GBOA Tournament of Champions (California)

There's one more stop on the road as the long, hot July recruitig period winds down.  After winning the Las Vegas Live event the Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio heaed out to the coast.  The GBOA Tournament of Champions was held in Long Beach and this group from the Alamo City picked up where they left off in Las Vegas.  Just win, Baby!  ....and boy, do they win.  They finished the summer at 54-9.  Three losses came by single digits to the adidas Super 64 Champion Texas Assault, another to Franchize All Stars at the buzzer and another to Houston Hoop Stars. 

This group ented the summer with no particular buzz or notoriety.  It ended with two players receiving high major offers (Uche Ofoegbu and Connor Lammert) and the entire Big XII follwoing the D1 Ambassadors for 12 straight games no mater where they played or who their opponent was.

There was no bracket format at the GBOA, but the D1 Ambassadors won their four games against all comers.  Most importantly they did it in front of the aforementioned Big XII coaches, the entire Pac-10 and the West Coast Conference.  Not only is this great for the players on the roster, but it continues to build the reputation that Texas players can play...ANYWHERE.

Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio  74   Connecticut Select  63
Texas D1 led by 20 and cruised to their first game win after arriving in Los Angeles.  As usual they took care of business by committe as 2012 Matt Gramling of San Antonio MacArthur had 14, 2012 Uche Ofoegbu had 13 and Connor Lammert added 12.  Head Coaches from Arizona (Sean Miller), Texas Tech (Billy Gillispie), SMU (Matt Doherty) Penn State (Pat Chambers), Washington (Lorenzo Romar) were courtside with many others watching the game.

Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio  81  Belmont Shores (CA) 77
In what was likely the showdown game of the event, Texas D1 took on host Belmont Shores before a packed gym and rabid SoCal audience.  It didn't bother Connor Lammert though as he scored 18 points in a variety of ways to lead the D1 Ambassadors to the win.  Once again, Uche Ofoegbu was right there to lend a hand with 14 points.

Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio  74  Fresno Select Superstars (CA)  67
It took a year to get a little revenge (Fresno Select had beaten the D1 Ambassadors in the 2010 quarterfinals of the adidas Super 64), but Texas D1 made sure they paid.  Connor Lammert continued putting on a show, and 2012 W Jeffrey Rodewald dropped 19 to go along with Uche Ofoegbu's 15 in the win.

Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio  74   Compton Magic-San Diego 47
Texas D1 broke open a close game in the middle of the first half and cruised to the victory.  Jeggrey Rodewald led the way with 21 points, Connor Lammert had 15 and Matt Gramling chipped in with 15. 

What an end to the summer of 2011.  Texas' hats go off to the Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio squads basketball accomplishments. Even more importantly though , was the classy way you guys handled yourselves on and off the court the entire year.  I will have a spearate tribute to the anatomy of a champion later in the week.