What do you do against a guy who was an all-conference player in college at Fayetteville State University?  What do you do against a guy who dropped close to 200 three pointers in his three years there and averaged over 16 points per game?

What do you do against a guy who is so good that he had a tryout with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs prior to last season?

What do you do against a guy who gets paid to play? A guy who will leave the States and head back to Brazil on July 5^th to prepare for the upcoming season with professional team Sorocaba.

When you play against a professional hoopster like Andy Gebru, you say a prayer, tighten up the Jordans and give it everything you have!

How I Got The Game vs. Andy Gebru

I met Andy just days after my match-up with Garfield Blair.  I was shooting around in the gym alone and a young woman who works at the rec center and knows what I’m looking to accomplish, came in and told me about this guy who makes “everything” that he shoots.  I was a little skeptical as to her assessment until she said there are videos of him playing online, and that she thinks he plays overseas.  Interest peaked, I told her I’d love to meet him and she introduced us.

I told Andy what I was doing here at mevsMJ.com, from my goal to play Michael Jordan, to the training, to who I’ve played and that’s all it took for him to agree to be part of my journey and play me 1-on-1!

We didn’t play right away because it was his offseason and honestly I wanted to do everything I could to get better and have the best showing possible.

So over the last couple of months I’ve been at the courts quite a bit and my game has been improving.  At different times throughout my training, Andy was actually kind enough to show me quite a few “tricks of the trade” that make a huge difference in the game.

Lots of shooting, conditioning and just a deeper level of understanding for the game of hoops has parlayed into me doing extremely well in 1-on-1 match-ups with regular people like myself.

With Andy preparing to leave in just a couple of weeks, the time to play was this past Sunday!

Me vs. Gebru was upon me!

My Strategy vs. Gebru

In my couple of match-ups with high-level talent like Robert Brown and Garfield Blair, I’ve been overwhelmed.  The gap between top tier talent/pro level talent and myself and the people I play against aka “regular people” is wider and deeper than you can ever fully understand until you’re matched up against them.

Recently, I think some of my friends have gotten a better idea as to the different levels of players, and my current ability, as I blistered one of my buddies 15-0, 15-1 in a 1-on-1 match-up and left another friend sending me a text the next day saying, “After playing you it puts into perspective how good he (Garfield) is!” after going in his eyes “15-20 from the three point line” in some two on two.

Despite where my game is, and I feel it’s vastly improved from just a month and a half ago, I knew playing Andy would be so much different.  I talked it over with my brother a couple of weeks ago and he came up with a strategy that was worth a shot.  As described in my recent post, Preparing For The Un-Expected, the goal was to grab any errant shots and sprint out to the three-point line and knock it down.

There were a lot of ifs that I wouldn’t know the answers to until the ball was checked in, but it basically would come down to me making shots (my strength), as opposed to slowing it up and trying to take a more skilled, more athletic, stronger player over and over again.

Without further ado…Me vs. Andy Gebru!

Me vs. Andy Gebru (Video):

httpvh://youtu.be/3O2k9U_pn9U

[If you are reading this via RSS/Email, click here for video.]

Game Scores

Game 1:  15-8 (Gebru)

Game 2:  15-10 (Gebru)

Overall Impressions

I guess it goes with out saying when someone gets paid to play basketball, but I’ll say it anyway, Andy Gebru can play ball!  He is amazingly skilled and crafty, using his hands and body better than anyone I’ve ever played against.  He’s also extremely patient with the ball, which has been a common trait amongst the top tier players.  He got the shots he wanted, not the shots I wanted him to take.

Being able to shoot the ball like he can, and handle, and be in total control is a lethal combination, one that proved to be too much for me.

Still, I was excited by my performance!  I shot the ball well and even though I lost, I had a respectable showing against a professional basketball player!

Life is amazing, if you allow it to be! (my 2011 slogan!)

Thank You Andy!

I can’t thank Andy Gebru enough for agreeing to play me.  To be able to work hard on your game and then match-up with a guy like Andy, well, it just doesn’t get better than that!  I am beyond thankful!

On top of the games of 1-on-1, all of the lessons and tips he has given me over the past month and a half are priceless!  He is a true class act! I can’t wait to continue to work on implementing them into my game and seeing it all make a difference!

Thank you Andy!  Best of luck this upcoming season!

My Next Opponent??

I’m working on a few possible match-ups, but nothing yet confirmed.  If you’d like to play me or know someone that would be perfect for helping me continue to prepare for Michael Jordan, please email me or sign up here!

me vs. MJ…the fabulous journey continues!!!!

(Note:  If you’d like to see whom else I’ve played, click here.)