the Madhya Pradesh Girls edged Tamil Nadu Girls in a close game. Munish Sharma, the President of the Himachal Pradesh Basketball Association (HPBA), commented on the conclusion of this memorable tournament. “We have worked very hard to make sure that the competition was held successfully,” said Sharma, “From the behalf of the Basketball Federation of India and the HPBA, I want to thank all the players and officials who took part in this tournament coming from different parts of the country, and thank the local people of Kangra who enjoyed themselves and hosted such an event.”

Final Scores:

Girls: Chhattisgarh 63 (Riya Verma 22, P. Divya 15) bt. Karnataka 40 (Supriya 14, Krupsree 10)
Boys: Rajasthan 54 (Mahipal Singh 28, Akhilesh 12) bt. Chhattisgarh 47 (ON Jaiswal 10)

Third Place Playoffs

Girls: Madhya Pradesh 35 bt. Tamil Nadu 33
Boys: Delhi 41 bt. Madhya Pradesh 35

Final Standings:

Boys

Rajasthan
Chhattisgarh
Delhi
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Punjab
Uttar Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Haryana
Kerala


Girls

Chhattisgarh
Karnataka
Madhya Pradesh
Tamil Nadu
Maharashtra
Kerala
Uttar Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Punjab
Jharkhand

American Basketball Coach Bill Harris Appointed To Lead Indian Sr. Men’s National Team

William R. Harris has been appointed as the head coach for the Indian Sr. Men’s Basketball team for the 16th Asian Games slated to be held in November. Harris will be working with the Indian team in Chennai before leading them for the Games, which will be held in Guangzhou (China) from November 12-27.

Harris was appointed coach by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) following a comprehensive search by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) for coaches in the U.S., and after interviewing several candidates, Harris was selected. The National Basketball Association (NBA) assisted BFI in identifying potential U.S. coaching candidates. Harris will also be supported by IMG-Reliance who is in partnership to support BFI in developing basketball in India.

Harris has over 30 years of experience as a head coach in the game of basketball across several institutions in the US. His most-recent previous appointment was with Wheaton College (1991-2009), where he had tremendous success posting the highest career winning percentage as a head coach in the institution’s history (68.4 percent) and a career record of 320-148. He was named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in 1996 and IBCA College Coach of the Year three times (1999, 2008, 2009). He has produced seven players who have played basketball professionally and ten players who have been All-America selections.

"I am a defensive minded coach that teaches discipline and I expect to have a team that competes as hard as they possibly can,” said Harris. “Success for the Indian Men’s National team may not happen overnight, but the NBA and BFI in have laid a good foundation for the development of basketball in India. This country has a large population with a lot of potential and untapped resources. The future is bright and I’m honored to be a part of this movement."

Harish Sharma, the Secretary-General of BFI, welcomed Harris to India. "Coach Harris has been hired to bring his expertise to further develop basketball in India. He is a successful and inspiring coach, and we are hoping that he can elevate the play of our Men’s team."

“The BFI is grateful for the assistance of the NBA in helping us hire him,” said Sharma, “Furthermore, our partners at IMG-Reliance will also continue to work with us to look after the coach’s needs.”

Harris’ job began in Chennai from Tuesday, September 28th, where he will evaluate the talent available and work with his selected squad to train for the upcoming competition over the next few months.