Andrew Betts

Andrew Richard Betts ( born May 11, 1977 in Ashby -de- la- Zouch, Leicestershire North West ) is a British professional basketball player. After studying in the United States Betts played in the three major European leagues in Italy, Greece and Spain. At the end of his career he played in the 2010/11 season in Ukraine before he then returned again in the Spanish ACB League. Betts won with its clubs, the national championships of Spain, Greece and the Ukraine as well as the FIBA EuroCup DKV Joventut de Badalona 2006; with the British National Team, he participated in the European Championship finals in 2009.

Career

17 years old, joined Betts 1994 to study in the United States. From United Kingdom to arise that has little tradition in the sport of basketball, got the body because of its immense size for this sport predestined bed initially only an offer to study at a university that had only a high school team in the NCAA Division II. At the Long Iceland University in location Brookville, he played for the Pioneers and remained there for three years, and then change for a final year of his collegiate career on the West Coast to the 49ers of the California State University, Long Beach in the Big West Conference Division I. In 1998, he was then selected Draft from professional club Charlotte Hornets from the most highly endowed U.S. professional league NBA in the NBA, but did not receive him in the episode under contract.

After the end of the study Betts 1998 returned to Europe and played for the Italian Cup winners and runners- Fortitude from Bologna in Serie A. After the first place in the main round Fortitude difference, however, in the season 1998/99 as in the Italian Cup competition already in the semi-final Play -offs from the Italian championship. Even in the highest European club competition FIBA Euro League, reached the semi-finals and was eliminated there just against local rivals Bologna Children at the Final Four tournament at the Olympic Hall in Munich. Youth players Betts moved to little use of time in the top European team to league rivals and regional rivals from Reggio Emilia, where he play got more and was able to increase its yield point at about ten points on average. However, the former play-off participants from the Emilia -Romagna had a sporty disappointing season and increased after only seven wins in 30 games as Table from the highest Italian league again. For the Championship play-offs bed then moved to Spain, where he won the Spanish league title with Real Madrid.

For the next three years from 2000 Betts played for Athlitiki Enosi Konstantinoupoleos from Athens in the Greek A1 Ethniki. In the 2000 /01 season with the club, he defended the Cup title and reached into the newly created ULEB Euro League semi-final, where they eliminated against the Basque club TAU Ceramica. In 2002 they won after 32 years the first time for a AEK Greek Cup and reached so in the " phalanx " of local rivals Panathinaikos Athens a, which otherwise could achieve all championship 1998-2011. Betts scored in the Greek championship nearly a double-double average of 10.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. In the ULEB Euro League 2001 /02, which had become the FIBA Euro League or Suproleague replaced as the most prestigious club competition, we however had in the round of 16 of the best teams in the " Athenian group " with Panathinaikos and Olympiakos Piraeus and KK Union Olimpija Ljubljana Panathinaikos precedence let, who also won the title at the end. In the following season they lost the final series of the Greek championship against Panathinaikos, which thus bringing back the title. After a disastrous ULEB Euro League 2002/ 03 with only one win in 14 matches of the preliminary round bed left at the end of the season the club.

For the season 2003/ 04 Betts signed a contract with TAU Ceramica Vitoria -Gasteiz. With this team he won the 2004 Spanish Cup competition " Copa del Rey ". After the first place in the regular season of the ACB league you dropped out in the play-off semi-final of the championship series. In the following season they finished again first place in the final table and pulled up this time in the final series for the championship one in which his former club Real Madrid is just going down in five games. Also in the ULEB Euro League 2004 /05 they reached the Final Four tournament at the Olympic Hall Moscow the finals after he was beaten in the semifinals host PBK CSKA Moscow. In the final, however, one had to defer to the defending champion Maccabi Tel Aviv. Betts play went the Basque club back more and more and he changed for the 2005/ 06 Premier League rivals DKV Joventut to Catalan from Badalona. In the Spanish championship is eliminated in the semifinals to eventual champion Unicaja Málaga, during the Final Four tournament was reached in the FIBA EuroCup, where you can re- mastered from bed view in the semifinals the host. After defeating BK Kiev is also clearly won the final against the Russian club Khimki BK. In the following season Joventut again reached the semifinal series of the Spanish Championship, which went narrowly lost against Real Madrid. For another season in the ACB league Betts joined Cajasol from Seville, with whom, however, he missed the play-offs for the championship in the 2007/ 08 season.

The increasingly suffering from injury problems Betts sat out the start of the 2008/09 season and signed only in January 2009, a new contract with Aris Thessaloniki from. On his return to the Greek League with the club he reached the semifinal series that was lost against defending champion Panathinaikos. For a further Athenian club GS Marousi you also lost the series for the third place, the participation in the qualification of the ULEB Euro League 2009/10 authorized for the winner. After the bed had its debut in 1996 for the English national team, he reactivated his international career for the British national team, which was re-formed after the award of the 2012 Olympic Games to London in 2006. With this team the first time you could qualify for a European Championship finals in 2009, but where was eliminated in the group stage of the first round after three straight defeats against the later semi-finalists Slovenia, Spain and Serbia in the first group stage. His club Aris Salonika was finally allotted as a starting place in the Euro League qualifiers, where you again drew the short straw in return game just against national rivals Marousi. In Eurocup 2009/10 ULEB then they took second place in the group stage of the best 16 teams behind the German representatives Alba Berlin, who was in the Euro League qualifiers also failed against GS Marousi. This one met in the quarterfinals to the eventual champions carrier Power Electronics Valencia from Spain, who later Alba Berlin defeated in the final and won the title.

In the season 2010/11 Betts signed a contract with BK Budiwelnik from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, which discharge their home games at the Sports Palace Kiev, where DKV Joventut 2006 bed with his only international club titles won. Budiwelnik won with bed after 14 - year break again a Ukrainian National Championship. In Eurocup 2010/11 would retire from Betts ' view again in the quarterfinals against a Spanish team, this time against his former club Cajasol Seville. In the season 2011/12 bed then returned to Spain and played for Lagun Aro GBC back in the Basque Country, this time in San Sebastián. The Basketball Association of the province of Gipuzkoa reached after the fifth place in the regular season for the first time the play-offs at the Spanish Championship, where one was eliminated as in the cup competition in the quarterfinals. After Betts already decided to withdraw from the British National Team in early 2011, he missed not only to participate in the European Championship finals in 2011, but also the first participation of a British team for the 1948 Olympic Games at the basketball competition at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.