I apologize for letting the updates for Chou slip the past month. In the past month Chou has played in 8 games, 3 in a tournament in Mesa, Arizona, and the past 5 against conference opponents. The conference season is going to be the most important time to evaluate Chou's growth and abilities as a player this season as he will be facing consistently tough opponents each night. As I have said before, the Scenic West Athletic Conference is one of the premier conferences in the NJCAA. As of last week SLCC and both Idaho schools were ranked in the national Top 25 poll.

Chou had his best statistical output against the weakest opponent Colorado Northwest CC. He scored 13 points and grabbed 3 boards in 32 minutes on the floor. But I was more impressed with his game against Snow College. He ended up only taking one shot in the 25 minutes he played, but he grabbed 4 rebounds, handed out 3 assists, and came up with a steal. He played solid defense the whole night, and showed the ability to help his team while facilitating his teammates offense. Not to throw out stereotypes out any group, but the ability to make other players better is pretty rare among Taiwanese basketball players. Taiwanese players like to shoot and score, and in the SBL at times it feels like no other stat matters. Chou is showing some real growth as an all-around ball player.

Here is an EXTREMELY short clip I was able to grab

The past three games have proved to be a real turning point in Chou's young career. As I have discussed in previous points, Chou has been playing as a member of the second team. The games against the two highly ranked Idaho squads proved to be Chou's chance to prove that he deserves more minutes and a more prominent role on the team.

Against Southern Idaho he played five minutes in the first half hitting two of the three shots he took and collected two assists. Surprisingly Coach Parrish pulled him out of the game and sat him until the 15:00 mark of the 2nd half. He did not sit again for the rest of the game, playing until the final buzzer. His end stat line was a solid:8 pts (4/5 fg), 2 reb, 2 asst, 1 blk, and 1 stl. Two plays that stick out in my mind from the game are his gorgeous driving pull-up jumper at the 13:00 mark, and the nice drive and dish with 3:00 left that was taken away after a bogus charging call. What he showed in this game is he is a great third perimeter player. He fits well into the team concept and is effective with or without the ball in his hands.

The Northern Idaho game, while statistically not as impressive (2 pts, 3 rebs) solidified his role as the third wing on the team. He does a nice job of keeping the ball moving and providing opportunities for his teammates. Playing against these two teams is the reason why SLCC was such a great choice for Chou. In each game he was playing against three or four players who will play on D1 rosters in the future. Significant minutes against good competition makes this the perfect scenario for him.

Yesterday's game against Salish Kootenai marked his first start of the season, and his collegiate career. While the competition was not as high as the past few games, he responded well with a solid all-around game. 6 pts, 6 rebs, 4 stl, 2 asst, and 1 blk in 25 minutes. Hopefully Chou keeps getting these kind of minutes when the season restarts in two weeks in Mesa, Arizona.

Salt Lake Community College was busy last week playing 3 games in 4 days. It was a successful stretch for the team as they were unbeaten and sit at 10-1 for the season. Besides the first game at Western Wyoming, Chou continued his steady play from earlier in the season.

Western Wyoming proved to be just as tough of an opponent on their home floor as they were when they visited Salt Lake a month ago. Chou only played 11 minutes in the game, missing all three shots he took. Most of these minutes came in the first half (I know because I watched the 2nd half and did not see him at all) confirming that he is definitely not in the 1st team lineup at this time.

He had more minutes, 15 and 19 respectively, in the two easier games played at the Electrical Dynamics Classic held at Central Wyoming College. Shawn continued to showcase his ability to put the ball in the basket averaging 6.5 points in the two games. He continues to play within the structure of the offense, and does not force bad shots. As long as he continues to find ways to contribute more than just points, Chou should continue to get more minutes as the season progresses.

Perhaps the most impressive part of his season so far are the cities he has played in. Ephraim, Utah, Rock Springs, and Riverton, Wyoming must make Taiwan feel like a distant memory!

Watching Taiwanese basketball on the television, while fun, rarely causes me to think about NCAA basketball in the States. Honestly, the level of play is not that good. And that is why Chou stuck out so much. At 6’3” and around 200 lbs he has legitimate shooting guard size for international play as well as college ball in the States.Watch this video to see what I am talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7EPrKf1sXE. Chou also more than held his own during various international high school camps.

I was excited when I saw that Chou signed to play with Salt Lake Community College for two reasons. First, SLCC plays in one of the best conferences in the NJCAA so we will be able to see him play against legitimate ball players. Second, SLCC is great about streaming video and radio feeds of their games online, so even in Taiwan we will be able to follow his games!

Chou has started off the year well. He is playing 15 minutes a game and averaging 6.75 points per contest. The SLCC coach is obviously focusing on spreading out the minutes early in the season as ten players are averaging more than 10 minutes per game. A couple things have really impressed me about his play so far. First, he is extremely patient on offense, only taking the shots that come to him in the offensive system. You can see this by the fact he is shooting 55% from the field. Second, I love how he is taking the ball hard to the rack. I worried about whether or not he would be able to compete athletically, and on offense the answer has been a resounding “YES!” It is nice to see him not relying exclusively on the three-pointer like many of his compatriots. As the season goes on it will be interesting to see if he is able to fill up the other areas of the stats sheet a little more.   

His next game is on Wednesday, December 2nd here in Taiwan. The game time is still ‘TBA.’ Since it is an away game I am not sure if the game will be televised, but it is worth checking out in the morning just in case. http://www.slccbruins.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball Click on details for the stream link.