Matt Thomas playing with Valencia BC in Spain

[I-stateTheTruth]

Valencia Basket reports that Matt Thomas has arrived to Valencia for the start of their training camp. Another step upward for the Ice Man:

https://lataulataronja.es/valenciabasket/matt-thomas-llega-a-valencia/





PS That club tweets everything in THREE languages.

 

[Deleted member 8507]

Plus, now he is a short boat ride from Ibiza, if you like that kind of thing.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

As I will likely be on the other side of the pond in the next 6 months, I did some checking on Valencia's scheudle. They'll compete in Spain's national league and the 2nd-tier of European competition, the Eurocup. Their first pre-season game is tomorrow (8/30) vs. UCAM Murcia, against whom Matty Ice hit a game-winner. Their season kicks off much earlier than the NBA - in about a month.

Anyway, I was taking a look at the Eurocup games and they play against Trento of Italy (this year, the club seems to be named Dolomiti Energia Trento) on Halloween. In that game, Matt will be up against none other than Dustin Hogue, who starts for Trento. Also on their roster, perhaps to carry Dustin's bags (he's not listed as a starter), is Devyn Marble, who formerly plied his trade at a school in Iowa City.

Anyway, it would be fun to see Matt and Dustin go head-to-head.

 

[jdcyclone19]

As I will likely be on the other side of the pond in the next 6 months, I did some checking on Valencia's scheudle. They'll compete in Spain's national league and the 2nd-tier of European competition, the Eurocup. Their first pre-season game is tomorrow (8/30) vs. UCAM Murcia, against whom Matty Ice hit a game-winner. Their season kicks off much earlier than the NBA - in about a month.

Anyway, I was taking a look at the Eurocup games and they play against Trento of Italy (this year, the club seems to be named Dolomiti Energia Trento) on Halloween. In that game, Matt will be up against none other than Dustin Hogue, who starts for Trento. Also on their roster, perhaps to carry Dustin's bags (he's not listed as a starter), is Devyn Marble, who formerly plied his trade at a school in Iowa City.

Anyway, it would be fun to see Matt and Dustin go head-to-head.

I was on the other side of the pond 2 weeks ago. The beaches in Spain along the Mediterranean Sea are fantastic, fwiw.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I was on the other side of the pond 2 weeks ago. The beaches in Spain along the Mediterranean Sea are fantastic, fwiw.

As an undergrad at ISU, I studied in Valencia for a semester

 

[jdcyclone19]

As an undergrad at ISU, I studied in Valencia for a semester

Then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt Thomas' Valencia team had its first pre-season game - a win against UCAM Murcia. Matt was a bit on the cold side but had 9 pts on 3-9 shooting from the field. Here are a few shots from the team's twitter feed (He looks a little weird in orange)

 

[iacyguy]

Good to see he is still rocking #21

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt Thomas was picked to be in the Spanish league's 3-point contest, which is a pre-season event on SEPT 22. Matty Ice hit a blistering 46% of his shots from behind the arc and averaged around 16 pts last year.



http://www.valenciabasket.com/?p=noticias&noticia=4479&lang=en

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt Thomas' Valencia team won its 3rd preseason game in OT vs. Gran Canaria; Matty Ice chipped in 22 ptse. More importantly, his highlights are featured in the first 20 seconds or so of this clip, in case you are jonesing to see him in action (nice footwork on a turnaround from a baseline feed in here). He also has a nice assist at about the 50-second mark:



Action shot:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

This will end up being way more info than most of you want but I've been following Matt's season and I thought I'd post an update. For those who don't know much about basketball in Europe, Valencia Basket Club this year plays (on weekends) in Spain's Liga Endesa ACB and, based on last year's results, they qualified for the Eurocup (games in mid-week, typically), in which they play against teams from many different countries. This is an upgrade - and probably why Matt wanted to make a jump - from Santiago de Compostela's Obradoiro - in terms of more games, better pay and a higher competition level.

Valencia is off to a strange start in the Spanish league and is only 2-3, while they are undefeated in the Eurocup and leading their group at 3-0. The risk is that they may not qualify for Inter-European competition next year unless they start winning all their Spanish league games.

Valencia is MUCH deeper than Obradoiro was, when Matt was the number one guy. He usually plays among the most minutes but he doesn't always start and they have 8-9 good rotation player (including ex UVA guy Mike Tobey). Here is a quick summary of their games.

Matt in Spanish League Games

The team has had two big losses to Unicaja Malaga (also a Eurocup team), Real Madrid (even without Doncic, they're loaded) and lost by one this past weekend to a powerful Barcelona team (Messi didn't suit up )

Matt has had 12, 2 (in only 12 minutes - his lowest totals since going to Spain), DNP (injury), 13 and, yesterday in the 1-pt loss to Barcelona, he went off for 27 pts (6-8 from 3).

Eurocup games
Valencia sits atop their group with wins over Lyon - Villeurbanne (France), Turk Telecom and Partizan (Yugoslavia). In those games, Matt had 10, 13 and 3.

So, his scoring line is much less consistent than last year but he's got more talent surrounding him. Hopefully, his big game against Barcelona last weekend is the start of a good run. Here are his highlights - this should link to Vimeo - of his 6 3-pointers from yesterday (look how quick his release is now):

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt in action against FC Barcelona:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I'm trying to keep up with Matt's season in Valencia and here's an update for those who have an interest. Valencia continues to struggle in the Spanish league, with a blowout loss this past weekend against Laboral Kutxa Baskonia (from Vitoria in the Basque Country). Baskonia is a strong club and currently sits tied for 1st with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona at 6-1. Valencia fell to 3-4. Matt did well as VBC's only player in double figures with 16 pts (I think he had 3 3pts).

If they don't finish near the top of the standings, they won't qualify for intra-European competition next season, which must have been a big part of why Matt decided to move there.

The team re-tweeted this clip of Matt from the game (Caption: Elite shooter. Matt Thomas doesn't miss twice):



Today they have a EuroCup match against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne from Lyon, France with both teams tied at 4-1 atop the Group C standings. Matt's looking pretty jacked in this tweet about today's game:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I thought that some might appreciate an update on Matt Thomas, who had cooled off a bit when I last checked in on him. I'm going to divide this into posts on Valencia Basket in the domestic Spanish League and in their play in the EuroCup.

First, in the domestic league, they started out with a tough schedule and were only 4 and 5 after 9 games. This is significant because they have to finish in the top 4 or 5 (not 100% sure) to qualify for European competition next year. I checked and they've won their last 5 in a row (undefeated in DEC) and now sit at 5th in the league at 9-5.

Unlike last year with a smaller club, Matt's on a team with a lot of good players and he doesn't always start. His last 5 games show a good upward trend in scoring, with 7, 11, 4, 10 (in only 9 minutes; I suspect he got hurt in that game) and finally on DEC 29, he had 20 points as a started (4-7 from 3; 27 minutes played).

So, he seems healthy and his shooting touch seems to be back. And the team is up near the top of the 20-team league again.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

So the EuroCup is kind of the "NIT" of European hoops. The very top clubs play in the EuroLeague (Will the Thrill and Chris Babb play for big Russian clubs that compete in the EuroLeague) but the EuroCup is very high level basketball. Valancia Basket Club seems to have had some success in this cup and even while they struggled early in the Spanish League, they won their group and have now advanced to the "Top 16" in the EuroCup. This is group play - 4 groups of 4 teams - and only the winners of each group goes to a "final four". Valencia won their first game of the Top 16 on JAN 2 vs. another Spanish team, Unicaja of Malaga.

Matt tied for the lead in scoring in this first Top 16 game with 18 points (4-9 fr 3 in 27 minutes).
Ex Gonzaga star Kyle Wiltjer started for Malaga and scored 6.

Game summary with an action shot of Matt:



There were no tweet of highlights during the game but there were several of these:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

And finally, if you want to read some of Matt's thoughts on living and playing in Europe, he was asked to do some blogs for the EuroCup website and he's done two entries. He talks about how being a pro has been his dream, life on the Mediterranean, playing against Dustin Hogue and traveling.

First journal entry: http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/eurocup/news/blogs/2018-2019/matt-thomas/i/966984nffifoffhx

Second journal entry: http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/eu...s-valencia-i-m-enjoying-things-in-my-new-city

 

[aauummm]

Keep up the good work Matt! We Cyclones are proud of ya!

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

An update on Matt in Spain: Today his Valencia team defeated Rio Leche Breogan of Lugo 77-65. Matt tied for the lead in points with 15 (4-6 from 3pt). That moved Valencia up to 4th place in the standings, which is important for 2 reasons: the top 4 teams qualify for European competition next season and they also qualified for an internal 8-team knockout tournament called the Copa del Rey (the King's Cup), which is played over 3 days. The top 7 teams in the current standings plus the host team qualify and Valencia booked a spot today for this cup competition.

Tweet at the end of the 3rd quarter today, with the Ice Man:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Matt hasn't been having a good stretch in terms of playing time and scoring lately for Valencia but this reminded me of the beat-down that the Clones gave Kansas on that Big Monday game after Game Day - Matt in game action against Lithuania's best team this week:






Aaaaand, as long as I'm posting:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

So, the above dunk was from yesterday in the Round of 16 in the EuroCup. Matt only scored 2 points and played 15 minutes in Valencia's weekend Spanish league game but in this big win (75-64), he was Matty Ice once again. Some great highlights, including assists (if you're a hoops fan, check out the cross-court assist to Matt at about the 46-second mark):