“It’s been a roller coaster!”

That’s the verdict on Pertemps Bullets Birmingham’s season so far, according to their star 6’4” guard, Virgel Cobbin. 

The 24-year-old American – a native of Houston, Texas – flew across the pond with Head Coach Lance Randall during the summer, fresh from St Louis University, and has found his rookie season an exciting and enjoyable experience.

“It’s been great,” he enthused. “The people are nice, which is important. We have great fans and I have excellent team-mates, making it all more comfortable for me. I have been taking it in my stride and I think I have found myself in a good situation. All that I have had to focus on has been my basketball.”

He added, “I think we have a very good team, but sometimes we come out and we don’t show it. You never know which Birmingham Bullets team is going to show up!  As of lately, we have all been on the same page and we have been playing a lot better, but earlier in the season, I think it had something to do with gelling and everybody trying to figure out their role in order to make the team better. We had a lot of adjusting to do, but now everybody knows their role and it’s better.”

Bullets’ experiences have extended since the start of the season as well. They recently took part in the preliminary stages of the NEBL-driven Challenge Cup and qualified for the next stage of the competition.

Cobbin was a valuable part of the Bullets’ European push and the trip to Norway was one he greatly enjoyed. “It was a very nice experience, especially for me, because this is my first year playing professional basketball – it has really given me a feel for what professional basketball is all about.

“The first game we played against a German Division 1 team [DJK S. Oliver Wurzburg] and they were good. We were right in there and we played well for three quarters, but playing against a good team you have to be consistent throughout the whole game in order to win it and unfortunately we didn’t do that in the fourth quarter.

“In the second game, we played an Estonian team [Hotronic Tallinn] and they play a different style of game – we wanted to run and they wanted to slow it down and use their height, which they did well, obviously, as they beat us. 

“Then, in the third game, we played against a good Norwegian team [Ulriken Eagles] and it was a big win for us – we needed to get the win to advance to the next round. Playing against a team in their home gym with their home fans is hard, so that was a big game for us. We all pulled together, because we knew we all had to depend on each other –  that’s what we did and we came out with the win.”

He added, “I think everybody on the team thought that we should have had at least one more win, but it all boiled down to us having to win that last game and we won it, so we’re through and we are happy with that.”

Bullets will play another three games next month in the next stage of the competition, when they will be juggling Challenge Cup games with their domestic schedule, in which they are in a good position to qualify for the knock stages of the BBL Championship.

“We are putting ourselves in a good position for the play-offs,” acknowledged Cobbin. “I think we have a very, very good chance of making it. Everybody on the team thinks we can do it and if we keep playing the way we are playing and working hard to get better and better, then we will definitely be there.”

Virgel has had to learn fast to help his team on both domestic and European fronts this season, but he confesses that the transition has not been too difficult for him.

“I’ve been just taking it in my stride, because before I came over here, I didn’t really know what to expect. But this is a very good league. It’s got a lot of athletes. The league is like an American league, really, with American-style basketball, because it’s an up-tempo type game. I have found it very competitive and I have been happy.”

But, while the style of play has made the transition from college hoops to professional basketball easier, it’s the people around him that have helped Virgel most of all. He is happy with his team-mates at Bullets, but he saves special praise for Head Coach Lance Randall, who is responsible for bringing Cobbin to Britain.

“I knew Lance before I came over here,” he explained. “He had seen me play when I was at St Louis University and we were friends. Lance is like any other coach – he wants his players to go out and play hard and practice and then transfer it onto the court. Off the court, we have a great relationship, which is good and I like playing for him. 

“He is the reason that I’m here. Towards the end of my junior year in college, I was thinking that I had one year of college basketball left and what was I going to do after that? Then, I really started thinking about going professional and I had a few calls from teams who wanted me to come and play. I decided to give it a go and when Lance called me and we talked about it, I thought I might as well!”

Virgel explains his life-altering, career decision as if he was deciding whether to order pizza or go out for a burger, but in reality, of course, turning pro has meant much more to him.

“I love playing basketball and I know that I can play, so I might as well go ahead and make money playing the game that I love to play!”

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