Catching Up With ...
        World champion softball player Bud Turner (June 24)
        U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Ruth Perkins (July 1)
        Seattle Sounders Women soccer player Jocelyn Charette (July 8)
        Teacher (and student) in Africa Libby Magnuson (July 15)

SPU fans: Let us know of other former Falcons we should 'Catch Up With'


SEATTLE – They thought they were doing the right thing.

Stepping onto the court for the first time last fall with the FMC Capone pro team in German 2nd Regionalliga, Brandon Larrieu and Marques Echols were looking for open teammates. Passing the ball. Cutting to the basket.

In short, they were doing all the things in that initial preseason game that they had done during their successful careers with the Seattle Pacific Falcons.

What better way for the new American guys on the team to impress their German coach, right?

Nope. Not quite.

“Coach called a timeout and he was pretty upset,” Echols recalled. “He was like, 'Marcus, Brandon – what are you guys doing?' I thought we were making the right plays. But he said, 'You shoot the ball.'

"After that," Echols said, "we both averaged around 27 points a game."

Now, both former Falcons plan to head back to Europe this fall, with the intent of returning to the court for the Dusseldorf-based Capone team.

“It was a good experience,” said Larrieu, a 6-footer who averaged 15.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists as a senior to help the Falcons capture the 2010 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship. “We had a really good season. When I first got there and talked to (head coach Dirk Altenbeck), he said we were going to have a bit of a younger team.

“Like all coaches, they want to tell you that you have to work for your spots,” Larrieu added. “We were expecting to play a lot of minutes, but not start. And we both ended up starting.”

That Echols, a 2008 grad who played two seasons for the Falcons, and Larrieu, a 2010 alum, wound up as FMC Capone teammates, was due in large part to former SPU coach Jeff Hironaka.

Now an assistant on the Washington State staff of Ken Bone – who was his head coaching predecessor at Seattle Pacific – Hironaka was on a recruiting trip for the Cougars in Germany.

As Larrieu tells it, “He came across a two coaches who needed players. Coach Hiro asked around and said, 'I have a couple guys who are trying to get overseas.'”

One thing led to another, and at the start of last September, both Larrieu and Echols were on their way to Dusseldorf.

“I was open to playing anywhere I could – it didn't matter,” said Echols, who had played with teams in Anchorage and Tacoma prior to joining FMC Capone. “(In Europe), you can always move up to higher leagues, and you get to play against different players from all over the world.”

Capone finished in about the middle of its league, so did not move up for the 2011-12 season.

“We actually did better than expected. We were on the youngest team in the division,” Echols said, adding that the Dusseldorf squad had two 16-year-olds, two 18-year-olds, and a 20-year-old. (Echols is 27, Larrieu is 24.) “Everyone else was grown men that we were playing against.”

MAKING THE ADJUSTMENTS
Whether it was basketball culture or even everyday culture, Larrieu said it took some getting used to for himself and Echols.

“It was on par with the D-2 level,” Larrieu said. “I would say they're a little bit smarter as far as passing, and they can shoot really well – from the point guard to the 5 man, they can shoot. And they pass the ball extremely well, especially the big guys.

“Marcus and I were a little more athletic and a little bit quicker. But we had to go lift on our own.,” Larrieu said. “They work a lot on fundamentals – ball handling and passing and they have a Euro step that they do in lay-ups.”

With FMC Capone coach Altenbeck essentially demanding that the two SPU products launch plenty of shots, Echols, who averaged 11.4 points during his two-year Falcon career and was part of the 2007 GNAC title squad as a junior, wasn't about to question it.

Neither was Larrieu.

"At SPU, I was setting up a lot of plays. Our structure wasn't built around one guy putting up shots," Larrieu said.

Both of them wound up with multiple games of 30-plus points, and Echols went off for 37 in the season finale.

But even with the green light, Echols and Larrieu had to work for good looks at the hoop.

“It's a lot more physical style of play,” Echols said. “You can get away with a lot over there that you wouldn't be able to get away with over here. That made it a little more difficult. And we wouldn't get a lot of calls. With us being the go-to guys, the other teams knew that, so there would be double-teams that would focus on us.”

Although they were in Germany primarily to play basketball, Larrieu and Echols, both of whom were communications majors at SPU, took advantage of the relatively close proximity of other European countries and cities to see a bit of the Continent.

“We could take a train for a couple hours to France, or could drive half an hour to Amsterdam,” Larrieu said. “Everyone over there in my generation could speak English really well. Older guys didn't really speak English too well.”

Added Echols, “We would pick on a German word here and there.”

Both are eager to return and get a new season started. But for all of the differences they encountered last year – big or small, on the court or off the court – one thing in particular made the SPU alums feel as if they'd never left the Pacific Northwest.

 “It was raining the first day we got there” Larrieu said “and it was raining the last day we left.”