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Lacing up their sneakers overseas
Three members of last year’s Bulls basketball team are playing in Europe
By JOE GUISTINA
Reporter Contributor
It was something that members of the UB community had looked forward to doing the past two basketball seasons—sitting in Alumni Arena on game day and watching Danny Gilbert shut down an opponent and force another turnover.
TURNER BATTLE
PHOTOS: PAUL
HOKANSON
Then there was Turner Battle trotting down the court, left arm raised and two fingers pointing to the roof. It would be only a matter of time until the lob came and Mark Bortz leaped for the ball and slammed it through the hoop, bringing crowds of 6,000 to their feet.
During 2004-05, the Bulls won a school-record 23 games and made the National Invitational Tournament for the first time in school history and became the first UB team to advance to the Mid-American Conference finals in any sport since the university joined the conference in 1998.
Bortz, the MAC Sixth Man of the Year, averaged 10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and had 41 blocked shots his senior season. Gilbert averaged 7.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals, while Battle averaged 15.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists, finishing his career as the Bulls' fourth all-time leading scorer (1,414 points).
MARK BORTZ
With the 2005-06 men's basketball season officially opening at 8 p.m. tomorrow against local rival Canisius College, UB fans will have to get used to not seeing Gilbert, Battle and Bortz in blue-and-white.
Although the trio graduated from the university this past May, all three have continued to lace up their sneakers and play basketball—this time professionally in Europe.
Bortz, a center, was the first to sign a contract to play overseas, signing with Belgium's Scarlet Vilvoorde in early August. Before signing to play overseas, he played on the Los Angeles Clippers' summer-league team.
"Clippers training camp was eye-opening," Bortz said during a recent email conversation with the Reporter. "I got the chance to play with a group of great players, all of them with the potential to be high-level pros. It was the first time I had been around so many good players."
Bortz said his experience at UB has provided him with many valuable tools he was able to call upon while playing with Scarlet Vilvoorde, including how to deal with being so far away from his family.
DANNY GILBERT
"I had been away from my family for four years while playing at UB," Bortz said. "I saw them on Christmas and a few other times during the summer. I had seen them so little already that this (living overseas) was not that big of a change."
Although Bortz aggravated a back injury while playing in Belgium and has returned to Buffalo to rehabilitate, he hopes soon to be back in Europe playing for another team in hopes of someday reaching the NBA.
"Once the season is over, I will continue to pursue opportunities in the NBA, and if that does not work out, I will look to play in Europe again," Bortz said. "Europe is a great place to play and basketball is a great tool to be able to see the world. The opportunities basketball provides are priceless and I hope to take full advantage of them, be it in the U.S.A. or abroad."
Gilbert, a tenacious defender who set the school record for games played in a career, signed in late August to play for Schalke, a second division team in Germany. Through his first four games, the team is 3-1 and Gilbert has averaged 21 points, two assists and three steals a game. However, he also has averaged three turnovers a game, something that he said he is working on as he adjusts to European traveling rules.
He said the team has good chemistry and that has helped him feel more at home. Moreover, he's living with Jason Edwin, a former guard at Kent State who used to match up against Gilbert when the two schools played in the MAC.
"We live together now and we have our Buffalo-Kent State arguments every day," he said. "So every time I speak to one of the guys back in Buffalo or the coaches, I tell them that they must beat Kent State."
Although Gilbert doesn't speak German, he said he can "somehow understand a lot of the language." Everyone on the team speaks English, though, and a U.S. military base is nearby, making his transition a little easier.
He also credited UB with easing his transition to living in Europe. "I think the most valuable thing I learned at UB that I use every day in Germany is how to handle or deal with diversity," he said. "UB has such a diverse campus that if you can make it through four years at UB, then you can handle the most diverse area in the world."
Battle, the 2004-05 MAC Player of the Year and unquestioned leader of the UB team for the past four years, signed a contract to play in Estonia with BC Kalev. After only a month with the team, however, Battle left to join Brest in France's Pro A league. He played 31 minutes, scored 12 points and hit two 3-pointers in his debut in the French league.
"This is a great opportunity to get a lot of exposure internationally,"
Battle said after signing his contract. "I'm looking forward to developing my game and reaching my goal of playing in the NBA."
No matter where their careers take them, both Bortz and Gilbert said one thing they're sure of is the impact that UB had on molding their characters.
"I can't say enough about my four years on the court at UB," Bortz said. "It taught me how to be professional, how to play hard all the time, how to be a leader, and how to live on and off the court."
Added Gilbert: "Where I am today is where I was meant to end up before I even stepped foot on the UB campus and I'm happy. It was the best four years of my life, so far."