We Don't Rebuild, We Reload!

This was a phrase that my High School coached used when my freshman class was coming into apply for school back when I was in Minneapolis.  I feel like coach Herbst should use this very same phrase as him and the other coaches are working their hardest to replace the 6 seniors that we lost this year.  For the last three weeks of school my schedule has consisted of eating, going to class, doing homework, working out, and hosting recruits while they are on their visits to the school.  I have officially played with all of the recruits that coach is trying to bring in and I have been very impressed by their talent level, none of them have disappointed me in that sense.  It was coaches job to get them here and he sees it as my job to get them to stay and sign the papers when it is all said and done.  Even though I would like to tell you the names of the recruits and where they are from coach likes to keep a tight grip on those kind of things until they officially come to sign the papers to come play here and join the University of Mary family.  My weekends as of late has been full of fun and enjoyable experiences with these new possible teammates and as much as I personally have enjoyed it, it has also been kind of stessful and bothersome.  I can see why being a college coach must be so hard because it comes with a lot of extra baggage that a lot of people do not realize.  Even though recruits have been here the last three weeks it is not all over as there are recruits coming the next two weeks as well.  Next year is going to be an exciting year whether we can bring in everybody that coach has got to come up here regardless of who signs or not but it is a very exciting experience to meet a lot possible teammates that I will be living with and spending a lot of time with the rest of my years here.  The most important thing in my opinion however is that all the recruits and players that coach has brought in here to play do not only have a wide range of skills and impressive athleticism, but they are good kids on top of that.  That is one of the most important things in building a program is that you bring in kids who are not only going to represent your program and school on the court, but off the court as well.  This next years team is going to be very different from the team we've had this year but none the less we are looking to be just as lethal and dangerous in the conference as before.  Hopefully the transition to UMary for the new recruits is as seemless as it seemed to be for me and that Bismarck and University of Mary family welcomes them with open arms.

No Such Thing As An Offseason

Life around school has definitely been different ever since the season came to such an abrupt ending on March 12th of this year.  Nobody really expected us to lose, not even the doubters but that is just how the month of March is during basketball season.  There is no doubt in my mind that the phrase "March Madness" is anything close to an overstatement.  While a lot of the seniors have come to cope with what has happened for myself and my other teammates the loss has done nothing more fuel us in getting ready for next years season.  We are not the only people on the team working hard to continue what we have going here at the University of Mary though.  The day after we lost we got on the bus to head back to Bismarck and not one of the coaches came back on the bus ride home with us.  Literally the morning after our season had officially ended all of the coaches were heading out on recruiting trips in order to get a head start on next year.  I know I can speak for my other teammates when saying this but no one returning from this past year wants to have a let down in any way shape or form for next years season.  We are looking to start down the same road that we traveled on this year to try and get back to the NCAA Tournament and we want to host the region here in Bismarck as we try and bring a National Title here to the University of Mary.  Next years team is going to be much different from the team we had this year but in that same way we feel like we can still get a lot of things accomplished.  As for working out we have been on a break from the season and official workouts for the past two and a half weeks, but those are just official workouts.  Yesterday was the first day that I personally have not worked out since we lost on March 12th, and I have not simply just been working out on my own.  I always have one or more of my teammates with me when I get a workout in so that we all stay in shape together and do not waste any time in getting prepared for next years season.  Today is the first day that I am going to see any of the coaches since we lost in the first round of the tournament and we have a team meeting later this afternoon to discuss getting ready for next week.  With the coaches being around more often now we are going to start back up individual workouts as well as lifting which I am very much looking forward to.  This is going to be a huge so called "offseason" for a lot of people on the team in aspects of improving our strength, speed, agility, and individual basketball skills to keep up the level of play from last year, but everybody is optimistic about the results it will bring.  At the end of the day we are a group of college athletes and this is a business to us and we want our business to thrive next year like the year before.  We are looking forward to representing the University of Mary, the city of Bismarck, and the State of North Dakota next year to the best of our ability.  After all in my eyes there is no such thing as an offseason.

Puttin' A Leash On Huskies Senior Night

After our win at Concordia the team was happy but everybody knew that our true test lied ahead of us for the weekend.  Our next game was at St.Cloud in their gym on their Senior night with them fighting to stay a post season threat in the conference tournament.  Right now they are a team struggling with a couple injuries and not playing to the best of their abilities but they are still a legitimate threat to anybody in the conference because of the players and pieces that tey have on their team.  They have one of the best players/scorers in the league in Taylor Witt who drove them deep into the National Tournament last year and it was his last game in his gym and I knew he was not going to give up without a fight.  Coach's pregame speech was also different this time around then it usually is.  This time he had a specific topic that I think got everyones attention right away.  He looked at the board and told us "it does not matter what they are going to do, it's all about us and how we are going to respond.  Look around, look at your teammates, you all made it here together and you truly have something special here."  It was one of the realization moments where you could not help but look around at all your teammates and appreciate everything they do for you.  Over the past six months we have really become a family more than i ever thought we would.  Like any family though we have our fights, and everybody has their faults but we have accomplished a lot of great things this year and we have done it all together and if that does not mean something I don't know what does.
There was a good crowd of a reported 2,500 at their game for senior night and that was no surprise to anybody.  Their band with a group of snare drums I have to say was top notch but that was not where my focus was that night.  Knowing my high school assistant coach was in the stands I figured I would just play my game and let him critique my skills after.  The game of course started with St.Cloud and their hot shooting being in their own gym but we were somehow able to keep the game close.  We were only down 5 at halftime after a half of sub par shooting.  It turns out we had done the opposite of what coach said in his pre-game speech as we only had one assist in the first half.  We regrouped, settled down, and refocused and came out in the second half guns blazing.  Or "Moody" blazing I should say.  Ant put on a show in the second half knocking down almost every shot he took.  St.Cloud defending our ball screen oriented offense repeatedly went under the screens giving Ant the option to shoot the 3, and so as you may have guessed he knocked them down all during the second half.  Ant ended up going for 42 on the game a career high for us as his brothers were in attendance cheering right behind our bench.  After the win in the locker room there was so much excitement that no one could contain any of their joy of beating St.Cloud on their senior night and winning our 14th straight.  It was a fantastic victory for the team, the school, and the city of Bismarck as we plan to go for 15 straight on our home floor this upcoming Saturday on our senior night.  I do not think the seniors have any intent of losing or even making this a close game in the least.  This next weekend will be an interesting one.

Taming The Golden Bears

This was a game that was full of emotion both good and bad and it was a great test for us as a team on the road as a whole.  As a team we were looking forward to getting Concordia back for handing us our only loss on our home floor but there were many other things that tied into this game that we did not expect.  We went to shoot around at Concordia's gym on Friday before the game at about noon and everything went according to plan.  As soon as we were done however we were treated to a surprise.  A handful of the Concordia players were clapping their hands outside the gym and hooting and hollering at us as some feeble attempt of intimidation.  It was not until Coach Herbst went out and confronted them in his own way before they finally went on and about with their business.  However a couple of my teammates and I didn't just see it as an intimidation factor but as disrespect.  In my opinion all that did was add fuel to the fire for every single person on the team.
The game went back and forth for most of the first half but we ended up having a 2pt lead at halftime.  Nobody on the team was shooting the ball particularly well but we still managed to have the lead.  Before the coaches entered the locker room at half our team discussion took a little different turn then it usually does.  Everybody felt like because we wanted to beat this team so bad that we were playing outside of ourselves and not playing together as a team so we decided we had to get back to what we do best.  We ended up winning the game and that was the important thing because we learned more about our team as a whole.
This was not the only significant factor that I personally got from the game against Concordia however.  I have lived almost my whole life in Mineapolis which is the neighboring city to St.Paul so I had a lot of people that were at the game who were supporting myself and the team.  It was nice because when both of our teams came out of the locker room we got the louder ovation then they did on their home floor!  I also had a group of my loudest friends sit right behind their bench and add commentary to their team the whole game.  That was my little way of getting back at them for taunting us after shoot around before the game.  Overall it was a great win for our team and it was good for me that I got to see a lot of old family and friends again.

Marauders Cage Bulldogs In Their Own Back Yard

After battling the beavers just the day before this weekend was a huge in terms of needing wins in the conference standings.  All the top teams in the league were playing each other at some point and this was our chance to move up in conference play.  We approached this game hungrier then we have ever been on a road trip seeing it as we beat the University of Minnesota-Duluth last time we played them here at home and we knew they would do their best to get us back.  I approached this game how I would any other games with pregame preparations and things of that nature but with a little twist this time.  I am still not sure why I altered my rountine but it seemed to workout for the better in this case.  Typically before i game i get my music set on the song "Monster" by Kanye West featuring a number of other artists listen to that, stretch and don't talk to anybody, but this time it was different.  I was as focused as I always am before a game but I felt more relaxed this time, and it wasn't just me it seemed as if everybody felt this way.  When it came to game time we came out firing, got an early lead and from that point never looked back.  There is always a certain amount of trash talking that goes out there on the court while people are competing and everyone wants to win and this game was no exception.  One of their gaurds in particular had a lot to say to me but the thing i remember most was when i caught the ball in the corner and he backed off me a little and said "shoot it".  Daring me to pull the trigger as if I couldn't shoot, little did he know I was planning on shooting it anyways.  I never looked back from that point on.  I went on to score a career high 19 points including 12 straight that I did not know I even did until Scott informed me of it when I was on Marauders Weekly.  Everything just felt good that night and I was because all of my immediate family was in attendance.  After the games the guys joked around with me calling me "Showtime" or "Superstar" and they still kept it going on the bus ride and this morning.  We played great as a team on offense and defense and it feels even better to be on an 8 game wining streak.  We have two more games this weekend at home against the University of Minnesota-Crookston and Moorhead State University.  All the guys are excited to play in the games this weekend and hopefully Cameron Lee will make more steps in recovery over the course of this week.  As for me, I'm out to help my team win and prove that the performance last week was not a freak performance, maybe more of a preview of what to expect from me in the games to come.

UMary Hoops Knocks Off Mankato State

The mood in the before the Mankato State game this past Saturday was not the usual atmosphere of any other game we have had this year.  Everybody seemed more focused then usual and for more then one particular reason specifically.  After we had just beaten Southwest State the night earlier everybody knew this was a big chance to make a statement to every other team in our league and to the entire country.  Coach Herbst was on edge but was just as confident as usual and before the game addressed the team stating the fact that in the history of University of Mary basketball no one team had ever beaten Mankato.  This in a way was an even bigger game for one of our assistant coaches Jevin Budde seeing as he graduated from Mankato State this was a very emotional game for him as well.  I did my pre game preparations like I usually do and as much as I like to treat all teams in the same way effort wise i was more excited for this game then I have been for a game all year.  Even in warm ups you could see it in everybody's eyes that they were ready to go.  As soon as the game started it ended, Anthony Moody shot the ball in a way that i have never seen in my life time of watching college basketball and the whole team seemed to be clicking on all cylinders.  Even on the bench people were excited the whole game no matter what our lead was at the time.  Not only did we end up beating Mankato State who at the time was ranked 10th in the country but we blew them out on our home floor in front of all our dedicated fans and supporters.  I don't think we have personally been closer as a team and a family then we were that game.  Cameron Lee went down with an ankle injury during the game but even he was optimistic after that big of a win.  We hope to get him back as soon as possible and all wish him a speedy recovery.  After the game coach Herbst was almost lost for words as you could see the excitement in him and how proud of us he was for playing so well and playing to our potential.  Everybody is looking forward to our next road game this coming weekend at Northern State as we look to improve our record and accomplish even more.