Judgment Call

Pinay guard Sofia Roman looks forward to next US NCAA season

3 October 2013 at 4:52 am

Last December 2012, I wrote about then freshman Sofia Roman, a Filipina guard for the Dartmouth Big Green Women’s Basketball Team. After a stellar high school career at White Plains High School in New York, Sofia opted to attend the Ivy League school in New Hampshire, where she could play basketball and at the same time earn a degree from a prestigious educational institution. When I first wrote about Sofia, her basketball expectations were high, yet she was very cautious. She was eager to showcase her talents, but was realistic, realizing she was just a freshman and that anything could happen in the 2012-2013 US NCAA Season.

In June 2013, I went to New York on business and to attend the NBA Rookie Draft, and was able to meet and have dinner with Sofia, her dad, prominent lawyer Tonyboy, and other hotshot Filipino attorneys-at-law practicing in New York State. Sofia and I talked about her first year in school and many other basketball-related things. Her dad would get so excited when talking about Sofia and her basketball journey. Sofia is very intelligent, with beauty queen potential to boot. She is tall (for a Filipina, and not compared to most of her teammates) with an athletic build, and keeps herself in great shape. I told her I would do a second part to her story, and recently, we corresponded via e-mail.

Sofia’s first year went by quickly, and she came out of it with mixed feelings. Academics-wise, she admits that she went through a big adjustment, but was able to stay the course and, in the process, find more interests outside of basketball. Her freshman hoops experience, though, did not turn out exactly the way she wanted.

Sofia and her family were frustrated since she got minimal playing time, seeing action in only twelve of twenty-eight games. She often observed situations wherein she could definitely help and use her strengths on the court, yet the then-coaching staff continued to use the same rotation and did not make any adjustments. While she accepted that she was a rookie, she felt she was not given a fair chance to contribute. What made things tougher for Sofia as the season went on was the continuous reassurance from the coaches, who repeatedly told her that her time would come and that limited playing time was no indication of her talent level. She trusted them, of course, and, her passion for the game tested, she continued to work hard and simply focused on getting better.

After going 6-22 (4-10 in the Ivy League), major changes were effected shortly after the season. Dartmouth decided to relieve twenty-eight year Women’s Basketball Head Coach Chris Wielgus, considered a legend in the community, and her entire coaching staff of their duties, a decision which was met with mixed reactions. Tapped to replace Wielgus is Belle Koclanes, a former Richmond guard who played professionally in Greece, with ten years of coaching experience, but who will be a head coach for the first time. She came in highly recommended by her peers. Sofia has met with Koclanes and her staff and sensed their more positive, fresh approach to the game. The new coaches said they would like to play a more up-tempo, instinctive brand of basketball, which surely excites Sofia and her teammates. They recently started practicing and will open the season at Holy Cross on November 8, 2013.

Sofia, a guard with tremendous ball-handling and shooting skills, shared with me her thoughts on different basketball matters. Living in New York and a Knicks fan, she said she was frustrated with the “iso plays” of Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith. In particular, she said Smith was erratic offensively in the playoffs, and she thinks the rotation used by Coach Mike Woodson was “too short.” She feels that Chris Copeland and Pablo Prigioni should have played more. She noticed though that Woodson made a lot of adjustments in the second round against Indiana and hopes that the Knicks learn from their mistakes and have a longer postseason this year.

Jeremy Lin is one of Sofia’s favorite players and she thinks he did well in the last regular season. She pointed out that his injury hurt his consistency and, unfortunately, he hurt himself again in the playoffs. She thinks Lin and Dwight Howard will work well together to form a good small-big combination.

Sofia admitted that she hasn’t been able to follow the WNBA as much this year due to limited television access to games. She knows, however, that the New York Liberty had a short season, but at least her idols, Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky, whom Sofia got to watch at Dartmouth’s Blue Sky Tournament, and Skylar Diggins of the Tulsa Shock, both did well in their rookie campaigns.

Sofia followed the different FIBA tournaments that just took place and is ecstatic that Gilas Pilipinas is going to Spain for the FIBA World Cup next year. For her (and millions of us), Gilas’ best game was against South Korea. She agrees that Gilas won that game, even without Marcus Douthit, because of “puso” (heart) and the stellar guard play of Jimmy Alapag, LA Tenorio, and Jayson Castro. She thinks Gilas could have beaten Iran in the final game had Douthit been healthy enough to play.

As for the FIBA Americas tournament, she said she heard that ex-Knick and Petron Blaze Booster Renaldo Balkman did well for Puerto Rico. For FIBA Eurobasket, she watched a couple of exciting games between Slovenia and Croatia, and Slovenia and Georgia, and is amazed how the Dragic brothers (Goran and Zoran) played and hustled on the court. She mentioned that she likes how Goran plays, as he has a reliable three-point shot and can also drive to the basket, and uses his speed well. Notice how most of her basketball observations have to do with guards?

According to Sofia, she spent the summer getting ready for the upcoming season. She trained with a basketball trainer, doing strength and conditioning workouts, which the new coaching staff required, scrimmaged against boys in local gyms, and joined a local NCAA-certified summer league, where her team won the championship. Apart from all of that, she worked as a counselor in a youth basketball camp, and even got to play against the Harlem Wizards, a basketball entertainment team much like the Harlem Globetrotters. Sofia also found time to obtain an internship from the producers of Linsanity, the documentary about Lin, of which I previously wrote, and which recently opened in Manila. She describes the documentary as very inspiring and expects every basketball-loving Filipino to enjoy it.

Right now, Sofia is busy with the start of the school year and almost daily practice for the upcoming basketball season. I hope she gets more opportunities to exhibit her talent and high basketball IQ and that her team improves its performance. May Year 2 be better and brighter for our very own Sofia Roman!

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