"To open this blog about the Euroleague regular season, maybe I should recount where I am coming from in this competition, and even before that. I had quite a bittersweet introduction to the Euroleague last year after Roma signed me for the Top 16. I stepped off a plane in Rome on a Monday morning and we left for Moscow on Tuesday to play CSKA. That was my first Euroleague game, on the road against the team that was champions, runner-up and was going to be champion again. I play 35 minutes that game - we had Alan Ray injured and another guy hurt - and we almost beat them. I played pretty well, too, but I missed the opportunity to win it. I was shooting two free throws with a few seconds left. The first one I made put us up by two points. But I missed the second, someone slapped the rebound out deep and next thing I knew, Trajan Langdon was making a open three-pointer to win the game. So, like I said, bittersweet. I was glad I had the opportunity to play against the top team in Europe, played them two pretty good games, in fact, but we lost both. It just left me wanting to taste more wins in the Euroleague this year!

"Now, I'm back in Rome, in part because I really like the coach here, Jasmin Repesa. He reminds me a lot of my college coach, Fran Dunphy, in terms of what they teach. I think he's a little crazier, maybe, but I really got comfortable with him as my coach last year. As a player, I like being on...