{"id":12626,"date":"2014-09-09T20:46:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T20:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/great-dane-grad-to-play-pro-in-united-kingdom-3\/"},"modified":"2014-09-09T20:46:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T20:46:15","slug":"great-dane-grad-to-play-pro-in-united-kingdom-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/great-dane-grad-to-play-pro-in-united-kingdom-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Dane grad to play pro in United Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Aaron Cheris<\/p>\n

The University at Albany\u2019s Division I leader in career blocks will be taking his talents overseas next season.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo from UAlbany Athletics. John Puk will begin his first professional season in the United Kingdom in September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After the UAlbany men\u2019s basketball fell to the University of Florida Gators in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament in March, it was the end of the road for five graduating seniors.<\/p>\n

John Puk, one of those seniors, has signed a professional one year contract with the Durham Wildcats of the British Basketball League (BBL) for next season.<\/p>\n

Over his four years as a Great Dane, Puk scored 552 points, added 506 rebounds, and amassed 112 blocks on defense in 132 career games. During his senior year, Puk started all 34 games at center for coach Will Brown and was named to the America East All-Defensive Team.<\/p>\n

While Puk says he is ready for the transition, there will be a few difficulties when moving to a foreign country. \u201cTheir accents are a little difficult to understand,\u201d Puk said of his English coaches and teammates. \u201cI could get used to that, but I\u2019m going to have to be listening real carefully,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m ready for this next chapter and it should be good to meet a whole new group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puk said he has never been to England nor met anybody related to his now current team. \u201cI just have to go with the flow,\u201d he said. While in Durham, Puk will be getting his Masters Degree in business along with his playing career. \u201cEssentially I\u2019m just being paid with a scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n

While at UAlbany, Puk has been no stranger to big games. Over the past two seasons, Puk has played against some of the nation\u2019s best. In 2013, Puk went one on one against current Brooklyn Net Mason Plumlee and the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

This past season, he helped the Great Danes get their first ever NCAA Tournament win in a play-in game over Mount St. Mary\u2019s. In his final game in purple and gold, he scored 10 points against the top seeded Gators. \u201cPlaying against those guys shows you a whole new level of basketball that\u2019s out there,\u201d he said over the phone. \u201cIt was a good experience, and I\u2019m looking forward to competing at the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Puk is looking forward to the next chapter in his life, the Wildcats can\u2019t wait for their new addition to take the floor. In a press release, Wildcats head coach Lee Davie said, \u201cI\u2019m delighted John has agreed to join us in Durham, he has just completed a very impressive college career and I\u2019m confident he will make a big impact on the BBL. Standing at 6\u201910, John\u2019s defensive abilities will be a great addition to our team and his 500+ points in a tough NCAA Division I conference indicates he will be contributing heavily at both ends of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his first pro game just weeks away, Puk is anxious to get the season underway. \u201cI don\u2019t know what to expect, but I\u2019m shooting for a starting position,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going in with high expectations and high goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puk and the Wildcats begin their season in late September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\nThe Albany Student Press<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aaron Cheris The University at Albany\u2019s Division I leader in career blocks will be taking his talents overseas next season. Photo from UAlbany Athletics. John Puk will begin his first professional season in the United Kingdom in September. After the UAlbany men\u2019s basketball fell to the University of Florida Gators in the second round […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[983],"tags":[3071,3897,1353,3889,2138,2529],"class_list":["post-12626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-albany-student-press","tag-dane","tag-grad","tag-great","tag-kingdom","tag-play","tag-united"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techiteens.com\/review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}