Coaching in the Tropics: Clausura 2013 Preview

I've largely left the basketball blog abandoned these last few months. Things have been busy at work. Putting together the largest mass event in Costa Rican history has been a serious drain on time; man does this work thing really gets in the way of basketball. The time between Apertura and Clausura hardly lets you catch your great, but this week we're back at it.

Here's a quick recap of the inter-tournament period:

Barva won the Apertura tournament in a tight Finals against San Ramon. Not much I can say, Barva has a very good team and pulled out the wins when their back was against the wall. Plus I'd really like to avoid another formal complaint by the Barva management against my person.
San Ramon has decided to double down on its big man strategy by bringing in Hernol Gardener, who's played in several overseas leagues. So what was an already imposing post rotation only gets bigger for Clausura. Here's an article in Al Dia: http://www.aldia.cr/baloncesto/Baloncesto_nacional-Sanatura_Escazu-Coopenae_San_Ramon_0_109189109.html

We made a few changes to our roster, particularly in our foreign line-up. Michael Jackson is back in the fold finally. We brought in Isaac St Rose who had been a big part of Barva's title chokehold. Dwayne Grant went back to his native Canada after a long absence and John Chappell followed his fortunes to Australia (we're still waiting on pics John). We also brought in Dario Fraile to shore up the post rotation; Dario was on our 09 team that made it to the finals.
Grecia, Perez Zeledon and Limon are all in the mix to keep up with the stronger teams and try to qualify for the semi-finals; each of them made tweaks to their roster. We'll see who made the right moves.
Costa Rica won the gold medal at the Central American games. I was fortunate enough to be on the staff. I'll dedicate a future post to that tourney and the future of the Costa Rican national team.