Former B-ball standout shines in Europe
Jesse Sanders earns starting point guard spot on Aurora Basket Jesi in Italy’s Lega Due
Jesse Sanders’ 2012 was quite a whirlwind. From his award-winning senior campaign as starting point guard for the Liberty Flames in the spring, to his new role as starting point guard for the professional-level Aurora Basket Jesi, Sanders has been on the move.
Temple of Apollo — Jesse Sanders poses amidst the ruins of Pompei. Photo provided
After finishing a successful career at Liberty, Sanders graduated, got married and moved to Europe.
“My agent, Sam Porter, is very well connected throughout Europe, and over the summer, he was working hard at finding a good place for me to get started as a professional player,” Sanders said. “After looking at a few different offers, we both felt like the situation here in Jesi, Italy was ideal.”
And so, a few months removed from walking the hallways of DeMoss, Sanders took off for Italy to fulfill his lifelong dream.
“I believe I’ve always had a dream of playing professionally,” Sanders said. “It is awesome to look back over the past few years and see how God has blessed me and the efforts that I have put into my game. I couldn’t be more thankful for my time at Liberty. I was challenged not only in my basketball and personal development, but more importantly, in my walk with the Lord.”
Liberty’s preparation may have been good, but Italian basketball has required a little getting used to.
“(It) is very different from the States,” Sanders said. “There is big difference in the style of play. In the States, there is more of an emphasis on open court play, athleticism, pressure defense and dribble-drive created offense, etc. Over here, they would rather play a much more controlled game. One team runs set plays against the other team’s set defense.”
Sanders’ team plays in the Lega Due, which is translated as League Two. There are four different professional leagues in Italy, and Lega Due is the second highest level of competition.
According to Sanders, despite soccer being Italy’s favorite game, public interest and support for basketball is high.
“The Italians are very emotional and passionate fans,” he said.
The Aurora Basket Jesi — frequently dubbed “Fileni BPA Jesi” after their corporate sponsors — played their first game Oct. 7, defeating Brescia, 73-58. Sanders started, and played 34 minutes, recording 14 points, two assists and four rebounds in his European debut.
Through 15 games, Sanders has averaged 31 minutes of play, 10.6 points, 1.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. He still sports his familiar jersey, No. 25.
As for living in Italy, Sanders said that there is a lot to love. Living in such close proximity to several ancient cities, the history and the travel opportunities have made for a very enjoyable time for both Sanders and his wife, Courtney (Dickinson) Sanders.
“It is still crazy to us that we can just hop in the car and drive to places like Rome and Florence,” Sanders said. “Overall, we have really enjoyed our time here and have seen it as sort of an extended honeymoon.”
“Our little town is so nice,” he said. “It feels like we stepped into a movie scene when you walk into the city square and see all of the vendors selling various baked goods and homemade scarfs.”
But what do they miss the most?
“Sometimes, we feel that we would pay just about anything to have a Chick-fil-A sandwich or some good Texas-style barbeque,” Sanders said. “The Italian food here is obviously great, but they will literally eat pasta twice a day, seven days a week.”