Baciu ready for challenge of pro basketball

by TigerNet Staff - Fri Jul 27 10:38:01 GMT-04:00 2012

Few players in recent history have evoked more fond memories to Clemson fans than Catalin “Bobo” Baciu. The progress that Baciu made was evident after every off-season, and he always seemed to bring passion and energy to the floor.

Now Baciu will hope to take those same attributes to his new Romanian pro team - Cluj Mobitelco BT.

Baciu spoke with TigerNet recently, and he talked about the transition to his new life as a professional basketball player in Romania.

“The team I play for were champions two years ago,” he said. “It's a pretty competitive league as some of the teams bring players from different countries.. I can't really tell you much about the competition or atmosphere there because I've been gone for the past six years. From what I've seen, basketball is starting to be a very popular sport here and I've already had a lot of fans congratulate me on my decision.”

Baciu said he will continue to work on improving his basketball skills as well as the physical part of the game.

“I will constantly try to improve my toughness because I struggled with that early on in my college career,” he said. “As for right now, I am trying to get used to a different style of game.”

Baciu was very complimentary of the current coaching staff and his former teammates at Clemson.

“I think Coach [Brad] Brownell is doing a great job with Clemson basketball and I think I can say for all of us that we have grown as men since he's been the coach,” he said. “The whole coaching staff made sure that they were not just coaches - they were friends, mentors and that we grew on and off the court. Obviously, I miss the whole staff and all my teammates. We had a good chemistry together. Obviously I lived four years with Bryan [Narcisse], it would be only normal to miss him the most. And by far my best memories are the ones I've had are with him. We would have some sort of adventure every day, on or off the court. Some of my best memories are with my close friends, checking off things off the Clemson bucket list.”

There were also good memories at Clemson with the fans and students.

“My favorite memories... I think I have a couple,” he said. “Senior year when all the seniors were on court ...it was a great feeling between us. We could feel how we were connected. Another one is the Maryland game where all the front row painted "WE LOVE BOBO" on their backs. I will never forget that. Painting PINK for four years in a row was one of the most awesome things because Central Spirit gave me the chance to be part of the student body and be on the other end instead of just playing.”

Lastly, Baciu wanted Clemson fans to know how much he appreciated their support.

“I would like to thank all the fans for supporting me when I was at Clemson and for supporting me now even though I left,” he said. “ I will come visit though. Clemson has some of the best fans. Some of them actually sent me messages on Facebook, twitter and e-mailed me to ask me how I am doing, to congratulate me on my new team, and just to keep up with how I'm doing. We have the best fans at Clemson. It will always be a place that I will call home, and I will always call myself a Tiger with pride. Go Tigers!”