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January 17

We are now
prepared to enter conference play. We have had a 10 day
break, so we were able to get a couple of days rest and a
good week of practice in and some rest and treatment for
those guys who needed it. The break has also served us
well here at the start of the second semester, giving guys
a little more time to handle academic housekeeping issues.
We have played very well at times, thus far (we are 7-5
with only one non-conference game remaining), but we are
far too inconsistent to be the kind of team we want to be.
The USA South is always strong and this season it looks
like it will be particularly challenging. It is obviously
our hope that we find the consistency we’ve been looking
for and that over the next few weeks we start to play at
our best level.
November 8
We are now days
away from the start of the season. With nearly 30
practices under our belt, we feel good about our
development. We played our annual Blue-White game on this
past Saturday night and played our first exhibition game
against Elon University on Monday. Although we did not
play as well as we would have liked on Monday, both of
these games have helped us. We have been able to identify
areas that we need to work on and, as is always the case
with exhibitions, it is good to get on the floor with the
real game environment: clock, officials, fans, etc. We
play our second and final exhibition tomorrow against the
Kazakhstan National Team. We have always enjoyed the
opportunity to play international teams and we are looking
forward to tomorrow nights game. Following the game our
two teams will share a post-game meal and enjoy a cultural
exchange. What a great education.
We open the regular season in Virginia Wesleyan’s Tip-Off
Tournament against a very good Rutgers-Newark team. No
more exhibitions then.
September 28
With practice
now 17 days away, our players are anxious to hit the
floor. In the past several weeks they have been lifting,
playing pick-up, and working out individually or in small
groups. Additionally, they have been very busy in the
community. The week of 9/11, we delivered season tickets
to the police and fire departments locally. We have done
this each year, beginning in 2002, in recognition of the
events of 9/11/01 and in appreciation of what our local
departments do for us.
Our coaching staff has been working diligently to get
prepared for the season and with recruiting, as well. We
have covered a number of fall events and have also
attended several high school workouts. We have three fine
young assistant coaches on our staff and believe that they
will all be great assets to our program. David Doino
brings a wealth of positive experience and is an extremely
hard worker. Josh Turnpaugh is a high energy coach with a
lot to offer. Those guys will work with, among other
things, our big guys and perimeter players, respectively.
Our third assistant is Courtney Alston and he will assist
with recruiting, organizational needs and game and
practice preparation. I feel very fortunate to have three
guys of this quality on our staff.
July 26
What an
incredibly fast spring and summer it has been. In a few
short weeks our students will be back on campus and the
fall semester will be underway. That means getting all of
our returnees back together and all of our recruits
oriented with our program.
On the subject of returnees, it has been a great summer
for our guys. Some have worked summer jobs at places like
the YMCA and The Boys and Girls Club, while others have
worked here on campus and others still in private business
sector jobs. A number of guys were able to work our
basketball camp for a couple of weeks, while we also had a
few work some other college camps and a camp run by a
former NBA standout. Most all of our players are playing
in summer leagues, from Philadelphia to Washington, DC and
from Raleigh to here in Rocky Mount.
Recruiting has kept us busy the last few months. During
the spring we completed our incoming class and are excited
about their arrival on campus in mid-August. We believe we
have some players who will blend well with our veteran
group. Once July rolled around, we hit the ground running
with summer recruiting. North and South Carolina,
Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are among the
destinations our staff has evaluated players at team
camps, exposure camps, summer leagues and AAU tournaments.
As I mentioned earlier we ran our annual summer basketball
camp for kids and, as always, had great sessions, with
great campers. My staff always enjoys working camp and
teaching the game to youngsters who are eager to learn.
In the midst of everything else, I hired a new top
assistant coach, David Doino. Dave was an outstanding
player at Virginia Wesleyan and has served as an assistant
there for three years. We are thrilled to have him on
staff at Wesleyan. We also added Courtney Alston, as an
assistant. He comes to us from Louisburg Junior College.
Finally, we put the finishing touches on our 2007-08
schedule. The schedule, which was released last week,
promises to be exciting
for fans and very challenging to our squad. Practice is
just 82 days away.
February 25
Well, an up and
down year has come to an end and what an end it was. After
struggling to develop consistency all season, we came
together well during the conference tournament. We new all
along that we had talent, our shortcomings revolved around
performing up to our capabilities on a day to day basis.
With 10 days to go in the regular season we had a shot to
finish in second place. We faltered down the stretch and
finished tied for 5th. So, as we entered the tournament,
there were a lot of questions. We played very hard, played
together, and performed like the team that we thought we
could be all along. After two outstanding wins in the
quarters and semi-finals, we advanced to the USA South
Championship game and felt very confident. In a tremendous
game we lost in double overtime to the number one seeded
Averett University Cougars. We had our chances and it
didn’t work out. Averett did a great job and they are a
very deserving Champion. We now must turn our attention to
player development and recruiting. Next season began
yesterday.
January 11
We just
returned from a 7 day trip to Florida. While going 1-2 on
the trip was disappointing, we did grow as a team. Our
first game after Christmas was not a good outing at all,
but we followed that up with an outstanding effort on the
second night of the Flagler Holiday Classic in St.
Augustine. Although we didn't win, I was very pleased with
how we bounced back and competed with energy and
enthusiasm. We also picked up a good win before we came
home, opening up our running game and shooting the ball
better than we had in awhile. In the midst of all those
games, we toured St. Augustine, the oldest city in the
country, and the location that Ponce de Leon was to have
found the "Fountain of Youth"...went to see the Orlando
Magic play the Charlotte Bobcats...visited Universal
Studios Properties...ate at the NBA City Restaurant...and
went to see the new Will Smith movie "Pursuit of
Happiness."
We enter conference play this weekend against Shenandoah
University. We are excited to move into the "new" season.
At 5-7 we are not satisfied with our performance thus far,
really needing to develop consistency in all areas of the
game. However, there is a lot to build on. In a recent
loss to Flagler College we played one of our best games of
the year and defended well. Point guard Trey Drake has
been named "Rookie of the Week" three times so far. Lenny
Hall leads the league in scoring, free throw percentage,
and steals. Trey Drake is third in the league in assists
and Sharard Carmichael is fifth in rebounding. After
missing all of last year with a torn ACL, Jarvis Cobb is
starting to feel comfortable and giving us some very
positive contributions. We are improving, just not at the
rate we want to improve. Our conference schedule will be
very difficult but as long as we continue to work hard and
develop our consistency, we will continue to improve.
October 30
After 16
practices we are really developing a sense of identity. I
really like our team. We are young...two seniors, two
juniors, and the rest freshmen and sophomores...and by far
not the biggest team we've ever put on the floor, but I
think we've got a lot of positives. We are deep and quick.
I think we can defend and we have some guys who can score
some points. Our chemistry is good and our guys have been
working very hard.
We held our annual "Late Night Blue White" game on
Saturday night (the 28th) and we saw some good things. The
game is always good for us to gauge, after having some
practice time under our belt, with officials, fans, the
clock, kind of where we are in terms of being ready to
play. It's also a great night for our student body. We
have given away books for second semster, stereos, team
warm-up suits, balls, t-shirts, all kinds of stuff. We had
musical entertainment before the game and we were preceded
by the women's Blue White game. The women tipped off at
10:25 and we started about an hour later.
Our team and staff will be holding a youth clinic on
Saturday, November 4, and we will then provide a coaches
clinic. Both clinics are sponsored by the City of Roanoke
Rapids and will be held at the TJ Davis Center. Our
players really enjoy working with kids and trying to share
some of what they have picked up over the years.
September 20
In the past
couple of weeks our student athletes have stepped off the
playing field to show their support for our community.
While they all continue to work hard in class room and
with their respective teams, they recently came together
as one team to help remember and pay tribute to all those
affected by the tragedy of September 11, 2001. This was
the fourth consecutive year that our student athletes have
lent their support on 9-11.
Below are links to a couple of recent press releases on
activities in our program. As you can see, our players are
involved in community service activities and we feel as
though that is very important....and by the way, it's only
25 days until practice begins.
Wesleyan athletes honor local heroes
on September 11th
ENCBCA Announces Second Annual Fall
Basketball Clinic
September 6
The
year is off to a good start. All of our guys are in and
our main focus is getting off to a good start
academically. We see our players regularly and really
focus on what's going on in the classroom. Time
management, especially for freshmen, is a big key to
success in college. We spend time talking with them about
using day planners and organizing their days (and weeks
and semesters). Whether it is class, study time or pick-up
games, being organized and mapping their schedule out will
help them succeed.
I was at our football teams home opener today. It was a
heartbreaking loss in the final two minutes. I mention
this only to say that a number of our guys on our team
were there and it was great to see how supportive they
were of our football team. I believe that's one of the
many special things here at Wesleyan.
One last note...I am excited about September 30 because we
are hosting an event here that is really good. The Eastern
North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association will hold
it's Second Annual High School Players Clinic from
9:00-12:00 that morning. The clinic is limited to 40
players and is conducted by my staff and other area high
school coaches. Following lunch, we will have our fall
Coaches Clinic. Last year was a real success and we look
forward to another great day on the 30th.
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