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]