Martz Madness

Back to the Fort

2012-02-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

It feels like it has been a while since the last Mad Ants home game, and rightfully so with the last defense of the Colony being January 17th. The Mad Ants are back on the Coliseum hardwood Thursday & Friday (Feb 2nd/3rd) battling Eastern Conference rival Maine Red Claws.

Besides having a mascot that could pass as the Mad Ant's less cool half-brother... the Red Claws also have a former Mad Ant on the roster in center Anthony Kent.

There was some bad news today, as Mad Ants point guard Tory Jackson had a nasty ankle sprain at practice. It looks like he will be out for roughly three weeks, which is a real shame as Tory had been really stepping up as the starting PG with Walker Russell JR getting called up to the Pistons. That puts recent Mad Ant and Michigan State Spartan Travis Walton as the starter and causing the Mad Ants to sign a player out of the D-League Player pool.

That player is Devan Downey who played his college ball with the South Carolina Gamecocks. Downey finished his college career in 2009-10 averaging 22.5 points to go along with 3.5 assists.
Devan played in Turkey last season and this will be his first foray into the NBA D-League. He will be thrown in the mix and will be dressing for Thursday night's game. He actually will also be arriving on Thursday as I am picking him up from the airport tomorrow morning! That is a common story in the D-League and I hope Downey is a quick study!

Ron Howard is still injured and will be missing this week's home stand. Another loss to the roster is Darington Hobson who was just recalled to the Milwaukee Bucks a few hours ago.

So obviously we will be short on players tomorrow, so if you have ever wanted to play in the D-League show up at the Coliseum tomorrow for the game and Jeff Potter may just make your dream come true! Please note that Jeff Potter's blog was last updated on January 11th... but I guess he has still not went a year between blogs like this fella...(good thing Jeff never reads my blog *sob*)

Walker Russell Jr had the best game of his short NBA career as a Detroit Piston tonight as he put up 12 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists against the New Jersey Nets in a close 99-96 loss. Walker continues to play big minutes and prove he has earned his right to be on an NBA roster. Walker's NBA Call-UP banner will be going up in the Coliseum concourse tomorrow night and be put up for every Mad Ants home game for the rest of time.

There is all your Mad Ant's news... and I managed to go an entire blog without mentioning you should come Thursday and Friday night to see our brand new Assistant Coach/NCAA National Champion/Olympic Gold Medalist Christian Laettner on the sideline.

Basically you have no reason to miss this Thursday or Friday's game so I will ANTicipate seeing each and every one of your faces there. Tip off for Thursday is 7pm and Friday is 7:30pm. Still working on my Super Hero costume for Friday but I always seem to come through...

Catching Up

2012-01-25T01:42:00.000-08:00

So I picked a really bad time to get lazy with blogging eh? The last week has been one of the most eventful weeks in Mad Ants history and I decide to just not blog? What is wrong with me? Don't answer that.

(Photo Copyrights below to Layne Murdoch Jr/NBE/Getty Images)

Big News 1: Walker Russell JR was called up by the Detroit Pistons last week. He received the call while en route to Sioux Falls last weekend for a pair of Mad Ants road games. He basically jumped off the plane, slept four hours then flew to Detroit just in time to barely miss the Piston's shoot around. He was given a crash course by Piston's Coach Lawrence Frank and his staff. Walker then found himself playing 20 plus minutes as back-up point guard against the Memphis Grizzlies last Saturday night.

The word "deserve" gets thrown around quite a bit in many situations which may not always warrant it. As William Munny from Unforgiven said "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it. " Walker EARNED this opportunity. He has played int he D-League off and on for the past six years, just waiting for the right spot to open up... the right situation. I don't think you could write up a better situation than this one. He gets to return to his hometown , to a team he played with in pre-season, and a team that clearly wants him around. He has played three games to date with the Pistons, and has yet to play less than 12 minutes. He has that natural charisma and floor general mentality that makes guys work harder for him knowing he will make it easier for them to score.

Coach Frank paid Walker some nice compliments after the game where they defeated the Portland Trailblazers. Essentially saying Walker was running plays he (Coach Frank) had drawn up 30 seconds prior and running the offense extremely well.

You can tell everyone from the Piston's announcers to his Piston's teammates want Walker to succeed. He is the hometown son of a former Piston getting his first big long overdue shot and everyone is rooting for him. He has quite a few people in Fort Wayne rooting for him too! I think I speak for everyone in the Mad Ants office when I say "DON'T COME BACK".

Walker and the Pistons are back in action tonight taking on LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Most of the Piston's games air on FS Detroit which is Comcast Channel 9 in Fort Wayne. To just think.. ten days ago you could have been watching him in Fort Wayne where tickets start at just $5... (I know I know, most of you were there!)

Big News 2: Christian Laettner is our new Assistant Coach. Many people have asked me how this all happened and I can give you the short version of it as it was a really quite simple process. We had an Assistant Coach job opening and Christian Laettner was looking to get into coaching. Done. It is a great opportunity for our players to learn from a guy who has accomplished so much in his basketball career and can provide pieces of knowledge to help get them to the next level.

I have heard his focus with the team is going to be with the big men and also defense. I think it adds a great dimension to Coach Gansey's staff to have a guy who has played the PF/C position at the highest level work with our bigs and provide all the little tricks of the trade.

From a marketing standpoint it has been a big success for us as well. The story was everywhere from the front page of Yahoo Sports to being in the USA Today. It is always nice to have one of the best college basketball players of all time and an Olympic Gold Medalist on the team. I am expecting to see quite a few Duke fans come out of the woodwork at our home stand next week (Feb. 2nd/3rd). In Sioux Falls, after his first game as Mad Ants Assistant Coach, reportedly over 100 fans waited outside the locker room to get his autograph.

With the whirlwind schedule the team has been on I have only briefly met Coach Laettner when he came into the office yesterday for a Coaches meeting but he came off as a soft spoken genuinely nice guy who really appreciates this opportunity to continue his basketball career. Here is a nice video interview with Coach Laettner disucssing his first impressions of the D-League conducted by Steve Warden at the Journal Gazette from practice yesterday morning.

Also, if you are wondering how Coach Gansey is handling his new role as Head Coach, especially with bringing in such a high profile assistant check out Mr. Warden's article from this morning's Journal Gazette. In short... he relishes it!

Team Notes: A few player additions since the last time I blogged. We have picked up Travis Walton from the player pool to fill the roster spot Walker Russell JR left when getting called up. Walton is a Michigan State alumni who plays point guard and will be backing up Mad Ants starter Tory Jackson. Walton is a former Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. He was recently playing with the Dakota Wizards before getting waived. Coach Gansey is very familiar with Walton as he spent some time in Fort Wayne over the summer getting some workouts in with Coach Gansey.

We also just added former Illinois big man Mike Tisdale. Mike is a 7'1 center who was up until recently playing for the Maine Red Claws. Mike will be filling the roster spot left by Jarrid Famous. Jarrid is out for a week or so with a sore knee.

We will be playing tonight on the road against the always dangerous Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Make sure to catch the game on NBA Futurecast online. I cannot say enough great things about this service. I have been having office viewing parties over at my house and we are able to put the game up on my TV via the D-League Center Court App. Just a really nice job the D-League to make it easy to follow your favorite team (The Mad Ants of course!) while they are on the road. Game tips off at 8pm EST.

Let's go STREAKING

2012-01-17T03:12:00.000-08:00

Coach Gansey & Mad Ants during a time out - January 15, 2012 photo by Randy Jackson

Mad Ants have a chance to notch another win at home tonight against Dakota tonight after an overtime emotional roller coaster of a win on Sunday.

Ramon Harris had a huge game on Sunday shooting 6-9 from 3 point range and having SIX steals. Ramon is a player who has clearly "developed" (this is the NBA Development League people) the most in this season. He was a guy who was waived to start the season, only to be given a second shot when the NBA Lockout ended taking all of our starters to NBA camps. He is the last remaining player on the roster after those starters returned with the start of the NBA season and he is proving Jeff Potter made a great decision in sticking with him (this is sucking up to my boss).

Ramon Harris for 3!!! Photo Courtesy of Randy Jackson

One thing that keeps jumping out to me about our team this year is that there is no weak link. We have a very solid and balanced team. Anyone is capable of having a big game on any given night and that is something that is hard to defend against.

Ron Howard will most likely miss tonight and perhaps a few more games with his sprained thumb. It is just one of those lingering injuries that is better not to force, and just let it heal completely.

I asked Jeff Potter for a "Martz Madness" prediction/comentary for tonight's rematch against Dakota and he gave me this.... "I expect this to a double digit victory". I could use a nice double digit victory because I can't take many more of these Overtime thrillers!

Tonight is our last home game in January, so make sure to come on out for a 7pm tip off. We hit the road for Sioux Falls this weekend with games on Friday/Saturday which as always can be watched free online via NBA Futurecast. Let's see if we can get some wins together so the Mad Ants can officially go STREAKING (oh I referenced the title of the blog!!!!).

Oh yeah, and it was 80's night on Sunday. We all know how much I like to embarrass myself so....

Received numerous guesses to who I was.... they ranged from Inspector Gadget, Columbo, Michael Jayfox and Bender from the Breakfast Club...

Apparently the movie "Say Anything" was not as big of an 80's hit as I thought...

See everyone at the game tonight!

NBA TV in 3...2...1...

2012-01-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

As the Mad Ants staff is getting ready to head out to Crazy Pinz to watch the team take on the Tulsa 66ers, I figured I was about due for a blog.

We had a huge win on Monday in our first game at the NBA D-League Showcase in Reno. It was over the Bakersfield Jam who has been playing really solid this year with a record of 9-7 (in a league that reeks of parity). The Mad Ants started off the game down 19-2 but came roaring back to make it a very back and forth affair in the second half. The biggest surprise of the game was the play of Sadiel Rojas. Sadiel had not received much playing time recently, but due to Ron Howard being injured was given an opportunity to show what he could do. When all was said and done Sadiel racked up 16 pts 8 rebounds and 3 steals, not to mention a late 4th quarter 3 that gave us the final push to stay ahead for good. He played a whopping 40 minutes coming off the bench!

This is a league that is built on opportunity and it looks like Sadiel really took advantage of this one.

No word from Reno if Ron Howard will play today but even if he does I am sure Coach Gansey will find some minutes for Sadiel after Monday's performance.

The other big story out of that game was Walker Russell JR putting up 19 points with 19 assists. What a perfect time and place to have that game in front of Scouts from all 30 NBA teams. If this does propel him to an NBA contract I don't know what will. Walker is like a 2nd coach otu there and would be a great back-up PG for any NBA squad.

Well, this blog feels like a lot of fluff but I don't have much inside info as the entire basketball staff (including Jeff) is in Reno. The other big piece of news is that I sent a small roulette wager of $10 with one of said staff which turned into $188. Suffice to say, my paper is stuck on overload right now

Let's hope the Gansey Magic stays alive tonight and we bring back a three game winning streak to the Coliseum on Sunday for Awesome 80's night vs Dakota with a 5pm tip off. Still working on my outfit but I have set the bar so high....I hope I don't let everyone down.

Mad Ants WIN

2012-01-08T10:01:00.001-08:00

It's been a busy few days, and I apologize for just now getting a blog up with all the big news that has happened recently. This blog is dedicated to Mad Ants season ticket holder Joe Hobbs who chastised me for being so slovenly in my blog habits the last two days!

If you read this blog then you already know Coach Joey Meyer is no longer with the Mad Ants organization. Coach Meyer is a great guy and I really enjoyed having him be a part of the organization. He is a basketball legend and has forgotten than most of us will ever know about the game of basketball. It was simply a decision in this results oriented business of basketball that we are a part of, and I know it was not an easy one for Jeff Potter to make. I wish Coach Meyer the best and know we will be seeing him soon on a hardwood sideline whether it's college or pro.

With that said, I was very happy and proud of Steve Gansey for getting this HUGE opportunity in his young coaching career to become the new interim Mad Ants Head Coach. Steve is 26 years old and has dedicated his life to basketball. He knows what the task and challenges ahead will be and is more than up to it.

Steve started with the Mad Ants in our 2009-10 season as a volunteer assistant coach. This means he moved to Fort Wayne and paid all of his expenses while here (housing, food etc). All he wanted was an opportunity and a chance to gain experience in the tight knit circle that is the coaching world of professional basketball. In that first season with the team Steve worked his butt off, doing anything and everything the coaching staff or office staff asked of him. He never asked for anything or expected anything. He has truly earned this chance, and I for one hope we can take that "interim" title off very soon!

One thing about Steve is he has a very outgoing social personality. He is one of those guys you cannot help but like and root for. I think we saw that Saturday night when Steve got his first win as head coach in the very friendly confines of the Memorial Coliseum. This really feels like a true "fresh start" for the team and I am very excited about the rest of the season.

A great scene took place in the Mad Ants locker room after the game, with Steve trying to give a quick post-game speech to congratulate the team on a job well done. As he was trying to wind down the speech, Mad Ants President Jeff Potter stepped in said "not so fast". He said something to the effect of "Now I am not sure if you guys know this, but this is Steve's first win as head coach, not in a middle school game, not in a high school game, not in a college game, but in a PROFFESIONAL basketball game and I want to present him with the game ball". The players immediately went crazy and pounced on Steve in a scene from home plate at a baseball game after a grand slam takes place! You can tell he has the respect and affection of the players and I think this will go a long way. They know he has paid his dues the last two years and will work hard for him just as they know he will for them.

Here is an exclusive post-game Martz Madness IPHONE interview with Coach Gansey after his big win. Please pardon the horrible video/sound quality and turn up the volume and watch as I lob some softball questions to Steve.

The game itself was fantastic. Walker Russell JR put up a near triple double with 14 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds. Walker had been struggling lately so it was great to see him get out the slump. Jarrid Famous also was a big presence down low putting up 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

The team is now on a flight to Reno for the NBA D-League Showcase to play Bakersfield on Monday (7:0opm EST) and Tulsa on Thursday (3:45pm EST). The Showcase is where every D-League team gathers in one place to play two games with all 30 NBA teams scouts (along with overseas scouts) in attendance. Great opportunity for the players to earn a 10 day contract with an NBA squad.

The game on Thursday will be broadcast live on NBA TV. I know the office will be taking a lunch break somewhere to watch that one, I will make sure to post it the location for any fans that want to join us.

That is it for now, make sure to tune into FUTURECAST to watch the Bakersfield game online LIVE & FREE on Monday.

New Player

2012-01-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

Quick player update before our road game in Canton Friday night.

The Mad Ants have waived Chris Hunter due to injury. This means we retain his rights and he can return to the roster once healthy. It sounds like Chris can be out anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks.

To fill the roster spot the Mad Ants have traded our 2nd round 2012 draft pick to the Iowa Energy for Jerrid Famous. Famous is a 6'11 big man was a last cut from the Pacer's preseason camp. He was putting up some monster numbers before the NBA lockout ended, and should fill in at center very nicely for us. He has already joined the team in Canton and should play Friday night.

I will be attending the game and will be doing a tweet by tweet from @themadants twitter account. Make sure to check it out on NBA Futurecast. I am sure if you are reading this blog, you have already tried futurecast but if not WHAT IS STOPPING YOU? It is honestly an amazing technology and really ahead of its time. The D-League office has done an amazing job providing this free service to its fans so please take advantage of it. Game tips off at 7:30pm in Canton.

Another tough loss in Reno on Wednesday night... the team made several runs but could never get over the hump to overtake the lead. You can check out the recap/box score here.

See everyone back home at the Coliseum for a 7:30 tip off on Saturday night as Canton will make the drive over for a rematch of Friday's game. Remember the Bucks mascot Bango will be in action, along with the Bucks Dunk team. Should be a great game and great entertainment so bring the family out!

Planes, Games, and Pains

2012-01-04T16:33:00.001-08:00

As I continue to try to make blog subjects lamer with each post (I believe I succeeded!) I wanted to give a quick update/recap of our road trip in Reno against the Bighorns.

On Monday our team had a nightmare road trip. They arrived at the Fort Wayne Airport around 7:30am and arrived in Reno after 1:00 am (eastern standard time). This was caused by a missed connecting flight due to weather issues in Fort Wayne Monday morning causing the plane needing to deice before take off.

This is not an excuse but it could not help our cause in a 116 - 103 loss to Reno last night. The game started off very ugly (and continued to be ugly!) with the Mad Ants being down 75-50 during the 3rd quarter. The team then went on a huge run led by Cameron Jones & Ron Howard who cut the lead to six at one point in the 4th quarter. It was not to be and the gap widened towards the end of the fourth.

One bright spot was Ramone Harris who despite the Ants being down big most of the game had a +/- of +12! He was a big part of the run, primarily because of his great defense. I know what your thinking, "Garrett, we know you don't know anything about good defense." True, but I was watching the game with some people who do, including Sebastian Pruiti & Chad Clarke (volunteer assistant coaches with the Mad Ants) and Kyle Thoms (Director of Ticket Sales & Assistant (to the) GM). If you do not know who Sebastian Pruiti is, check out his basketball posts over at Grantland.com . This is Bill Simmons sports website and it has some great content for all things sports.

Bad/Good News depending on who you ask with Darington Hobson being recalled to the Milwaukee Bucks roster today. The Bucks have 5 guys out due to injury so Darington's stay was a little shorter than we expected it would be. It was nice having him on the roster and he certainly was an asset, especially with making the game winner vs LA and being an all around stand up guy while he was in Fort Wayne. There is a chance we could see him again this season.

Chris Hunter is out for the game tonight with an undisclosed (to me) injury. I will try to find out how many games he will miss and let you know in the next post.

Make sure to check out the big return match-up with Reno tonight at 10pm EST. You can watch it live and FREE on NBA Futurecast or via the D-League Center Court App via your smart phone/tablet.

Make sure to head to be at the Coliseum on Saturday as the Mad Ants will be welcoming Canton back to town. This is another back to back game with our guys playing in Canton Friday night, and then bringing the rematch 3.5 hours west to do it all over again on Saturday.

Tip off is at 7:30pm on Saturday with one of my favorite mascots BANGO coming to be the entertainment for the game. Bango is probably one of the best mascots in the world and I encourage you to check it out. Here is a sample of one of his amazing stunts from a Bucks game.
Also, this is one of my favorite NBA ESPN commercials featuring Bango... "You should see his half-time show". It's a shame Darington Hobson was recalled before Bucks night but hey it happens.

I will check in with my thoughts on tonight's game tomorrow and any more news I can dig up for the coming weekends game. I am still working on coming up with a good tag line...SAME ANT TIME SAME ANT BLOG (work in progress)

The Buck stops here...

2012-01-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

Wow, my blog title is so bad it's funny! This is for Heidi who said I did not have enough witty comments in my blog...so why start now.

It was a very exciting game last night as the Mad Ants beat Canton 104-103 on a game winner by Milwaukee Bucks assigned player Darington Hobson with 21 seconds left. Canton played pinball with the last possession with the ball bouncing all over the rim but thankfully not in!

(photo courtesy of Randy Jackson)

Apparently Hobson only needed one game to get his bearings, as his second outing last night was off the charts! He was in the starting line up and put up a very well rounded 22 points (6-10 FG), 5 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. I am sure Bucks fans will be happy to see Darington doing so well in such a short period back. Darington missed his entire rookie season with the Bucks as he was out with an injury. This was his chance at getting some real run in a pro game to date and he clearly excelled.

Hobson has also brought the right attitude to the Mad Ants for his D-League assignment, he was very vocal and animated being a positive force both on the court and bench for his new teammates. I heard through the grapevine that Darington wanted this assignment to the D-League as he did not want to be sitting on the Bucks bench getting no minutes. It would be especially tough for him to get into game shape with the Bucks as the NBA has a busier than usual schedule with the shortened compacted season. This is what the D-League is here for and glad to see Darington and the Bucks using it so well.

This broke a four game losing streak for the Ants and I really feel this is a turning point for the team. I honestly do not remember the Mad Ants ever having a more talented and deep roster. Hopefully this momentum continues on the roadtrip to Reno, with the team currently sitting on a plane at FWA waiting for it to deice. I encourage everyone to watch on NBA Futurecast, as it is an amazing technology for this league and really leaps & bounds of ahead of other minor leagues. Plus it's free! Tip off for the Reno game is 10pm ET on Tuesday.

I did miss some big news with my blog yesterday. We traded Marvin Phillips JR to Erie for a 4th round draft pick. Marvin was a fan favorite (as well as office favorite!) and will be missed. I was pretty surprised by the move, but that is why I get paid to sell stuff and not make basketball decisions.

Here is our roster as it stands today:

C -Chris Hunter
PF- Darnell Lazare
PF/C - Sean Sonderleiter
F - Gilbert Brown
F- Ramon Harris
G/F - Cameron Jones
G/F - Darington Hobson (assigned by Milwaukee Bucks)
G- Ron Howard
G- Walker Russell Jr
G - Tory Jackson

We still have one open roster spot as we can have up to 12 players, as long as any over ten our NBA assigned players. This spot will likely be filled by a returning Sadiel Rojas who was waived due to injury. He is traveling with the team and may play tomorrow night.

Now if you have not already go check out NBA Future Cast or download the D-League Center Court App for your smart phone or IPAD!

Fresh Start

2012-01-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new years and now is ready to continue the celebration with a Mad Ants victory today!

Very tough loss on Friday against LA that went into overtime. On paper our roster is stacked, but I am sure there is still an ongoing gelling process. Now that we have a couple games under our belt with the the returning camp players I am expecting big things today vs Canton. Canton is coming off a game last night, so hopefully their road weariness plays a little to our advantage today.

More roster news that went down yesterday with Corey Allmond being waived. Gilbert Brown has been added to the roster. Brown was recently in the Boston Celtics training camp. He is a 6'6 Guard/Forward out of Pitt. He is very athletic and should be a nice contributor for the Ants right out of the gate. Check out his highlights from his senior year at Pitt via our friends at YouTube.

It's always hard letting a guy like Corey Allmond go, especially with him being with the team for all of last season. When it comes down to it, this is still a business and the GM/Coaching staff simply felt it was the right time and a good opportunity to pick up a player like Gilbert. I have no doubt Corey will get picked up by another D-League team or overseas team very soon. I wish him the best of luck in the future and hope he enjoyed his time in Fort Wayne.

It really says something about the level of talent we have on the team when guys like Corey are being waived. The roster is simply stacked and don't forget we still have Bucks assigned player Darington Hobson. He got his feet wet on Friday but I am sure we will see him play a significantly bigger role int he games to come.

Tip off is at 5pm tonight and make sure to bring your can tabs to the Ronald McDonald Tabathon collection area by the program stand. You will get a free breakfast sandwich and a Mad Ants scrip ticket. Plus one fan who donates will get upgraded to court side for the game. This is an ongoing program and we will be collecting tabs at every Sunday home game this season.

Well I am off to the Coliseum, I hope to see you all there!

BEAT LA

2011-12-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

Another Mad Ants game day is upon us!

The big news I sagely alluded to yesterday has come through with the Milwaukee Bucks assigning Small Forward Darington Hobson to the Mad Ants. He will be playing tonight against the LA D-Fenders. Darington was a second round draft pick int he 2010 NBA draft, but sat out last year due to injury. The Bucks are looking to get Darington back into the rhythm with some heavy minutes with the Mad Ants. Not sure how long he will be down for, so make sure to check him out at one of the games this weekend.

Check out this link for everything you need to know on Darington Hobson.

I am going to try to do a quick IPHONE interview with him before the game tonight and will post it on the blog and twitter ( which is @themadants).

Here is my starting line up prediction:

PG: Walker Russell JR
SG: Cameron Jones
SF: Ron Howard
PF: Darnell Lazare
C: Chris Hunter

See everyone tonight at the game! BEAT LA!

Tough Loss, Help on the Way?

2011-12-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

For full disclosure I did not watch the Mad Ants road game last night in Erie. I was catching up with some high school friends (people I went to high school with, not current high school students that would just be weird) who were in town for Christmas. We watched the IU game at a restaruant, which I am lead to believe was much more entertaining than the Mad Ants game. Both games did have the same unfortunate losing outcome.

From the box score it just looks like they could not miss a shot, while we could not make one. The Erie BayHawks shot 6-22 from the 3 point line but still managed to shoot 56% from field goal range which says they were not missing many two pointers!

It was good to see Chris Hunter and Sean Sonderleiter back in a Mad Ants uniform or in my case in a Mad Ants box score. They are only going to get better as they get more acclimated to the team and shake off any remaining rust. This gives us, in my opinion, two of the best bigs in the league.

There is a story being reported by Ridiculous Upside's Scott Schroeder that the Mad Ants will be receiving some help from one of our NBA affiliates for tomorrow (Friday) nights game with a player assignment. I can neither confirm or deny this, but here is the direct link to Scott's tweet on the matter. I will say that although he occasionally sports questionable facial hair, he is usually spot on with all D-League related news.

Tomorrow night we have the LA D-Fenders coming to town for a 7:30pm tip-off. The D-Fenders will be bringing former NBA player Mardy Collins who just signed with the D-League by Iowa before being shipped to LA in a trade involving some draft picks going to Erie. LA is sporting an 8-6 record but is coming off two losses to the Texas Legends.

We are coming off three losses (two being at home). Big opportunity for the guys to make a statement by beating a tough west coast team (not to mention the Lakers affiliate). I feel like our starting lineup is a virtual D-League all-star team right now and am very confident we can compete (and BEAT!) anyone in the league. We will find out tomorrow night, see you there!

Back to Reality...(Whoops there goes gravity)

2011-12-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

I am back after an extended Christmas break. For those of you playing from home, big roster changes over the last few days. Here is where we stand as of right now:

Active Roster

Chris Hunter -C
Sean Sonderleiter - C/PF
Darnell Lazare - PF
Marvin Phillips JR - PF
Cameron Jones - SF/SG
Ramone Harris - SF
Ron Howard - SG/SF
Corey Allmond - SG
Walker Russell JR - PG
Tory Jackson - PG

All of these players will be active on the roster for tonight's game in Erie. Here is my predicted starting lineup (although this is just my guess for those competing in our Facebook Challenge):

PG: Walker Russell JR
SG: Ron Howard
SF: Cameron Jones
PF: Darnell Lazare
C: Chris Hunter

We have waived Sadiel Rojas due to injury (a tendinitis flair up in his shoulder).

(Mad Ants practice at the Concordia Seminary before leaving on the bus to Erie)

Chris Hunter is back from Knicks training camp, and looks great in a full contact practice yesterday before the team left for Erie. I was at practice and Chris looks as healthy as I have seen him since last December. He will be looking to shake any rust off tonight, and work his way back onto an NBA roster. I will give him about until January 14th until he gets a call-up (knock on wood) as that would be right after the D-League Showcase in Reno. The Showcase features all the D-League teams playing in front of all the NBA scouts. He will be a huge help the the Mad Ants in the mean time.

Sean Sonderleiter will also make his long awaited and trumpeted return (mostly by this blog!) and he will be sporting a nice pair of James Worthy-esque goggles to protect his injured eye from last year.

With all these additions, you have to be asking who did we let go. The team waived Antonio Smith and Jabril Banks, with the aforementioned Sadiel Rojas being waived by injury (thus we retain his rights for the time being).

A not so fun part of this job is occasionally having to take recently waived players to the airport. It is typically a pretty awkward situation, as you can imagine the players are typically not in the highest of spirits. Yesterday, I took Jabril Banks to the airport and he could not have been a nicer guy about it. Jabril has been great at all of our community appearances (youth basketball clinics etc), plus he looked to be making some nice progress on the court as well. It was just another case of the cliched "numbers game" taking effect. I wish Jabril the best of luck and hopes he finds himself back on a pro court very soon.

See everybody Friday Night (Dec. 30th) at 7:30pm as we take on the LA D-Fenders. We need to really bounce back with a home win and need our sixth man (this is you!) support!

Quick Update

2011-12-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

I wanted to jump in with a quick update before the game tonight against the Austin Toros. The big news for tonight's game is Walker Russell Jr will return to the starting lineup. Most likely our starting five tonight will be:

PG: Walker Russell JR
SG: Ron Howard
SF: Cameron Jones
PF: Marvin Phillips JR
C: Antonio Smith

The other big news is that unfortunately fan favorite power forward Darnell Lazare was waived by the Indiana Pacers yesterday. The silver lining on that cloud is that Darnell will be returning to the Mad Ants roster and is already back in town. He cannot play in tonight's game (Dec. 23rd) due to an NBA rule that a player waived by an NBA team must wait at least 48 hours before returning to a D-League roster. So it looks like his first game back will be on the road against Erie on Dec. 28th.

Tough loss last night in a game that seemed very winnable for the Mad Ants. It just seemed like we kept letting Sioux Falls stay in the game. One bright spot was Ron Howard having a very nice return with 28 pts and 3 steals.

I think with Walker returning tonight, it will open the floor and give our team a much better shot selection. New readers please note I was cut from my 7th grade basketball team when taking anything I say basketball related seriously.

Justin Dentmon and the Austin Toros will be looking to crush our Christmas spirit tonight and send us into the holidays with a two game losing streak. Dentmon is a guard out of Washington University and played for the Texas Legends last year. He is one of the better guards in the league and should make for a fun match up with Walker.

Have a very Merry Christmas and I hope we have all been good so Santa gives us a Mad Ants win tonight. Otherwise Jeff Potter will be depressed for the holidays and that would be a worse Christmas gift for his family than a Pet Rock or pair of socks.

A Word With Walker

2011-12-22T08:52:00.001-08:00

Just got back from the Coliseum to get setup for tonight. The team was finishing up shootaround while we were there. Sean Sonderleiter was doing some light drills and looked like he is recovering very quickly. I am not sure what the exact injury is, but it seems to be a slight strain of a ligament/muscle in his chest. He will be out for this weekend but should be joining the active roster very soon.

Walker Russell JR walked into shoot around from Detroit this morning, sporting a fresh pair of Piston's game shorts. Here is a quick IPHONE video interview with Walker about his experience at the Detroit Pistons training camp.

As Walker notes in the video, he will return to the active Mad Ants roster for the game tomorrow night (Friday) against Austin.

In more HUGE NEWS, I have finally won my first Rec League Volleyball championship!!!!!!!!! This has been 2.5 years in the making and it was a good feeling to finally take down a t-shirt! In the league we play in you get $15 off your next session or a free t-shirt for winning. I view the t-shirt the same as a championship trophy and will be wearing it for the next week or so. Here is a shot of the Tainted Tigers, winners of the first session of Indoor Volleyball B- League.

Here is my predicted starting lineup for the game tonight:

PG: Tory Jackson
SG: Cameron Jones
SF: Ron Howard
PF: Marvin Phillips JR
C: Antonio Smith

See everyone at the game tonight, remember it is Ugly Christmas Sweater night so make sure to dress up in your best (or worst) sweater.

Tip off is at 7pm with doors opening at 6pm. As always, you can get in for a little more than it costs to get a gallon of gas ($5).

Talent Influx

2011-12-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

Rumor has another Mad Ant player returning from an NBA training camp in Walker Russell Jr. My sources (Yes I have sources!) say he will be back in practice tomorrow and eligible to play on Friday (Dec. 23rd) against Austin. The league requires a 48 waiting period in between getting waived and being elgible to play which is the reason Walker will not play tomorrow against Sioux Falls.

In case you missed it in the papers yesterday, Gage Daye was the player who was waived to make room for Ron Howard. Gage did not make it easy on the Coaches making the decision as he has some really nice minutes for us. Especially in our game against Erie a week or so back when he scored 11 points in the 4th quarter and essentially took over the game. As it often does, it just comes down to a numbers game with the limited amount of roster spots available (ten for D-League teams).

That leaves Darnell Lazare still in the Pacers training camp, along with Chris Hunter in the Knicks camp. We are all really pulling for Darnell to make it, as he really improved his game last year. He is also a smart hilarious guy who you can't help but root for to make it. Plus it's a short trip for the office to go see him on the Pacer's team.

Roster moves

2011-12-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

Big win on Sunday over Springfield to get the team back on track and bring us to .500 with a 4-4 record. Sioux Falls and Austin are on tap for this Thursday/Friday doubleheader at home. Sioux Falls is a team we beat in our home opener, but as we all know our roster has changed quite a bit since then!

Bad news yesterday for Ron Howard as he was waived by the Milwaukee Bucks. I have heard from sources (IE being nosy around the office) that he will be back in practice with the Mad Ants as of today (Tuesday) and will be playing this Thursday and Friday. So that means we will have now two more of our starters back from the beginning of the season. Ron is a reliable scorer who takes high percentage shots which is just what we need right now.

Sean Sonderleiter is still out on injured reserve and I am not sure what his status will be for this weeks games. Obviously with Sean and Ron returning that will cause us the tough task of having to waive a couple guys. No idea who that will be and glad that I am not the one deciding!

We still have Walker Russell Jr with the Detroit Pistons, Darnell Lazare with the Pacers, and Chris Hunter with the NY Knicks. Both Walker and Darnell play in preseason games tonight, so best of luck to them and be sure to tune in if you get the games to hopefully see them in action!

See everyone at the games this week and remember Thursday is "Ugly Christmas Sweater" night so be sure to bring out your best/worst yuletide sweater.

An Off Night

2011-12-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

So my prediction for the return of Thor-lookalike Sean Sonderleiter was a little off for last night. Technically when I posted the article it was correct, but literally an hour later I learned he would be on injured reserve due to a minor injury. He should be suited up next week if all goes well.

For those of you who came to the game last night, we appreciate your patience. The scoreboard and shot clock were having some major issues causing several delays. Great job by our stats crew led by Troy Dan and our PA announcer Jerrdog for keeping up with everything minus a shot clock/score.

Jeff Potter announced in the 4th quarter that any ticket for Dec. 16th could be turned in at the Coliseum box office to be used at another game as a thank you for bearing with us last night.

I will be honest, I did not get a chance to see very much of the game last night. Per usual I was bouncing around from place to place. From the box score, it is clear the entire team was pretty off last night. You can't really look at any one player and say they had a solid game. It is really tough to beat a team when you are only shooting 34% from Field Goal range and the other team is shooting 53%.

Let's hope we bounce back tomorrow against Springfield. Tip-off tomorrow (Sunday) is at 6pm.

Darnell Lazare got some run (as the kids like to say) in the Pacer's preseason game. From the box score, it doesn't look like he played his best but just the fact that the Pacer's played him for almost 10 minutes means they see something in him. The Pacer's have one more preseason game for him to impress coming up on Tuesday (Dec. 20th) against the Bulls.

Walker Russell JR was a DNP-Coaches Decision in the Pistons preseason game last night. I am sure that is disappointing for Walker but hopefully he will get some time in the next game.

Ron Howard will be playing tonight in the Buck's preseason game at 8pm ET against the T-Wolves.

Best of luck to all of these guys. I hope we never see them again in Fort Wayne (and I mean that in a good way!)

See everyone tomorrow night at the game!

The Blog is Back...The Blog is Back

2011-12-15T08:50:00.001-08:00

The blog is back in town, the blog is back the blog is back. Due to a tiny bit of demand, the Martz Madness Blog is now back in session after over a year layoff. I credit the return of this blog fully to one season ticket holder Ken Lauer. Ken asked me when I was going to return to blogging, and the sole fact that I knew at least one person read and enjoyed my blog was all the motivation I needed!

This blog will be all about bringing you as much inside news on the team that I can get away with giving away before Jeff Potter drops the hammer on me. As well as some fun behind the scenes stories.

So let us dig right in and bring us up to date on all things Mad Ants!

The team is currently 3-3 and we have a double header weekend this Friday (tomorrow) and Sunday against Iowa and Springfield. As with most teams in the NBA D-League we will be playing without a majority of our original starting lineup due to players going to NBA training camps. For those who have not been playing along at home, here is where all our players landed:

Ron Howard - Milwaukee Bucks
Walker Russell Jr - Detroit Pistons
Darnell Lazare - Indiana Pacers
Cameron Jones - Miami Heat

Cameron was released by the Heat on Wednesday and is already back in Fort Wayne (or the "Wizzle" as Darnell Lazare refers to it). He was at practice yesterday and will play on Friday. Cameron said it was a great experience for him, and I am sure it only drives his ambition to make it back to an NBA roster. I hope to have a video interview with him soon of his experiences in Miami with the big 3!

Another big story that will be unveiled this Friday, is that a former Mad Ant will be returning to the line up! It is not officially official yet so I will drop a couple hints for you.

A.) He last played for the Mad Ants during the 2009-10 Season
B.) He has often been said to resemble THOR
C.) He may or may not have been spotted sitting courtside at the game on Dec. 9th.

Also, here is a random picture from the game on Dec. 9th. Apparently we had an Ashton Kutchner look-a-like at the game...

With the team at home for the next four games, this is a big chance for us to get out in front with some wins. If we can stay strong over the next few games, we will most likely see some of our NBA training camp players return soon. Of course I would like to see all the guys make an NBA roster, but there are only so many roster spots available. From what I have heard around the office though, all of our players have been doing really well in their respective camps.

Here is my prediction for the starting line up on Friday:

PG Tory Jackson
SG Corey Allmond
SF Cameron Jones
PF Marvin Phillps JR
C Antonio Smith

Looking forward to a fun game on Friday, hope to see everyone there! Make sure to introduce yourself if you read the blog and see me running around at the game like a maniac.

Less than a week away!

2010-11-16T03:10:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants are less than a week away from our home opener on Nov. 21st! Very exciting and busy week to say the least. We had our media day yesterday at the Coliseum, which is where all the local media comes out to interview players/coaches to give their viewers/readers a preview of the season. Here are some highlights from media day:

Wane-TV's Ross Kinsey Interview with Hot Rod Wilmont , Walker Russell Jr and Coach Joey Meyer. *arrow over at the bottom of the screen to scroll through to each interview

(Mad Ants Trivia: I went to high school with Ross Kinsey at Angola High School. While Ross was a star on the High School Basketball team, I was cut from the 7th grade squad.)

Indiana Newscenter - Dean Pantazi's Media Day Highlights

Journal Gazette - Steve Warden blogs on his thoughts on what the final Mad Ants roster will look like come Sunday.

Here is my prediction for our opening night starting lineup-

PG - Walker Russell JR

SG - Chris Kramer

SF - Rod Wilmont

PF Darnell Lazare

C - Chris Hunter

But what do I know? Want to see the actual line-up? Come out to the game on Sunday! Tip-off is at 5pm.

Training Camp Roster - Keys to Success

2010-11-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

So I have not blogged in a while, DEAL WITH IT!!!!! Just kidding, I appreciate any loyal readers I have left. I will not make excuses for my lack of blogging, but I will say Jeff Potter has been doing a great job over at his blog. So make sure to check that out. Plus he actually knows what he is talking about as I am just randomly guessing.

I just want to quickly touch on the Keys to the Mad Ants success this season:

(please keep in mind I was cut from my 7th grade basketball team and have very little actual knowledge on the intricacies of professional basketball)

1.) Chris Hunter - Chris had an all-star year with us in the 08-09 season. He spent last year with the Golden State Warriors and is now back in the Mad Ants training camp. Why is he not in the NBA? I honestly really don't know. He had some great games last year with the Warriors. In a close game against the Lakers he scored 22 points and had 7 rebounds. Apparently Chris was suffering from a sore knee this summer, and that is what kept him out of NBA summer league and training camp rosters. The key is how long can we honestly hope to keep Chris on the roster? You know an NBA team will come calling sooner or later. The NBA Development League is really such a strange dynamic as you really root for these guys to make it to the NBA, but at the same time you know a huge hole will be left when he goes. Last year Chris did not make it through the first week of training camp, I will give him until mid-December before he is a GATORADE NBA Call-up.

2.) Walker Russell JR - Another all-star from the 08-09 season. Will Walker be able to recapture what he had two years ago when he led the league in assists and broke the all-time assist record for a season? I think so, he has been in town and working hard in the gym a month or more prior to training camp. He is a step ahead of many guys in the D-League at this point in the season. I also think it helps that Chris Hunter is back, who was a prime receiver of those assists in the Mad Ants 2nd season.

3.) Rod Wilmont - Rod has basically been in a self-created training camp all summer in Fort Wayne. He is giving it his all to make this a break-out year for him. From what I hear around the water cooler, Hot Rod has improved leaps and bounds of where he was at last year ( which was still very good!). I really look for him to grab some peoples attention this year and help lead the Mad Ants to the promised land.

These are not all the keys to success, but my lunch break is about to be over so I better wrap it up! Please come on out to the following events we have coming up in the next 72 hours:

Nov. 12th MEET THE TEAM PARTY at Crazy Pinz at 7pm. Free Food Free Bowling, plus the Mad Ants players will be there mingling and signing autographs.

Nov. 13th MAD ANTS VS ERIE BAYHAWKS pre-season game at CONCORDIA SEMINARY GYMNASIUM 7pm Tip-off Admission is free with a can-good or $5 at the door.

Training Camp

2010-10-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

Well we are less than a week out from the NBA D-League draft on Nov. 1st. With that said, it looks like we already have a pretty strong training camp roster. The players I am about to list are all "probable" and are based on my sleuth-like abilities to spy on the basketball side of the office, as well as some other sources.

Here are who it looks like will be returning:

Walker Russell Jr - PG -D-League Season Assist Leader

Rod Wilmont - SG/SF - has worked on his game all summer working out with Asst Coach Gansey. People that know about basketball say he has brought his game to another level

Anthony Kent - PF/C - Our big man from Ball State. He was playing hurt most of last year, plus he has came to town early to get into game shape ahead of training camp. Always a plus!

Carlos English PG - Carlos was our backup point guard who really provided a spark off the bench at the end of last season. He has arrived in town early to get ready for the season as well.

Allocated Players:

This is via Twitter from both players personal accounts but it looks like Billy Rush and Chris Kramer will both be attending Mad Ants training camp. Both would be allocated to us by getting waived from the Milwaukee Bucks pre-season camp. If the news on Kramer becomes official I am sure you will be hearing about it, as it would be huge news here in Fort Wayne and especially Huntington!

The rest of the training camp will be made up of draft picks and any other returning players that trickle in. Stay tuned for anymore news.

Two IU Players tryout for Mad Ants

2010-10-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

(Tijan Jobe)

Two IU players were at the Mad Ants open tryouts today at the Concordia Seminary.

Big man Tijan Jobe was there along with DeAndre Thomas. Both advanced to day two of the tryout which will finish up on Sunday. It is open to he public and will start up at 12pm tomorrow. Day 2 is almost entirely made up of 5 on 5 scrimmages , with the
20 remaining players (starting from 86) will vie for a spot on the Mad Ants training camp roster.

The Mad Ants have a history of finding some great players at open tryouts (ex: Ron Howard) so come check out who the next potential Mad Ants star will be!

Potential Mad Ants Training Camp Players

2010-10-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

The NBA D-League has a new player allocation rule this season. It allows each D-League team the right to allocate three players who were waived from their NBA affiliates training camp/preseason rosters. It is not three players per NBA affiliate but three players TOTAL. The players waived by the NBA team must also of course sign a contract with the NBA D-League.

In the Mad Ants case, it means we can pick three players from the pool of guys waived by the Pacers, Bucks, and Pistons.

The Milwaukee Bucks made their first three preseason cuts with the following players:

Tory Jackson - Tory is probably the most well known of the three to Fort Wayne as he was the starting point guard for Notre Dame last season. Last year Jackson averaged 9.6 pts, 5.3 asst, and shot 35% from 3-point range for the Fighting Irish. From what I hear around the water cooler, there is a good chance we will see him in training camp for the Mad Ants. (Keep in mind that a lot can change in the month of October as guys may get offers to go overseas)

Billy Rush - Rush is a 6'7 shooting guard/small forward out of Robert Morris. I don't know much about Mr. Rush (hey I am a sales guy who got cut from his 7th grade basketball team!) but apparently he can dunk!

Keith "Tiny" Gallon - Gallon was the Bucks 2nd Round Draft pick this year so this is a little bit of a suprise to see him cut so early. He played one season for Okalahoma before declaring for the draft. He is a 6'9 power forward This article has a quote from Bucks GM John Hammond:

“We wanted to do what’s right for the organization and for the player,” said general manager John Hammond, who wanted to give Gallon a chance to join another NBA team instead of waiting until the end of camp.

So I am not sure if we will see Gallon in Fort Wayne this year, but I would say with his size if he is available you have to at least give him a shot!

Well there is my first stab of the 2010-11 season at giving you some actual basketball analysis as opposed to my typical volleyball/pro wrestling stories. I will update as the Bucks/Pacers/Pistons make their cuts. Have a great week/weekend!

Mad Ants Win!

2010-10-06T08:04:00.001-07:00

Okay, my subject line may be a little misleading, the Mad Ants basketball team did not win (the season has not even started yet people!) but the office volleyball team did beat the Fort Wayne TinCaps volleyball team last night in a friendly game.

We played over at the courts by River City Bar & Grill, and it was a great time. Jeff Potter was even there to video some of this momentous event and hopefully he will be posting it sometime soon. A big thank you to Abby Naas for helping us set this up and all the TinCaps staff for coming out and playing. We are talking about making this a bi-monthly tradition and rotating sports. The Mad Ants would like to thank Jeff Potter, Asst Coach Steve Gansey, Volunteer Assistant Coach Dave Fox, and Intern Audrey (I am not even going to try to speell your last name) for coming out and showing their support. Not to mention for providing their witty commentary for the video.

For all you Chris Kramer fans, he suited up last night for the Milwaukee Bucks in their first preseason game. He managed to score 2 points, pull in 2 boards, and block a shot.

There is still a very good chance we could see Chris Kramer in a Mad Ants uniform this season, we will most likely know for sure by the end of this month.

There should be much more news coming soon as far as the Mad Ants roster is concerned. Open tryouts is on October 16th & 17th and we have a history of finding some quality players out of that (ex: Ron Howard, DeWitt Scott).

Until next time Mad Ants fans!

Chris Kramer to the Mad Ants?

2010-09-21T05:17:00.000-07:00

Before the recent emergence of IPFW Fort Wayne had typically been a two-horse college basketball town with IU & Purdue. High School students had to really weigh their college options...IU or Purdue? Up until this point the Mad Ants have only been able to put one half of that equation on the court in a Mad Ants uniform. Now it looks like Purdue's hard nosed guard Chris Kramer is seriously considering the Mad Ants in his basketball future.

You can check out the Journal Gazette article here

Here is a direct quote from Chris Kramer out of the article:

“I’m excited for a chance to go to training camp. With the Bucks, they really don’t have any spots available for guaranteed money. Their 15-man (roster) is full, so it’s just a chance to go up there and hopefully have a good camp and put yourself in an even better position than you were when you stepped in to go to camp. Go down to play with the Mad Ants and hopefully play well again and make the dream come true and play in the NBA.”

The Mad Ants have had two IU players on the roster (Earl Calloway and Rod Wilmont), but have yet to put a Purdue player on the court. Not only is Chris Kramer a Purdue Alum but he is also a local of Huntington, IN.

I am a little biased toward IU but I think it would be great for the Mad Ants to have a player like Chris Kramer on the roster. It is an opportunity for us to tap into more of the Purdue fan-base and an opportunity for Chris to work his way onto to an NBA roster.

Obviously there are no guarantees Chris will end up on the Mad Ants roster, but it sure would be nice!

Mad Ants Prospects

2010-09-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Do you hate when you read someone's blog and they just point you towards another blog for real actual content? Well you may want to stop reading now. Ridiculous Scott has a great article about Notre Dame 4 year point guard Tory Jackson who is trying to make a go of the NBA this year.

There has been talk of a new allocation rule that will allow D-League teams to have the rights to players who are cut from their affiliates training camp/preseason roster. So if Tory Jackson does not make the Milwaukee Bucks final roster the Mad Ants could potentially have his rights. I do not know if this rule is officially set in stone yet but I have heard it is being at least considered.

I think this would be a nice step in the right direction for the D-League. It would also clear up some of the fuzzy allocation rules we currently have. Last year Erie received the rights to Rob Kurz because he played high school in that area, even though he played his college ball at Notre Dame. We then had to trade our first pick for Rob last year to acquire him.

The Mad Ants volleyball team will have its big season ending tournament one week from today. I am going to attempt to get a team picture (hopefully with a championship "trophy")!

Photographic Proof

2010-08-27T05:10:00.000-07:00

Jeff Potter just forwarded me an email with some pictures from Sean Sonderleiter's new team in Germany. Here he is with his old Mad Ants teammate and fellow Ratiopharm Ulm teammate Coleman Collins. Apparently the overseas training camp is much longer than the U.S. so it will be a while before I can give updates

I can give you some updates on the Mad Ants Volleyball Squad though. We went a mediocre 2-2 last night. We won both games in the first match and were swept by a very solid team in the second match. The team consisted of me, Sarah Wladecki, Heidi Busch, Asst Coach Steven Gansey and his significant other Krystal (with a K!). Steven Gansey shocked everyone by his volleyball prowess, he was attacking the net with a VENGEANCE! If basketball does not work out for him, he may have a solid backup in Volleyball.

I think I was able to pin down why we lost last the second match last night. It was the curse of the Garrett Headband. I always wear a Mad Ants headband at the games, you know to try to give off that crazy headband vibe, and I forgot to wear it for the first 2 games (which we won). I was sitting at our table between games when I stood up and yelled "My Headband!". I proceeded to get it out of my car and wear it for match 2 where we were trounced. Coincidence? We shall see next week.

Keep your eyes open for a fun video we are putting together in-house. It is going to promote 5 Great reasons to buy Mad Ants season tickets. I will be posting it on the blog when we get it finished.

Have a great weekend!

-Garrett

Mad Ants Abroad

2010-08-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sean Sonderleiter officially has left for Germany as of this past week. He had been back in Fort Wayne for a few weeks doing work outs with Mad Ants Assistant Coach Steve Gansey to prepare for the trip. He will be playing on the same team as Mad Ants Alumni Coleman Collins. I am sure Coleman will be a great tour guide to help Sean get accustomed to the new team/country.

Ryan Ayers has signed a deal with a team in Finland. You can read the story here.

Ron Howard has signed to play in Israel for the Netanya team. This is a big time European league and Ron will be facing some tough competition.

Now for a more important update, the Mad Ants volleyball team! We went 3-1 last night and faced some stiff competition from Monnier Remodeling (our favorite team to play) and a team whose name I don't recall. The highlight of the night for me was watching Kyle Thoms get BLOCKED by former Mad Ants intern Camron's Dad Bernie at the net. It was a rude awakening for Mr. Thoms.

This year our roster consists of Mad Ants staffers: Me, Heidi Busch, Sarah Wladecki, Kyle Thoms, and Jeff Johnson. We have also brought in ringers who are Emily and Crystal who are the girlfriends of "Hot" Rod Wilmont and Asst Coach Steve Gansey respectively. I will post a team picture ASAP. Do not worry, I am still rocking the Mad Ants sweatband.

Last night Coach Gansey supported the team by showing up. He kept me mentally motivated by peppering me with names of famous wrestlers from the 1990's. I then would come up with their finishing move. I was a perfect 100%. One that did give me trouble was Golddust but I managed to eventually come up with "Curtain Call" (an inverted DDT for those playing at home). He also threw Sable at me, but I do not believe she ever had a finishing move other than perhaps finishing husband Marc Mero's career!

Other big news, the Mad Ants schedule is out! We will be starting at home on Nov. 21st and have 15 weekend dates this year (Fri/Sat/Sun). We are playing on Christmas Day, which I think could turn into a big tradition for us. Great way to get the whole family together, as I know my family is often looking for something to do Christmas evening.

If you are looking at season tickets or a group night, feel free to give me a call at 260-469-4667 x 107 to see some specific options.

Have a great weekend!

-Garrett

Mad Ant Departures

2010-08-03T05:25:00.001-07:00

In a classic NBA D-League bad news/good news situation the Mad Ants will be losing two key players next year to the overseas market. Rob Kurz will be going to play in Spain, while Sean Sonderleiter will be going to play in Germany. I am a little surprised by Rob leaving as I thought he really deserved to be on an NBA roster. He is just a guy with an incredibly high basketball IQ that would be a great role player on most NBA teams. He may have been a little frustrated by not getting a call-up until the very tail end of the season last year. I wish Rob the best of luck and hope has a great time and Europe and makes some money!

I am very happy for Sean. This is a guy who two years ago was picked in the 10th round in the D-League draft. For those who are not experts on the draft, I would guess about 20% of the players in the draft make it onto the teams roster. So it was a long shot for Sean to even make it to the Mad Ants, let alone have the amazing season he had last year. He has done so much work to put himself in this position overseas, and he really deserves it.

Of course, to get the true scoop on this news, you can check out Ridiculous Upside who broke the story.

LeBron to the Mad Ants?!?!

2010-07-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

According to this ESPN writer, we are in the running. It's in the third paragraph.

Honestly I have no idea where LeBron will announce he is going tonight. It seems like a slap in the face to Cleveland if he is holding a huge press conference event on ESPN to announce he is going to Miami. If I was a betting man, I would bet he his staying with the Cavs. Nothing beats home and an NBA max contract!

On to stuff you don't care about: What a glorious 4th of July weekend that was! I took two vacation days and was up on the crystal blue waters of Crooked Lake. Managed to visit two sandbars/fish without a license (don't worry I did not catch a thing)and see a ton of friends and family. I even won a game of croquet!

I also had the honor of being the Mad Ant in the 4th of July Parade in Angola (one of my hometowns) and boy was it hot! I think it topped out around 94 degrees that day. If you ever see a mascot on a hot day, don't bother saying "I bet it's hot in there!" BECAUSE IT IS and he/she is keenly aware of that fact. I bet I heard that forty times. Be original people, it was getting to the point I would have rather had someone attack me and try to rip my mascot head off than hear another "MAN-O-MAN I bet it's warm in there (chuckle chuckle)." It was a great parade though and thousand from the community came out for it. I also had the pleasure of meeting Marlin Stutzman (republican candidate for House Seat) and my old high school history teacher Mr. Olson (who is a Democrat City Councilman), all as the Mad Ant!

A plethora of Mad Ants will be playing in the Vegas Summer League coming up next week. To stay updated on all the action I would recommend checking out Ridiculous Upside or NBA.com

Oliver Lafayette is currently playing with the Celtics at the Orlando Summer League and has done a very nice job so far. I think he is making a good case for sticking with the Celtics for next season.

Remember the Madame Ants Dance Team Tryouts are coming up next week on July 17th at the Concordia Seminary gymnasium. If you are interested, check out the Mad Ants website with all the details. Madame Ants Laura and Ana were just on 98.9 the Bear with Turner and Jerrdog this morning (Mad Ants PA Announcer) promoting the tryout. Some very amusing comments...Turner brought up that he thinks VP of Sales & Marketing Jeff Johnson has a "hot sister" randomly.

I will end this blog by letting you know the first session of Mad Ants volleyball is coming to a close next Thursday with the league tournament. Our goal is to bring the first ever championship to the Mad Ants (volleyball or otherwise!). We will wear the t-shirts we win in proud glory (or some of us will probably take the $15 off the next session). I will let you know how it goes. Until next time...

Acme Bar & Grill "Where Sports Teams Meet"!

2010-06-18T05:39:00.001-07:00

The Mad Ant Volleyball squad redeemed themselves in a dominating fashion with a 4-0 victory last night. The second team we played was so bad, that Kyle and Heidi felt the need to keep commenting on much fun the other team was having just to make them feel better about their atrocious play. Due to an overflow of teams, we had to play this match at the Plex Courts as opposed to the courts at River City Bar & Grill. The Plex does not have the same type of atmosphere, as they are missing two key items: Music & Buckets of Beer. Still 4-0 is 4-0 and we had a good time.

After the volleyball match Kyle, Heidi and I headed to the Acme Bar & Grill to watch Game Seven of the NBA Finals. We were hoping to see Mad Ant point guard and current Celtic capture an NBA ring, but it was not meant to be. We did not manage to spot Oliver on the bench, which is usually the most exciting part of the game for us. He must have been too busy hamming it up with Christina Aguilera and Jack Nicholson.

Apparently the Acme Bar is the place where all the sports teams in Fort Wayne like to get together for big sporting events. Upon entrance we sit down at a booth, only to realize that world famous Komets WOWO broadcaster Bob Chase and his wife are sitting at the bar. As the game goes on a big group of Tin Caps employees come in after their home game had wrapped up. Appropriately they sat right under the huge mural of Parkview Field on Acme's wall. So at that point we had visits to the Acme by the Komets, Mad Ants, and Tin Caps. Not to leave the college sports realm out, National Champion Head Coach of St. Francis basketball Jeff Rekeweg walks in with his wife to catch the end of the game. I kept looking around after that waiting for Gene Keady or Rod Woodson to walk in the door.

As for the game itself, it was low scoring but exciting at the same time. Although we were all secretly hoping Oliver would rip off his suit to reveal a Celtics jersey underneath and take the floor. Still a good time and glad I got to visit the revitalized Acme Bar "Where Sports Neighbors Meet".

Have a great weekend Charlie Brown!

Guess this is a monthly subscription

2010-06-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

So my blog has tanked again! I don't know what my problem is, but I cannot manage to update this blog regularly. Even my Mom doesn't check it anymore, as she just told me this past weekend.

Here is a brief update:

AOL Fanhouse had a nice article on Oliver Lafayette and his time with the Celtics in the NBA Finals. We are all really rooting for Oliver to get an NBA ring! Pretty crazy stuff.

The Jimmy Buffett concert was great, had a great time with a big group of friends. Assistant Coach Extraordinaire Steve Gansey even made an appearance, as unbeknown to me he is a certified Parrot Head. It was strange having the concert in May but the weather ended up cooperating.

The Mad Ants Volleyball team is a very sad 8-8 right now. Due to a flu bug we were forced to forfeit one week losing all four games. This past Thursday we only came away with one win, and put up three losses. This was the worst week we have had when we were fully equipped with all six teammates. We were simply outplayed! Very frustrating but gets us motivated for next week.

Mad Ants staffers Sarah and Heidi joined me last night at the Mad Anthony's Charity Golf Dinner which featured IU Head Coach Tom Crean and WOWO Legend Bob Chase receiving Mad Anthony Red Jackets. A great event for a great cause. We even had the pleasure of meeting Coach Crean and chatting with him for a minute. He was very knowledgeable about the Mad Ants and said he wanted to try to make it to a game in the future. Very nice guy and a great speaker as well.

Well that's it, short and sweet! Jeff Potter has been updating his blog like a madman if you need more of a blog fix. Until next time, keep it realer than real deal holyfield.

Month Hiatus

2010-05-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know no one reads this blog anymore, but Sarah has forced me to BLOG!!!!!! She think she is so cool at these marketing meetings. One of her topics is always "Okay Blogs" *turns head and looks directly at me* "ummm......what do I blog about? The season is over.."

Well good news folks...the Mad Ants season may be over but the MAD ANTS VOLLEYBALL season has just begun!!! We kicked off our first match last night at the beach courts of the River City Bar. Please welcome new Mad Ants Volleyball teammate Emily to the team. Emily is the girlfriend of Rod Wilmont, which allows us to welcome the new Mad Ants Volleyball male cheerleader Rod Wilmont to the team. Rod was not able to play on our team as we already have three guys, but I am sure he will sub for us in the future.

Rod actually was able to sub last night for the opposing team in our first match as they were short on players. Although Rod put in a solid effort, he should stick to basketball as the Mad Ants won that match 2-0. I will say he did not have much to work with, as the rest of his team just plain stunk.

The next match was a close one as we had to go to volleyball overtime and won 20-18. So the Mad Ants are 4-0 to start the season and Rod Wilmont in a subbing capacity is 0-2.

Great news, I finally can bump/pass the ball. For some reason I could not stop my self from moving my arms when I bumped, which would cause the ball to go way too high or off in a wild direction. Last night it just clicked and did a solid job of bumping it by just keeping my arms steady.

As for Mad Ants news.... we are all rooting for the Boston Celtics as we want to see Mad Ants alumni Oliver Lafayette get a NBA championship ring! That would be so crazy if it goes down, they have a tough road ahead but hey who thought they would beat the Cavs?

Heading to Jimmy Buffett concert tomorrow in Indy, so I will recap that when I get back. FINS UP!

Nice article on O

2010-04-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a good article on Oliver Lafayette's call-up to the Celticsc courtesy of WEEI Sports Radio Network. Apparently Oliver and Glen "Don't call me Big Baby" Davis are childhood friends and it was a happy reunion.

Oliver Lafayette a Celtic

2010-04-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

Oliver Lafayette made his debut as a Boston Celtic tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks! Oliver is a guy who was really under the radar as far as the "call-up" rankings go, which often left me scratching my head. He put up big numbers all year and finished the season with a HUGE month. This and the added bonus of having Danny Ainge watch him play in several games vs Maine gave him this opportunity. It looks like he made the most of that tonight in playing 21 minutes and getting 7 pts 4 rebs and 2 assists. Check out one of those assists here:

I bet Erie is kicking themselves for cutting O before the season now! I hope he keeps this up and gets some more action in the playoffs.

Call-ups Call-ups WE GOT CALL-UPS

2010-04-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

So by now if you are still checking this blog, you are either very stubborn/patient or are my Mom. Regardless, you have probably already heard the good news about Rob Kurz being called up to the Chicago Bulls. Rob is very deserving of this and I have always thought he was the "Do everything" guy on the team and would make a great role player for an NBA squad. He is a great shooter who also does everything else well. He will grab rebounds, get a few blocks and does not make many bad decisions on the court. Rob is also a down to earth, nice guy and the entire Mad Ants office is beyond happy for him. There are now two former Mad Ants on the Bulls in Rob and Joe Alexander. The Bulls look poised to make the playoffs as an 8 seed, so hopefully Rob will get a chance to see some action.

The more recent and not quite official news is that another Mad Ant player from this season may or may not be getting a call-up to the NBA. Because I like my job and don't want Jeff Potter or Dan Reed yelling at me, I am just going to link to the story on Ridiculous Upside. I will comment more once the official press release goes out.

Taylor's Turn

2010-03-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

Well I have been slacking on my blogging again. I don't know what makes it so hard to keep this updated regularly. I mean the team has won six out of our last seven games but for some reason I still don't update! What a jerk! Well, the good news is you can read Potter's blog where he has actually been keeping up with everything.

I am going to keep slacking and turn this blog over to our Carroll High School intern Taylor. She is going to talk about her top 3 Mad Ants moments this season. Say hello to Taylor everyone....

This is a count down of my top 3 Mad Ants moments this season. Here we go...

3. Finding out that I would be interning with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants has to be number three on my list. I love sports and hope to pursue a career in sports marketing, what better internship to have then this.

2. Throughout the season there were many themed nights, all the way from 50's night to the pajama party. I enjoyed these nights because it was a nice change of pace. I mostly just got really excited to wear my costumes and see what others would be wearing as well.

1. And my number one moment would have to be...having the Carroll Powder Puff Cheerleaders perform at half-time. The cheerleaders are a group of about ten guys who make up dances for our homecoming pep rally. Usually the dances are pretty good but this year it was more then amazing! Our senior class cheerleaders have had their videos all over the internet including YouTube.
I thought to myself what could possibly be better then performing at half-time for the Mad Ants? After they performed Jeff Potter loved them so much that he had asked them to come and perform for the last game of the season. Now the boys are on their way to perform for the WNBA team, the Washinton Mystics. My project turned into a huge success.
Congratulations Carroll Powder Puff Cheerleaders!

The List

2010-03-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

(The much anticipated "Captain Hook" pictures from Disney Night. Thank you's go out to Madame Ants Kate (Peter Pan) and Brittany (Tinker Bell) for posing for the pictures)

Looking at these pictures now, I realize I should have ponied up some money for a pirate hat or wig. Otherwise, wow I am good.

Well the Mad Ants are home from a week-long road trip where they traveled to Tulsa and Albuquerque. The bad news is they did not come up with any wins on the road. The good news is we have another home game on Sunday against the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The best news is its 50's night. With this being our last theme night of the year, it brings out my "go big or go home" mentality. The problem being I have not started looking for a costume yet. I have a few ideas, we will just have to see what I come up with.

It was good to see Rob Kurz back in action after missing several games with a deep thigh bruise. With Jared Reiner and Ron Howard both gone, losing Kurz was huge. It's also great for him as he will be able to make a run at a ten-day with an NBA team as they get into play-off stretch. We have still not picked up anyone to officially replace Ron Howard (maybe it's because replacing a guy like Ron Howard would be impossible!), mostly because the D-League player pool right now is slim pickings.

For those of you who come to this blog for Mad Ants/basketball related topics, you may want to leave. For those of you who come for pro wrestling topics, pull up a chair (just don't hit me in the head with it).

I have been out of the loop on pro wrestling for several years now. I check in from time to time but it has not captured my imagination like it did in the late 80's/90's/early 2000's. After watching a few recent "Shoot interviews" (interviews with wrestlers who talk about their careers and break "character") it has started to peak my interest again. So for some reason that makes me want to give my top three favorite pro wrestling tag-teams (some credit must go to a facebook post by Ridiculous Scott in which we started talking about what tag-team John Bryant and Micahel Sweetney wouuld be similar to).

I am going to base my tag-teams on 1) Were they Main Event Status 2) Longevity 3.) Level of Competition they faced and 4.) How much I liked them!

3.) Dudley Boys

The Dudleys were a team I first saw live in ECW back in January of 1998. It was at the Tyndall Armory in downtown Indianapolis. There were probably 1,000 fans at the show and the place was packed. This was in ECW's heyday and the place was electric. This was when the Dudleys had the full entourage with Joel Gertner, Sign Guy Dudley, and Dick Dudley. BUH BUH Dudley would get on the microphone and rip the town to shreds and basically challenge any fan in the building to fight him. The heat they received was unreal. That night they took on New Jack/John Kronus/ and Spike Dudley in a six-man tag that went all over the building and ended with New Jack diving off a 25 foot balcony onto BuhBuh on a table. It had my 16 year-old imagination fully captured. The Dudleys have worked everywhere and been a top team in every promotion. They have never tried to break apart and become singles stars which is often the case with tag teams (think Shawn Michaels and the Rockers or Bret Hart in the Hart Foundation).

2.) Rock N Roll Express

I'll be honest, I was a WWF man back in the 80's and early 90's. Simply because I did not have cable and never was able to watch WCW except for some of their syndicated shows like WCW Worldwide on Saturday mornings. I state this fact because that means I missed the Rock N' Roll Expresses big run in the late mid-to late 80's. Luckily through the magic of VHS tapes, I have watched many of their big matches. They pretty much invented the formula for a successful baby-face (good guy) tag team. Compromised of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, they were to guys who were not 'roided up but simply new how to work (wrestle). Ricky Morton was doing hurrancanranas before they were cool. The forumula for their matches has been duplicated by everyone in the business. The heels (bad guys) would beat the crap out of Ricky Morton for the majority of the match. He would then miracously make the hot tag (to a huge pop from the crowd) to Robert Gibson who would come in and clean house. The big run for them was in the NWA/WCW but they had stints in the WWF/Smokey Mountain Wrestling and still team up occasionally to this day on Independent wrestling shows across the country. I worked on one such show with them back in 2000 or 2001. I remember two amusing anecdotes from this show. Ricky Morton was just about to go out for his match and talking to some of the younger guys about the tag match the younger guys had worked earlier in the show, telling them "you guys did alright, but you don't need to do all those crazy spots, you gotta pace yourself and not just do a bunch of moves for no reason." The Rock N Roll Express theme music hits and Ricky takes a long drag off his cigarette and says "Now this is how you work" and heads to the ring. My encounter with him was also amusing, during my match I was going to use the heelish tactic of throwing powder in my opponents eyes. I was preparing my baggie of baby powder as Ricky Morton walks by and asks "Hey man, can I get a line of that?" . I am taken aback and stutter "uhhh..oh no it's just baby powder" and Ricky replies with "Geezus kid, think I was serious, everybody is so uptight around here".

1.) Road Warriors

These guys were monsters their entire careers. They were babyfaces, they were heels, it did not matter, they were always over with the fans. Although not the best "wrestlers", they had some great tandem moves (Doomsday Device!) and could brawl. They were the top team in every promotion at some point. Not to mention the great catchphrase by Road Warrior Hawk "AWWWW WHAT A RUSH". They set the bar for monster tag teams in wrestling. They had memorable feuds with Demolition/Midnight Express/Nasty Boys and many more. Just the epitomy of a cool tag team that immeidiatley drew your attention. Sadly Road Warrior Hawk passed away a few years back but I believe Road Warrior Animal is still involved in the business.

I came here to chew bubble gum and kick....

2010-03-03T08:09:00.000-08:00

I will let Jeff Potter talk about the team/games in his blog. I want to use this blog to look at some fun things the Mad Ants have done over the past several weeks.

My favorite event/partnership/program that the Mad Ants have done this year is building a great relationship with the YMCA's of Greater Fort Wayne. Every Y-Ball (YMCA's youth basketball program) participant received a free Mad Ants ticket and a chance to participate in a Mad Ants Coach/Players basketball clinic at the Jorgensen YMCA on Feb. 13th. We had well over 250 kids participate int he clinic and everyone had a great time. Here is a picture of the early session of kids at the clinic.

(YMCA Mad Ants Clinic)

We recently had YMCA Night at our Feb. 28th home game with over 400 people from the Y-Ball program coming out to the game.

Another fun night was February 20th which was "Awesome 80's Night". I always tend to go overboard on these theme nights and the 20th was no exception. Here it is....the long awaited, never duplicated....

If you don't know who I am, shame on you. Rowdy Roddy Piper was an icon of the 80's pro wrestling scene. The classic bad guy who was so bad he was cool long before Stone Cold came onto the scene. Note the authentic pro wrestling boots.

And for your enjoyment a shot of the Madame Ants in their 80's gear:

LA D-Fenders come to town tomrrow and Friday! Be there! Tip-off is at 7pm on Thursday and 7:3opm on Friday.

Thabeet Goes On

2010-02-27T13:48:00.001-08:00

So the big story in the NBA Development League this week is that Hasheem Thabeet was assigned to the Dakota Wizards by the Memphis Grizzlies. Ridiculous Scott over at Ridiculous Upside broke the story before anyone else. Why is this a huge story? Thabeet was the second pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. He is the highest draft pick ever to be assigned to the NBA D-League.

Why is this important for the D-League? Anytime a topic involving the D-Leauge (that does not involve a Michael Jordan impersonator) comes up on ESPN's Pardon the Interuption, it's a good thing. PTI's Michael Wilbon defended sending Thabeet to the D-League. He stated he felt other past players such as Kwame Brown would have benefited from a stint in the D- League.

The D-League is essentially Triple-A baseball. Just a step below the NBA. Some people do not understand that. To have a big name like Thabeet come down, it shows what a high level this league is at, both the quality of play and the respect that NBA teams give it. Memphis has invested a lot in Thabeet and they feel the best step to improve his game is get him some playing time in a live game. This is exactly what the Development League is here for.

Why is this important for the Mad Ants? We play Dakota on Sunday (Feb. 28th). So we get to bring one of the biggest names in college basketball last year to town for our fans. Plus it also happens to be a big game as far as the Mad Ants making a run for the playoffs. We have won three of the last four games and it would be nice to kick off our home stand with a big win over Dakota.

Injury Update: Rob Kurz is questionable for tomorrow nights game. He will almost certainly be back for Tuesdays game if he misses Sunday. He took a hard knee from Mo Almond in Maine on Wednesday.

See everyone at the game tomorrow.

Always Learning

2010-02-21T04:59:00.000-08:00

After last nights win over Erie for Awesome 80's Night I learned three things.

1.) There were not as many people watching Pro Wrestling in the mid to late 80's as you think. I mean seriously.....who does not know who Rowdy Roddy Piper is???? More explanation on this one when I have some pictures to upload from last night.

2.) Dan Dickau is realer than real deal Holyfield. He brought 17 points and 11 assists and really moved the ball around as you can tell by the Mad Ants having seven players in double figures. Dan brings a natural point guard to the team, I know many people felt was a big part of what the team was missing. The bad news (for us)/good news (for him) is that if he keeps playing like that he will be back in the NBA before you know it.

3.) If you wear a wig for 5 hours and then take it off it still feels like you have it on.

The good thing is we get to do this all again in about 9 hours! Mad Ants vs Erie BayHawks at 5pm! If we win this one, we move a notch above Erie in the standings. It's a long road to get back into the playoff race but you have to start somewhere!

Player Update

2010-02-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants has a big player announcement, we would like to welcome NBA vet Dan Dickau to the roster. Springfield had signed Dickau off the waiver wire after he entered the D-League player pool, and then traded him to us. We traded Kyle McAlarney to Springfield for Dickau. The idea behind this trade is to shore up our point guard spot and add another vet to the team.

It is a shame to see Kyle gone, as he was a definite fan favorite and very fun to watch.

Dickau will be looking to get a call-up to the NBA yet this season, so you know he will be playing hard to get that opportunity.

So come on out to the Coliseum tomorrow and welcome Dan to the team. Tip-off is at 7pm and we are taking on Rod Benson and the Reno Bighorns.

Ron Howard and Rob Kurz in All-Star game today!

2010-02-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that Ron Howard and Rob Kurz will be playing int he NBA D-League All-Star game today (Saturday) at 3pm EST. You can watch it live on NBA TV. Or can you watch it with myself and the Mad Ants staff on DVR at my apartment around 6pm after the YMCA Mad Ants Clinic today at the Jorgensen YMCA.

Here is an article from Reggie Hayes in the News Sentinel talking about the Mad Ants All-Stars.

Weekly Blog Update

2010-02-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

Well apparently I am on a weekly blog schedule now, which is too bad because I am one heckuva blogger. Much better than Jeff Potter talking about anteaters or Jared Reiner writing about his experience with airplane exit seats.

I have been pretty busy over the last week or so with Mad Ants stuff galore. But we have not had a game since January 31st you say? You are correct, but as some of you may believe we do not hibernate in our Coliseum storage closet between games (at least I don't, I think Kyle Thoms might). We had a flurry of "appearances" and events to attend with us having NINE different appearances on Saturday alone!

This included having the Mad Ant mascot visit six YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne Y-Ball sites. These appearances are always a lot of fun. You have not experienced chaos until you drop a 6-4 ANT in the middle of 50 5-8 year olds playing basketball. The reactions vary from fleeing in fear to some of them instantly going into ATTACK mode and trying to rip off the Mad Ants antennae. The Mad Ant always manages to come out in one piece though and have a good time doing it. He even came off the bench for a couple teams and threw down some Monster dunks! Granted, it was an eight foot rim but still impressive!

I also led a caravan of half the team consisting of Rod Wilmont, Rob Kurz, Anthony Kent, Jared Reiner and Sean Sonderletier to a basketball clinic for the Kosciusko YMCA in Warsaw on Saturday morning. The snow caused the players and I to be a little late, but Ants Assistant Coach Sanders had arrived promptly and was putting the kids to work with drills when we arrived. We had about 60 kids there and the players quickly had them running layup/shooting/passing/dribbling drills at three separate stations. My favorite part of these clinics is always the Q&A session we do at the end with the players. The normal questions came up like "Can you dunk?" and "How tall are you?" . We then had a couple gems like "How big are your feet?" and the best "Do they do these drills that we did?" directed at Coach Sanders. Coach Sanders replied that the players do these type of drills all the time. The kid then said "No, I mean can you make them do them right now?". Probably a "you had to be there type moment" but I found it very funny. The poor kid was tired and thought the players had it easy directing them through the drills but not actively participating in them. Coach told them they were going practice right after this so they had to save their strength.

The other amazing thing was the players ability to eat a full Cracker Barrel breakfast after the clinic and then practice immediately afterward. Sean Sonderleiter's catfish/macaroni and cheese biscuit sandwich concoction was pretty spectacular.

Hopefully this snow stays under control (the weather man says otherwise) and we have a nice turnout for the game tomorrow night (Feb. 9). I know the Rio Grande Valley Vipers are already in town, so the game is going down regardless of the snow situation! This is a great opportunity to come out and see Mike Harris play, a guy who has been putting up 20 and 20 games with apparent ease latley. I am pretty sure we will see him on an NBA team by the end of the season (back on an NBA team as he played briefly for the Rockets earlier in the year). It's Disney Theme night tomorrow, so be sure to dress up if you come out to the game.

This will also be the return of Ron Howard to the Mad Ants court, as he recovers from his hand injury. He is on his way to the D-League all-star game this weekend. Jamelle Cornely's knee has flared up and Ron will be replacing him on the roster. We will retain Jamelle's rights due to waiving him because of injury.

Rest

2010-02-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

In the Mad Ants office we had three goals for Sunday night.

1.) Have a big crowd.

This was probably our biggest crowd of the year with over 5,000 in the building. We had several youth groups coming out to the game to see Santcus Real and many other groups as well. It just creates such a better environment for the game to have that type of crowd. The crowd seemed very into the game and I hope we see some repeat fans.

2.) Have a successful post-game concert

We wanted to do Youth Faith Night right and so we spent some money and brought in Santcus Real (grammy nominated group). They put on a great show and the several hundred fans that stuck around for the show seemed to have a great time. The band stuck around after the game to sign autographs and could not have been a nicer group of guys.

3.) BEAT IOWA

A tough loss for the team. As an office, we wanted the win not only for the standings but to give a good impression to all the new fans we had at the game. The game was very competitive and the Mad Ants gave it all they had. I don't think too many fans left with a bad impression from the game. Many first time fans are shocked by the quality of basketball they see , not to mention all the big name college players in the league.

So the bad news, we lost, good news is we don't have to play Iowa again! (until the playoffs that is!). There are still quite a few games to be played and the Mad Ants are still in the hunt.

The guys have a few days off and then it's back to the grindstone. You may see us out in the community here in the next few weeks as we are putting the guys to work with several appearances!

Check out Erie BayHawk Mike Gansey's new blog over at Ridiculous Upside. Mike is Mad Ants Assistant Coach Steve Gansey's brother and having quite the season over in Erie. Steve is having a good season as well in his role with the Mad Ants .....if you don't count the broken hand! (The Stop Sign really had it coming though!)

Reiner Returns

2010-01-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

Jared Reiner will return to the Ants lineup tonight. This will be a huge help as he will have Courtney Sims and Earl Barron to deal with from the Iowa Energy squad. To make room for Reiner we have waived Kyle McAlarney due to injury. This means we retain Kyle's rights and will bring him back when he recovers.

Everything is setup and ready for the big post-game concert tonight featuring 2009 Grammy nominated Sanctus Real. The concert will be taking place following the conclusion of the Mad Ants game. We have a ton of tickets pre-sold for this game and it should be the biggest crowd of the season to date. The pressure is on the team to pull out a big win against Iowa. We are currently 0-5 against league leader Iowa this season, with this being our last regular season game. Steve Warden had a story today detailing this exact topic.

The News Sentinel had a nice background story on Milwaukee Bucks assigned player Joe Alexander. Joe showed some glimpses of what he is capable of on Thursday and I expect to see him continue to improve tonight. The rust from being sidelines for 4 months is beginning to shake off. It will be good for the home crowd to have a "dunker" on the roster.

I'LL BE BACK....AND I AM BACK

2010-01-29T07:08:00.000-08:00

Looks like I am back to my old habits of being a lackadaisical blogger (akin to a lackadaisical "cover" when you don't hook the leg when going for a pin in pro wrestling). I don't have any excuses besides laziness. There have been plenty of things to write about. The Mad Ants being on VERSUS again last Saturday. Although the outcome of the game did not turn out well, I thought the quality of the broadcast was great, especially after the second week. Even though the Mad Ants don't play again on VERSUS for the remainder of the regular season, I encourage you to check out a game. They are on every Saturday night at 11pm EST.

A season ticket holder approached me last night with several questions about the current Mad Ants roster. We have had several changes/injuries occur and I can imagine it gets a little confusing for those playing along at home. So I thought it would be a great idea to go over where we are at with the current roster.

Oliver Lafayette: He is the starting point guard and healthy. Oliver is great because not only can he penetrate and dish, he can also shoot the three as well.

Jason Straight: Jason played with Dakota earlier in the season but later waived. We picked him up as our back-up PG with Kyle McAlarney being injured for last nights game. He had a nice outing dished out six assists in limited minutes

Kyle McAlarney: Kyle had some strained ligaments in his foot, but is feeling much better and could potentially be ready to go on Sunday.

Ron Howard: Mr. Mad Ant is sidelined with a broken finger. He should be back in approximately 3 weeks.

Rod Wilmont: Hot Rod is healthy as a horse and was a game changer in the 4th quarter last night in the win against Springfield.

Ryan Ayers: Ryan is also healthy and has really been improving over the course of the season. His corner three point shot is pretty much automatic at this point.

Rashad Anderson: Rashad was waived by Iowa and picked up by the Mad Ants earlier in the month. It was good timing as Rashad has managed to help fill in the hole that opened up when Ron Howard was injured.

Rob Kurz: Rob missed some games due to a sore back, but he is back to 100% and putting up some big numbers.

Jared Reiner: Reiner had some issues with his back but has just been cleared by the doctors to be at 100% and ready to return to action on Sunday.

Sean Sonderleiter: Sean is of course at 100%, his long wavy hair protects him from injury and also opens up a nice post-basketball career of male modeling.

Anthony Kent: AK had a slight abdominal strain but was able to play limited minutes last night. He will have a few days to heal up for Sundays game.

Joe Alexander: Joe is our NBA assigned player from the Milwaukee Bucks. He had not played with the Bucks all year due to a hamstring injury he suffered in training camp. He has been slowly upping his minutes with the Mad Ants as he gets his wind back. He had a thunderous dunk on Thursday night that showed he has not lost any of his vaunted jumping ability.

Well that is the rundown of the roster. Mad Ants are back in action Sunday Night (Jan. 31st) at 5pm against the Iowa Energy. This is the Mad Ants last regular season shot at beating the Energy! Sunday is also Youth Faith Night and we will have Grammy nominated Sanctus Real performing after the game.

I have a good feeling about this Sunday and the rest of the season. Injuries have been really holding the team back and we now have a nice home stretch for the guys to get healthy and back on track. See you at the game.

Milwaukee Bucks Assign Joe Alexander to the Mad Ants

2010-01-20T12:11:00.000-08:00

(Joe Alexander throwing it down)

As I predicted in a blog back in November (I am really full of myself), Joe Alexander has been assigned to the Mad Ants by the Milwaukee Bucks. Hoops fans will remember his run a few years back with West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament to the Elite 8. Joe suffered an injury in training camp and has been out all season. His time with the Mad Ants will be perfect to get back into game shape for the Bucks. Here is a clip of Joe to show what he can bring to Fort Wayne.

Joe is coming at a great time as we are currently without Jared Reiner and Ron Howard due to injury. Jared could be back fairly soon. Ron Howard is out four weeks with a fractured hand. Ron was having a great season, and we are hoping he makes a speedy recovery. Here is an article from Steve Warden in the Journal Gazette about the teams road trip.

Mad Ants are on the road tonight taking on the Austin Toros. Watch via Futrecast!

D-League Story of the Year!

2010-01-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

Well I have been slacking, I admit that. We have had some good times and bad times while I have been away. We won a huge game against the Red Claws on Tuesday short handed, but then lost the next night in Erie. Oliver Lafayette had an amazing shooting performance in Erie on Wednesday, making something like his first 11 shots and going 6-8 from behind the arc. I think the team just ran out of gas in the 4th quarter (I apologize for the cliche). The schedule keeps getting worse for the Mad Ants as now the guys are in Sioux Falls with back-to-back games tonight and tomorrow. After Saturday the Mad Ants will have played 6 games in eight days. BRUTALITY!

The word is that Rob Kurz will be in Sioux Falls tonight to hopefully return to action. Let's hope the plane ride does not flare up the back injury. Jared Reiner is unlikely to see action this weekend but I know he wants to get back into action. We will just have to wait and see if he is healthy enough to go.

Some sad news also happened this week, as the Mad Ants released DeWitt Scott from the team. DeWitt is an IPFW grad and has been with the team for the past two seasons. He is one of the office favorites, as he is such a nice guy. He was always great at appearances at schools or with youth basketball. I have a feeling another team in the league will pick him up, and we could be seeing him on the opposite bench sometime soon. I wish him the best of luck.

The D-League Story of the Year has to be Sundiata Gaines hitting the game winning buzzer beater over Lebron and the Cavs last night. Gaines had just begun his second 10-day contract with the team. For those of you with short memories, Gaines was called up from the Utah Jazz during the D-League Showcase. He had been playing for the Idaho Stampede. Here is a clip of the big shot!

Just a tremendous story, and I am sure Sundiata is having trouble keeping a smile on his face all day today. Make sure to watch the Mad Ants tonight on FutureCast as they take on the Skyforce! Tip-off is at 8pm EST.

I will leave you with some pictures of my friends visit to a Mad Ants game a few weeks back. My friend from High School/College, Julie, was in town from Australia with her Australian boyfriend Justin and their baby Hayden. Of course they had to catch a Mad Ants game while they were in town. It is clear that even at four months, Hayden has some serious game!

(Hayden and the lovely Madame Ants)

(Hayden enjoying a visit from the Mad Ant)

Have a great weekend!

Mad Ants Win!

2010-01-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants broke the five game losing streak last night against the Erie Bayhawks. Not even Mad Ants Asst Coach Steve Gansey's brother Mike could stop us with 19 pts and 10 rebs. The game got a little scary at the end with the Bayhawks climbing back from a 13 point deficit to get within one as the 4th quarter was running low. You can find the box score here.

The Mad Ants and Erie play again at 2pm today (Sunday). This is a big game for the Ants to get back on track, as after the home game against Maine on Tuesday we have a horrendous road trip coming up. We need to start stockpiling wins in a hurry!

For those wondering, Rob Kurz is out with a back injury but I do not think it will keep him out an extended period of time. He was traveling with the team and in street clothes last night.

The Tuesday Night home game on Jan. 12th is Tropical Vacation Night, so make sure to wear your Hawaiian gear! Tip-off is at 7pm.

A touching moment in the D-League

2010-01-06T05:17:00.001-08:00

Check out this video where Sundiata Gaines of the Idaho Stampede gets his NBA Gatorade Call-up....LITERALLY! A great moment and really what this league is all about.

By the way I found this video by visiting the best news site in the D-League, the one and only Ridiculous Upside. They have some great coverage on the D-League showcase which is going on now. The Mad Ants take on Idaho tonight minus the above mentioned Sundiata Gaines. Tip-off is at 9:15 est and as always can be watched free on Futurecast HERE. Let's hope the Mad Ants can take advantage of the timing of Gaines call-up and get the win!

70's Night Pictures

2010-01-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

(Jared Reiner repping the 70's)

So we may have got beat pretty bad on Sunday by the Iowa Energy, but we did not let that stop us from having a good time! Here are some photos from 70's night courtesy of Mad Ants Photographer Randy Jackson:

(Madame Ants and a mysterious man practicing a dance pre-game)

(Our fearless leader Jackie Moon...I mean Jeff Potter)

(Coach Sanders getting into the 70's vibe)

(The Mad Ant looking good)

(Proving why I am the most powerful blogger in the D-League with my stunning attire)

And now because I know the real reason most of you come to my blog, I present a new feature called "Random Madame Ant Pictures":

(What is Laura doing????)

Reiner to play on Sunday?

2010-01-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants will be taking on the Iowa Energy at home tomorrow (Sunday) with a 5pm tip-off. This will be a huge rematch after the triple overtime loss in Iowa last week. After being a game above .500, we have now fell back to a game under. To keep ourselves in the playoff picture we are going to need to beat Iowa at some point, so why not start tomorrow? Will Jared Reiner be back on Sunday? Let's ask Reggie Hayes and the News Sentinel.

You want to know about Jared's toughness? Do you want to know why I am asking so many questions in this blog? This quote from the article will answer one of those quesitons:

“I shot two free throws and had to hold my lower lip in with my upper lip, then spit blood under my jersey just to shoot free throws,” Reiner said. “Then the ref said, ‘You can’t play like that.’ They took me out and put the stitches in. I quit counting at 15, so there might have been a couple more.”

Taylor Griffin will be in town tomorrow, on assignment with the Iowa Energy from the Phoenix Suns. Griffin is an Oklahoma alumni and better known as the brother of 2009 Number 1 Draft Pick Blake Griffin. He is a 6'8 forward who gives Iowa another big body at that position. Just another reason we need Reiner back!

PS, tomorrow is 70's night! Get your outfit together.

The NBA D-League.....where me crying in the fetal position happens

2009-12-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

Such a great game last night! If you were not watching it on Futurecast you really missed out. It was a triple OT game that had so many ups and downs for the Mad Ants. Rod Wilmont hit a crazy three pointer to send us into Double Overtime. Rob Kurz hit a fall-away (almost falling down) off balanced shot to send us to Triple Overtime. In the end it was just not meant to be . You can check out the box score here.

Martz Madness Player of the Game is Oliver Lafayette with 30 points 14 assists and 3 steals. He may have missed a couple free throws that would have clinched the game for us, but without him as Jeff Potter said "we wouldn't have even been in the game". Plus Oliver has a really cool accent.

I can not even imagine how the guys must have felt on the bus ride home. They arrived in Fort Wayne around 8 am this morning. An absolute brutal travel schedule, and they get to play again tonight at home! I am hoping the guys take out their frustration on the Bakersfield Jam tonight and move us back over .500! Luckily Bakersfield is probably just as tired after coming in from Erie early this morning.

Bottom line is this Mad Ants team is showing a lot of toughness and I think fans can expect to see a lot more wins then they have in the past two seasons.

Also a note from Saturdays game, former Mad Ants All-Star Walker Russell JR was in the building visiting! He apparently is done in Europe for now, could he end up back on the Mad Ants roster? You'll have to ask Jeff Potter that question, I just sell tickets!

See you at the game tonight, tip-off is at 7pm. Be there!

The Mad Ants season....where above .500 happens!

2009-12-28T11:26:00.001-08:00

What a huge weekend for the Mad Ants! We managed to sweep the weekend series with Dakota, with a blowout on Saturday and a thrilling come from behind victory on Sunday. This was big as it pushes us past Dakota in the standings. It's a little early to start talking about playoffs but we most certainly putting ourselves in the hunt with just over a fifth of the season completed.

The game on Sunday pretty much put on display that we have at least three players who have a good shot at getting a NBA Gatorade Call-up this season. Those three players also happen to be the Martz Madness Players of the Game for Sunday. In no particular order they are Ron Howard, Jared Reiner, and Rob Kurz. Want to know why? Check out this box score or Jeff Potter's creepy video blog for details. Also, apparently the Golden State Warriors are looking for a small forward to sign, and the folks over at Ridiculous Upside have put up a poll on who you think should get the spot. Make sure to vote for Ron Howard!

For those wondering why Kyle McAlarney was not in action over the weekend, he was out with a case of food poisoning. He dressed for Sunday's game but was still not feeling real well. He is traveling with the team today (the bus just left for Iowa an hour ago) and I expect to see him back in action Tuesday night.

The team faces a big challenge with the road game tomorrow in the 10-1 Iowa Energy. The good news is Iowa still does not have Courtney Sims on the roster, the bad news is they have added Cartier Martin (Gatorade Call-up to the Bobcats last year). The Ants are on a winning streak though, and they will be giving Iowa all they can handle. You can watch the Mad Ants / Energy game tomorrow night via Future Cast. Tip-off is at 8pm.

The Ants then have a long overnight bus trip home and play the Bakersfield Jam on Wednesday night at the Coliseum. This will be the toughest road travel the guys have done to this point with having no real time to recover from Tuesdays away game. The good news is that Bakersfield is 2-11, the bad new is they just beat the Maine Red Claws!

I'll be back on Tuesday night with an update on how the team fared in Iowa.

Jared Reiner

2009-12-25T15:54:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Mad Ants fans! I hope you enjoyed a nice Christmas with your family.

The Mad Ants look to break .500 this weekend if they can sweep the weekend series with Dakota tomorrow and Sunday. If we win on Saturday, it would be the deepest into the season the Mad Ants have been with a .500 record or better.

Reggie Hayes has a story on Sean Sonderleiter and Jared Reiner reuniting from their Iowa Hawkeyes days in todays paper. This weekend will be the first time Reiner has played in front of the hometown crowd. He is a big upgrade for us in the big man department. Our team is shaping up real well and I hope that translates into a winning streak to get into the playoff hunt.

Make sure you head to the D-Leauge website to vote for favorite Mad Ants player into the D-League All-Star game.

Come on out on Saturday (Dec. 26th) and Sunday (Dec. 27th) to see the Mad Ants take on the Dakota Wizards. Tip-off is at 7:30pm on Saturday and 5pm on Sunday. Better yet, bring the whole family!

Chris Hunter Update and a big weekend

2009-12-23T10:03:00.001-08:00

(Chris Hunter and Marion, IN native Zach Randolph battling for a rebound)

Former Mad Ant Chris Hunter had been struggling recently over the past few games with the Golden State Warriors. This came to an end last night with by far the best game of his NBA career against the Grizzlies. Chris put up 14 points (6-9 FG), 6 rbs, 3 stls, and 3 blocks! Plus he started the game and managed to not have any turnovers in over 30 minutes of play. This is just fantastic to see as Chris is a prime example of why the NBA Development League works. He is a guy who was not on anyones radar in Nov. 2008 and now just over a year later he is contributing big minutes on an NBA roster. Keep it up!

The third Gatorade call-up of the D-League season took place yesterday with Mike Harris of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers getting signed by the Houston Rockets. Scott Schroeder proves how smart he is with this analysis of the situation over at Ridiculous Upside.

The Mad Ants have a big double header weekend coming up on Dec. 26th/27th against the Dakota Wizards. The Wizards are currently 5-5 and just a notch above us with our record currently at 4-5. It would give us some nice momentum to take down two wins and move ahead of them in the D-League standings. I cannot tell you how bad everyone in the front office (and our fans!) want to get to the playoffs this year! The team seems to be gelling together and I am hoping we can build off the big win in Maine.

Have a very Merry Christmas and bring all your friends and family to the games on Saturday and Sunday!

Big Win

2009-12-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Last night was a HUGE win for us. To beat one of the best teams in the league (if not the best) in a back-to-back road game is a big accomplishment. The Maine Red Claws had three assigned NBA players on the roster, not to mention several other guys with recent NBA experience (Trey Gilder/Billy Thomas). It was also a big match-up in world of coolest minor league team names. You can check out the box score from the game last night here . It was good to see DeWitt Scott have a great game.

The NBA D-League has also added highlights to most games, so here is my first attempt at embedding video in my blog. I figure it's a little better use of the technology than repeatedly posting the war speech from Braveheart.

So you think you can blog?

2009-12-18T10:48:00.001-08:00

Apparently, Jared Reiner tried his hand at blogging during his last stint in the D-League. His posts were few and far between. Let's hope he plays better than he blogs. There I said it. Deal with it Reiner. You are welcome to guest blog here, but you better bring your A-Game.

Welcome Jared Reiner

2009-12-17T18:38:00.001-08:00

The Mad Ants made another move today in preparation for two road games in Springfield (Friday) and Maine (Saturday). We have picked up Jared Reiner and released Jared Carter. Reiner is a vet out of Iowa who played for Sioux Falls in the 06-07 season. He is a 6'11 center. He has some NBA experience with the Bucks and Bulls a few years back. Should be a great addition to the team and provide some additional size down low. He is currently traveling with the team and will be on the roster for tomorrow nights game.

Off Today

2009-12-16T07:36:00.001-08:00

So I am off today and heading to the Pacers/Bobcats game with my family. I will leave you with a few links that recap last nights big win! Just like that we are one game away from .500 and we are taking on the worst team in the league (again) on the road on Friday.

Journal Gazette - Ben Smith

News Sentinel - Reggie Hayes

Going to a Pacer's game also means I get to see my future wife Stacey Paetz. I am sure she will remember me from our stimulating last conversation. I am bringing my "A-Game" this time around!

All Star Game

2009-12-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Well the Ants could not pull off the sweep of the Skyforce on Sunday. We started off real slow and could never quite recover even though we had a very solid third quarter/beginning of 4th quarter which cut a huge deficit down to just five. As Governor Jesse Ventura always said , close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, unfortunately neither of those activities were being played at the Coliseum on Sunday.

But guess what, the season moves on and we have another game at home on Tuesday (Dec. 15th) against the winless Springfield Armor. The bad news, Morris Almond (formerly of the Utah Flash/Utah Jazz) recently signed with Springfield and will be in town tomorrow. Almond is best known for sharing the record for the highest scoring game in D-League history with 53 points. After Tuesdays home game the team travels to Springfield on Friday for a rematch. It is feasible to believe we could be 4-4 after Friday, but let's not count our Ants before the picnic people.

A recent comment on Ridiculous Upside led me to ponder a great idea in how to better publicize the NBA Development League. Typically the D-League has their own all-star game during NBA All-Star Weekend. This is a great way for scouts/fans to check out all the stars of the D-League who are most deserving of a NBA Gatorade Call-Up. The game is broadcast on NBA TV (which has its viewership growing everyday).

What if we erased the D-League All-Star game and instead had a D-League All-Star TEAM. Who would they play you ask? How about the NBA Rookie/Sophomore team. This is a great way for more people to learn about the NBA Development League and display the quality of players in the D-League. This could air on TNT along with the other NBA All-Star festivities which would also elevate the NBA D-League brand.

What do you think? Why will it probably not happen? The NBA would be afraid the D-League All-Stars would win, and I don't blame them. I would give an NBA D-League All-Star team a fifty-fifty chance of winning such a game.

Sure is a good marketing idea though. See you on Tuesday.

Ants Win Ants Win Ants Win

2009-12-13T04:44:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants reportedly had a great game last night in the victory over Sioux Falls. We ended up with a final score of 107-98. I say reportedly because I did not get to see much of it. I had four different groups at the game, which had me Kriss Krossing (JUMP JUMP) the Coliseum at a frantic pace. I am pretty sure every one had a great time, so it was all worth it.

Ben Smith from the Journal Gazette has an article up this morning on last nights win.

I have always been a box score junkie though, so I think I have a good feel for how the guys did. This leads us into the much anticipated MARTZ MADNESS PLAYER OF THE GAME!!!

Guess what folks? We have two co-winners today in Rob Kurz and Ron Howard. Both put up strong diverse stat lines in leading the team to victory. Rob Kurz had 28 pts 11 rbs 4 asst along with a steal and a block. Enjoy Rob being in Fort Wayne while it lasts, I see a call-up in his future.

Ron Howard put up 20 pts 7 rbs 7 asst and two steals. Ron also had the advantage of having his wife Reesha tell me that she reads my blog and finds it quite witty! Yahoo Sports are you listening??? She also mentioned (much to Jeff Potter's chagrin) that she had never read Jeff Potter's blog. After reading that tripe can you blame her? Do you think Danny Ainge and Joe Dumars spend their spare time blogging about "Old School" and posting pictures of Mel Gibson????

The best part about last night you ask? Regardless of how much fun we had and what a strong victory it was, we get to do it all over again today! Tip-off is at 5pm! So come on out and enjoy Go Green Night with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Indiana Michigan Power.

Hot Rod Wilmont Article

2009-12-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

(Old Hot Rod)

Ben Smith has an article in today's Journal Gazette where he interviewed Rod Wilmont. It touches on Wilmont's return to the Ants after playing for us in the inaugural season. It also touches on Rod's sense of humour which was put on display yesterday here in the office. Rod called in to the office to talk to Sarah (Vice President-Administration). Sarah did not recognize the number/caller and asked "I am sorry who is this?" Rod's response "Hot Rod". For some reason I found this to be hilarious, and I hope this nickname can stick the rest of the year.

(New Hot Rod)

Remember to bring a new unwrapped toy to Saturday night's game (tomorrow!) to donate to Fort Wayne Toys for Tots. The first 250 fans who bring a toy will receive a Mad Ants mini-basketball in return thanks to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Saturday will also see the return of David Bailey and the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Bailey is a guy who fans love to hate, and loved to see play when he briefly was a Mad Ant last season.

Don't forget we have a game on Sunday at 5pm as well! See you there.

Mad Ants Photos

2009-12-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots from the Mad Ants game on Nov. 29th. These photos were all taken by Mad Ants photographer Randy Jackson.

We had a nice turn out, and some nice take aways too!

No one close enough to defend this J!

Ron Howard shooting for 1 of his 25 points in the game.

Erie seems to be having an Ant infestation problem...

11 Point Mad Ants victory...

That calls for some celebration!

As always thank you from the whole Mad Ants Family

If you have not made it to one of our first two home games, this weekend is a great chance! Come out for Saturday Dec. 12th at 7:30 or Sunday Dec. 13th at 5pm to see the Ants take on the Sioux Falls Skyforce!

D-League Apologizes

2009-12-09T05:15:00.000-08:00

The NBA Development League issued a statement regarding events that took place at the Utah Flash game on Monday. The following statement is from NBA D-League President Dan Reed:

“On behalf of the NBA Development League, I apologize to our fans for a Utah Flash promotion that never should have happened. This promotion was clearly ill-conceived. Brandt Andersen, the Utah Flash owner, has apologized to the Flash fans and has reached out to Michael Jordan to apologize to him as well.

The Flash will refund the price of the tickets and has also offered free tickets to an upcoming Flash game to everyone who was in attendance at Monday night’s game.”

Check out my "Talk Around the Water Cooler" story to get the details of what transpired.

Talk Around the Water Cooler

2009-12-09T03:08:00.000-08:00

The biggest story out of the D-League yesterday can be found here. It's been covered by many national media outlets.

Mad Ants Lose

2009-12-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

Again I am back with a tardy blog. If you do not know the Mad Ants lost to Iowa on Sunday, than you are simply behind in this technology age of the information highway. The Iowa Energy defeated the Mad Ants 99-84. Curtis Stinson lead the Energy to victory with 16 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds. Ron Howard led the Ants with 17 points, with Rod Wilmont chipping in with 15 points. Our main downfall was poor shooting with a field goal percentage of under 34%.

The good news, we did not have to face an Iowa team with Taylor Griffin or Cartier Martin. The Phoenix Suns assigned Griffin (brother of Blake Griffin) on Monday, and acquired Cartier Martin as he re-entered the D-League. Martin had a great season for the Energy last year before getting a Gatorade call-up to the Charlotte Bobcats where he played in 33 games. If Courtney Sims returns to the Energy, they might as well put in their application to join the NBA as an expansion team!

That is one of the fun (and sometimes frustrating) parts of this league with teams rosters fluctuating so greatly. A team can go from good to great, or good to terrible with a moments notice. Being successful with player transactions and is a huge part of being a winning team in the D-League (and sometimes just being lucky with said transactions!).

There was a good read on Latavious Williams of the Tulsa 66ers from Marc Spears with Yahoo Sports. Williams is the first player to be drafted straight out of high school to the NBA D-League. Williams went 16th in the D-League draft in November.

On tap for the weekends is a double header with the Mad Ants taking on Sioux Falls both Saturday and Sunday. We are teaming up with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and Toys for Tots on Saturday. If you are one of the first 250 fans to bring an unwrapped new toy to the game you will receive a free Mad Ants mini-basketball sponsored by Thrivent Financial.

Want to see how Chris Hunter is doing so far with the Golden State Warriors? Click here for his stats up to this point.

Kyle McAlarney featured on ESPN's Outside the Lines

2009-12-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

If you missed it this morning (I know I did), Kyle McAlarney was featured on Outside the Lines on ESPN. The topic was White American players in the NBA with the question of if there is a bias against them among scouts/coaches/general manages. McAlarney was featured indepth. You can watch the episode at ESPN.com.

The Mad Ants take on the Iowa Energy tonight again on the road. Let's hope they correct some turnover issues from Friday and split the series to be at .500 coming home. The next home game is Saturday Dec. 12th where the Ants will be taking on the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Remember you can watch the Ants road games on Futurecast, with tonight's game starting....RIGHT NOW!

Day Late Dollar Short

2009-12-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

(Ron Howard from Thursdays road game against Iowa)

So I broke my streak of blogging once a day! It was not out of laziness but pure lack of time. I did manage to watch almost the entire Mad Ants/Energy game on Futurecast, which by the way is a great feature of the D-League. Make sure to watch road games on futurecast, as the broadcast on Thursday was really good. The only thing I would change is asking the play-by-play guy to quit saying "belt-high dribble" every time the point guard brings the ball up the floor. I know every one has to have their little phrase but you don't have to say it 15 times per game!

The Martz Madness player of the game is again ROB KURZ. Rob had an amazing first half with 24 points and ended the game with 10-12 FG shooting and 7 rebounds. The problem was he only had two points in the second half, largely because he was in foul trouble and did not see many minutes. He fouled out late in the fourth quarter. I would be shocked if Rob makes it the whole season with the Ants without a call-up. The guy is just too good.

The Mad Ants lost the game 102-95. We had simply a horrible first quarter and had many many turnovers. The good news is we had a great second and third quarter and had the lead briefly. We simply could not hang on for the victory. Potter has a much detailed report over on his blog.

There are rumors out of Golden State that Chris Hunter is not going ANYWHERE. So we will have to live with the fact that we will be without our all-star center. Sean Sonderleiter has done a very nice job stepping up, and he will only get more comfortable in his new starting role as the season moves along. Make sure to tune in on Sunday to see the Mad Ants take on the Energy again on the road. Just visit the D-League website and sign up for Futurecast to watch the game.

You can also follow us on twitter where I will be giving "tweet by tweet" updates during the game.

On the Road Again...

2009-12-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

How lame is the title of this blog? Such a cliche.

The guys are in Iowa and will have their first match-up with the Energy tonight. Good news, no Courtney Sims, Bad news, rumors have Courtney Sims and Cartier Martin coming back to the Energy very soon. Hopefully it's after this road trip!

The game will start at 8pm and you can listen to on FM 100 Talks (100.1 FM). You can also watch/listen to the game on NBA Futurecast. Just click here around 8pm and it will come up. You need to sign up to view the game, but it is completely free.

Iowa is off to a hot start, beating Springfield in their first two home games. NBA D-League President Dan Reed attended one of the games and thought Iowa would be one of the top teams this year. So a tough match-up for us, but if the Mad Ants play like they did on Sunday I think a victory is a good possibility. Keep an eye on Rod Wilmont and Oliver Lafayette to see how much time they get in.

Reggie Hayes has an article up on Rob Kurz here. Thanks to season ticket holder Chris Bauer for directing me to this article.

Oh yeah, and if you are an IPFW student, make sure to vote for Madame Ant Melanie for Homecoming Queen! I believe voting ends on Friday. Apparently the Mad Ant himself was on IPFW's campus yesterday helping her campaign.

Some Changes

2009-12-02T13:13:00.001-08:00

If you have not heard yet, please check out Jeff Potter's blog for some big player movement news. The Mad Ants have signed Rod Wilmont and Oliver Lafayette who were both waived by Erie right before the season began. Rod was a big time crowd favorite in the 07-08 season and I know all the IU fans will be happy to have him back. He can light it up from behind the arc and also plays defense. Lafayette is a nice pick-up because he gives us a player who is a more traditional point guard and will be great at backing up Kyle McAlarney.

It was a big surprise when both of these guys were released by Erie, and I hope that we can capitalize on the situation by bringing them in. Rod and Oliver are both on the bus heading to Iowa with the rest of the Mad Ants squad.

The sad news with adding two new players, is that two other players were waived in Sandoval and Cotton. It is always a tough decision for Jeff and the Coaches and I hope they get picked up by another team in the league.

Chris Hunter is officially a BALLER

2009-12-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

(Chris doing work on Danny Granger and Tyler Hansbrough)

Just finished watching the Pacers/Golden State game that I DVD-rd last night which aired on NBA TV and Fox Sports MidWest. It reminded me of my love of the Pacers, and more importantly of Stacy Paetz. Chris Hunter had the best game of his NBA career last night with 8 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 block (3-3 FG 2-2 FT). He had a monstrous dunk that all the Mad Ants fans would find to be a very familiar sight. He also made Tyler Hansbrough look foolish by driving from the three point line from an inbound pass for an easy lay in. He had the impressive stat of +21 in the plus/minus category. This is a relatively new stat that indications how many points your team scored compared to the other team in the time period that you were playing in the game. This is very impressive when you consider Golden State's starting center Mikki Moore was a -2 in the same category.

He received a standing ovation from the crowd when he left the game with 3 minutes left in the 4th. Chris was the best center on the floor tonight for the Warriors and if this does not cement him a spot in the NBA I don't know what will. He has done an amazing job with this opportunity and if we do see him back in Fort Wayne, it won't be for very long!

Rob Kurz we hardly knew yea

2009-11-30T06:22:00.001-08:00

(The two most powerful men in the D-League)

Hey guess what...The Mad Ants won! Be happy and other teams in the D-League...be afraid very afraid.

What a big turn around last night from the Home Opener. Shots were going in, Defense was solid, and Rob Kurz took a shot! You can check out the box score from the game here.

Let's get right down to it with the Martz Madness Player of the Game!

There were three candidates tonight in Mr. Mad Ant Ron Howard, Rob "No Nickname just business" Kurz, and Kyle "Why did you shave off that sweet beard?" McAlarney.

Ron Howard just had an amazing game and was doing all he could to attack the basket. We have plenty of shooters on the team, but we need Ron to be the slasher on this team and when he does that we will be hard to beat. Ron had a couple of "And 1's" that were simply amazing. Okay I need to stick to stats and quit pretending like I know anything about the game of basketball. Ron had 25 points 4 assists and 3 rebounds.

Kyle McAlarney was as advertised (this is my new favorite phrase, I love it almost as much as I love Parentheses) last night and lit it up behind the arc shooting 4-7 from three point range. He ended up with 22 points. It may be a little premature but I am nominating Kyle for a spot int he D-League three-point contest for All-Star weekend.

Last but not least is Rob Kurz. Rob had an amazing stat line of 16 pts 19 rbs 5 asst and 3 blocks. Think this guy wants back in the NBA? If he keeps putting up numbers like that his stay in Fort Wayne may be quite short! Because of this amazing output of basketball statistics, Rob Kurz is the official winner of the Martz Madness Player of the Game! Rob your trophy will arrive in the mail the second Tuesday of next week.

If you don't know who the handsome guy in the picture above is, it's ME and the other gentleman is NBA D-League President Dan Reed. He is making a tour of different D-League markets and Fort Wayne was his stop on Sunday. This was the first time I had a chance to officially meet Mr. Reed and he could not have been a nicer smarter guy. You can tell he is passionate about this league and will do whatever he can to help each team succeed. Mr. Reed is also owner of the second most powerful blog in the D-League (behind this one) in Reed & Write. So make sure to check it out!

Well the team is on the road this week going to Iowa for a game on Dec. 3rd (Thursday) and Dec. 6th (Sunday). Iowa looks tough this year, so make sure to catch the game on Futurecast or on FM 100 Talks!

If you have NBA TV, tune in tonight to see the Pacers take on Chris Hunter and the Golden State Warriors.

Well time to head to the office, have a very fruitful day.

Good News for Chris Hunter

2009-11-29T04:20:00.000-08:00

Chris Hunter played 15 minutes last night against the LA Lakers. He produced six points and had three rebounds. You can check out the box score here. There was also some great news in the Yahoo Sports Team Report for the Golden State Warriors. Here is the direct quote from the article:

"The Warriors have been told they can retain NBA Developmental League call-up Chris Hunter (notes) through Thursday, then would have to petition for another hardship case in order to get him for another two weeks. NBA rules state if a team has four or more players who are expected to miss at least two weeks, it can use a 16th roster spot to sign a player to a two-week contract. The Warriors currently have Brandan Wright (notes), Kelenna Azubuike (notes), Raja Bell (notes) and Speedy Claxton (notes) out of action for well longer than the two-week requirement."

So it looks like Chris will be sticking witht he Warriors longer than I thought, and he has certainly been proving he belongs with solid performances in every game he has played in.

Ready for another Mad Ants game tonight? I have a feeling the guys will be looking for a little revenge after Friday's game. Who will win the "Martz Madness Player of the Game" award? Besides the competitiveness of wanting to win, the dream to go to the NBA, earning a Martz Madness Player of the Game award is right up there in all the Mad Ants players minds.

Great quote from Saturdays News Sentinel articleby Ron Howard:

“I'm glad we're not football players and have to think about this for seven days,” Howard said. “I'm excited to get back out there and put on a better showing.”

Ron did not look happy after Friday's game, so look for him to do what he does best tonight, make buckets!

Tip-off is at 5pm tonight (Sunday) and it is also A+ All-Stars Report Card Night presented by Raymond James. So if you have kids with an "A" on the their report card, bring them to the game and they get in free! They just need to show their report card to the Coliseum Box Office before the game.

One down, 23 to go (not to mention the playoffs)

2009-11-28T05:01:00.000-08:00

Update:

Here are some links to articles written about the Mad Ants home opening loss last night:

Justin Cohn over at the Journal Gazette with "Mad Ants 'awful' in opening loss"

Reggie Hayes at the News Sentinel with the slightly nicer Headline of "Mad Ants Seek Answers After Opening Loss"

Quick Chris Hunter update before I go into my blog about the Mad Ants opening night:
This is from the Yahoo Sports Golden State Warriors Team Report.

"C Chris Hunter played for the second time in three games since his call-up from the NBA Development League, but he might have seen his last action as a Warrior. The club had been given a special exemption to sign Hunter as a 16th player on the roster because of its inordinate number of injured players. But with C.J. Watson and Corey Maggette having returned Wednesday, the Warriors would have had the required eight players in uniform even without Hunter. So the league likely is going to force the Warriors either to cut Hunter loose before Saturday's game against the Lakers or waive one of their other 15 players, all of whom have guaranteed contracts."

It was a great opportunity for Chris to show that he belongs in the NBA. Who knows what will happen, but if he does get waived I would not expect him to be out of the NBA very long. On a selfish note, we could really use him down in Fort Wayne!

I would love to sit here and give you a big recap on the Mad Ants home opener and how the team did, but two things are preventing me from doing so.

A.) It was opening night, and I was busy running around most of the night making sure people had tickets, ball kids knew what they were doing, all the subway balls got picked up, and Cowabunga Calfee was on the court breaking it down for the 4th quarter dance party. I basically did not get to watch a whole lot of the game.

B.) I may be a thinker, but I am not a basketball scholar. The last time I played organized basketball was in sixth grade. I am not someone who can explain how we were not defending the 2-3 zone (or even tell you what a 2-3 zone is).

So first, let me talk about what a success the night was from an entertainment standpoint. This was the first game under Heidi Busch's watch as Director of Communications and Operations and did she ever do a great job. I thought the opening went great with the Mad Ant doing a fun "magic trick" and opening sequence. I'll be honest, I had my doubts about how the Subway Ball Toss was going to work out during the 3rd Quarter break. This is where we have literally hundreds of foam balls hurtling towards the court trying to win a 50/50 cash prize pool or a Subway gift card. It was an all hands on deck situation and even Jeff Potter was helping out picking up balls off the court. Nice show of teamwork on all parts, to make this promotion a big hit.

The new Madame Ants (not to mention the veterans) did a fantastic job. Some fun new songs/dances and some flashy new outfits as well. Madame Ants Choreographer Sheenah Johnson does a great job of making the Madame Ants a staple of every Mad Ants home game. We truly have the best dance team in the D-Leauge, not to mention minor-league sports in general.

We may have had one of the fastest "clean-ups" of all of the banners/merchandise table/etc after the game was completed. This is a big feat with mostly new interns learning the tasks and what needed to be done. So way to go interns! Former Mad Ants Intern Camron even made an appearance, not that he did anything of use. Also, a big thank you to another former intern Zach Zuber. He came on his own time to help out with the merchandise table and was running things like clockwork. The merchandise table can really be a thankless job as often times you are missing all the "fun stuff" happening on the court.

Now onto the basketball portion of the night...

Actually, one more small sort-of non-basketball tidbit. Coach Meyer did a great job in the "fan address" before the game. His enthusiasm for the team and just the game of basketball in general really showed. You could tell he may have given a couple of these speeches in the past.

As I did not really focus on the game itself I will keep this short. We lost. If you missed the box score, you can click here to check it out. The big thing I did notice was that we did not have an answer for John Bryant or "Big Boy" as I was referring to him through out the game. This 300lber was just shoving our guys around in the paint and there was not much they could do about it. I would have loved to see Bryant go up against Chris Hunter, as I think he would have had a rude awakening. That being said, Sean Sonderleiter had a very solid offensive game, maybe the best of his professional career.

The problem is that with all of our shooters, Sean should not be the focal point of our offense. Plus when the shooters aren't sinking baskets, it just makes Sean and AK's job even harder. I was just shocked when I looked at the final box score and realized Rob Kurz did not take a single field goal attempt. I am not really sure what happened there, but if we are going to win he needs to be one of the driving points of the offense. Being a 6'9 three point threat, he is just too tough a match-up for teams. The guy is a pro though, and I expect him to drop 30 plus on Erie come Sunday.

Okay, that is enough about the basketball, I will leave it to Jeff Potter, to give you a better recap of the game. The good news is we have an amazing Coaching staff with tons of experience. You know Coach Meyer's mind is ticking away with different strategies on how to fix the problems that went down on Friday.

If you missed the game on Friday (or even if you made it!), come on out for Nov. 29th (Sunday) with the tip-off at 5:00pm. We will have our vengeance...

Tonights the night...

2009-11-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

Well it's finally here, the big day, the big show, BLACK FRIDAY AKA THE MAD ANTS 2009-10 Home Opener!

I just got back from the Coliseum, as we are getting everything setup for tonight. I also caught a glimpse of the rehearsal for the opening of the game, people are going to love it.

Both teams have finished up shoot around and now we are just waiting for the tip-off. If you have not purchased your tickets yet, you still have time. Just stop by the Ticket office right before the game and pick some up. They start at just $5.00, cheaper than a movie!

Reggie Hayes with another informative article on the Mad Ants in today's News Sentinel.

An interesting quote from the article is from Coach Meyer on our big man situation:

“Somebody has to step up; that's just the way it is,” Meyer said. “None of those guys has produced great numbers, so it'll have to be a collective thing."

Who will step to fill the void left by Chris Hunter? Sean Sonderleiter will see his minutes jumped up heavily from last season, and will have the perfect opportunity to show what he can do. Anthony Kent had a great end to last season, let's see if he keeps bringing us double-doubles. Jared Carter was not given much of a chance at Kentucky, but he will undoubtedly see some significant minutes in the coming weeks. What a great stage for him to show Kentucky what they were missing.

Also, remember that Nov. 29th is A+ All-Stars Report Card Night presented by Raymond James. So if you have kids with an "A" on their report card, stop by and show the Ticket office for a free ticket to that nights game.

If you see me at the game tonight, make sure to say hello.

GO ANTS!

Chris Hunter plays Ben Smith and Reggie Hayes write

2009-11-26T06:38:00.000-08:00

Chris Hunter was back in action last night for the Golden State Warriors as they took on the San Antonio Spurs. The good news is that the Warriors had 9 active bodies, which must mean they don't have to waive Chris right away. I know we would all like to see Chris suited up in a Mad Ants uniform opening night, but you have to root for a guy living his dream. Chris had another nice game with 4 points (2-3 FG) and two rebounds in just under ten minutes.

Ben Smith had a great article on Mad Ants Head Coach Joey Meyer this morning in the Journal Gazette. While you are rooting for great deals on Black Friday, you can also read the Mad Ants preview in the hard copy of the Journal Gazette today.

Reggie Hayes has a Mad Ants preview up at the News Sentinel: "Mad Ants 3.0 User-friendly"
and an article about Coach Meyer. For the Trifecta, Reggie also writes about the Mad Ants Point Guard position.

It was too bad AJ Ratliff was waived yesterday, I know quite a few IU fans in town would of enjoyed watching him take his game to the next level. It sounds like he made a good impression on everyone, and I think he will get another opportunity down the line.

See everyone at the game tomorrow, looking forward to kick off another season of MAD ANTS BASKETBALL.

Potter finally writes something worth reading about

2009-11-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

Check out Potter's blog for the updates on the roster and who was waived.

Also, big news in Erie with Rod Wilmont getting waived. Seems crazy to me that a guy can lead the team in points in the pre-season game and get cut! I am sure Rod will find a home somewhere, as he is too talented not to.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Two Days Away! THUMBS UP LETS DO THIS!

2009-11-25T05:48:00.000-08:00

Well I was shocked last night when Chris Hunter did not play a single minute in the Warriors/Mavericks game. The Warriors only played six players all night, with three guys playing all 48 minutes of the game. The amazing thing is that they won the game 111-103, which I am still giving all the credit to Chris Hunter. Warrior's Coach Don Nelson was out sick for the game, so the team was led by IU legend "Big Shot" Keith Smart. You would think Coach Smart would have given Chris some PT just because they have both spent time in minor league basketball in Fort Wayne. Coach Smart was the head coach of the Fort Wayne Fury of the CBA in the late nineties.

The bad news for Chris is the team report from Yahoo Sports (read at the bottom) stated CJ Watson would be returning for Wednesdays game against San Antonio. I believe this would force Golden State to waive Chris, because they would again have 8 healthy bodies and not need the "NBA Hardship Exception". I could be totally wrong on this, but me being wrong would be completely unprecedented.

Jared Carter has indeed returned to the Mad Ants and has practiced the past two days with the team. The roster currently stands at 11 and the Coaching staff will need to make one more cut at some point today. I will update the final roster when I find out.

Make sure you get your tickets for the Home Opener on Friday against Erie! You can buy tickets at the Coliseum Box Office or order online via Ticketmaster. For a group bigger than ten, you can call me at 260-469-4667 x 107 and I will get you a group discount.

Happy Thanksgiving/Slapsgiving!

Chris Hunter plays tonight, Jared Carter returning to the Ants

2009-11-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

Chris Hunter and the Golden State Warriors will be traveling to Dallas to take on Dirk and the Mavericks tonight. With the Warriors still with a very limited roster, Hunter is almost sure to see some action. I am not sure if the game will be shown on NBA TV, but check your local listings.

I believe once one of the injured/ill Warriors comes back onto the active roster, it will force them to waive Chris to get back to a roster of 15. Don Nelson has stated he wants to keep Chris on the team if possible, so we will have to wait and see. CJ Watson is the most likely to be returning the soonest, as he is currently out with a case of the Swine Flu. I have no idea if Chris has a chance at being back with the Mad Ants for opening night on Friday. We hope he sticks in the NBA obviously, but I would be lying if I said he won't be missed in Fort Wayne!

In the meantime, I have heard we are bringing back Jared Carter to get another big body on the team with Chris gone. If you recall, Carter is the 7'2 center from Kentucky who started off with us in training camp but was waived. He did not get a lot of time in at Kentucky to show what he can do, so let's see what he does with this opportunity.

I will post our final roster on Wednesday/Thursday after final cuts are made.

Still time to book your family outing for the Friday night home opener! Give me a call at (260)-469-4667 x 107 to get a group discount on ticket orders ten or more.

It's beginning to resemble Christmas

2009-11-23T07:20:00.001-08:00

Although, I am really angry with 106.3 JOE FM (my favorite local radio station) for playing a constant barrage of Christmas music. I guess it is officially that time of year because the Mad Ants will again have a tree at the Embassy Theater's Festival of Trees. This is a great event and I recommend you attend, it runs starting Nov. 25th and runs through Dec. 1st. My amazing Mom decorated the Mad Ants tree again this year and did a fantastic job. Attend and make sure you vote for the Mad Ants tree!

We are getting down to the nitty gritty this week with the Mad Ants home opener on Friday (Nov. 27th). We will be making our final cut(s) on Wednesday. With Chris Hunter getting called up, it means we will only have to make one cut to get down to a roster of ten players for opening night.

If you are interested in bringing a small group out to the game on Friday (something to do with those pesky in-laws or 3rd cousins in town) give me a call at 260-469-4667 x 107 and I'll get you hooked up with a group discount.

Some Pictures from Preseason Game and Rod Wilmont

2009-11-22T04:47:00.000-08:00

Even though I was not able to attend the Mad Ants preseason game against Erie personally, I have managed to find some blurry pictures of the game! If you are a regular reader of Martz Madness, you know I have a fondness for blurry basketball pictures. You can check out pictures of the game at the D-League Daily Blog.

I somehow forgot to mention Rod Wilmont's performance in the Ants/Bayhawks preseason game. Rod had 23 points in 22 minutes and shot 12-12 from the free throw line. The amount of times he was able to get to the free throw line is really impressive, as it means he was not relying on his outside shooting ability and opened up another dimension of his game. So it looks like he has secured his spot on the Bayhawks roster and we will be seeing him in Fort Wayne on Nov. 27th at the home opener. Let's hope he used up all the "karma" in the preseason game.

Jeff Potter did put up a recap of the game at his blog. He also put up another article about Chris Hunter and his first game with the Golden State Warriors. Chris will be in action next on Tuesday, when the Warriors take on the Dallas Mavericks. The Warriors will also be taking on the Pacer's at Conseco Fieldhouse on Nov. 30th, so you should be able to track that down on TV whether it is on NBA TV or FSN Indiana.

Great Report on Chris Hunter's game

2009-11-21T09:33:00.001-08:00

Check out the Golden State Warriors Yahoo Sports Team report regarding last nights game. Looks like Chris Hunter will be sticking around a while.

Here is an excerpt:

"He (Hunter) then got the call to start the second half on Oden and held him scoreless for his entire 7:10 stint. Meanwhile, the new Warrior snuck outside to hit two jumpers, helping Golden State increase its lead to six."

Mad Ants Lose Preseason Game but Hunter Helps Warriors Win

2009-11-21T04:01:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants lost to Erie last night 106-100. The Mad Ants started the game out down 16-6 at one point before having the game all tied up at half-time with the score being 49-49. The Mad Ants then went on a big run in the third quarter but the Erie Bayhawks managed to claw their way back for the victory. You can check out the box score here.

The Martz Madness Player of the Game was Mr. Mad Ant Ron Howard. He put up 24 points in 24 mins and added 3 assists and 2 rebounds.

Kyle McAlarney and Ryan Ayers both went 3-4 from the three point line. The team as a whole shot 8-23 from behind the arc. Jeff Potter attended the game and I am sure he will have a more detailed recap and photos at some point this weekend at his blog.

Chris Hunter had a great debut with the Golden State Warriors last night. The Warriors defeated the young and talented Portland Trailblazers with only 8 active players! This was an ideal situation for Chris as it guaranteed him minutes in the game. He actually started the second half for the Trailblazers. Here is a recap of the game courtesy of Yahoo Sports.

Chris ended up with 4pts 3 rbs 1 stl 1 asst in 14 minutes of play. You can take a gander at the box score.

The article had this to say about Hunter's play:

"Hunter started the second half at center and scored four quick points early in the third quarter when Golden State, which led by four at halftime, extended its lead to 64-55. He also helped hold Oden to five points over the final three quarters."

Here is a quote from Warriors Head Coach Donnie Nelson in regards to Chris Hunter's performance:

"That guy belongs in the NBA,” Nelson said. “Hopefully we find a way to keep him. He’s stronger than anybody I have at that position.”

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope Chris Hunter has found a new home in Golden State. He leaves some big (literally) shoes to fill in Fort Wayne, but we wish him the best of luck.

It's official! Chris Hunter called up to the Golden State Warriors.

2009-11-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally found Chris Hunter. I know Jeff Potter was really starting to get worried!

It turns out Chris Hunter is the first NBA GATORADE CALL-UP of the D-League season. He just signed with the Golden State Warriors. They were able to sign him and have 16 players on the roster due to the NBA Hardship rule. They currently have 8 players out with injury/illness. Read all about it on Golden State's website.

We are all really excited for Chris and wish him the best of luck!

Here is the Mad Ants starting line-up for tonights pre-season game:

PG Kyle McAlarney
SG Ron Howard
SF Ryan Ayers
PF Rob Kurz
C Sean Sondeleiter

Mad Ants take on Erie Bayhawks in Preseason Action Tonight!

2009-11-20T04:05:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants have traveled to Erie to take on the Bayhawks tonight in the only preseason game the Mad Ants will play. Duane Rankin over at the Erie Times has a great article with former Mad Ant Rod Wilmont and his feelings about taking on the Mad Ants.

Some interesting excerpts from the article include Rod's response to not being picked by the Mad Ants in the D-League draft:

"Round one went by," Wilmont said. "Two. Three. Four. I got love for them. It is what it is. It's a business, but like I said, they know what's going to happen."

It sounds like Rod would like to show Jeff Potter and the Mad Ants Coaching staff they made a big mistake on draft day. Here is another quote from the Erie Times article:

"You see how some people do you in life, but you learn from your experiences," Wilmont said. "You move on. You don't hold grudges, but you know what they say about karma."

The Mad Ants are taking on the Erie Bayhawks in our home opener on Nov. 27th (Friday after Thanksgiving) at the Memorial Coliseum.

Should make for an interesting game. I am trying to find if there will be any radio coverage via the internet for tonight's game. If I can track something down I'll post it here. Jeff Potter is attending the game and I am sure he will give a prompt update of his thoughts on how it went on Saturday.

You may want to check out Jeff Potter's blog now, as it seems he has lost one of our best players! Maybe you can help find him.

Mad Ants Open Pratice Pictures

2009-11-18T22:59:00.001-08:00

Some great footage from Mad Ants media day at both Wane-TV
and Indiana Newscenter.

Ben Smith has a good read about the three Notre Dame players in the Mad Ants camp over at the Journal Gazette this morning.

Here are a few shots from Wednesday Nights Open Practice/Media day at the Coliseum.

(new jerseys and sneakers are laid out before the players arrive for the photo shoot)

(Mad Ants game operations staff getting doing a dry run for opening night)

(The Voices of the Mad Ants: 98.9 The Bear's Jerrdog and Star 88.3's Ace McKay running through the game script)

(Heidi running down the game script with Martz Madness reader/Madame Ant Melanie.)

(Jeff Potter cursing me for having such a better blog than him, right before he puts down a vicious wind-mill dunk on the playschool rim)

(Mr. Mad Ant Ron Howard)

(AJ Ratliff talking to Indiana Newscenter)

(A beardless Kyle McAlarney talks to Wane-TV)

(Sarah, you make this too easy)

Rod Wilmont Update

2009-11-18T06:43:00.001-08:00

(Earl Calloway & Rod Wilmont on the Mad Ants first ever home game in Nov. 2007)

Former Mad Ant (and IU Alumni) Rod Wilmont has been doing well for Erie in training camp. He has made it past the first round of cuts. Here is a quote from Duane Rankin at the Erie Times:

"Rod Wilmont - The guy wasn’t lying. He can just flat out knock down shots. Before training camp, he told me the coaches know he can put it in the hole since John Treloar and Ben McDonald were assistants at Indiana when he was there. During an intense four-on-four drill in which defense is rewarded, he must have knocked down four contested long-range shots. Pretty impressive to watch. I should have known. Against Northwestern in 2007, he hit nine 3s. Yes. Nine."

For more information on the Bayhawks training camp, check out the rest of Mr. Rankin's blog here.

This could make for an interesting storyline with the Mad Ants playing Erie in the home opener on Nov. 27th (Friday) and Nov. 29th (Sunday).

Mad Ants Make First Cuts

2009-11-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

The Mad Ants Coaching staff has made first round of cuts. We were required to have the roster down to 12 by tommorrow (Wednesday). Here is a list of who was released today:

Frank Tolbert (Auburn) 6'4 Guard

Mr. Tolbert was a player Jeff Potter was very high on in the draft. Sort of surprising to see him released in the first round of cuts.

Jared Carter (Kentucky) 7'2 Center

Jared came into camp through open tryouts and impressed the Coaches with not only his size but his quick feet. The problem is that with Chris Hunter, Rob Kurz (two NBA caliber talents) and Anthony Kent (who looked to really be elevating his game at the end of last season) who has "ridiculous" upside there was simply not room on the roster. With Jared's size and potential, I would not be surprised to see him end up on another D-League roster or I could see us bringing him back if we were to lose Chris Hunter or Rob Kurz to a NBA Gatorade Call-up.

Booker Woodfox (Creighton) 6'1 Guard

I do not have any real insight (as if I am qualified to give insight on anyone) on Booker. Just a victim of the numbers game.

Jamelle Cornley (Penn State) 6'5 Forward

Cornley is more on injured reserve than anything. He was having some minor issues with his knee but I would be shocked if we did not see him back on the Mad Ants roster when he recovers. I heard nothing but good things about him when I observed different practices.

So IU fans, that means AJ Ratliff is still in the building! Keeping my dream alive to get a Hoosier back on the Mad Ants roster.

Here is the remaining players still on the Mad Ants Training Camp Roster:

Brandon Cotton
Kyle McAlarney
Andres Sandoval
AJ Ratliff
Ron Howard
DeWitt Scott
CJ Anderson
Ryan Ayers
Rob Kurz
Anthony Kent
Chris Hunter
Sean Sonderleiter

Potential NBA Assignees Update

2009-11-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

I wrote a string of articles a few weeks back detailing who we might see assigned to the Mad Ants via our NBA affiliates. Since then, some more NBA games have been played allowing me to get some more insight on who we might (and won't) see.

Won't: I had a pipe dream that we might see Tyler Hansbourgh because he was coming off an injury and would have access to limited minutes. I was right about the limited minutes as they are only allowing him 16 minutes per game as he continues to recover. The thing is, he has been KILLING it with the little time has had. First game he drops 13 points 5 rebs in 13 odd minutes and he has been putting up similar numbers in the games following that.

Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye are in the same boat with Detroit. They are both playing significant minutes and I would be very surprised to see them in Fort Wayne.

I am also fairly confident we will not be seeing Brandon Jennings anytime soon. That guy is simply amazing, 55 points in like his 5th NBA game????

WILL (my opinion only, for some reason Joe Dumars, John Hammond, and Larry Bird do not include me in their inner circle):

Joe Alexander- He is still recovering from injury and I think it makes quite a bit of sense to let him get his legs back in the D-League. Plus it does not appear he is a part of the Bucks future plans (they did not sign an extension with him), so why not send him to the Mad Ants and hope to be pleasantly surprised with his improvement.

Jodie Meeks: He has been playing some minutes but not many. I would expect to see him come down on a limited basis.

DaJuan Summers- He has not been playing much at all for Detroit. The Pistons are proven advocates of the D-League and I would be very surprised if we did not see Summers at some point this year.

AJ Price - He has played limited minutes with the Pacers in four of their seven games. With TJ Ford and Earl Watson (who is playing well) at point guard, I would say there is a pretty solid chance of us seeing Price down at the Coliseum. Lacking a true PG right now in camp, we would be happy to see the UCONN Alumni down for a stint. The only thing holding me back from saying AJ being assigned to the Mad Ants is a sure thing, as that the Pacers are one of the few teams in the NBA to have never assigned/called-up someone from the D-League.

So out of those four players mentioned, I am going to bet we will see at least 50% of them.

Reminder: Open Mad Ants Practice tomorrow (Nov. 18th 5-7pm) at the Coliseum. Stop by and check out the new team!

Mad Ants Coaches Radio Show TONIGHT

2009-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

For my dozens and dozenz of Martz Madness readers, make sure you tune in tonight at 6pm to FM 100 Talks (100.1 on your radio dial) for the Mad Ants Coaches Show. Radio Broadcaster Bill Hazen hosts the show and is joined by Mad Ants Head Coach Joey Meyer. It will be a very interesting show tonight as Coach Meyer will be able to give an update on how training camp is going.

Reminder that this Wednesday (Nov. 18th) we will be hosting a Mad Ants Open Practice at the Memorial Coliseum from 5-7pm. The team will be scrimmaging and this is a great chance to see how the team is fleshing out.

Ridiculous Upside has a nice article discussing the Mad Ants trade for Rob Kurz. In the article Jon L talks about how the make-up of our lineup changes with the addition of Kurz. I disagree that Anthony Kent may be pushed to the 3 spot with Kurz at the 4 and Hunter at the 5. I think it would be more likely to have Kurz play the small forward, Kent at power forward and Hunter at Center. Kurz is a much better fit at the small forward position because of his long ranging shooting abilities.

Keep checking Potter's blog as he should be posting some pictures and more training camp updates.

More Blurry Mad Ants Training Camp Photos

2009-11-14T18:46:00.000-08:00

For the life of me I can not figure out how to take a good picture of people playing basketball. I guess my camera, like myself in the game of life, just can't cut it. Tonights practice we actually were able to watch some short scrimmages. Rob Kurz was showing why he was starting for the Warriors last year and knocking down threes like he was Steve Kerr, only six inches taller. AJ Ratliff also had a nice showing, and towards the end of the practice had a great drive to the lane for a bucket in traffic. Jamelle Cornley is a beast, and looks like a six inch shorter version of Dwight Howard. Really fun to watch and it just gets me more excited for the season to start. Two weeks minus a day away to the home opener on Nov. 27th! Got your tickets? (wow, that sounds a lot better on the commercial)

Here are the promised blurry pictures:

(Andres Sandoval trying to get by Kyle McAlarney, in a potential battle for the starting point guard spot (remember where the basketball insight is coming from) DOUBLE PARENTHESES!!!!

(Coach Meyer dropping some knowledge)

(Blurry Action Shot)

(Coach Meyer talking with Sandoval, Ratliff, and McAlarney)

(Coach Meyer bringing it in at the end of practice)

EXTRA:

Just watched former Mad Ant Dahntay Jones drop 25 points for the Pacers tonight while handily defeating the Boston Celtics. See what playing for the Mad Ants does for you? Really great to see Dahntay doing so well with the Pacers, could be a breakout year for him.

AJ Ratliff

2009-11-14T11:15:00.001-08:00

The News Sentinel had a nice article about AJ Ratliff today written by Reggie Hayes. He talks about his first day of Mad Ants training camp and his attempt to get back into basketball after a year layoff.

As an IU fan and a Mad Ants ticket seller I am rooting for AJ to make the team. By the article it is clear he knows it will be an uphill battle and he seems to be prepared for it. I am going to try to stop by practice again tonight to snap a few more pictures (hopefully they turn out a little better than yesterday).

Some really bad pics from the first day of practice

2009-11-13T19:23:00.001-08:00

Okay, it is going to shock you to hear this after you look at these pictures but I am not a professional photographer.

I had some issues getting good shots at practice today. Mainly because I feared looking like a tool getting out on the court for some closer pictures with better lighting. Jeff Potter pointed out that everyone knows that I am a tool and just take the stupid pictures anyways. I ignored him, so here are a couple blurry pictures from the first day of practice. I keep looking at Potter's blog and I can't seem to find any pictures or embedded video from today. Hmmmm, I guess this is where you come for an exclusive...

Kyle McAlarney "D"ing up on Andres Sandoval (and showing Jeff Johnson what a real beard looks like!)

Coach Sanders and Coach Potapenko working with the bigs at the end of practice

So everyone is here for training camp and we are off to a good start. I will try to get some better shots tomorrow, but I am sure by then Jeff Potter will have brought in a full camera crew for a one hour documentary on Mad Ants training camp for his blog. I say GOOD NIGHT SIR!

So I can't embed video..... so what

2009-11-13T06:06:00.000-08:00

Practice (yes I am talking about practice) officially starts this morning in about 25 minutes at the Concorida Seminary. Jeff Potter and Coach Potapenko were talking this morning about the uneasiness at the team dinner last night. The feeling out process had begun and every one was trying to gauge their potential future teammates. There was also probably a realization that 41% of the guys at dinner were not going to make the team. We have such a great training camp roster, that I certainly do not envy Mr. Potter and the Coaches on making those tough decisions on who to cut.

As you can tell by Potter's New Blog, he now knows how to embed video. He thinks he is the cats pajamas because of this, so it is my goal to take some video tonight at practice and put it up on my blog just to spite him. If I can't figure it out (or get my hands on a video camera) I will at least get some photos up.

Welcome Coach Potapenko

2009-11-12T05:26:00.001-08:00

( Mad Ants 2nd Assistant Coach Vitaly Potapenko backing down now destitute Antoine Walker)

The Mad Ants have have brought in NBA veteran Vitaly Potapenko as 2nd Assistant Coach to help Coach Meyer and Asst. Coach Sanders this season. Potapenko had a ten year NBA career and played (and started) with several different NBA teams. He will be a great asset in working with our players, specifically our bigs.

I am going to take a stab at what I think our starting lineup will be on opening night. Remember this is coming from a guy who last played organized basketball in 6th grade (I got cut in 7th grade, DARN YOU MR. KENNEDY!) and training camp doesn't start until Saturday.

PG: Kyle McAlarney
SG: Frank Tolbert
SF: Ron Howard
PF: Rob Kurz
C: Chris Hunter

The position I am really undecided on is Small Forward. I know Ron will almost certainly start but whether it's SG or SF I don't have a clue. I put Tolbert as SG as he was our 2nd round draft pick, so I assume the Coaches and JP are high on him. So I feel good about four of the five, but hey that is what training camp is for. Feel free to take your shot at what you think the starting lineup will be in the comments section. The first person who posts with the correct starting lineup will win a brand new Mad Ants license plate holder.

Embarrassing Mad Ants Staff Photo PART 2

2009-11-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, so techincally Heidi read my blog so she should not suffer my wrath. I do not live my life by technicallities however, I feel people should suffer the consequences of their actions. If you choose to not actively read my blog, you are fair game! Jeff Johnson, you need to step your game up or your next on the docket.

Let's talk a little about Heidi. She is the Director of Communications and Operations of the Mad Ants. That is correct, the DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS for the Mad Ants. She actually handles everything we put on our website. So you would think she would be an avid reader of Martz Madness, if only to police its content. What if I am putting up horrible things about the Mad Ants? Or posting frivilous things like pictures of my Halloween outfit (wait..). For this lack of censorship and support you have earned the following picture:

Heidi and her boyfriend Jayme (Halloween 2008)

As you can tell by the picture, Jayme is a large individual, so it is my hope for him not to kill me because of this photo.

Make sure you take time to check out Jeff Potter's Blog, as he has been updating it the past few days. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Mad Ants Training Camp Roster 09-10

2009-11-09T15:58:00.001-08:00

Check out this link for the official training camp roster of the 2009-10 Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

The Mad Ants will be having an open practice at the Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday Nov. 18th from 5-7pm. It is open to the public and you will get a chance to see how this years roster is shaping up. The Mad Ants will also be playing a preseason game AT Erie on Nov. 20th.

Speaking of Erie, one of the big stories coming out of the draft (for the Mad Ants anyways) was Rod Wilmont getting selected by the Erie Bayhawks. Originally the Ants were considering taking Rod as an allocated player due to his background at IU. It came down to a numbers game and the Coaching staff decided to go with Kyle McAlarney and Ryan Ayers from Notre Dame. The plan was to take Rod in the draft but the story is that in the 5th round we were going to select Rod and sure enough Erie took him before we had the chance. I know Rod has quite a few fans and friends in Fort Wayne who are disappointed he will not be with the Mad Ants. The good thing is we play the Erie Bayhawks four times at home and fans will still get a chance to see him in action. Hopefully Rod takes his frustration out on the court and I think it could really add to the Mad Ants/Bayhawks rivalry.

Bad news, Sarah FINALLY saw her Embarrassing Mad Ants Photo and promptly ratted me out to Heidi. So by my made up rules, Heidi reading my blog gets her out of the photo. Another made up rule is that rules are made to be broken! I just need to find the perfect picture...

Potential Pistons we could see in Fort Wayne this Season

2009-11-08T17:57:00.000-08:00

The long awaited, heavily under-hyped POTENTIAL PISTONS POST!

The Pistons have been the only Mad Ants affiliate to assign players to the Mad Ants during our first two seasons. We have seen three Pistons assigned by Mr. Dumars in Cheikh Samb (07-08), Walter Sharpe (08-09), and Alex Acker (08-09). Cheikh spent about half the season with the Mad Ants, while Sharpe and Acker were assigned to the Mad Ants together for only two home games and one short road trip. So the Pistons have proven they see value in having their young guys spend time in the D-League. Joe Dumars and John Hammond (former right hand man in Detroit and current General Manager of the Bucks) both attended Mad Ants games to see how their prospects were developing.

So I see no reason while we would not see a Piston down with the Mad Ants for the 09-10 season. Without further ado, here are the Pistons that could potentially be assigned to the Mad Ants. This simply means they are either a rookie or second year player and are eligble to be sent to the D-League.

Jonas Jerebko
College: None
2nd Round '09 Pistons Draft Pick
6'9 Forward

With Tayshaun Prince out, Jerebko has been seeing heavy minutes, even starting the past 2 or 3 games. He has put up solid numbers and I would expect to see him continue to be used in the regular Pistons rotation even once Tayshaun comes back into the lineup. Therefore, I really doubt we would see him assigned to the Mad Ants this season.

Percent of seeing him in a Mad Ants uniform: 1%

Austin Daye
College: Gonzaga
Pistons 1st Round Draft Pick 2009
6'11 Forward

Daye has been averaging ten minutes a game over four regular season games with the Pistons to this point. The biggest negative about Daye is his thin frame. Many questioned whether he could hang in the NBA without putting on some more muscle. He has a nice perimeter game with an extended range. He left Gonzaga after his sophomore season and I feel playing in the D-League and seeing 40 minutes a game would certainly benefit him. He has done a nice job for the Pistons to this point so I doubt he will be assigned to the Mad Ants. If there was a point in the Pistons season where there was an extended road trip in which it would be unlikely Daye would see many minutes, maybe Mr. Dumars would consider assigning him to Fort Wayne for a brief stay.

Chance of seeing him in a Mad Ants uniform: 5%

DaJuan Summers
College: See Photo
2nd Round Pistons 2009 Draft Pick
6'8 Forward

DaJuan Summers is who I think we will see in Fort Wayne this year. The Pistons have a plethora of forwards on the roster and Mr. Summers will need to prove to the Pistons that he deserves some of those minutes. To this point, Summers has only played 42 seconds in one Pistons game. Clearly the Pistons see value in him to keep him on the roster and did not waive him as they did Deron Washington (who was drafted 3rd in the D-League Draft by the LA D-Fenders). He is a strong athletic guy who has great size for the small forward position. One weakness in his college days was being prone to turnovers. He is also a solid three point shooter having made over 100 in his college career. How was that for a compliment sandwich?

Chance of seeing him in a Mad Ants uniform: 65%

Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum are both second year (thus making them eligble to be assigned to the Mad Ants) Piston players who are heavily used in the Pistons rotation. Stuckey is starting at point guard, with Bynum seeing heavy minutes as well. With both of these players having about the same chance of playing for the Mad Ants as I do, I have neglected to write up a report on them.

Come back tomorrow for the 2nd Round of EMBARRASSING MAD ANTS STAFF PHOTOS! This weeks star: Mad Ants Director of Communications & Operations Heidi Busch!

Heidi, if you read this, then you have 24 hours to acknowledge how amazing my blog is to get yourself out of this dilemma. Otherwise you face the same fate as Sarah . For an update, Sarah has yet to know the embarrassment and shame that was brought down on her for neglecting the MOST POWERFUL BLOG IN THE D-LEAGUE!

Also, for those who missed it, the Rob Kurz trade is official! Check it out on the Mad Ants homepage.