Asian Club Basketball goes unnoticed but aims to compete

Rarely anyone else is on the court on a typical Sunday morning at the Barnes Center courts.  

On a recent Sunday morning, two students were here taking lazy jump shots, and a few pairs nearby were serving volleyballs to each other. The sound of the balls bouncing on the floor made the court feel even more empty. 

But one group on the basketball court — 10 panting and hustling players — seemed incompatible with the Barnes scene. 

Shuo Zhang was trying to squeeze in as much as possible in the last official training session before the team sets out to Penn State the upcoming from Friday. Then on Saturday and Sunday, Syracuse’s Asian basketball team would compete against nine other Asian basketball teams from nearby colleges in Penn State’s annual invitational event.

Zhang, 28, is the oldest member of the team. This is his fourth year in the PhD program and also his fourth year playing for the team. 

Because of his experience playing for a university’s varsity team in China during his undergraduate years, he also became the team’s coach and led the practice. 

Without a white board, Zhang drew the formation on his phone. The other nine players circled him, all staring at the 5.4-inch screen of his iPhone.  

“You got to watch out for their tactics,” Zhang said.

He prepared new members of the team for the upcoming game against the Nittany Lion’s Asian Basketball team. They have been invited to play at Penn State every year, but for some, this would be the first time.  

“I know they have a tactic 1, they have 2, 3, they also have a tactic pineapple,” Zhang’s finger moved across the tiny screen. 

“Pineapple? Do they also have a banana?” Others laughed. 

Their main focus was on 2-3 zone offense and defense. First half-court practice, then full-court scrimmage after. 

Three hours of practice time flew by, but Zhang wanted the team to practice full-court press no matter what. 

“Just hold on for 10 more minutes,” Zhang said to the team. “We will finish after I explain a bit more about this.” 

After 10 minutes of lecturing, he stood up. “All right, tie your shoelaces, we are doing it for real this time,” he yelled. 

They went on to play scrimmage for another half an hour. 

Monday: Barnes Center 

Tiger Zeng, the team captain, shows up for every practice. Everyone has a busy schedule, so he understands if some other players miss a training session or two. But no one should be absent too often. Absence is contagious. Zeng was certain about that. 

Not everyone shows up on Monday. Zhang wasn’t here, because he was too busy with his research. 

But the court, on the contrary, was more than crowded, filled with intramural games and other students playing for fun.  

So on Mondays, the training session for the team is in fact playing pickup games with others. 

One of the team’s managers, Jon Yi, shows up at almost every session too. The 21-year-old sophomore helps Zeng with miscellaneous things off the court. He takes attendance, takes photos during games, and helps with the team’s sponsorship and registration for events. 

“Just imagine if our Asian basketball team could host some big events of our own,” Yi said. “We could invite the Asian basketball teams from Rochester or Cornell to come to Syracuse to play.” 

Photo by Maria Kaffes

Shuo Zhang gives the team instructions during a local league game.

But they can’t. They can only host an event and book the court as a club. 

And Syracuse’s Asian Basketball team, despite winning games and tournaments all the time, is not an official campus club. 

That means no support or reimbursement from the university. Everyone on the team pays for themselves to register for events, travel to other schools and book hotels. 

Zeng and the team’s managers find sponsorship every once in a while. Organizations that either serve or are related to Chinese students sometimes offer a small amount of money for the team to publish their content on its social media, but it is impossible for that money to cover all the costs. 

The captain before Zeng tried to make the team qualify as an official club. Zeng is trying to do the same. But Syracuse University rejected the request because there is already another basketball club on campus. 

“That doesn’t make sense,” Zeng was not convinced by that excuse. “Penn State has three Asian basketball teams, and the third team just qualified as a club a few days ago.” 

Zeng decided to keep on trying. 

Thursday: Legacy Gym 

The Asian Basketball team used to have training sessions on Thursday. But this semester, they started to play in a local league in East Syracuse on Thursday nights. 

There was no play-by-play or commentary for the game. There was only one old man keeping the score, the clock and foul counts. He retired from the referee’s position but still felt passionate enough to host a few basketball games each week. He loves to keep the music going during each game. 

There were not many Syracuse students cheering for a Syracuse team. The total number of fans supporting the team was five, including Yi himself. Others are all friends or girlfriends of the players. 

Yi barely sat. He was not really in the cheering mode, because he had the photographer’s job to do. Back and forth he walked on the sideline, trying to capture every motion on the court with his phone.  

Zeng was not joking when he said his team is good. They were slow on the start as always, but in the end erased a 10-point deficit. 

Photo by Maria Kaffes

Tiger Zhang defends his teammate during practice.

When Zhang hit the two free throws to secure the win, the cheers of their four fans and three players on the bench almost toppled the building. 

“Let’s talk about the things we did good and things we did bad,” Zhang said after the game. He sat down on the floor at the entrance, with his fingers drawing on the imaginary tactic board on the ground. Others again made a circle around him. 

And after the short recap, Zeng had to say a few more. This game was just the start. Zeng knew it better than anyone. There are five games to win at Penn State University during the weekend ahead. There are more games against other Asian basketball in the whole northeast region next February.  

But first, there is a four-hour drive tomorrow. 

“Get there by nine, and we will have a meeting in my room at ten,” Zeng made the closing remark. “Drive safe.”