Wake Forest Athletics
Catching Up With Former Demon Deacon Alex Tchangoue
5/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
May 19, 2010
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Former Wake Forest standout Alex Tchangoue recently completed her first professional season with the Italian League's G.M.A. Pozzuoli in Naples, Italy. She stopped by to chat with WakeForestSports.com about the season and life overseas.
Tchangoue only joined G.M.A. Pozzuoli after the first of the year and played in her first game on Feb. 21, 2010. She scored three points and grabbed five rebounds in her debut. Her best performance came a month later when she scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a three-point loss to Familia Schio, the top team in the league. For the year, Tchangoue averaged 4.6 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per contest.
Prior to starting her professional career, the native of Orleans, France, had a stellar career in the Black & Gold. She played in a school-record 118 games and finished as the No. 2 rebounder in school-history with 759 career rebounds. She is also 10th in school-history with 1,212 career points and her 244 career steals are second-most all-time.
Tchangoue was also a standout in the classroom, earning Academic All-ACC honors each of her last two seasons as well as honorable mention All-ACC honors as a senior.
Below is a Q and A she had with WakeForestSports.com.
What was the process like getting signed with G.M.A. Pozzuoli?
After my college basketball season was over, a couple of agents contacted me saying they wanted to represent me. Then it was a matter of picking who I wanted to work with and then from there, she found teams that were interested in me and started looking at contracts. So at this point last year (graduation), I didn't know where exactly I was going to be playing. I knew I would be playing somewhere but I didn't know where. So I worked out here in the states over the summer because there aren't any tryouts or anything over there in Europe. Your agent finds you a team, you sign a contract and then you go. That's it.
How long does the season run in Europe?
The season starts in September and runs through April or May depending on how your team does in the playoffs.
That's a long season. How many games did you play each month?
We played only one game a week. Since we were just in the Italian League, we only played one game a week. If your team qualifies for the Euro Cup, you end up playing more like three games a week. But we weren't in that league this year.
How do you get in the Euro Cup?
You have to win your league. We are in the premier league in Italy so whoever wins our league gets to play in the Euro Cup and whoever finishes last in our league gets bumped down to a lower league.
What were your off days like?
Usually the games were on Sundays. So we had Mondays off and then we would practice the rest of the week. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday we would practice twice a day from 9-11 in the morning and 7-9:30 at night. We would only have one practice a day on Thursday and Saturday. We would also do a little bit of lifting and conditioning in between as well.
Is that tough only playing once a week?
Yes. You feel like your practicing for ever before you get to play.
How did the style of play in Europe differ from here in the ACC?
It depends what country your playing in. Italy is one of the better leagues in Europe. I got to play against very good players so it was awesome. The style of play was different but you kind of adjust to who you have on your team. Your teammates shape the style of ball that you play. Overall, coming from the ACC, we just ran. It was a high speed game. Over there, I felt like it was much slower actually. It was good for me because I like to run so I would always run the fast break. It was a good in a sense but it was a slower pace than the ACC.
Was it tough adjusting to the professional game?
It was a little bit of an adjustment but it wasn't too difficult. The ACC is a really good league and it prepared me well. I was in the starting lineup over there with two or three other Americans. So yes, we were in Italy but having four American-based players in the lineup at the same time, we can kind of shape the game how we want it. In that way, it was a little Americanized so it wasn't too tough to adjust.
Were you close with your teammates?
Yes, we were all close but it was an interesting year, let's just say that.
How so?
We had a lot of drama for some reason but I guess each team has its own problems.
Did you live with your teammates or where you on your own?
I had my own apartment but two of my neighbors were my teammates and they were both Americans. That made it a lot of fun because I felt like I was still here in the states. Marcedes Walker, who played for the University of Pittsburgh and the WNBA was one of them and Tamecka Dixon was the other. She is a women's basketball legend. She was in the first WNBA draft back in 1997. Tamecka is 35 and little bit older than us but she was a lot of fun.
What were you able to learn from her?
Everything. As far as basketball, she has great knowledge and experience. But even in life, we were able to ask her about anything. Taxes or any little random question we had, we were able to ask her and she had an answer for us because she's been in the business for awhile now. It was awesome to be around her. She is a great person.
What was your favorite moment off the court?
The funniest moment that I had, was after the season was over. We had a big dinner with the whole organize to celebrate the end of the season and afterwards, we all went out to the clubs together. It was the funniest night ever. It was the first time we all went out to the same place and we didn't have to worry about practice the next day. We could all let loose and it was a lot of fun.
What was the best on-court moment?
I remember one day when we were conditioning and we were sick of it. We didn't want to do conditioning at all. They had us doing up-and-backs and defensive slides - the whole works. So Tamecka and I started joking around saying "We're going to be the best track team in the world!" We then took off our basketball shorts so that we had just our spandex shorts on like track athletes. We pretended like we were running relays like track stars and everyone started laughing. It was a so funny.
What's next for you?
I am still going to be playing. My team is interested in having me back but I don't know whether I'm going to be there or not. I'm kind of hoping to go back because it was a fun year but at the same time, some other teams are still finishing their seasons. So I'll just wait and see what else is out there before I make my decision.
What is the ultimate goal for your career?
I would love to play on every continent. That will be fun. I would also like to win a title somewhere in some league. I won a couple of national titles in France before I came to college but I'm hoping that I can win one in my professional career.
Is the WNBA a goal?
Obviously. That season runs during the summer so a lot of players do both, playing in Europe during the winter and in the states during the summer. I didn't get the opportunity this year but maybe next year. We'll see.
Tchangoue is planning to blog about her experiences this upcoming season so be sure to check back to WakeForestSports.com for updates.
