March 14, 2011
For the fifth year in a row, I sat in a locker room in Missouri at College of the Ozarks, with my peers, reflecting on the end of a season. Each year it feels about the same. It’s characterized by that vague, sinking, melancholy swirl of “what-ifs” and “what-could-have-beens.” There is also a gradual sense of relief as the reality sinks in, that the foot is off the gas, that next year will be better, and that more playing time is in store.
Last week, after our final loss to Eastern Oregon in the first round of the tournament, the feelings were quite different. Instead of looking ahead to the next season, I turned and looked back on the last five. I can only recall vague snippets of most games, a big play here, a comical collision of bodies there, but it is mostly memories off the court that remain burned into my mind’s eye in the most vivid detail. Of course there are quite a few on-court moments that I will never forget like a sweat-soaked Adam Riehle sliding about 20 feet across the floor after being tripped by a Shawnee State player while simultaneously looking incredulously at the referee for a whistle. Or watching various personalities clash in practice, moments from throwing fists, only to resume being best of friends minutes later.
Basketball has played a massive role in my life during my college experience and it’s hard to convey the sense of belonging I’ve felt. Players come and go but it’s the personalities that I will remember the most. Guys like Matt “Mr. Buckets” Harner, Derrick “Dougie” Hannon, and Adam “Tank” Riehle have had stellar basketball careers, but it is the people behind the players that I will love for life.
Harner is getting married this summer to CU alum Mallory White and will be moving to the Lone Star State where he’ll probably be working as a Physical Education professional, wearing immaculate brand-new shoes for every day of the month and looking altogether sweet.
Zach “Thick” Westrum will go to work in the family business back in Iowa wheeling and dealing fine Ford automobiles, as well as serving as my financial advisor for years to come. (FYI, Zach’s idea of light pleasure reading is his copy of Security Analysis, a 725-page tome about… err… money stuff.)
Adam Riehle is also getting married this summer to Lady Yellow Jacket senior standout Lydia Miller and will be going into the ministry.
Derrick Hannon still has a year left to finish his teaching degree and will spend most of his time lifting weights and hanging out with Harner’s little sister.
Two of our valuable student assistants who have done tons of work behind-the-scenes for us will also be graduating:
Matt “MattyMo” Morrison who is one of the most beloved people on campus, and I am happy to announce, recently engaged, will graduate but will still be seen being super friendly around the fitness center at all hours of the day.
Joe “Country Strong” Osborn will graduate and looks to further his education at Physical Therapy school in the near future. (By the way readers, Joe recently astounded us in Branson by eating FOUR 12-oz. steaks in one sitting at Lambert’s café.)
It’s exciting to close the basketball chapter of my life’s story and wonder how the next few pages of this (hopefully) long book will read. It feels good not to be the lost college senior without an idea of his next move. I am more than ready to commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps as one of the nation’s “few good men” and I am positive that many of my experiences in basketball will serve me well in my future leading marines. The team dynamic and shared purpose in the Marines closely mirrors that of a basketball team. It’s been said that basketball is a microcosm of real life, but I believe it is more than that. Not only does athletics mirror the real world, but it also teaches those lessons that cannot be taught anywhere else but on a field or a court. Athletics teaches us things that the nerd with the 4.0 GPA, sitting behind a stack of books in the library, may never understand.
It is time to wrap up this final blog and fulfill my final responsibility as a college athlete. Once again, I will be forever grateful for all the experiences and memories that I have had aboard Starship Yellow Jacket. I thank God for every single person who has been placed in my life since I have been at Cedarville. I thank God for every experience both good and bad, for lessons learned both easy and hard. These past five years have shaped and molded me in untold ways and it was because of these hard lessons that I am who I am today and I would not change that for anything in this world.
Goodbye and thanks for reading.
March 7, 2011
We arrived in bustling Branson, Missouri mere minutes ago and settled in to our cozy digs at the Comfort Inn. After traversing the Midwest in our giant, double-decker stars-and-stripes sleeper bus, it was time to head over to the Branson Recplex gym for our 3 o’clock practice slot.
We got a couple days off from practice last week to rest our bodies in preparation for our tournament run this week. I can’t say it felt good to get out and practice for an hour after sitting on a bus for half a day, but it was necessary. Tonight, our sponsors from The Track - Craig, Larry, and Mike are taking us all to Lambert’s Café. To say the least, Lambert’s is a unique culinary dining destination that we’ve had the privilege to visit the last four years. It’s the home of “throwed” rolls. Sometime this week we’ll get the chance to visit The Track and take free rides on the go-carts until our knuckles bleed, or they kick us out.
I’m excited about our last trip out to Branson for the NAIA DII National Tourney and am excited to see what kind of unique memories will be wrought here.
February 28, 2011
We won two solid conference tournament games at home this last week. Tuesday, after an ugly second half, we were able to scrape by with a win against Point Park University.
On Saturday afternoon, with a good crowd that provided a lot of energy in the second half, we put away the Raiders of Roberts Wesleyan by two points in our last home game. Saturday was a must-win game for us as it determined whether or not we would be heading to Branson, Missouri for NAIA Nationals one final time. It’s hard to articulate the level of excitement and relief we all felt, knowing that it was our last chance to make it into the tourney. Roberts Wesleyan was a tough team and we really had to gut it out for that win.
I’ve been to Branson for the tournament for the last five years in a row and I am excited to once again see the greatest show on four hooves, the Dixie Stampede. I can’t wait to ride some go-carts, eat a month’s worth of food in a week, go on one final long charter bus ride, and most importantly . . . win some basketball games.
February 21, 2011
Disclaimer: The blog you are about to read (or skim) is maudlin and overly sentimental, has very little to do with basketball and may bore you to tears… but I don’t care. Enjoy!
My college basketball career mostly happened by accident. I was not recruited in high school, and although I achieved a modicum of success in my senior year, I spent my first three years scratching for playing time. As I grew into my body and spent my afternoons in the off-seasons playing pick-up ball at the municipal field house, I always dreamt of playing basketball at the next level. This was mostly because my late-bloomer body was just starting to develop into a big-boy basketball frame and I finally started to feel like a legitimate player. Even then, I was tall but lacked next-level athleticism, a low-post scoring arsenal, and the killer instinct needed to be an impact player in any serious college program.
As I narrowed my college decision and decided to come to Cedarville, I decided to make a visit to campus. I had been somewhat familiar with the basketball program, as I had attended summer camps under current uncle and former head coach Jeff Reep and then-coach Ray Slagle. My cousin Ryan, a 2009 graduate, was also a sophomore member of the team at the time. Ryan planted the seedling of possibility in my mind that I could possibly play ball at CU and wanted me to come by and watch practice. As I was introduced to Ryan’s teammates, I was immediately struck by their warmth and down-to-earth sensibilities. Every member of the team were genuine friends to one another and this made an immediate impact on me. I wanted to be a part of this.
To cut a long story short, I walked-on, made the JV team and at Christmas of my freshman year I was moved up and onto the varsity roster. For the first time in my life, I was the member of a team in which everyone got along, the coaches were likable, and both the players and coaching staff benefitted from a high level of mutual respect. This was a far cry from my high school experiences. I loved where I was at basketball-wise. Although I was just an undersized and under-skilled freshman cheering from the bench, I was happy to be a part of a great team and an even greater group of guys. Deep down I figured that if I continued to work hard and put in my time, soon I would find myself on the court making an impact. I looked at some of the upperclassmen that struggled for meaningful playing time and thought to myself, “I’ll never be that guy. I’ll quit basketball before I spend my afternoon hours toiling in practice just to sit on the bench on game nights.”
As I spent more time with these guys though, I understood how well-respected these guys were amongst their teammates and how they played not only for the love of the game, but for the love of every other guy with a Yellow Jacket jersey.
As the years wore on, I continued to struggle and to learn and soon found myself in the very same position I always dreaded, that of the upperclassman bench-warmer. I found though, that quitting basketball was no longer an option as my freshman-self had once postulated. I loved this program too much, I had been through and seen too much and most of all, I loved my teammates too much to quit. I felt that it was still my job to encourage and be the best possible teammate I could, no matter how painful it may be. I learned to endure the disappointment with the faint hope that my coaches were not taking me for granted and that somehow I was making some small difference for my teammates.
Although I did not always feel taken seriously as a player, I was determined not to let it dampen my spirit. I resolved that I would play (or not play) for the benefit of others only and for the glory of my Creator. I have found that since I have adopted this view, I’m no longer angered or disappointed by the game of basketball. I play not to put the ball through an orange rim, but to spend time with the guys who mean most to me. I ultimately hope that no matter how I may be perceived otherwise, by players or coaches, I want to be remembered as a guy who cared first and foremost about his teammates. To be honest, I have never been too concerned with wins or losses, ever. This may come as a shock to others and to some it may not but I just want to have fun with my teammates and I like to win because they like to win. I don’t hate losing because I am afraid of a wrathful coach, but because I hate long faces and somber bus rides. I hate the disappointment in the faces of guys who just left their heart and soul on the court for 40 minutes. I love to win because nothing beats seeing the pure joy on the faces of my teammates after a solid victory. I love to win because nothing beats seeing them satisfied in their accomplishment at the end of the night.
Over the last five years, I have seen players come and go (myself included, which is the reason I’m a fifth-year senior). I have experienced elation and sorrow and I have ridden all the ups and downs that come with basketball and with life. When I made huge mistakes, my teammates were there to pick me up and the coaches were there to welcome me back into the fold. I have experienced redemption from both my God and my teammates. They have pushed and encouraged me to seek a higher relationship with the Most High. It is for this that I am most thankful.
My pride has taken some massive hits lately but I hope that I can use it as yet another learning experience in this grand adventure. I want to keep winning as we ride our momentum into the post-season and I would want nothing less than to finish on the ultimate high note - as National Champions.
However, when the buzzer sounds and the curtain finally closes on my college basketball career, I will shed no tears, for it has truly been a long, strange.… and (mostly) wonderful trip.
February 14, 2011
I could sit here and wax poetic about how wonderful my experiences have been as a member of this basketball team (very wonderful) or how strange it is to be poised on the brink of my last week of regular season games (very strange), but I’m sure it has all been written before by writers far better than myself so I will refrain, at least until next week. I am very excited about the three games coming up in the next six days, and I sincerely hope that they will not be my last. I plan to relish the last regular season week of my basketball career and enjoy every last minute of the games we have left.
We have put together two solid wins in the last few days including, one of our best team performances all season, a stomping of the Mount Vernon Cougars on Saturday. These next three conference games will be huge for us when it comes to down to seeding for the American Mideast Conference Tournament. A couple upsets occurred in the conference this week, which may make tournament time a little bit more exciting. We face Wilberforce at home on Tuesday, a make-up game at Malone on Thursday, and a Senior Night home game against Notre Dame on Saturday.
As I enjoy every last moment with my teammates, here in the twilight of my basketball career, I can’t help but praise God for the beautiful young men He has given me the opportunity to play this game with.
February 7, 2011
This past week was full of ups and downs. After an exciting home win on Thursday we suffered a very tough loss in front of a massive crowd of Lil Sib’s on Saturday. Our game at Malone that was scheduled for last Tuesday was postponed due to bad weather which left us with an extra day to get in some shooting practice and another day to let our wheels stop spinning a little.
Thursday we pulled out a solid home win against a Point Park team that beat us in overtime a few weeks ago. The biggest story from that night was sophomore Caleb Maxwell exploding for career-highs of 25 points. and 13 rebounds. After getting an earful at halftime from Coach Estepp for some early mistakes, Caleb responded with intensity and his superb effort in the second half did not go unnoticed by his teammates or the fans, who began chanting his name while he was shooting free throws with a couple minutes left in the game. A native of Tennessee, Caleb’s parents were fortunate enough to be in the bleachers for the game and it was great to see them so pumped for their baby boy. His performance came in a timely fashion, as we were struggling offensively without Brian Hecker, who has been sidelined by a hip flexor injury.
Hecker missed the game Saturday as well and we had a rough game both offensively and defensively. We had trouble hitting shots and getting stops and that cost us the game. It was terrible to get another conference loss at home, and even the massive crowd wasn’t much help. Our fans and their little siblings who were present seemed particularly docile that night and failed to provide the boost that they normally can. Most of the fans in their bleachers never even rose to their feet except for at the very end when the loss was pretty much imminent. Nevertheless, we didn’t do what was necessary and will now be facing an uphill battle for a good seeding in the American Mideast Conference Tournament.
January 31, 2011
Just returned early Sunday morning from a busy weekend of travel, fresh off the bus from balmy Buffalo. Once more we boarded the bus Thursday night to face our AMC opponents to the North and came home with two conference wins. Driving through the remote wilds of upstate New York was quite an adventure as we left civilization and eventually found the snowy Eden of the Houghton campus in the middle of the barren landscapes of Centerville, New York. We defeated the Houghton Highlanders without too much trouble and then had the opportunity to watch the women’s team pull out a win AFTER us.
The next day, for the third time this season, we handily put away the Daemen Wildcats. At the end of the game, we were treated to quite a spectacle. With about 50 seconds left on the clock, a Daemen player was called for a foul on a rebound. He had something to say to the referee, which earned him a technical foul. The Daemen head coach then also added his contrarian opinion to the referee, earning himself a technical as well. Then, as the home crowd began to murmur in excitement, the head coach became livid and after further verbal rebuking of the officiating crew, was awarded his second technical and an ejection from the game. The home crowd was “eating it up” and Matt Harner shot 6 foul shots for the 3 rapid-fire technicals.
We made it back to Cedarville early Sunday morning, only to find out a day later that we might be leaving for Tuesday’s game at Malone on Monday night because of bad weather coming our way. Logging long hours on the charter bus is just the name of the game when riding into battle with the Cedarville Yellow Jackets.
January 24, 2011
By most standards, it was a particularly uneventful week for us. With no game on Tuesday, we were given the day off and I was lucky enough to spend my entire day in and out of waiting rooms at the Wright-Patterson AFB hospital for my Marine Corps flight physical. My pupils were numbed and dilated for most of the day for the battery of vision tests, which left me unable to read. Therefore, my senses were bombarded by the opiate of the daytime television watching masses . . . Joy Behar and the HLN network. I heard over and over again on a continuous loop, which cell phones were most likely to irradiate my brain as well the shocking revelation that college students spend up to 75% of their time either sleeping or socializing . . . like I said, shocking. As far as I know, all the other tests went well and if everything clears, I’ll be one step closer to commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.
During practice this week, Coach Estepp mentioned repeatedly how we all looked like we were “dragging” and that there was a lack of enthusiasm. I can’t speak for all my teammates, but this time of year usually brings about the early semester blues. The weather grows colder, the assignments begin to pile up, and the joints begin to tire. Nevertheless, I thought we were well prepared for the big Alumni Weekend home match-up against the #1-ranked, undefeated Walsh Cavaliers. We played some of our best defense all season but struggled offensively and failed to interrupt their impressive win streak.
Earlier that morning, we had the privilege to witness the annual shootout that is the alumni game. Defense is thrown out the window and washed-up Cedarville ballers attempt to relive their glory days by launching contested threes and walking up and down the floor. Assistant coach Brandon Sok made his alumni game debut and had a standout performance, racking up points and even flushing home a couple dunks. 2009 grad Grant “The Gun” Walker had an impressive showing as well and 2006 grad Jason “Nash-ty” Weakley once again shot the lights out and served up some tasty assists. However, the crowd favorite and MVP was former JV phenom Joel “Goldie” Walton. According to former men’s head coach Ray Slagle - Joel was the “best rebounder in the AMC.” Walton lived up to his legend - missing layups, diving to the hardwood at every opportunity, and mesmerizing the crowd with his mastery of the “slip ‘n’ slide” and other impressive ball-handling abilities.
January 17, 2011
Ohio was sprinkled with a little snow earlier last week and our road game at Notre Dame (OH) on Tuesday was called off - presumably because of dangerous traveling conditions. We were actually never even given an explanation, just a text message from Coach Beschta telling us that instead of boarding a bus and visiting lovely South Euclid, we were expected to be ready for practice. The Lady Jackets were nowhere to be seen in the gymnasium because their kind and caring patron, Coach Martin, had decided to grant them a day to rest their bodies and souls. We were given no such thing and had to steel our hearts for another tough practice. To Coach Estepp’s credit, however, we were actually granted a day off the very next day.
With a week of preparation behind us, we left Friday evening for Point Park University’s gym, or more accurately, the community college gym they just . . . err . . . borrow? I’m not sure how their specific arrangement works but we’ve gotten used to traveling, not to Point Park in downtown Pittsburgh, but rather to the Community College of Allegheny County campus, which is far from the city. This is rather unfortunate because I wasn’t able to see my brother, who is a freshman studying acting at Carnegie-Mellon University, just a few miles from Point Park’s main campus. He also wasn’t able to make it to the game because he was busy at the zoo observing the white-cheeked gibbon, a requirement for his “animal project” in his acting class. This fact confirmed my theory I’ve been considering for some time now . . . I chose the wrong major.
We knew that even though Point Park’s top two scorers were out with injuries, the game would not be an easy match-up. In the second half, with less than two minutes to play, we were down by eight points. Matt “Mr. Buckets” Harner hit a big three. Then Derrick “Dougie” Hannon plucked a steal out of the point guard’s pocket and finished on our end for a lay-up. We then found ourselves trailing by only three. After a missed three-point attempt from Daniel “The Mustache” Hickman, Caleb “To Da Max” Maxwell tore the crucial offensive rebound out of the air and away from the defense. Caleb passed the ball back out and it found itself in the capable hands Austin “Size 12” Foote who buried his seventh trey of the night with eight seconds left. Unfortunately, the Pioneers hit some tough shots and put us away in overtime. Harner scored a career-high 32 points and Foote managed to add 23. The record for most three-point shot attempts was also tied that night.
January 10, 2011
The final week of our break was punctuated by two home wins and a team Christmas party a full nine days after the actual Christmas holiday. On Monday, January 3rd, we convened at the family home of senior John Matthew Harner for a fine meal, the exchange of gifts, and some playful shenanigans. Every year coach Estepp compiles a list of “most likely to’s” and we subsequently decide - in a truly democratic manner by voting and hand-raising - who will face the most miserable financial future, who will get married first, have the most children, etc. It’s always a barrel of laughs and this year my teammates determined that I would not only be the most likely to be the driver of a team charter bus, but also an astronaut and paradoxically, also the most likely to “live in a van down by the river.” I can’t recall many of the other categories but some of the outcomes were predictable and others not so much.
Last Tuesday we beat Mount Vernon at home which was nice because usually we have tons of student and fan support for that game so it was great to get a win in a nearly empty gym. The same can also be said for Saturday’s game against Daemen College. We faced Daemen and won earlier in the season, but we knew that Saturday’s game would not be a cakewalk. The game wasn’t the prettiest, and the referees made it tough on us at times but we managed to scrape by with a win for the second time this week.
January 3, 2011
It’s been two long weeks since I sat down to type out the last blog and a certain assistant coach Sok complained that the tone of my last few entries were too “depressing” so I’m going to try and cheer it up a bit . . . just kidding. Most of us returned to campus on the evening of December 27th for what we thought would be a brief shoot around to get the blood flowing and sweat out some holiday snacks, treats, cakes, and goodies. Instead we were promptly notified that we had to each run three sets of five sprints the length of the court in under a minute, aptly named “five trips in a minute.” On top of that were some full-court defensive shuffles and some weightlifting with just a little bit of shooting sprinkled on top. Needless to say, it wasn’t the ideal way to wean us off the holiday spirit.
The next morning we were delighted find out we had to practice at 7:30 am before our 9:30 am departure in the Great White Beast sleeper bus to Sault St. Marie, Michigan. After several hours, we stopped in Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the Purdue-Michigan basketball match up. The Boilermakers made light work of the Wolverines and the highlight of the game came at halftime when Lebronco James, Alex Frogriguez, Yao Flamingo, and Mackerel Jordan of the famed ZOOperstars performed their intricately choreographed dance routine. After the game, we headed north once more and stopped for the night in Saginaw, Michigan.
The next morning we practiced at Saginaw Valley State University, showered, and hit the road. After several more hours on the highway as we continued towards the North Pole, strip malls and cell phone towers slowly gave way to rolling hills of old-growth birch and pine. We finally crossed the Mackinac Island Bridge, the third longest of its kind in the world. This was actually also the only time I can recall seeing the sun the entire trip. After we checked into our hotel in Sault St. Marie, we loaded the bus, headed towards the ferry docks, and steamed across the St. Mary’s River to Sugar Island, the home of Dr. Steve Gruber, Chair of the Cedarville Education Department, and his wife.
The Grubers treated us to a hearty meal of spaghetti and meatballs and we entertained ourselves for the rest of the night with card games and a particularly intense game of “OOOPS Sssorry,” aka Aggravation. We tried in vain to see across the waters of the Great Lakes through binoculars, but the darkness and ubiquitous haze hindered visibility in this majestic northern land. We did, however, see the lights of the 1000-ft. freighters as they slipped by in the inky water just a few hundred yards offshore. Special thanks from everyone goes out to Dr. Gruber and his wife for showing us such special hospitality that night and for making up 50% of our loyal fan base the next night versus Lake Superior State.
The next afternoon we faced the Lakers and after a poor first half of shooting, we found ourselves trailing by 11 at halftime. During the second half we cranked up our defensive intensity and clawed our way back into the game, even taking the lead at one point. Unfortunately, they hit a couple clutch shots down the stretch and ended up putting us away by 4. Austin Foote was back on the court for the first time since his shoulder injury against Walsh on Dec. 2nd and hit some big shots and had a great return debut. It was tough to lose a game that we fought so hard to stay in and it made the 10+-hour drive home a little less jovial.
All in all, it was a great trip and as always, the camaraderie amongst teammates was superb. From now on, conference play heats up and the competition will be fierce in the AMC. As redshirt junior Robby “Rob Bob” Harmon puts it best, “LET’S DOOOOO THISSS!!”
December 20, 2010
There is something very depressing about watching my fellow students pack up their belongings, prepare to depart Cedarville and return to their native lands for three long weeks, knowing that I’ll still be stuck in an empty dormitory while they are catching up with old friends, munching homemade holiday baked goods, and stroking the soft fur of the friendly family kitty cat.
My mornings will be filled with basketball, my belly full of greasy but delectable Colonial Pizza, and my free hours spent wishing I wasn’t in Cedarville and didn’t have to show up to practice the next day. My comrades-in-arms have done just that the last few days and will soon be granted five short days to return to the loving arms of our mothers for our version of Christmas break.
However, there will be plenty more to gripe about once we return to Cedarville on Dec. 27th, because the very next day we will be granted the once-in-a-lifetime (thankfully) opportunity to drive nine hours North to beautiful, sunny Sault St. Marie, Michigan to play Lake Superior State.
I guess the one benefit of being marooned on basketball island for the majority of the break is that it makes returning home to my family all the sweeter and it keeps us from taking any time off for granted. I guess I can’t really complain too much, after all, I have three free meals a day and all the time in the world to join my fellow teammates in making fun of Coach Sok at every opportunity. Life is good, but I can’t wait to get home, give momma Reep a kiss . . . and let her feed me for a week.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
December 13, 2010
The most stressful 10 days of my academic career are now over and finals loom ahead. Last week was a whirlwind of schoolwork, senior presentations, and basketball with a nasty cold virus thrown in for added measure. Tuesday we made the short jaunt to Wilberforce to face the Bulldogs and came away with a very solid win. I was feeling rotten with a cold and achy fever, didn’t dress for the game and spent the duration of the night at the end of the bench with the rest of the injured and red-shirted. Sucking down throat lozenges, I tried my best to shout encouragement to my teammates despite my voice sounding like Gollum, if he had given up his lifelong search for the One Ring and decided to spend his days in coal country, chain-smoking Marlboro’s and sipping drain cleaner. We won handily and “tomahawk-chopped” our way all the home on Route 42.
We were informed later in the week that we would be leaving Friday morning for our Saturday afternoon game in lovely Rochester, NY. Now when I say “lovely,” what I really mean is “gloomy,” or more accurately, “dismal.” We were all just ecstatic to be spending our crunch time weekend before finals week on a bus en route to snow country and I desperately hoped I would be able to get SOME work done during the bus ride. However, there was one aspect of this trip that would soften the dread of this odious journey north. That one aspect was that we would be riding aboard the Great White Beast double-decker sleeper bus. Also the fact that only one student assistant and none of the red-shirts would be traveling meant that we would have plenty of room to stretch our creaky joints and relax during the 8-hour journey.
The bus was very comfortable, so comfortable in fact, that I did zero work and slept the entire trip north. We managed to put on our work clothes and grind out a win in the expansive field house of the Roberts Wesleyan gym before climbing back aboard the Beast for our return journey. After spending some time at the front of the bus cutting up with the dudes and enduring scalding splashes of Haterade, something terrible happened. I turned towards the rear to climb into the comfy nest I had created in the back of the bus and discovered my bed had been commandeered by one of our elderly bus drivers, who happily snoozed away, with my pillow! Heartbroken, I slumped into a different seat and, unable to sleep, had to spend the rest of the trip absorbed in my book.
Finals week. I’m coming at you with my #2 pencils, locked and loaded. . . .
December 6, 2010
Not much to write about this week. Finals week is approaching, the weather has grown bitter cold, and many of us are battling sickness.
We suffered two losses to conference opponents but came away from Saturday night with a big win at home.
Tuesday we faced the Malone University Pioneers at home and couldn’t shut down their sharpshooters and they made us pay dearly for it.
Thursday we traveled to Walsh University to play the National Tournament runner-up Cavaliers. Led by first team NAIA All-American Jeremy Shardo, the Cavaliers are a force to be reckoned with. Walsh has always had a very strong program and this year is no exception. Please also remember to keep sophomore Austin Foote in your prayers this week. Austin suffered a dislocated shoulder in the second half of Thursday’s game and will be out for some time. “Footy” has been struggling since the preseason with an injury to his hamstring as well and we look forward to having him back at 100%.
We finally seemed to come together as a team on Saturday and played some of our best team basketball all season. We moved the ball well and created shots for one another. The offense was free-flowing and showed glimpses of the type of offense for which Cedarville basketball is known. We jumped out early on Houghton and played consistently for 40 minutes, which is something we’ve struggled to do this season. It felt great to get a solid win in front of a home crowd.
November 29, 2010
Last week we were able to get our first home win as well as split with a win and a loss over the weekend at the Gary Miller Classic Tournament at Gannon University in Erie, PA. While our peers enjoyed their Thanksgiving evenings probably lying around their warm and cozy homes with their families, focusing their physical efforts on digesting the prodigious amount of food snaking its way through their gastrointestinal systems, we had the wonderful opportunity to convene at the Stranahan Gymnasium for a couple hours of practice. There is nothing quite like pushing through the physical discomfort that accompanies basketball practice mere hours after engaging in the ritualistic gluttony that is Thanksgiving. The reason we met for practice at 9 p.m. that evening was that we would be leaving Friday morning for the tournament at Gannon.
For this particular journey to beautiful Erie, Pennsylvania we were fortunate enough to ride high in the double-decker “LightRider” sleeper bus. Because I carefully documented the team’s collective emotional responses to the sleeper bus in a blog post last year, I will spare the readers a re-telling and just say that the “Lightrider,” with its exterior painted boldly with the stars and stripes of this fine nation, provided the most luxurious team-transport experience I’ve ever had.
The major highlight from the weekend came on Friday night after our loss to NCAA D II Gannon University. The bus driver pulled the bus up to the curb of the luxurious Avalon Hotel and we all began to file out onto the sidewalk and into the lobby of our weekend home. Being one of the last off the bus and into the hotel lobby, I noticed that my teammates were jammed up near the door and quite a crowd had gathered. Not only that, but all their heads and attentions were turned to observe a commotion in front of the reception desk. I hurried inside the door to investigate and the first person that caught my eye was comedian Aries Spears, of MadTV fame, whose attention was also transfixed on the aforementioned commotion. Before I could point out to any of my teammates that we were in the presence of a superstar celebrity, I turned and saw what had captured the attention of everyone in the lobby, including Mr. Spears.
Before my eyes, I saw a VERY large and muscular man engaged in a physical confrontation with two other equally large, muscular and angry gentlemen. Before I realized what was happening, the first aggressor grabbed the front of his dress shirt and ripped it off, sending buttons bouncing across the tile floor. The three men resumed shouting and shoving and I looked around in amazement as dozens of people in the lobby looked on passively, as if this sort of thing happens on a regular basis. The front desk clerk stood stoically observing the situation as three grown men went at it. The situation quickly diffused as a brave woman, who was an employee of the hotel, began shouting at the men that “IT AIN’T WORTH IT, STOP!” (or something along those lines). I was disappointed to learn later that if I had only been in the lobby a few moments earlier, I would have seen a few punches thrown, and landed. There’s no telling what these men were fighting 2 v. 1 over but I’m sure that it was just a gentleman’s misunderstanding and had nothing to do with the alcohol-fueled atmosphere of the hotel’s adjacent bar and nightclub, Billie’s.
November 22, 2010
Since last week’s recap, our team has fallen in three straight games and this old man of 23 long years has trouble even remembering a time in which that has happened in the last five seasons that he has been around (it very well could have happened as recently as last season, but with old age, comes selective memory loss and this blogger is too lazy to look up statistics from seasons past). Some consolation can be taken in the fact that two of those aforementioned losses came at the hands of ranked opponents from the vaunted legions of NCAA DII basketball.
On Tuesday we traveled to the home of the 2009 National Champion Findlay Oilers. Within the cozy confines of their home gym we discovered a somewhat hostile environment, the product of tight geometry and a raucous home crowd. The difficulties of playing at Findlay are proven. The Oilers have a 124-2 win-loss record at their home gym over the last seven seasons. We played a solid first half and led at halftime by six points. However, they came out in the last twenty minutes, made some adjustments, and turned on the burners, putting us away to the satisfaction of the Oiler faithful.
Friday marked the first games of the 33rd Annual Cedarville Invitational featuring teams from Cedarville, Shawnee State, Indiana Wesleyan, and Saint Francis. We were matched up with IWU in front of an enthusiastic crowd for our home opener and controlled the majority of the game, but struggled some offensively and lost by only a few buckets at the end.
The next night, we tipped-off against defending champs and #1-ranked University of Saint Francis (Ind.) and they lit us up from behind the arc, from the free throw line, and from all over the court. Although we actually scored six more buckets than the Cougars, they outscored us 29-4 from the free throw line. They made a strong run at the end of the game and closed it down, handing us our second tough home loss in as many days.
Last week, the coaches informed us that we needed to wash behind our ears and throw on some decent looking clothes in order to look presentable for a team outing for dinner on Thursday night. They managed to keep the details of the evening under close wraps and none of the players were quite prepared for the treat that awaited us that evening. Upon our arrival to McCormick & Schmick’s fine eatery in Beavercreek, coach Estepp told us we would each be allotted $60 for dinner. After picking our jaws up off the table, we began scanning the menu and some of my teammates began wringing their hands in delight in anticipation of the fine tastes and smells to come. We were only told that the funding for this dinner came from an anonymous friend of coach Estepp’s. After tearing through appetizers, seafood platters, fine steaks, and multiple desserts, we all sat in gluttonous satisfaction and raised our hands to pay our anonymous benefactor the highest praise that could be offered, the “beast clap.”
November 15, 2010
We spent last week hard at work preparing for the Bevo Francis Invitational Tournament at the University of Rio Grande this past weekend. We traveled to Rio in the University’s sparkling new short-bus, not the horrible, semi-crippled one that I wrote about on a couple of occasions last year. Luckily, the new bus is equipped with a DVD player and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, one of our generation’s most beloved sitcoms, entertained us en route. Once we arrived Friday afternoon and had to forget about the antics of Carlton, Will, and Jazzy Jeff for a while, we got down to the business of winning, dispatching Bluefield College without too much trouble.
The next order of business came the next morning at the banquet hosted by Rio Grande for the teams in the tournament. The keynote speakers were Newt Oliver, head coach of the “legendary” Rio Grande College basketball team for many years, and Bevo Francis, who holds the NCAA single game scoring record of 113 points in 1953. Bevo is a living legend who is considered the greatest college basketball scorer of all time. We all received paperback books entitled,
Basketball and the Rio Grande College Legend, detailing the career of Bevo Francis and the exploits of coach Newt Oliver’s record-setting teams of yesteryear. Needless to say, standing at 6’9” tall, Bevo is pretty big around Rio Grande, both literally and figuratively.
On Saturday night, we faced the home team in their own tournament and after trailing by 4 points at halftime; we were able to extend our lead and ended up winning by a comfortable margin. Senior Matt Harner received the MVP award for the tournament and Austin Foote was voted to the All-tournament first team. Both Mr. Buckets and Footy were lucky enough to shake the hand of the Mr. Clarence “Bevo” Francis himself and we all clambered aboard the shiny new bus, trophy held high, prepared for 6 more episodes of Fresh Prince for the trip home.
November 8, 2010
The Cedarville University men’s basketball team is back again for another year and I have been appointed to document our journey through the season for another year. I’ll be bringing the readers inside access to all the most exciting, gruesome, and mundane happenings from now until the NAIA DII National Championship post-game celebration.
Our team has been slaving away under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff from the very first day we stepped on campus, quite literally in my case actually. I had to drive my ’95 Ford Windstar (aka The Empress, aka The Lady in Red, aka The Magic Carpet) through the night from my home in Georgia just to make it to the first team meeting on the morning of August 24. Later that day, after a few precious hours of sleep, we had our first team open gym.
We’ve pretty much been putting in work in the weight room and on the court just about every day since then. Some of us veterans have lamented on many occasions how each year’s pre-season has gotten progressively harder and more demanding. I can tell you that we have nearly broken our backs laboring through legendary weight room sessions. We also spent a weekend getting primal at Scioto Hills learning to harness our inner warriors (full explanation coming soon).
The team has a few additions and alterations since last year of which I’ll give you a brief preview. Former CU baller and current Kobe Bryant fanboy, Brandon Sok, is now known by his minions as "Coach" Sok, as he has now found himself in a position of authority as assistant coach.
The team has two new Jamaican imports in freshman Brian Grant as well as classmate Leighton-Jon Smith who will red-shirt this year. Another red-shirt freshman, Brian Redic, hails from the faraway land of Columbus, Ohio and is already busy breaking ladies’ hearts and establishing himself as the resident "Sultan of Swag."
Former varsity member and Intramural B-league standout, Zach Westrum, is back for one final year as a fifth-year senior. Sophomore Caleb Maxwell, juniors Cameron York, and Robby "Rob-Bob" Harmon have also joined us from the JV ranks. As always, our team has welcomed the newcomers, along with a small army of student assistants, with open arms and is looking forward to another long adventure aboard Starship Yellow Jacket.
Kenny Reep is an exercise science major from Peachtree City, Ga. The 6-foot-7 senior center is in his fourth season with the Yellow Jackets.
