D3hoops.com Daily Dose

As I was asked to write my final blog I’m thinking to myself, “I can’t believe our season’s over. It went so fast.” As for many teams we wanted to go all the way and get into the NCAAs, but for us that didn’t happen. Even though our season ended earlier then we would have liked, there were a lot of great memories and experience that made this season one of the best for me.

In the beginning of the season we had a slow start and not the best record, but that almost got us motivated and made us work harder, which set the tone for the rest of the season and how we played. After the rough start the team got going and we started to play well and never looked back. It was an exciting season for the team — we were working and meshing well together and playing Edgewood College basketball. One of the great memories for the team was when we went to the Bahamas for our winter tournament. We played well and we won the whole thing. That was the first tournament in my career that we have ever won, so it was very exciting.

For me, this season was one of the best in my career. Being a senior I knew I needed to be a leader for the younger players, this was going to be a learning experience for myself, just as much as it was going to be for them. My teammates were great, worked well everyday together and made playing basketball fun. I loved playing with them all, each one of them taught me something that I will never forget and will cherish every memory from this year. The same is true for the coaching staff. They put so much time and effort to help us become the team we are today. I am thankful for every single one of them and all that they do. They have taught me so much and are the ones that made me the player I am today.

As for me personally I can’t believe my college career is over. It went by so fast and it’s hard for me to know that I won’t wear an Edgewood College jersey again and go and play the game that I love. Even though it’s over for me, I had a lot of great memories and accomplishments that I never knew I would get from playing basketball. All of what I have accomplished individually wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my teammates and coaches, so thank you to you all. You made basketball the best for me here at Edgewood College and I will always remember you all.

Playing basketball here at Edgewood College was the best decision of my life. I not only grew as a player, but as a person as well. I have learned so much and I hope all of my teammates and the other future Eagles experience what I have and enjoy it all.
- Megan Scheele, Edgewood College

WOW, WHAT A WEEKEND! I don’t know where to begin, but I do know that it’s Monday and it is great to still be ALIVE in the “bracket of death”! While most college kids will spend SB09 in Panama City, on a cruise, at home, or at a friend’s grandparent’s house in Naples — we on the Wash U hoops team are glad to be spending the majority of our spring break in the Northwest ‘burbs of Chicago. There’s nothing like playing in the NCAA Tourney, even if it comes at the price of my teammates getting tan (I’ve got nice bronze skin anyway, so who needs a vacation—right???).

When the pairings first came out Monday, I’m not going to lie, I was a little upset with the way the NCAA handled the Midwest and West regions. This is with no disrespect to any of the programs from the East or Northeast, etc. but it was extremely hard trying to explain to friends and family how and why the top seven ranked teams in the country only one could possibly make it to the final four. They’d say, wait so it’d be like if Pitt, UNC, UCONN, Duke and Louisville all were in the same regional—and still not believe me when I said “YES!!!”

After a good hour of pouting about not being able to play at home (since our women hosted) and being sent to the site of one of our two losses all year, we all flipped a switch and stopped feeling sorry for ourselves. I think we realized that when it was game time on Friday against Lawrence, they weren’t going to feel sorry for us so it wouldn’t do us any good to feel sorry for ourselves.

Preparing for Lawrence was really tough because of how well they play together as a team. I think they’re a lot like us. While we felt like our scout team did a good job preparing us, at the beginning of the game it was quickly realized how impossible it was for a scout team to really imitate ‘their stuff’ since they run their motion so well. They read the defense, took advantage of any mistakes we made defensively and made us pay when we didn’t get back in transition. While almost no one our team could hit a shot, luckily we had A.T. on our side.

I don’t know if I can really describe what AT has been able to do for us this season. If you’ve never seen him play–he plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played—at both ends of the court. He’s always been automatic as a spot up shooter—but now he’s a flat out scorer… he leads our team in blocks and even yanked down 10 boards on Saturday. He’s got the longest, gangliest (is that a word?) arms—which is why we say “Go, Go Gadget Arms!” when he gets his hands on balls he has no business getting. Bottom line is that he can hoop!

Anyway, we overcame some miserable shooting from myself and Tyler to somehow sneak away with a win on Friday. As I wrote about last year, the tournament is about surviving and advancing—and that is what we did on Friday. It was one of those games that I really felt like we got out played for 35 minutes or so overall, but thanks to a few good runs, a big time three from A.T., and some timely misses, we marched on to Saturday.

Watching the Elmhurst vs. UW-Whitewater game following ours was unbelievable. I’ve been to Salem the past two years, and that game featured two teams that could have taken down at least half the talent I’ve seen in the Final Four. It’s truly a shame (among a lot of other word selections I could’ve used instead of a shame) that those two played in the first round. It was an awesome atmosphere, it’s just too bad for Elmhurst’s seniors that it had to end like that—because they are a team that deserved to play more than one game in the NCAA Tourney.

With a turnaround of less than 24-hours we had to prepare for our most talented opponent of the year. UW-Whitewater featured some big time athletes inside and on the wings and our coaches did a great job getting a game plan together to help neutralize their athleticism. We jumped out to an early 11-0 lead and played some great basketball. We really frustrated them by doing a few different things defensively and even pushed our lead to 18 in the second half.

As all good teams do, UWW made a big time run midway through the second half. Somehow we held them off and only gave up the lead for 17 seconds on our way to another W. Again, we may have been the better team most of the night, but UWW had chances to win the game. We hit some timely shots, made free-throws and got a little lucky—which is sometimes better than being good this time of year. UWW was the most talented group of individuals, position by position, I’ve seen play at this level in the past four years—without a doubt. Survive and advance.

Looking forward to next week—it should be an incredible game Friday night. Wheaton obviously is a tremendous team and I’m looking forward to playing in a really fun atmosphere. We got to see them earlier in the season when they played at Webster in St. Louis and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t watched two or three of their games on web cast. Between their threats inside and out—it’ll be a challenge, but one I know we’re up for!

Four more.

Take care,
Sean

P.S. Shout out to my boys Dylan Richter and Tom Blount—two people that have been major contributors on our team that are now out for the year. Dylan broke his foot in the first round game against Lawrence (and then proceeded to NAIL a three-ball before coming out) and Tom is having shoulder surgery this week. It’s no fun sitting on the bench from injury (I’d know from experience) but I know both of these guys are still pulling for us big time. GETCHUUUUUUUUUU SUM.

In his final season with the Amherst basketball team, Ben Kaplan decided to put his writing skills to good use by keeping a running diary of the Lord Jeffs’ 2009 NCAA Tournament experience.

Last April, my fellow members of the Amherst basketball Class of ’09 and I won the lip sync contest, an annual choreography competition with a valuable prize – the first pick in room draw. We successfully made fools of ourselves and won with our skit entitled “Road Trip” with Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” recurring as the refrain.

Little did we know that our theme choice for lip sync would also be the theme of our last season of Amherst hoops, perfectly describing the 2008-09 Lord Jeffs. When the schedules were released late last summer, it was clear that the unprecedented seven-game road trip spanning from mid-January to mid-February would define our season.

I can’t help but remember Wilson, the wise neighbor in television’s Home Improvement, once telling Tim “the Toolman” Taylor, face half-hidden by the fence, “When we’re home, we dream of great adventure, and when we’re on great adventures, we dream of home.” There were definitely times during the seven-game trip (which included three games in Maine) that we wished we were back home.

On the fourth game of the trip, we lost to Colby after erasing a double-digit deficit, also losing starter Steve Wheeler to a rolled ankle suffered during a desperation heave at the end of the first half. We then squandered a 19-point lead in the second half of the next game at Rhode Island College, dropping to 3-2 on the trip and jeopardizing our NCAA status.

Our futures remained muddled the rest of the regular season and through the NESCAC Championship, which took our traveling band of basketball players up to Middlebury, Vermont. Every member of our team had had the good fortune of never playing a NESCAC tournament game on the road, so the weekend was a first for all of us, albeit a first that fit perfectly with our season’s theme.

After an emotional win over Williams to take the season series, we lost in the finals against a fired up Middlebury squad and our season hung in the balances. Twenty-one uneasy hours later, we learned we were off of the bubble and into the tournament. In Division I, bubble teams often gather with their teammates to watch the selection show live, cameras monitoring their every move. For us, guys found out this past Monday in a variety of ways – some watched the selection show online, some ducked out of class to “go to the bathroom” and checked the brackets on the nearest computer, and some just waited to hear from a teammate. I figured we had secured a bid when I heard my classmate Glenn Wong running down the halls in our dorm shouting, “WOOOOO!! Let’s GOOOOOO!!!” We had lived to play another day, and we would be playing at another site. The Road Crew would take to the streets once more.

Getting into the tournament excited everyone. Even though this marks Amherst’s 10th straight NCAA appearance, it never gets old for anyone, especially the first-years who were experiencing D3’s “playing house” version of March Madness for the first time. Our draw, however, really excited our coaches, who got the opportunity to bother new coaches for clips they would use to scout new teams. The four teams playing at Richard Stockton College in southern New Jersey span four states and four of the eight regions the NCAA uses to break up men’s basketball teams – Stockton from the Atlantic region; their opponent, RPI, from New York and the East region; our matchup, Gwynedd-Mercy, from Pennsylvania and the Middle Atlantic region; and us from the Northeast region. It is, as Coach Hixon said Monday at practice, “Truly a national tournament.”

Another person who our draw excited was Bob, who has been driving our bus since our last Maine trip nearly a month ago. A jovial man who keeps old Three Stooges episodes running on the bus DVD system after wins, Bob told us before our Williams game last Saturday, “You guys better win. I wanna work tomorrow!” Well, Bob, we got you more work, and plenty of time to continue those conversations with our coaching staff at the front of the bus during the five-plus hour drive to Pomona.

After our long bus ride, which guys spent napping, eating, writing papers, reading, watching movies, listening to music, engaging in conversation, or any combination of those activities, we pulled into the Comfort Inn for a quick stop before our 7:45 p.m. practice. During NCAA Tournament practices, visiting teams get 90 minutes of closed-door court time, which we partook in after Friday’s foe, Gwynedd-Mercy, got in its final tune-up. Our practice consisted of the standard warm-up, shooting and scrimmage as we quickly got acclimated with our new surroundings. In order to succeed as the Road Crew, you have to adapt to new settings quickly, and as the shots started falling with more frequency, it was clear that we had gotten used to the deep shooting background at Stockton’s gym. Hopefully they keep falling for us throughout the weekend.

Our schedule for Friday includes an 11 a.m. brunch, probably at the Denny’s a couple of us enjoyed for dinner (the best part of going to Denny’s with the knowledge you’ll be there the next morning is that it makes the timeless breakfast vs. dinner inner struggle a lot easier to decide). Following brunch, we’ll head to Stockton for a shootaround and a review of the scouting report. It’s the same old away game routine for the team that has made its home on the road this season — just a group of vagabonds trying to keep the journey going, hoping to take this road as far as it goes.

Since my last post the Beavers have been crowned the IIAC champs for the second year in a row. We clinched sole possession with a victory of the University of Dubuque on Wednesday night and a loss by Loras. We heard after the game in the locker room that Loras had lost to Cornell. We just celebrated a little bit, and Coach made sure he told us how proud he was of us and that it was an accomplishment. However, this team has set higher goals. In order to reach those higher goals we needed to win the regular season conference championship. To keep reaching those goals we need to win the tournament championship and get into the National Tournament. Before the conference tournament we have one regular season game left against a rising opponent. Friday night we are heading to Decorah, Iowa. We play Saturday at 4 against the Luther Norse. Luther has been battling week in and week out for a final spot in the conference tournament. They beat a good Central team last Saturday and they need to win out to get the 6^th and final spot. There defense is the best in the league and it will be a very good game.

I am going to talk about two more seniors today. The first is one of our guards Travis Person. Travis is a monster. He benches the most on the team, as he stands at 6,7” 230 lbs and is sold as a rock. He was a 4 man for us a couple seasons ago, but his ability to guard quicker opponents has improved and his ability to stroke it from downtown has been great consistently. My favorite story about Travis is a recent one. We were trailing to Wartburg in the second half a couple of weeks ago. Wartburg had beaten us at their place, and pretty much beat us in the first half at our place. In the second half we really moved the ball well on offense and worked for that good look against their zone. However, the ball never seemed to go any further than Travis Person. Travis was on fire, he had nine three pointers in the game. He pulled one from the IIAC symbol on our court which is about six feet behind the three point line. It was one of those nights where every time he touched it, without thinking it was going up, and it was going in. He finished the game 9 for 11 from the three point line, and had 27 points. With that game he earned Iowa Conference player of the week. Travis plans to do landscaping work for a cousin who owns a business in Des Moines. I guess he is going to continue to be a brut the rest of his life.

The other senior has been a teammate as well as a very good friend of mine for a long time. Kyle Stribe was a member of the Manning High School basketball team with me. We have been close for many years and it has been fun to watch him develop as a basketball player as well as a person. Off the court Kyle has come to be one of the funniest people of the team. At first you would think he was quiet and chill about everything, but once you get to know him he is a very funny person. He usually just sits on the back of the bus on road trips and throws his two cents in to the group of guys’ playing cards in front of him. His one line comments are some of the best. The best quality of Kyle on the court is that he doesn’t waste possessions. We always talk as a team on how important it is to not waste possessions. Kyle doesn’t turn the ball over. On top of that he doesn’t take bad shots. His three point percentage is amongst the highest in the league. He has improved his ball handling as well as passing over the years. My favorite basketball story about Kyle took place last season in a game against Benedictine College. Kyle scored 20 points including hitting 6 three pointers in the first 8 minutes of the game. It was truly one of the most amazing shooting displays I have ever witnessed. Kyle is currently student teaching at a school near Storm Lake. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be an outstanding teacher someday.

We are on the road Saturday at Luther and then home for the first round of the conference tournament next Thursday. We are focused on Luther right now as we know they are going to give us everything they have. They are well coached and very physical on both sides of the ball.

Hey Hey—just checking in from St. Louis for the first time in a few weeks. While the weather was 70 and sunny here yesterday (amazing!) the only thing hotter is the men’s and women’s basketball teams. OK so that was a really lame start to the blog, but really—combined we’ve won 11-straight UAA games and everyone down here is pumped with the way things are shaking out. We have a three-game lead in the UAA and the women are still tied for first with Rochester. Let’s rewind and go through our past few weeks.

Two weekends ago we traveled to Brandeis (Boston) and NYU—everyone’s favorite trip of the year. My parents, aunt and uncle, went on the trip so it was a blast going to nice dinners with them in Boston and New York. When we go to awesome cities like these, Coach Edwards gives us a night free to explore as long as we’re back by curfew. I could see other coaches being strict and making their players stay in the hotels, but Coach makes sure we get to enjoy the unique opportunity to see cities we don’t normally get to, however we want to see them. Last year, Tyler and I went to see a musical on Broadway—very cool and not something most college kids from St. Louis get to do during the school year. Listening to show tunes and musical soundtracks may or may not be a guilty pleasure of mine.

Anyway, Friday night’s game at Brandeis was a really tough one. The students were rowdy and on top of the court. Aside from cursing about my mom–I was dealt one of my lowest blows when one kid yelled at me ‘Hey Wallis—I read your blog on d3hoops.com and it sucks!’ At first it got to me—but then I was pumped because it meant more people than my parents and sisters are taking the time to read this stuff.

‘Deis hung tough but my man Cam Smith, who was growing a dirty stash out like Larry Legend, hit a big time shot down the stretch to help us get the W. A lot of people that don’t know too much about our team know about me, or Tyler or Aaron Thompson (AT)—but team’s need a guy like Cam to be successful. He’s leading our team in rebounding, he hits backbreaking shots, and he gets after it defensively while frustrating the other team’s best player.

We bussed to New York early Saturday for shoot-around and walk through to prepare for NYU. I don’t think we were ready for the way NYU cut early on and we were down 10-1 before any of us had woken up for the Sunday morning game. A.T. put us on his back and before you knew it we were up 28-12. We held a decent lead the rest of the way and got back to St. Louis with a clean weekend sweep and a 7-0 record at the midway point.

For those that don’t know how the UAA works, at the halfway point the schedule flips around. So we played NYU the next Friday and Brandeis on Sunday at home. It’s an extremely strange dynamic—and gives us a taste of what it would be like to play a five or seven-game series—how they do it in the NBA. Since I’d been at Wash U, we’d never won both games in the back-to-back turn around, but this year we were able to do so. Last year we lost to CMU by 30+ on Sunday then beat them by 15 the next Friday—just weird.

We took down NYU in front of rowdy Field House crowd on Friday night and beat an undermanned Brandeis squad on Sunday. We have a big weekend coming up including our last two road games of the season. Tomorrow morning we leave for Atlanta to play Emory on Friday then on Saturday we fly to Cleveland for our game against Case Western on Sunday.

I wanted to take this opportunity to address a few questions I got from some readers about my recovering from injury and my play on the court. I feel like my return this year has definitely been a success. We graduated the National Player of the Year, have an enormous target on our back as defending national champions, and still have found a way to be 19-1, 9-0 in the UAA.

Personally, while I played quite a bit this summer—I really didn’t feel like myself back on the court most of first semester. Physically my body was fully healed, but basketball is a lot about confidence and I’m not sure I fully had it in my leg the first month of the season. Right now, however, I feel fantastic. I think it just took time to know that if I got knocked down going to the basket, my leg wouldn’t necessarily snap, but I’d get back up and hit free-throws.

I think there are a few significant ways I feel like my game has evolved from a few years ago due to sitting back and watching. The first is I really am focused on ‘playing forward’–a term I’ve heard Kirk Hinrich use. He means that if you miss a shot or make a turnover, to forget about it and just worry about the next play in the game. Obviously at the end of the game you should evaluate why you made mistakes–but during the game, it’s important that those mistakes aren’t changing your mindset.

Another thing I am conscientious about is to make sure I value the ball on every one of our team’s possessions. After sitting out I realized how costly it is when turnovers actually happen–even if they’re aggressive turnovers, trying to make a play happen. I think that’s one of the reasons my assist-to-turnover ratio is well over three this year where it was under two a few years ago.

Also—there was a question about our PA announcer Bruce Veach, and his absence at a bunch of our games this year. He’s an important part to the Bear basketball family and is going through a tough fight with cancer so he’s only been able to be at a handful of games. He’s got all of our support though and is a tough guy and he’s gonna make it through this. Besides, no one yells “AT FOR THREEEEEEEEE” like he does!

Again, feel free to drop me a line at walliss@wustl.edu if there’s anything you want me to address. Only a few more until March!!!!

Take care,
Sean

P.S. Wanted to give some love to Corey O’Rourke and Elliot Curtis, Carnegie Mellon’s PGs, for their podcast ‘Two the Point’
It’s pretty good stuff if you get a chance to listen.