2008–09 BC Mureș season

Going into the 2008–09 BC Mureș season, fan expectations were high for BC Mures, but things did not go as they hoped. After only five games head coach Mihai Corui stepped down from his position, which was occupied by Lithuanian Audrius Prakuraitis. The season was a disappointing one although the team played a more organized basketball but in the end did not manage to enter the playoffs.

Preseason games

Tournament in Medias were Bc Mures played without Luke McKenna (inj.), Levi Levine (inj.), Sean Knitter (not arrived) and Cory Largent (not arrived):

  • Csu Sibiu – Bc Mures 104 – 89
  • Gaz Metan Medias – Bc Mures 88 – 78
  • CSS U Craiova – Bc Mures 77 – 72

Friendly games in Hungary:

  • MAFC Budapest (div.2) – Bc Mures 50 – 100
  • Veszprém (div.2) – Bc Mures 66 – 88

Göcsej Cup – tournament in Zalaegerszeg :

  • Lami-Véd Körmend (div. 1) – Bc Mures 102 – 80 [McKenna 21(2), Hargrave 15(1), Cooley 15(3), Vajda 8, Largent 8(1), Coombs 8, Levine 3(1), Knitter 2]
  • Dombóvár (div. 1) – Bc Mures 94 – 70 [Hargrave 17(4), Coombs 17, Knitter 10(1), Cooley 7(1), Levine 6(1), McKenna 4, Szászgáspár 3(1)]
  • Soproni sŐrdögök (div.1) – Bc Mures 69 – 70 [Cooley 12(2), Knitter 12(2), McKenna 12, Pora 8, Largent 8(1), Levine 5, Jakab 5, Coombs 4, Hargrave 2, Trif 2]

Friendly game and introduction of the Bc Mures 2008–2009 roster

  • Bc Mures – CSU Brasov 103 – 83 [Coombs 20(1), Hargrave 19(5), Levine 18(2), Vajda 11, Cooley 10(2), McKenna 8, Largent 5, Jakab 5, Trif 4, Knitter 3(1)]

The Romanian Basketball Federation decided to increase the number of participants for the 08–09 season from 14 clubs to 16 clubs. In this case none of the clubs that played in the last season relegated to div. 2. CS Energia Rovinari and CSS ``U`` Craiova are the two new summer clubs that will complete the Romanian Basketball Division A team list. After the folding of the Rm.Valcea club there were only 15 teams left to start the championship race.

2008–2009 Squad changes

December 2009

In

  • Audrius Prakuraitis – head coach signed from Panevezys (div.1)
  • Marius Pociukonis
  • Major Wingate – signed from France

Sept-oct 2008

In

  • Cory Largent – signed from Paysandu (div.1)
  • Haron Hargrave – signed from Sacramento State (NCAA1)
  • Levi Levine – signed from UCC Demons
  • Vajda Attila – on loan from Gaz Metan Medias
  • George Trif – signed from CSM Leonardo Oradea
  • Aaron Coombs – signed from Longwy (div.3)
  • Sean Knitter – signed from Fjölnir (div.1)

Out

  • Bryan McCullough – signed to Lami-Véd Körmend (div.1)
  • Frank Edward Russell – unknown destination
  • Louis Truscott – signed to Benfica (div.1)


Players
Bc Mures 08/09 roster First division
N/A Major Wingate Center
3 JuJuan Cooley 175 cm 75 kg Guard
N/A Bogdan Cormoş Guard
N/A Daniel Patru Forward
34 Ferenc Bíró Forward
10 Barnabás Szászgáspár 183 cm 82 kg Guard
12 Vlad Pora 193 cm 91 kg Guard
14 Cristian Jakab 205 cm 92 kg Center
10 George Trif 194 cm 88 kg Forward
7 Attila Vajda 204 cm 88 kg Center
33 Luke McKenna 201 cm 100 kg Forward
11 Marius Pociukonis Guard
  • Second division players (Reserves)
Bc Mures 08/09 roster Second div.
1 Ferenc Bíró 205 cm 97 kg Center
4 Bogdan Cormoş 177 cm 70 kg Guard
5 Tibor Soós 183 cm 70 kg Guard
8 Daniel Patru 192 cm 92 kg Forward
20 Bogdan Puşcaş 194 cm 87 kg Forward
N/A László Fodor N/A N/A kg Guard

08/09 Depth chart
Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Reserve
C Major Wingate Cristian Jakab
PF Attila Vajda Ferenc Bíró
SF Luke McKenna George Trif Pora Vlad
SG Marius Pociukonis Daniel Patru
PG JuJuan Cooley Bogdan Cormoş

In order to be able to develop its own reinforcement strategy the club decided to form a second team that will play in the Romanian Basketball division B under the name of Bc Mures II. Young and promising players like Biro Ferenc, Bogdan Cormos, Soos Tibor, Daniel Patru, Bogdan Puscas and "veteran" Ioan Muresan along with other local talents will play at this team. The goal of this new team is to prepare the Romanian players for the high level of the Romanian Division A basketball. Due to money shortage three of these players were called up to the First team squad (Cormos, Biro and Patru), all of them former components of the latter. As a result, the division B team folded. The team finished the regular season on a disappointing 10th place. In the first round of the play-out they easily dispatched Rapid, a team formed exclusively by Romanian players, in two games.

References
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