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