Ed Odeven covers primarily basketball for The Japan Times. He reported on a wide range of sports from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Summer Games for this newspaper. A native of the Bronx, N.Y., Odeven is a graduate of Arizona State University. He previously worked for the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff, Ariz., reporting on high school, collegiate, professional and Olympic sports (Flagstaff is a major international Olympic training site due to its high elevation) and writing a weekly column. His articles have appeared in Venezuela Online News, The Gleaner (Jamaica), the Monitor (Uganda), The Moscow Times, Swimming World Magazine and numerous other publications.
For Ed Odeven's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Coaching changes are quickly shaking up the leadership foundation of the B. League. A new wave of hires adds intrigue and uncertainty to the summer break. The Alvark Tokyo this week formally announced that Takuma Ito would not continue as head coach for the 2017-18 season. ...
Injuries took their toll on Nishinomiya Storks co-captain Akitomo Takeno over the past several years. The veteran guard, one of the most electrifying Japanese players during the bj-league's 11 seasons, officially announced his retirement this week. The 31-year-old Takeno will remain with the Nishinomiya Storks ...
Brook Lopez dunks and rebounds basketballs for a living, and — ouch! — collides with fellow 2-meter behemoths in the lane. So when the grind of the 82-game season comes to a halt, the Brooklyn Nets center is eager to take it easy. Traveling provides ...
Rising attendance figures across the nation and increased media attention were two byproducts of the merger that created the B. League, when the disbanded NBL, NBDL and bj-league joined forces to make this a possibility. And it was necessary to move the sports in the ...
Tochigi Brex forward Jeff Gibbs' terrific fourth-quarter performance in the B. League Championship final on Saturday instantly entered this nation's hoop annals as a special feat. Gibbs' 16-point outburst, a clinic in low-post mobility and power moves, over the final 10 minutes helped inspire and ...
An exciting new era for pro basketball in Japan produced an appropriate final chapter to close out its inaugural season on Saturday afternoon. The first B. League Championship final delivered a tight duel between the Kawasaki Brave Thunders, last season's NBL champion, and the Tochigi ...
The inaugural B. League championship pits two teams with established stars, deep benches, up-and-coming players, accomplished coaches and growing fan bases. What's more, Saturday afternoon's Kawasaki Brave Thunders-Tochigi Brex showdown presents a clash of styles. The top-seeded Brave Thunders were the league's top offense (84.3 points ...
The Tochigi Brex advanced to the B. League Championship final, holding off the visiting SeaHorses Mikawa in the Game 3 tiebreaker on Sunday afternoon. The Brex's 14-12 win in the 10-minute mini-game came after their 65-63 defeat before a 15-minute intermission. Third-seeded Mikawa led 57-38 after ...
For the Kawasaki Brave Thunders and Alvark Tokyo, bonus play was the high-pressure result of Saturday's thrilling B. League Championship semifinal contest at Todoroki Arena. Forty minutes, aka the regularly scheduled Game 2, was not enough time to determine which team would advance to next ...
Overcoming a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter against any foe is a big challenge. To do so in the final 10 minutes against a team that won 49 of 60 regular-season games was the even greater challenge the Alvark Tokyo faced in Game 1 ...
