Spencer Dunkley

Spencer Earl Dunkley ( born September 5, 1969 in Wolverhampton, England ) is a British former professional basketball player. Dunkley studied in the United States, but then returned as a professional back to Europe, where he played among others in Israel, France and Italy. With the Israeli series champion Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1994, he won the Israeli league and cup double. A game time played Dunkley also in Switzerland, where he in 2000/ 01 took the Snakes from Lugano in European club competition ULEB Euro League. Finally played Dunkley at the Tower of London in the 2003/04 season as the only club station in his native country. After his playing career Dunkley worked as a coach of a "high school" team in New Castle County, Delaware, where he himself had made in Newark graduated from high school.

Career

After leaving school at the Newark High School in Delaware Dunkley went to study at the University of Delaware, where he played from 1989 for the high school team Fightin 'Blue Hens, which was then the North Atlantic Conference (NAC ) of the NCAA belonged. With this team Dunkley won the championship in 1992 and 1993 of this Conference, and thus the initial qualification in the history of high school team for the national NCAA final, where they each retired in the first round. Dunkley is out as the best rebounder in the history of the Fightin 'Blue Hens with 916 rebounds captured in the statistical yearbooks. In the " Entry Draft " of the doped at the highest professional league NBA Dunkley was selected at 51st position of the Indiana Pacers, but did not receive him in the fall of 1993 under contract for an NBA season.

After the end of his college career Dunkley played prior to 1993 in the " summer league " United States Basketball League ( USBL ), but could also get in this way is not lucrative contract in NBA. Therefore, he went to Europe (in the sense of the members nations of the continental federation FIBA Europe) and he joined the 1993/94 season of the dominant Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv, who had, however, the national championship is not won in the preseason for the first time since 1970 and in the national award titles were left empty-handed. Therefore, the team had in 1993/94 also compete in the third European club competition Korać Cup, where you take only one defeat to the quarter-finals and convincingly moved into the round of the last eight teams. Here they lost both games against Panionios Athens. In the national title award could correct the shame of the preseason and achieve the double of league and cup win. For the following season Dunkley joined the Russian Super League for the vice- champion Awtodor from Saratov. However Dunkley missed with this team one of the top places in the championship. He then played one season in Ghent, Belgium, before 1996 he again took a run at an NBA career in the " minor league " Continental Basketball Association ( CBA). In May 1996, he also played for the England national team of his native country at the qualifying tournament on home soil for the European Basketball Championship in 1997, the one and scored on the second place.

Dunkleys audition in the CBA submitted at least one contract with a prestigious European club when he played early in the season 1996/97 the French CSP Limoges including in the highest European club competition FIBA Europe League. However, the club released him soon after start of the season from his contract and Dunkley moved within the LNB Pro A year Up to Basket Comte Doubs from Besançon. However, this could again at the end of the season to qualify for the play-offs to the French championship. Before the actual final tournament of the European Championship 1997, the English national team had to compete with the more established European nations even in a so-called semi-final round. Here England won only one out of ten and thus missed the part in the final tournament, where Dunkley took part in only five of ten games and no longer played in the sequence for the national team. In the 1997/98 season, it was enough for Besançon BCD with a positive record this season in eighth place to first participate in the play-offs at the French Championships, in which one however in the first round was eliminated against the main round First and French giants ASVEL.

Shortly after the start of the season 1998/99 season left Dunkley Besançon BCD and signed in November 1998 a contract with the Italian second division Felice Scan Done from Avellino in Serie A2. However, the team ended at the end of the season only the twelfth and third bottom of the table and was able to avoid relegation only because of the better direct comparison. For the subsequent season Dunkley still got initially a contract with Spanish side CB Forum from Valladolid in the Liga ACB, but after an injury in November 1999, he left the club already again. After the injury Dunkley signed until the following season back a contract. The sporty and economical leading European clubs made ​​their own along with their associations League for the season 2000/ 01 of FIBA Europe continental federation and founded the ULEB Euro League their own Europa League. At that Europe League and the Swiss champion Snakes was invited from Lugano, who took Dunkley for the new highest European club competition under contract. In the ULEB Euro League 2000 /01 the Swiss get three home wins in ten qualifying matches, but this was not enough to qualify for the play-off second round. Dunkley left the club after the preliminary rounds off before these defended his national championship title, and returned to Avellino back that had now risen to the Lega Basket Serie A and just barely on their return to the top flight in ninth place at the end of the season the missed entry into the Championship play-offs.

In November 2001, Dunkley then got a new contract from Avellino süditalienischem league rivals from Viola Reggio Calabria, for which it filed on the 16th and fourth last place in the table at the end of the regular season to avoid relegation. After the season Dunkley played three games for the club from Aveiro in Portugal in the "Post Season". For the 2002/ 03 season Dunkley got out another contract in the Israeli Ligat ha Al, where he had begun his career Europe. With Maccabi Haifa BC from but he finished after ten wins this season, only the second to last place in the table. At the conclusion of his playing career played Dunkley then again in his native England and reached the Towers of London in the British Basketball League for third place in the regular season. In the play-off semi-final then it was eliminated by the runner-up and eventual winners Sheffield Sharks, against which it was eliminated already in the semifinals of the cup competition BBL Cup. After the end of his playing career Dunkley returned to Delaware, where he had spent his school and university, and was here, among others, between 2009 and 2012 trainer of a basketball team at the Appoquinimink High School.