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 8^th 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 6^th 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 San Antonio, and the Final Four.  The weather was great, and enjoyed 85 degrees everyday.  We had dinner with my ex-assistants, Trent Becker and his wife Ann, and Rob Klinkefus.  It was great getting together with the guys you went to war with everyday for years.  We also had dinner with Greg Gorton, the coach at Loras, and his wife Chris.  And we enjoyed a night with my great friend from high school Dave Van Horn.  He and his wife, Diana, live in Houston,  and don’t see each other much.  But always great to see them.  I am always for North Carolina, but if they weren’t going to win, then I am good with a Kansas win.  It was good for Barb and I to get away for a few days, and San Antonio is our favorite city.  We always enjoy the Mexican food, the margaritas, and the River Walk.  A place like no other. 

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 San Antonio on Thursday with Barb.  We are looking forward to the River Walk, the weather, and the Mexican food.  San Antonio is one of my favorite cities. 

 

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 Washington University was a very disappointing game for our guys and our program, but we are not disappointed in our season.  We had a great year.  I know we lost a game we could have won, but we also won a couple of games that we could have lost the week before.  The part that bothers me the most, is that we felt we were better than the other two teams in the bracket.  We felt we could beat Milsaps and St. Mary’s if we went out and played a decent game.  But that is life, and there is not sense in making your life miserable about the whole situation.  We will get back to this situation some day, and we will play better and go further.  Maybe next year, who knows. 

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 2^nd 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 St. Paul, and win or lose, we had a lot of fun being together.  But we won, and it is even sweeter.

The St. Thomas game was just an unbelievable atmosphere.  Could not hear a thing in that gym, and Coach Fritz had to go up to the student section and get rid of the artificial noise makers.  Could not hear a thing in that gym.  On top of that, St. Thomas starts off with a dunk, some 3’s coming off of offensive rebounds, and we got down by 10 early.  But to our guys credit, we never got rattled, in fact, had one of our better stretches of the year for the next 12 minutes, as we went on a 25-3 run.  We really played well defensively, and kept St. Thomas out of the lane.  We got ourselves up by 10 with 3 to go, and the wheels fell off.  All of a sudden a minute and a half later the game is tied.  Once again, we hung in there, and showed great composure, and got a couple of stops down the stretch, and Rahn made 4 FT’s in a row to get up by 4 with 9 seconds remaining.  After a bucket and a fould with 2.6 seconds left, we were up 72-70 with Rahn at the line.  He missed both, then BJ Viau dribbled to half court and shot it up, and from where I was, it was in, and instead it bounced off the back rim.  Andre Wagner and I looked at each other, and sighed a big relief.  What a game, what an atmosphere, and a real well played game.  I know St. Thomas feels they did not shoot well, but I think we got St. Thomas to shoot the shots we wanted them to shoot.  We dictated the game.  However, the Tommies had outstanding full court pressure that gave us a lot trouble once in awhile.  I am very happy for Rahn Franklin who made those FT’s.  He felt like he was the one who lost the game for us against Loras last week.  Although that is not true, because this is a team game, it was nice to see Rahn get a little redemption and come up big for us at the foul line.

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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 Chicago to death, and got some easy looks on the arc.  We wanted to stop the dribble drive and keep them from going deep in the lane to the opposite side for easy looks on the arc.  Now usually we want to pressure more, but we felt that Stevens Point, had better offense against that type of defense.  I am really proud of our guys, as they really took it upon themselves to stop the guy in front of them, and make a stand for who they were.  As we got up by 6, El-Amin, the Pointers fine pt. guard hit a long ‘3’, then got another look on the arc with one minute left.  We thought it was a ‘3’ and called timeout, thinking we were tied.  But the officials called it a two, as his toe was on the line.  By the way, the call was correct.  You can see on tape, that he was on the line, so the officials were on it.  That changed our stategy down the stretch, and the last few seconds were excruciating.  There was about 9 seconds between the shot clock and the game clock, therefore, we needed to get a shot up.  We got a decent look with 12 seconds left, but Travis Person came up with a great offensive rebound.  Point tried to foul, knocked the ball out of bounds  twice and finally fouled with 2 seconds remaining.  Another one and one for Rahn.  He missed, and Point called a timeout with 1.8 seconds left.  After Point set up, I have to be honest with you, I called a timeout, just for myself.  I needed to make sure we had our responsibilities down on their long pass down the floor.  I also wanted the guys to know that we were going to do this correctly, and be positive about the situation.  We put Steve Gute on the ball, as the 7 footer jumped up and down, and the throw was pretty good, but Fog got his hand on the ball, the ball bounced away, and Travis threw it in the air, and we are going to the Sweet 16.  This is sweet accomplishment for our program.  We are excited about going to St. Louis and playing the Preseason #1 Team in the country.  What a great privilege. 

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 Rockford College, and we beat them to go to the Sweet 16.  On that night, Eric Wiebers turned 20 years old, and he played a great game.  5 years later Eric Wiebers turns 25, and coaches a great game, and makes sure we are ready to guard Stevens Point properly.  Could not do this without him.  He is a great assistant.  Also, Randy Bissen does a great job with our posts.  Take a look at Matt Cleveland.  He has come so far, and he was why we won last night, and you have to give Randy all the credit.  It truly is unbelievable that Matt only gets Honorable Mention All Conference, as he has some real good skills, and is very versatile.  Alison Mosel is our trainer, and her and our student trainers do a great job, to take care of each player, as at this time of year, all the guys are a little banged up.  Also, want to thank all of our fans.  They matched the Tommies on Friday night, and they were great last night also.  Want to thank Chris Boeckman also.  He is the best voice to broadcast games.  He is having a lot of fun, getting to know our team.  Nobody does a game better than Chris.  He gave up the opportunity to receive an award at the Iowa State Tournament, to go on the trip with us to Minneapolis.  What a great friend.  Steve Phelps and his staff do a great job with Sports Information.  They are right on top of everything, and appreciate all he does.  And finally, I am always inspired by my good friend Nick Huber.  Our former SID, who makes the trip with his wife Ann.  It was great having him right by our bench for both games.  His battle with ALS, inspires each and every one of our team members.  Our guys love him, and he is sacrificing a lot to come up and see us play.  
 

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 St. Paul, MN, to play St. Thomas on their home floor.  Not going to lie to you, it was a tough couple of days waiting to hear whether we got in or not.  And on top of that, once there was only the St. Thomas bracket left, I knew it came down to that site.  It was great to see our name on that line.  It’s one thing to get in and be happy about it, but it is also another, when you deserve to be in the tournament.  And we deserve to be in.  We are a real good team, with a lot of weapons.  We can do all things pretty well.  St. Thomas is really good too.  They won the Minnesota League and won it by 3 games.  They are athletic, and can really put the ball in the basket.  We look for a good game.  We will have trouble stopping them, but the same probably holds true for us.  Our key is to make sure we keep our turnovers down.  If we can do that, we will at least have a chance.

If we win, we play the winner of Stevens Point and University of Chicago.  What is weird about this, is that in 2000, we played the Sweet 16 here in Storm Lake, and 3 of the 4 teams return to St. Paul for another round this weekend.  Stevens Point, Chicago, and BVU, played in that Sweet 16 in Storm Lake.   Chicago’s head coach Mike McGrath and I have become good friends since then, and stay in touch, so it will be good to see him again this weekend.  I hope we have a chance to play each other.

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 Iowa Conference Coaches Meeting.  So needless to say, time is short.  But having the time of my life.  This is awesome, and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

 

GO Beavers!!
 

Coach VH

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 Griffin La Dew from Cornell both times.  Guys like that he guards well.   Rahn is a leader on this campus, and has done great things when it comes to diversity on this campus.  Not many inner city kids come to BVU, and succeed.  Rahn has done it with flying colors, and I am really proud of him.
 

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.

Dubuque comes to town on Thursday night.  No one is more important to his team in this league than Tyler Daugherty.  He is really good, and scored 38 points on Tuesday vs. Central.  We have to have an outstanding approach to him tomorrow night.  It is not just about Rahn and Jeff guarding him, it is a team effort.  The problem we have with Dubuque, is that their pt. guard Taylor Blum did not play against us either time, as he was out with an injury, but two weeks ago he was the player of the week in the league and had 30 points at Central two weeks ago.  So with him and Daugherty in the guard court, you can see why they win games.  Their posts are also very athletic and they also have one more shooter that has been hot lately.

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 Iowa Conference Tournament, and we are hoping to play well.  The last couple of days, we have concentrated on ourselves, and tried to improve a few things.  Today, we will prepare for Dubuque, and practice for about an hour.

 

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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 Dubuque and Central.  The game starts at 7:00.  Stay tuned.

 

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 Pella was not just another game that ends in a 2 point loss, but also for our game against Loras on Saturday, it is the first time that two teams with a tied record are playing each other on the last night of the year.  Steve Phelps, our SID, has told me he has went back 30 years, and this has not happened.  So let’s get ready for a lot of fun.

The game in Pella was something else.  In my last blog, I had talked about the 3 guards, and Keith Pedersen.  Those four guys went 10-28 from the field, which is 36% from the field from your best 4 players.  If those numbers showed up in 100 straight games, you would say you would win 99 of those.  Well that one time happened to us.  If not for senior night in Pella, Simeon Lang and AJ Meyer, may not have even played much.  But they started, and made a total of 11 3’s between the two of them, after making a total of 7 on the year, prior to the game.  If we are going to stop De Hoogh and Clark, then we need help from others, and we were willing to let Meyer and Lang have some open looks.  But that is the great thing about athletics.  Not only were we down 22 points in the first half, but we showed a lot of poise and class in coming all the way back to have a one point lead.  Things did not go our way in the last minute, but I am so proud of the way our guys hung in there for the whole game.  We never gave up, and I am proud to have these guys on my team.   Central played a real nice game and deserved to win, and our guys showed a lot of heart.

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 Dubuque, we played well enough to win, but I would say that neither team played great offensively.  I think Coach Gorton would agree.  I shouldn’t speak for him, he might disagree.  Kyle White is the reigning MVP of the league, and he and his supporting cast can all shoot, rebound, and defend.  They all weigh over 200 lbs. and that makes for a tough match up for us.  But we have our strengths in the game also.  We have a little quickness on them, and probably on paper, a little depth.  We just need to go out and play our game, and not try to change a whole lot.

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!!
 

Coach VH

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 7^th 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 Mount Vernon in a long time.  We have struggled from time to time at Cornell, but this game went well.  We had good execution and got great shots all night.  Our posts had real good games.  Matt Cleveland was solid as a rock, and Fog and Freddy were real good also.  Our defense was just ok in this game.  We have to be better defensively.  We gave up too many easy shots, however, we did turn them over 23 times.  So we did a nice job with pressure, but at times we broke down, and got screed too many times.

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 in Mount Vernon tomorrow for the Cornell game.  I am really looking forward to this.  It will be fun for us to spend the next couple of day together, just the two of us.  I sold him on this trip, when I promised a hotel stay and a foot long at Subway on Saturday for lunch.  He could care less about the recruiting or our game, he just wants to swim and eat.  Oh well, whatever I have to do to get him to want to spend time with his old man.

Our 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 2^nd 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 Griffin La Dew make for an excellent tandem of guards.  They are also a team with more depth than most, so it will be a game that comes down to the wire.  We will do our best to stand up to the challenge.   Cornell is one of 4 teams in our league right now with 6 wins.  So this will be an exciting last 2 ½ weeks to see where everything shakes out in the conference race.  When you have a one game lead in the league, you think you should feel good about that, but when you have tough games remaining like we do, it is important to not even look at the Standings.  We know where we are, but every game is critical.  We are really talking about just playing good basketball, smart basketball, and the wins and losses will take care of themselves.  Easier said than done, but that is what we are trying to do.

 

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 2^nd 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!!
 

Coach VH

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]