Alicante's Playoff Cover

That's Taylor on the cover!

Spain Year Two- Complete!

Taylor Coppenrath, former standout basketball player at St Johnsbury Academy and UVM finished a very successful year in Alicante, Spain. On Sunday, 5/31/09, the Lucentum Alicante professional basketball team won the championship of the LEB Gold Division in Spain with a win over Melilla 72 - 66. The win moves the team into the ACB Division from where the Euroleague teams play. Taylor played 27 ½ minutes, scoring 10 points and shutting down the paint on defense to the Melilla low post players. Over the season Taylor averaged about 10.6 pts and 4.5 rebounds per game playing about 20 minutes per game.
After graduating from UVM in 2005 Taylor played on the NBA summer league teams for the Boston Celtics, AEK in Athens, Greece 2005 -06; NBA Indiana Pacers summer league 2006; Angelico Biella in Biella, Italy 2006 – 07, and Lucentum Alicante for the past two seasons. Alicante had specifically wanted Taylor to help them ascend to the ACB based on his past European experience. It turned out to be a good decision as Alicante is now in the ACB!

Taylor returns to Vermont on Wednesday and will be hosting basketball camps in Winooski and St Johnsbury this summer.

NEK Sports

check out the great article about Taylor and his season in Spain!

HERE

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES

COME ON!

Alicante won the LEB Gold Championship today which moves them into the top division, the ACB, in Spain where the top four teams play in the Euroleague. Reaching the ACB was a goal for the team for the past two years and one of the reasons they wanted Taylor to play for them.

They did it~

It was *such* an exciting game! Congratulations to Taylor and the team!

PLAYOFF WEBSITE

THERE IS A NEW WEBSITE IN SPAIN THAT WILL BE TELEVISING THE SEMI FINAL GAME ON SATURDAY AT 12:30 PM THAT HAS A LARGER SCREEN AND BETTER QUALITY...

at 12:30 go to: www.populartv.net

and click on the "Emision en Directo" tab button; it is yellow

If Lucentum Alicante win on Saturday; they will play the next day, on Sunday, at the same time, 12:30pm and it will be televised on the same website.

Good luck Taylor and Alicante!

Semi-Finals

Taylor's next game is vs. Los Barrios at a neutral court in Madrid for the semi-final game of the final four on Saturday, 5/30/09, at 12:30 pm Eastern time.

From Taylor's Dad:

Alicante won their 1/4 final playoffs by beating Ford Burgos in the third game, 84 - 57, and will play in the first semi-final game this Saturday to see which team advances to the championship game on Sunday, 5/31/09..

The playoff schedule is now on www.febtv.com (the same site where the games are viewed; simply scroll down...

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces.

Alicante is Back at Home!

Taylor's next game is back at home (the third and last 1/4 final game!) on Sunday, 5/24/09, at 1:30 pm Eastern time.

Alicante won the first game on Tuesday, lost last evening at Burgos by four points, and will play Sunday to see which team advances to the final four next weekend.

The playoff schedule is now on www.febtv.com (the same site where the games are viewed; simply scroll down...

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces.

Second Playoff Game!

Taylor's next game is at Ford Burgos (the second playoff game!) on

Friday, 5/22/09, at 3 pm Eastern time.

Alicante won the first game on Tuesday, and George, Taylor's Dad, was able to watch in person. Taylor had a great game - see below from Eurobasket website:

"LEB Gold Round: 1 (Quarter-Finals) - May 20, 2009 (by Eurobasket News)

Alicante - Burgos 89-69
Nice 20-point win by Alicante for 1-0 lead in the quarterfinals. Taylor Coppenrath (205-F-81, college: Vermont) this time stepped up for the hosts collecting 16 points and 5 rebounds. Diego Garcia was on fire in Burgos with 23 points"

The playoff schedule is now on www.febtv.com (the same site where the games are viewed; simply scroll down...

GOOOOOOOO TAYLOR!

Its Playoff Time!

Taylors next game is at home (the first playoff game!)

on Tuesday, 5/19/09, at 3 pm Eastern time.

From Taylor's Dad:

The regular season ended Friday with a win for Alicante (was in second place) and a loss by Valladolid (was in first place.) Therefore both teams have identical records, 25 - 9, but because Valladolid beat Alicante home and away, they are ranked ahead of Alicante, and advance automatically to the Euroleague division (ACB) having secured the #1 position in the regular season.

NOTE: In Spain there are four major divisions of professional basketball: ACB (where the Euroleague teams play from); LEB Gold (where Alicante is currently); LEB Silver, and LEB Bronze. At the end of every season the top two teams from each division move up a division, and the bottom two teams move down a division. Martin Klimes (who played at UVM with Taylor) plays on a professional team in the LEB Bronze division:

http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=3202

The remaining top teams, #2 through #9 enter the playoffs with Alicante having the top seed. The winner of the playoff series also advances to the Euroleague division (ACB) and that is the goal for Alicante.

The playoff schedule is now on www.febtv.com (the same site where the games are viewed; simply scroll down...

Good Luck Taylor! We'll be watching and routing for you guys!

Heading to Mallorca

Taylor and the team are heading to the beautiful island of Mallorca for this Friday's game! The game will be on Friday, 5/15/09, at 3 pm Eastern time.

This is the last regularly scheduled game before playoffs! Taylor's Dad, George, will be flying over for some of the playoffs which start on Tuesday, May 19.

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces.

Friday 3pm Eastern Time

Taylors next game is at home on Friday, 5/8/09, at 3 pm Eastern time.

This is the next to last regularly scheduled game before playoffs!

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

Good luck Taylor!

Alicante vs. C.B. Illescas

Taylors next game is at C.B. Illescas on Saturday, 5/2/09, at 12 NOON Eastern time.

The game schedule shows 1800 hours in Spain which is 6pm there and 12 noon here. However the TV schedule has it at 1:30 our time; Taylor called and said the game is definitely at 12 noon our time; so we'll go with that....

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

click on "El Equipo" ("the team" in Spanish) on the left to see the roster there!

Good luck Taylor!

vs. Gandia Basquet

Taylors next game is at home vs Gandia Basquet on Saturday, 4/25/09, at 10:30 am Eastern time.

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

click on "El Equipo" ("the team" in Spanish) on the left to see the roster there!~

Good LUCK!

Game Tomorrow!

Taylors next game is at home on Wednesday, 4/15/09, at 3:00 pm Eastern time.

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

click on "El Equipo" ("the team" in Spanish) on the left to see the roster there...

A Note from Taylor

Last week we won our game against Tenerife which is the team that Pat Carroll plays for now. We beat them, and now this week we play against another former teammate of mine from last year's team, Stephane Dumas. He plays for Valladolid and right now we are tied with them although they are technically in first place. Our game is in Valladolid and is on Wed at 9 pm in Spain or 3 pm Eastern Standard Time.

On another note my Mother and younger brother Drew are here visiting and are trying to go to the game. Hopefully they can provide some pictures for you to see!

Game this Friday!!!

We had the opportunity to watch Taylor's last two games and, while they're not quite as much fun as seeing them in PERSON, they are still really exciting! If you get a chance to log on the web this Friday, definitely check it out! It's well worth it!

Taylors next game is vs Tenerife on Friday, 4/03/09, at 3:00 pm Eastern time.

Spain is now on Daylight Savings Time so they are once again 6 hours ahead of Eastern time and the game is 9pm in Alicante.

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

click on "El Equipo" ("the team" in Spanish) on the left to see the roster there...

Next Game

Taylors next game is away on Friday, 3/20/09, at 4:00 pm Eastern time.

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

click on "El Equipo" ("the team" in Spanish) on the left to see the roster there...

Next Up?

Taylors next game is away at UNION BALONCESTO LA PALMA on Friday, 3/06/09, at 4:00 pm Eastern time. Because La Palma is in the Canary Islands the time difference is only 5 hours, so even though the game is still at 9pm on the schedule, the Eastern time will be 4 pm.

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

Go Taylor!

Caption from Today's Paper

In Spain of course. :) Couldn't upload the picture that went with it, you'll have to take our word that it was awesome.

"Martynas Andriuskevicius, without jumping, and Taylor Coppenrath, with determination, combine efforts to prevent the basket of Matt Kiefer. /RAFA OIL MILL"

and a rough translation from an article in the newspaper:

'The Lucentum Alicante won by far (97-77) with forcefulness over the Club Basquet Vic in the game that closed the 22nd game of Liga LEB Gold and it consolidates the leadership by three victories, persued by Valladolid and Tenerife.

There was no surprise in the morning of Sunday and the Lucentum showed from the first quarter a consistency that left without answer from the visitors, Vic, who played always behind in the game.

Andriskevicius in the paint, Jorge Garci'a and Urtasun from the perimeter, Coppenrath in all the lands, set out conclusive arguments in the game in favor of front leader who travels at full speed towards the first place ascent to ACB. Albert Sabat was the high scorer for the visitors."

Next up?

Game on Sunday!

Taylors next game is home on Sunday, 3/01/09, at 6:30 am Eastern time.

Here is a link to the video stream:

http://www.febtv.com/

find the list of games on the right side; click on the "Lucentum Alicante" game; that will open up the video of the game inside the TV screen. Taylor is #15, usually wears high white socks with black ankle braces...

the roster is available at: http://www.eurobasket.com/team.asp?Cntry=ESP&Team=2004

the team website is: http://www.cblucentum.com/indice.htm

click on "El Equipo" ("the team" in Spanish) on the left to see the roster there!