Portrait of an Adversary: Le Mans

By Amy Samin

Founded in 1939, Le Mans is one of the most senior French basketball teams.
It took a little over two decades for the team to win its first title, the French Cup, in 1964.
With the first title came an appetite for more; Le Mans reached the final in the French Cup twice more and became a real force in the French League.
After two second place finishes, Le Mans finally won their first championship in 1978.
Since then, they have added two more championship trophies to the case, along with another French Cup.
The city of Le Mans is known as a sports-loving town, especially for the 24 hour sports car race hosted there every year.

Last season, Le Mans failed to bring back the French championship when the team was eliminated in the semi-finals of the playoffs.
The club also failed to make the Top 16 in the Euroleague.

Le Mans is a completely different team this year because many of last season’s standout players have left: Bogdanovich, Limonad (who has returned to Nahariya), Clancy, and of course Nicholas Batum who has gone to play in America.
The result is a team comprised of many young, less experienced players.

The most interesting player on the team is the American, Dewarick Spencer (1.93, 26), the top scorer in the Euroleague last season who played for Virtus Bologna, who looks to be the club leader in most categories this season.
In addition, there is Brian Chase (27), who at 1.78 is short for his position as point guard, and who played for Besiktas in Turkey last season.
The third guard on the team is the young French player, Antoine Diot (1.92, 19), in his second season with the team and who, despite his tender years, gets plenty of time on the court.

Le Man’s pack of forwards is led by the familiar David Bluthenthal (2.01, 28), who has come to the club after playing for Maccabi last year, and whose magic touch with the long shots is known to us all.
Senegalese player Maleye N’Doye, who played last year for Lisboa Benfica, is expected to be the second valuable forward on the team.

Top, left - right: Diot, Chase, Spencer

Bottom, left – right: N’Doye, Bluthenthal

The rest of the forwards are the “youngsters,” with ages ranging from 18 – 21; right now it’s hard to know how much they will contribute to the team in the Euroleague.
The most senior of them is Jeremy Leloup (2.02, 21), who is starting his third season with the club.
The others are Antoine Gomis (2.05, 19), Pierre Drouault (1.93, 18), and Enzo Tsonga (1.94, 18), all natives of France who played for the junior team and are wearing the uniform of the professional club for the first time this season.

On the front line of the team are the three centers. The best known to Maccabi fans is Alain Koffi (2.07, 25), in his seventh year with the club and one of the players responsible for the close game played in Nokia Arena last season (a 74 – 71 victory for Maccabi) with 8 points and 11 rebounds.

Brazilian player Joao Paulo Batista (2.06, 27), who played in Riga, Latvia and with Rytas Vilna before coming to France, had an excellent game in Week 2 although Le Mans lost to Cibona at home, and he will try to do the same against Maccabi.
Badiane Pape (2.08, 28) from Rouen rounds out the list of quality French players on the team.

Top, left – right: Pape, Batista, Koffi

Bottom, left – right: Gomis, Leloup

Head coach for Le Mans is J-D Jackson, who follows in the footsteps of the legendary Vincent Collet, who served the team first as a player, then as head coach from 1999 – 2006.

Le Mans is currently ranked second in the French League, with a perfect record so far and having played one less game than the top team, Orleans.
Le Man’s leading player is David Bluthenthal, who has an average of 12.75 points and 6.5 rebounds.

samintranslations@yahoo.com

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