Always for the Favorites
I am not sure why I am like I am, but I am always for the
favorites. I am for Tiger Woods, as the
Master’s starts today. I always root for
the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, coached by Pat Summitt. I am a Laker Fan, and root for the
Indianapolis Colts. My only flaw is
rooting for the Chicago Cubs.
After watching the Lady Volunteers play Tuesday night, and
winning the 8th Championship for Pat Summitt, I think I have the
answer. I want to be one of those
people. I want to win many championships
like Phil Jackson, Pat Summit, and Tiger Woods.
After winning our 6th conference title this year, which is
nothing like winning 8 National Titles, I understand how difficult it is to win
on a consistent basis. Everybody can
have one good year, and have a good run for a little while, but can you win
consistently. Everybody wants to beat
the Beavers, and we get everybody’s best effort. Teams want to compare themselves to us, and
by beating us, you can put yourself in our category. But we understand how difficult it is to be
good everyday and every game. Our guys
have understood that you can’t just be good for most games and let your talent
win for you, you have to practice well, you have to prepare well, and these are
the key components to trying to be a great team. Some people ask me who our rivals are, and I
honestly don’t have a good answer for them.
I take no pleasure in beating one team over the other. Loras was really good this year, but we felt
that the other games were just as important, if not more so, because you know
the Loras game was going to be a good game.
Everybody is trying to beat Tiger, and trying to beat Phil
Jackson, but those two are just trying to do what they do every single
day. Some may say that Tiger enjoys
beating Phil Mickelson, but my bet is this.
Phil is just a blip on Tiger’s radar screen. His target is the leader, or the person right
behind him, whoever that may be on that given week. He doesn’t get into who it is, he just wants
to win, and that is why he is successful.
Switching gears, Barb and I just got back from
Recruiting is going well, and are still waiting on 4 or 5 guys.
We are happy so far with the class.
As I said earlier, we will get all information on them out to you, after
they register for class in June.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( April 10, 2008 03:57 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Post Season Sickness
Every year when the season concludes, I get sick. I got a major league cold right now. I am looking for home remedies. It doesn’t help that my family took a weekend
trip away last weekend, and that I went on the road recruiting the past couple
of nights. It just runs you down. But I am going to take the weekend off, and
get some rest. My wife is suffering with
a cold also. I was going to see my
buddy, Nick Huber today, but thought I better stay out of his house with my
cold. When he gets a cold, he really
suffers with his breathing, so you must be careful around him.
Everyone says, “What are you doing with yourself, now that
the season is over?” Well, I am on the
road recruiting, and on the phone recruiting every night. It is fun to find out who is going to join
the program with you. We have a couple
of commits that we are really happy about, but NCAA rules won’t allow me to
talk about them until they have registered for class, which will happen in
June. So I will wait till then. If you really want to know, just call me, I
will tell you in person.
What is really exciting, is the fact, that the Cubs get
started on Monday. 1:20 is the first
pitch. I will be watching. The first day of baseball season is always
special to me. It just means that spring
is here, and that it is about time to pull out the golf clubs. It is a start of a whole new way of life for
me for about 4 months. My life is so
crazy during the season, and also during April, as we are out recruiting. But starting in May, my life goes into
neutral a little, and now I can focus on the family, golf, and the Cubs. We still recruit during the summer, but it
is only one or two days at a time, and those are usually fun events and I see
my coaching friends during those times.
Taking off for the Final Four in
Talk next week.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( March 28, 2008 03:15 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
A Great Year
The game against
I want to take this time to really thank two sets of people.
1.)
I want to thank our players and especially our
seniors. It was an honor to coach these
guys this year, and the seniors were the reason for our success. They may have not been the all-conference
players, or the leading scorers, but they were the rock of our team. They made sure everyone brought the necessary
intensity everyday. They were the guys
with a great mindset, once we got into the tournament. They won the first two games for us.
2.) Want to thank the parents and the fans. The parents were great all year, and had a lot of fun together. It was nice to get to get to know them all a little better. The crowd for our National Tournament games were great, and our program really appreciates it.
I am also looking for anyone who may have taped the game on
the radio. Chris Boeckman taped the game
back at the station, but something happened to the tape of the 2nd
half and overtime. If anyone has the
game taped, please give me a call, we would love to have the tape of the
game.
I will get back later in the week.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( March 18, 2008 01:06 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Sweet 16 in St. Louis
This has been a very exciting year for the Beavers. That certainly is an understatement. We had an outstanding trip to
The
Last night was a completely different game. The crowd was small, not necessarily by our
following, because our fans were great, but when you are playing at a neutral
site, the environment changes. We did
not play well in this game. I thought we
had some real poor offensive possessions in the 1st half, especially
early, and we played a little tight. But
our inside game eventually wore them down, and we started to get the shots we
wanted by time we got to the 2nd half. Our defense was outstanding. Once again, the Pointers probably feel they
missed a lot of shots, but we got them to miss the shots we wanted them to
take. The night before, we felt they
really drove
I want to thank the following people for all of their help
this past week. Jan Travis and Jennifer
Thompson made the week work smooth for us.
They made all of the little things work slick and made my job easy this
week. I have to thank my wife and kids
for their commitment. My wife was sick
all weekend, and had to sit down during the games, as they were almost too much
to take. My kids gave up their athletic
tournaments this weekend to be there with us and that means a lot. My parents never miss, and Barb’s parents
were troopers also. 5 years ago, our
team played at
Let’s keep playing.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( March 09, 2008 05:34 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
We Are In
I am so happy for our
guys, especially, our seniors as we make a trek to
If we win, we play
the winner of
Our team leaves
tomorrow, Thursday, at Noon, so not sure we will be able to keep up the blog
this weekend, but will try to get back in touch on Friday, if I can get to a
computer. I will try to give an in depth
view of what is happening while we prepare for the tournament game. Steve Phelps, our SID, will be going on the
trip, so I will make sure I stay in touch with our fans. Sorry I have missed the last few days, but
obviously, this is a very busy time for our team and making arrangements takes
time. Also had to go out of town
yesterday, to our
GO Beavers!!
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( March 05, 2008 03:22 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
The Seniors
What a great group of
seniors we have. I say this all the
time, but the best part of my job is the fact that I get to be around these
young guys every day. They keep me
young. The seniors as a whole, have been
so impressive. Only one of the 6 starts,
and not once have they complained. They
just keep encouraging and leading.
Erik Raney
Erik has not played a
boat load of minutes for us this year, but he is someone you can trust on the
floor. He is having his best year as a
Beaver. You can trust that he will
defend and get his hands on the ball. He
has become a very good passer. Erik is a
great personality. His teammates love
him. He keeps everything in perspective,
and truly believes we are going to win every game we play.
Eric Holton
Eric is one of the
more organized people I have coached. He
is a perfectionist. As a Pre-Denistry
major, his class load has been big also.
This year he has been tremendous as our back up point guard. He is making about 45% of his 3’s, and when
he is out there, you want him to shoot the ‘3’, because it probably is going
in. I have know Eric, since he was just
a little man, as our houses are 2 miles apart.
It has been fun watching him grow.
Adam Friedrichsen
This is the only year
Adam has played minutes for us, and he has been great, especially lately. He is versatile, and there is no one on our
team who has worked harder in the weight room than him the last couple of
years. He was hurt last year, but has
been solid as a rock this year. The
lefty has a variety of moves in the post.
If you are wondering where he is at 6:00 in the morning. Check the lake, he is probably ice
fishing. That is his stress relief.
Adam Arndorfer
Like Freddy, this is
Adam’s breakout year. He is unorthodox
at times, but is a horse down low. He is
big and strong, and has had some big games for us this year. When he first came to BVU, he was extremely
quiet, almost to a fault. Now we can’t
get him to shut up. He is such a great
program guy. He is a team first player,
just wanting to do his part. He is doing
his part very well. It is great to have
2 players over 240 lbs. at the 5 spot, with him and Fog.
Jeff Bissen
Jeff is a fine
leader. When you need him most, he will
show. He will offensive rebound, defend,
and make 44% of his 3’s. He is committed
to the program. When he was a sophomore,
and our team was struggling, he came to my hotel room, and said, “I know you
are struggling finding the right combination of players, so don’t worry if you
don’t play me, because I just want our team
to win.” He was finally the guy
who got it going for us, as he helped us win the conference tournament 2 months
later. Jeff will be a student coach for
us next year.
Rahn Franklin
Rahn has a never
ending smile on his face. He is happy to
be alive, and has high expectations for our team. Rahn is not a guy who played a whole lot in
high school. He only played his senior
year. Therefore his skills have been raw
to a certain point. But he has improved,
and he is a fine athlete. I think he is
the best defender in this league when it comes to playing a shooter that isn’t
too tall for him. He has shut down
Derrick Young
Derrick was a very
good high school player. Derrick is a
shooting post player, but has decided to be a student coach this year. Derrick has excellent leadership qualities,
and has done great for us this year. As
a coach, DY has impacted the program with his organization and his ability to
have good ideas at half time, when our staff meets to go over the first half.
In order for us to be
successful, we need everyone. We need a
great crowd, and we need everyone in our program ready to have a good
night. We are excited about another
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 27, 2008 10:26 AM ) Permalink | Comments[1]
A Game for the Ages
As all of the 2,600 fans would agree, the game vs. Loras on
Saturday was a great game. Kyle White,
Luke Slater, and company were great.
Kyle White is a really good player, and Luke Slater made a couple of
unbelievable shots down the stretch. One
of the better teams I have seen in my 12 years when it comes to our
opponents. There have been a couple of
other good teams that come to mind, like the 2001 Wartburg team, and the 1999
Upper Iowa team, and the 1998 Simpson team.
Those teams were real good with a lot of talent, but this Loras team is
right up there.
I can’t put my finger on exactly why we won this game, but I
think a lot of it had to do with the loss against Central last Wednesday. We felt we did not play the way we have played
all year. We were a little tight, and
were always in a hurry. Central had a
big hand in that, but not our best offensive or defensive effort. I was not real nervous for this game, but the
only thing that really bothered me was that our seniors, who have been great
leaders this year, had a chance to lose their last two games of the regular
season, and end up in 2nd place.
That would have always bothered me, as that would have potentially been
what defines those guys, and I did not want that situation for them. For me, I have many more years to coach, in
fact, have already had some great moments in some great games, but these guys
have never won a conference championship, and if you lose two in a row to finish
the year, and slip you into 2nd place, then you always have a sour
taste in your mouth. So I am so happy
for these guys and especially our seniors.
Now they have won a Conference Championship. And to top it off, the game was
magnificent. The key sequence of the
game had to be the ‘3’ in the corner by Travis Person, off a magnificent pass
by Rahn Franklin that put us up 4 with 50 seconds to go, and then the great play by Rahn to steal the
ball laying on the floor, and Fog running up to the official calling
timeout. That was a great 10 second
stretch for us.
It was a great Senior Night.
It was a great Alumni game in the afternoon also. Our JV team beat our Alumni in OT, by one
point. Our alumni started out hot, but
ended up getting old and tired and ended up losing a real good game.
I said I would talk about our seniors, and I will do that,
but not today, as I need to get out of my office, go home and eat. I am starving. We just had a real good practice here today
on Monday, watched some film, and lifted.
So it’s about 5:30, and I am ready to go home.
Talk about our upcoming game and our seniors in the next
couple of days. We play on Thursday
night against the winner of
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 26, 2008 08:50 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Not Just Another Game
This statement has
two meanings for me. First of all, our
game in
The game in
Tomorrow night will
be a great game. Loras is awesome, and
have great players. They are big and
tough, and we will have to play one of our best games of the year. In
It is a special night
for us, as we celebrate Senior Night. I
will talk about each senior next week.
They are a special group. Only
one of these guys is a starter, but they have never complained and we could not
have such a great season without them. I
will talk about each next week. But I am
proud to have these guys in our program.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 22, 2008 01:40 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Now They All Mean Something
Every year our
program gets together and puts together its goals and mission statement. What is interesting, is that when you have a
goal of winning a conference championship you have to wait a long time for
games to really mean something. Every
game puts you into a position, but this week each game means something from
here on out. Because of that, we talk a
lot about enjoying the whole process of trying to win a conference title. You may not always win it, and some years you
may not even come close, but along the way, you must enjoy it.
Well tomorrow nights
game vs. Central is a chance to clinch a share of the title. The guys are in good spirits and they really
are playing with a lot of confidence. I
believe in these guys. However, as is
the case with every game, Central poses a big threat. They have the most explosive group of 3
guards in the conference in Miguel Ley, Zak Clark, and Brett De Hoogh. They can score in all sorts of ways, and have
the ability to make a lot of 3’s in a hurry.
On top of that, they have a post in Keith Pedersen, who is leading the
country in FG% at 71%. Impressive
group. As has been our mission for a
while now, we must be really good with the fundamentals on defense, limit them
to one shot, and execute on offense. We
have done all of these better of late.
We will see what happens tomorrow night.
No matter what, it will be a lot of fun.
Pella, as most of you
know, is my home. That is the gym I grew
the most as a player. I would play a lot
of pick up games there in high school against the Central players. I constantly had to prove myself in that gym,
otherwise I wouldn’t be invited back.
Some of my close friends that I grew up with will be there, and it will
be nice to see all of them, but I don’t think I will be in a chit-chatty mood
tomorrow night. I am not one that wants
to talk much before a game. I like to
hide out a little and watch the women’s game in a corner somewhere. My dad will be there and will talk to him
some, but other than that you will find me in a corner. What is going to be fun for me, is that my
daughter, Courtney will make the trip.
She has not seen many games this year, due to her own team, so it will
be nice to have some time to spend with her.
The weather is
killing me. Our driveway is in disarray,
my wife went into the ditch yesterday, my garage door won’t open without
getting out of my car and lifting it up, and quite frankly, am tired of the
cold and snow. I ask myself often why I
don’t live down south. I think right
now, I would rather take an ice pick and jam it deep in my eye socket than go
outside and try to snowblow my driveway.
I know it would be more entertaining, and I could do that inside where
it is warm. Oh well, let’s go attack the
Dutch tomorrow night and see if we can play well enough to win a conference
title.
Go Beavers!!
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 19, 2008 04:21 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Great Team Effort Against Simpson
There has never been a game since I have been at BVU, that
resembled the Simpson game on Wednesday night.
We were up 17-0, 27-4, 62-18 at half, and 88-33 at one time. We really had a difficult game at Simpson and
were lucky to get a win over there, but on this night it was lights out. 19 3 pointers made of course is a school
record, but the great passing was even better, with 28. We had 62 points at half, and no one in
double figures. Great team effort.
We are going to enjoy our weekend off. The guys have just left after our Friday
practice, and we are going to take Saturday and Sunday off. We have encouraged the guys to go home, go to
a friends college, and just get away from basketball for just a few hours. This can be a stressful time when you have
two very difficult games coming up this next week and a one game lead. You start to think about all the bad things
that can happen and therefore, freeze up a little. That is why we will take a couple of days
off, and really clear our minds. When we
get back, we will get back to our fundamentals, and try to take it game by
game, half by half, and see where that puts us.
I believe in these guys, and I think good things will happen for this
team down the stretch. They are such
good friends, and to this point very focused.
We have handled all adversity pretty good this year, now what will
happen. These guys are great at being
positive and that makes this team
refreshing. We will play well
next week.
Tomorrow, my son plays in a 7th grade basketball
tournament and my daughter plays in an AAU volleyball tournament, so Barb and I
will be in 2 different places watching our kids have fun. I think I will take my wife out for a nice
dinner tonight. I was gone recruiting from
8:00 AM till 11:00 PM on Thursday, Valentine’s Day, so I need to make sure I
take good care of the special person in my life. In my profession, it is so important that
your spouse is on the same page. I am
gone a lot, and she never complains, and that is what makes her special. You can’t be a good coach, knowing your wife
is unhappy with your hours. It’s
impossible, and I have friends who are no longer in the coaching business
because of it. So this weekend, my
family is on the radar, and I am really looking forward to it.
Talk next week about Central and the problems they pose.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 16, 2008 09:40 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Win #250
Want to take just a
moment to talk about my feelings of winning #250. It truly is just a number to me, but it also
allows you to take a step back and evaluate how lucky I have been. My son, Jayson, had went on the trip with the
team, and it was great to have him there.
I honestly had forgotten about the record until after the game, Jayson
came up to me, hugged me and congratulated me.
You know when I started at BVU, Jayson was one year old. Now he is 13.
My family has changed a lot during the last 12 years, and things keep
moving in our household. So it does make
you take a step back and realize how fun this has been. I met up with two of my friends at church
the next morning, Steve Berg and Mike Sharar, and those two guys talked about
all the good players I have had, and I agreed.
But this is what I think about.
Everyone talks about Adam Jones, Scott Weber, Eric Wiebers, Chris
Petersen, Landon Roth, Brett Smith, Nick Dentlinger, Aaron Bloom, and Casey
Pelzer. Those are just a few. I think about Brad Nelson, who graduated in
1999. Brad never played for us, but was
big into lifting. And when he was a
senior, he wanted to take a freshman by the name of Adam Jones under his wing
and get him to work hard in the weight room.
Brad made him work hard, and understand the value of lifting. Brad gave himself up for the betterment of
the program. I think about Bryan Toft,
who graduated in 2003. In 2003, everyone
talked about Scott Weber, Chris Petersen, and Robby Beyer, who were great post
players. But Bryan Toft was the guys in
practice who worked those guys over everyday, and never got a real opportunity
in games. He gave himself up for the
betterment of the program. I think about
Adam Arndorfer and Adam Friedrichsen, who are seniors on our team right
now. I am so happy for these two
guys. They are back up post players, and
they have done everything for this program, and I can not be more happy for
these guys, as they are playing great and helping this program. On top of that, those two guys are
happy. They will always feel good about
their careers and the program, and that is what it is all about. I am leaving out many other players, but
those are the reasons I coach. I coach
because I have a chance to make a difference in these young guys lives. I coach because these guys make me feel
young, as this 42 year old man gets older and older. I coach, not to be self-serving, but to serve
these guys. And no matter what happens
with wins and losses, I will always be grateful for everything these guys have
given the program and to me. I can’t
even begin to exclaim how important these guys have been to me.
The game at Cornell
was one of our better games we have played in
Tonight we play
Simpson at home. We got real lucky at
Simpson a few weeks ago. We should have
lost. In fact, I think it was one of our
worst fundamental games we have played this year. But we were tough, and came up with some big
plays late, which is a great trait of a real good team like our team. We hope to come out and get after it tonight
and be a little better fundamentally. We
have spent a lot of time in the last two days working on the fundamentals of
the game, and I hope we continue to improve in that area over the last couple
of weeks.
This has been a real
fun year. These guys are great. It has been so much fun coming to work
everyday. I have no idea how this will
all work out, but I believe in our guys, and it will be fun to see how it all
works out.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 13, 2008 10:18 AM ) Permalink | Comments[2]
Going to Cornell
It is hard to believe, but we have only 25% of our season remaining. It has gone so fast, and it just becomes one big blur. When you are enjoying what you are doing, it really goes so fast. Another reason it goes so fast, is that my kids are playing all the time also. We have games almost every night. Last night, my daughter Courtney played in the first round of districts and they won. They start 3 freshmen, and they are still 11-11. They have had a fun year. It is fun to watch their improvement. Tonight, I and my son Jayson are going out recruiting, then staying in a hotel, then joining the team inOur game against
Wartburg really concerned me. We really
played well against Wartburg at home, and we were coming off of a loss. It is sometimes hard to bounce back after a
tough loss, and then play a team that you think you are better than. But our guys did a great job at
Wartburg. We came out with excellent
intensity, excellent offensive execution, and got a 15 point lead at half. After a good first 5 minutes of the 2nd
half, we coasted to a win. Wartburg has
lost both of their starting wing players for the year to injury, so they are
struggling a little, but no doubt there is some talent there in the
future. Dick Peth does a great job with
his teams.
Now we travel to
Cornell. This is also a tough game for
us. Cornell is a very good home
team. They really shoot well at home and
have a good rhythm. I am not sure what
it will be like tomorrow, but it usually is “Empty Seat Night” at Cornell,
where all their students come dressed as an empty seat, so it can be tough to
play in an atmosphere, where there is no crowd.
We just have to worry about ourselves and do the best we can. Mike De George has done a magnificent job at
Cornell. They have a very big front
line, and their combination of Michael Tierney and
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 08, 2008 02:21 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
On the Road this Week
What a game against
Coe on Saturday afternoon. A total of 28
3 pointers made in the game, in fact, together we shot 28-53 from the arc,
which is over 50%. If you are not on our
team, and you are just a fan, it was a real fun game to watch. Plenty of drama and plenty of made
shots. The end of the first half was
quite the ending. Brian Brungard makes a
30 footer, Andre Wagner makes an 18 foot fader, and Coe throws in a ¾ court
shot at the buzzer. Now that is drama
all in the last 30 seconds of the first half.
The second half went as I thought it would. The game would come down the paint. Coe had made 10 3’s in the first half, and I
knew it wouldn’t keep coming at us like that all night. Kyle Kuenstling was the difference. He scored inside and got to the FT line too
many times in the last 10 minutes. And
we did not make our FT’s in the last 5 minutes, which is something we have done
very well in the month of January. So,
we look at it as one of those nights, where Coe played a real nice game, and
our defense was not great, but not terrible.
This is college basketball, and all teams are capable of beating
you. On this night, the game belonged to
Coe. We will not make excuses
however. We can play better, and we will
work to be more consistent.
What a great crowd
though. 1,800 people in the stands, and
the game was an awesome game.
We now travel to
Wartburg. They have had some injury problems,
but they have now had a week off to get ready for the last run. We expect them to come out playing with a lot
of focus and expect them to play well.
However, we expect to play well also, and we will play together, and
fight it out. It will be a great game,
and one we are looking forward to. Mitch
Eslick, who is an outstanding freshman, is out with a knee injury, and that
hurts them, but they have one of the most exciting guards in the league in
Cashes Mason. Cashes is a play maker,
and our team better get ready for his dribble drive.
Here is a good trivia
question for you. How many teams in the
43 conferences in DIII, are undefeated in just conference play. That means you have probably played 13
conference games at the most in league play.
The answer is exactly 6. That is
not many, and it also tells us how tough it is to win on a consistent
basis. This is a hard business. And winning is tough to come by at times, so
it is important to enjoy the whole process and see how well we can do. Attitude is everything, and I love our guys’
attitude. We will continue to play well,
and try to improve.
GO Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 05, 2008 10:59 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Coe Comes to Town
I am doing my best to
keep the blogs coming, but I have to be honest with you. The day before a game is the most taxing time
for a coach. The day of a game is
usually a piece of cake. All of your
preparations for the next team are over.
Today, we are spending a lot of time watching film, and finding
tendencies. Then it is time to get ready
for our 30 minute meeting before practice.
We show a 5 minute tape of Coe, which breaks down some of their best
plays and players. Then we have a
scouting report over each player. We
also work out details of our schedule for tomorrow. It really can be quite stressful. Do I sound stressed? It really isn’t that bad, but it is a busy
day. Then leaving right after practice
for a 2 hour trip for recruiting. Me and
the windshield together again. I love
it. I will catch up on my major league
baseball on my XM radio tonite.
Luther got out on us
right away, but our defense over the last 35 minutes was very solid. Our offense really clicked a little better
also for most of the game. We really are
getting better. You can feel the tension
in the conference a little more this past week.
The coaches are yelling at the refs more, the players are complaining
more, and the refs are also a little edgy.
This happens every year about this time.
On Wednesday night, there were 7 technical fouls called in 4 games in
the conference. Everyone is on edge, as
we vie for our spots in the league. I
even found myself a little more on edge, so I have to watch for that a little
better and be more prepared to relax a little more. When games aren’t going your way, it’s hard
not to blame someone else, and the referees usually get the brunt of it, and
that really isn’t fair. They are doing
there best also.
Coe comes to
town. They are 5-5 in the conference,
but they bring a lot to the table. Kyle
Kuenstling is fantastic. He is one of
the to 2 players in the league. Kyle
White of Loras being the other. He does
everything. He passes, scores, rebounds,
and makes his teammates better. We need
a good performance from our posts in this game.
But more than that, they have a real nice collection of guards that
shoot, pass, and defend. I think they
will have a good 2nd half of the season, as they grow together a little
more. We were lucky to win at Coe before
Christmas, and we expect the same kind of game again tomorrow. Pat Juckem, the coach, has done a nice job
with his team. His teams are always
prepared as well as anyone is.
Time to get back to work. Parents Night also this Saturday. I want to thank the parents of my team for giving me the opportunity to coach their sons. This has been a special year for me. These guys are GREAT!! We are having a lot of fun, and not just because we are winning, but because they are fun-loving. I don’t care what happens the rest of the season, it has been a special year.
Go Beavers!!
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( February 01, 2008 04:14 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]
Luther Coming to Town
A few years ago there were a couple of teams in the league who were automatic wins, as long as we came out did our thing and played a decent game. This league is different this year. Luther comes to town with a 2-7 record and they have been in every game but one in the conference this year. They do a fantastic job, of keeping the score down with their defense and excellent shot selection. In my opinion, Mark Franzen, who is in his 2nd year, does one of the best jobs of coaching in our conference. Luther brings athletic posts and has a real good scoring threat in Austin Bildstein. Our defense and offensive execution has to be solid for us to get a win.Last Saturday at Dubuque was one of our better defensive performances this year. Our team really took Tyler Daugherty out of the game. Rahn Franklin and Jeff Bissen guarded him most of the night, but it is everyone’s responsibility to help and make his shots tough, and we did that. We got off to a hot start, and it was an uphill battle for Dubuque from there. Any time you play on the road, it gets tough, but we responded well.
Our team still has improvements to make. We can still shoot a better percentage from the floor. We still have not hit our peak offensive rhythm yet, and we are still inconsistent on the rebounding end. Some games are great, others are not. Our turnovers are getting better and better, but that is a weakness that can get you on any given night. Kyle Stribe has been out for 4 games, and is now practicing and will play this week. We are not sure about his conditioning yet, and his fundamentals, so we will work him in slowly, but make no mistake we need him. We need his long arms on defense, and need his outstanding 3 point shooting. Our guys have done just fine without him, but we want to continue to grow as a team. It is still January, and there is a long way to go in the league yet. One practice at a time, one game at a time, and enjoy every minute of it. We are fully aware that one bad week can change everything, so we will try to keep improving.
I am just sitting here thinking, I pay almost all of our bills in our house, and I haven’t paid a bill in 3 weeks. You get in the middle of a season, and everything that doesn’t mean much to you gets thrown out the window. So maybe since the weather is bad today, maybe I should pay a couple of bills before they disconnect everything we own. My daughter has one more week of games before tournaments start. Their team has won half of their games, and most of the time, there are at least 3 freshmen on the floor. The future looks bright for her team. She even scored a career high 12 points at Storm Lake St. Mary’s on Friday night. That gym is where she grew up, as I was at St. Mary’ for the first 2 years of her life. Time flies when you are having fun.
Go Beavers!!
Coach VH
Posted by phelpss [Men's Basketball] ( January 29, 2008 02:38 PM ) Permalink | Comments[1]


