UVA KSA 2004

The Bullets reunited for the 2004 campaign, armed with new faces and old, ready to further their reputation and extend their dominance. The annual UVA KSA tournament provided a prime opportunity to indoctrinate the newest members as well as providing a good indicator of the progress of the team. Important New Jersey team members Joe Kim and Seung Lee didn’t make the trip, but their absence would be filled by Krizzio Washington, Jared Eustaquio and Brian Tran, as well as Boo Kim, Scott Yun, Brian Edwards, Billy Kim, Dennis Kim and Alex Yun.

Krizzio is 6'4, half black and asian, and can do it all on the basketball court. A former All-District forward, he can play any position on the floor: he handles the ball, has a smooth left handed j, can get to the rack at will, post up, position himself for easy layups and dunk with authority. His gregarious and engaging personality made him a great fit for the team, and he proved crucial to the Bullets' run through the UVA 2004. Brian Tran, the highly anticipated rookie small forward had his debut delayed when he got caught in the middle of a dogfight, and left with less of a pinky finger. Steve Lee had prior commitments, and so slightly undermanned, the Bullets approached the UVA tournament facing a more difficult task than imagined.

The first game, versus a team of inexperienced Vietnamese and south East Asian players were no matches for the dominant defense of the Bullets. The team capitalized on a ball hawking defense and fast break layups to get steal and steal, and layup and layup, to quickly put the game out of reach. In the rare half court set, three pointers galore, specifically from Billy Kim broke the spirit of the overmatched team and the Bullets cruised to a 20 plus point victory, invoking the Bullets rule when the game got dangerous as the losing team reacted physically to the beating they were taking on the scoreboard. Every member of the team scored at will, and Jared Eustaquio had his first ever points for the Bullets. Congratulations Jared.

The next game matched the Bullets versus a Chinese team, and it was barely a game. In what had to be the most boring game in Asian basketball history, the Chinese team barely showed up, exhibiting no effort whatsoever from the opening tap, basically conceding a loss. Despite a very lackadaisical effort, the Bullets jumped out to the least exciting 24-2 lead ever, with Krizzio outscoring their team with his dunks, 6-2. The game featured a career high 12 points by Alex Yun, who had played extensive reserve minutes, and left everyone wondering if the tournament would provide any excitement.

A first round bye meant a very long break in the action, and an eventual rematch with the Chinese team. They decided to pick up a black player, which we decided to allow out of sheer boredom, and made for a slightly more competitive game, though it was still another listless affair, with a 76-60 victory. The tournament seemed to have only 3 or possibly 4 teams really worth mentioning, and none had met the Bullets yet. Until the semifinal.

The semis meant a real game, or at least one that seemed real. An athletic JMU team, with good shooters and a competitive fire caught the hitherto unchallenged Bullets off guard, as they were unconscious from 3, opening an implausible 7 point lead against the Bullets. Besides the tournament ramifications, there were personal motivations, as Billy had left this JMU team knowing that the Bullets would lead him to first place trophies. His prophetic vision proved correct, as Krizzio was unstoppable, and Brian Edwards took over the game, simply exploding past their overmatched, small, weak guards for layup after layup. He burned them so bad it looked as if he was practicing layups in a gym by himself at times. B Ron's dominance, timely offense, good offensive mindsets, and some inspired defense led by Billy resulted in a 16 point rout, in what seemed like it was going to be a close game.

The finals were a repeat of some Bullets finals of times past, versus organized, effective, yet less talented VA super nova. The game did not hold much real excitement, as super nova is well known for there slow down tactics and stiff defense. Their one game changing player, allen aka "asian ai", was reduced to just "asian" by the suffocating defense of Billy, who completely locked him down. Krizzio scored layups at will, the team had contributions from everyone, and point guard and grizzled tournament veteran Boo Kim expertly controlled the pace and led the Bullets to an easy win, that was much closer than the score indicated, 57-51. The final demonstrated balance, smarts, patience and superior ability in every facet of the game.

This tournament almost proved too easy, with no serious challenges. The team trailed in only about 5 minutes of 200 total minutes of game time, and left the team wondering where the ceiling would be. The victory, though satisfying left the Bullets itching for bigger challenges, to test the heights of this improving squad.