7-0 in the basketball league

Last night’s game was well in hand until the other team scored 15 points in about 80 seconds. We were up by 16 or 17 at the time and we just got lazy and sloppy. All of a sudden, the other team can’t miss and we had a ball game. Fortunately, one of our guards knocked down a crucial 3-pointer near the end of their run. Once he did that, the other team realized they had to start fouling us because they just didn’t have enough possessions left to close the now-shrinking gap.

Earlier in the second half, I was talking to the score keeper and she said she meant to tell us before the game that she thought these refs were calling the games very tight (we were the last game of the night). I said, “Yeah, it seems like they’re calling a lot of fouls, but I think that will benefit us down the stretch.” Sure enough, the other team went had 10 fouls with a couple minutes left, so we got to shoot two freethrows for each of their desperation fouls near the end. Fortunately, our team is pretty solid from the freethrow line.

I finished with 7 points on three pretty good shots. The first was a driving lay-in made possible because they were in a 2-3 zone and the top two defenders were up too high and far apart. The lane was wide open, so I took it right down the middle. One was a contested 3-pointer from the top of the key. The other was a layup on a little play I like to run against man defense. Basically, I start on the wing out past the 3-point line. If I have the ball, I center it to another guard or forward, so he has the ball at the top of the key. I expect he’ll probably continue swinging it to the other wing because that’s how we typically run our offense. As soon as I make my pass, I run toward the baseline, but I’m ultimately crossing through the paint, just in front of the rim. After the guard/forward at the top of the key swings it to the other wing, I’ve usually beat my man and have position for an easy layup. If the wing sees me open, he can fire it in to me for an easy layup. If I don’t have a good look when I catch the ball, I can usually just kick the ball back out to either the wing (who just passed it to me), or back up to the top of the key.

I also had two very good looks from the 3-point line that I simply missed. One was off a nice little pseudo-give-and-go I ran with one of our forwards. I was at the top of the key and he was over on the wing (about 10 or 12 feet away). I passed the ball to him and took off as though I was heading around him on the wing and over to the corner on the perimeter. He held the ball, facing away from the basket and I used him as a pick. His defender was behind him (between him and the rim), as he was basically positioned to back him down. Because I used my forward as a screen, my defender went underneath to try and catch me on the other side. As soon as I saw him go underneath, I hit the brakes, back-tracked to my original spot at the top of the key and had a wide open 3-point shot because my defender was still caught somewhere on the other side of the pick. Of course, I missed it, but it was a really nice play, mostly made possible by the smart play and good position of the forward.

Enough about all that. We’re 7-0 and that means we’re guaranteed a 1-seed in the playoffs. We have one more regular season game, then a bye and then the playoffs start. We have a very good shot at winning it all.

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6-0 in the basketball league

Well, last week we played pretty sloppily, but we got a win. I think I had 7 points or so. We started the game very slowly, but turned it on in the second half. This week, we faced the only other undefeated team in the league… and we whooped ‘em. We blew it open early as we held them scoreless for almost 10 minutes. Their first points actually came on freethrows after a bad call by the refs. I was guarding a guy on the baseline and he tried to turn the corner on me and pull up for a little 7-foot leaner. I blocked the ball low and the ref blew the whistle for a blocking foul. The problem was that the ref on the baseline wasn’t the one who blew the whistle, even though he had a perfect view of the play from about 5 feet away. Instead, the ref at mid-court blew the whistle and called me for a foul. He was about 45 feet away.

Anyway, they were pulling it to single digits when I finally scored. I had only taken a few shots, but none of them were pretty–my first 3-point attempt was blocked by a giant. I finally knocked one down to stretch our lead back to double digits, then I had another two on the next play after we stole the ball at mid-court. I scored 5 points in about 30 seconds and that was it for me this week. I was just pleased that we won and played so well. I forgot to mention that we played with only six guys last week and this week. That makes these wins that much better.

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Still undefeated in the basketball league

We’ve had two games since I last updated. In our third game of the season, I scored 7 points (two fastbreak layups and a 3-pointer). In our fourth game of the season, I scored at least 10 points (two 12-foot jumpers and two 3-pointers) and possibly 13 points (an additional 3-pointer). I’m playing pretty well, but our team is improving weekly. We’re moving the ball well, playing solid defense and working well in the transition game. We’re up to 4-0 and leading the league so far. We also have at least one very quality win.

Gator basketball on the rebound, but playing hurt

Well, we’ve lost two games, but neither of them is all that bad. Losing on the road at Tennessee was a big possibility even before Corey Brewer’s injury. I was surprised we kept it close as poorly as we played. The loss at South Caroline was a little surprising, but they matched up with us well and, again, Brewer hardly contributed. I think our win at Mississippi was a quality win. They’re a good, big team and we hung with them in spite of Lee Humphrey’s injury and Corey Brewer’s limited production. We started two freshman and they didn’t miss a beat. Also, it was nice to actually get to watch a game for once.

We play Kentucky at home on Saturday. It should be a good game, especially since our starters are a little hampered by injuries right now. I hope we get the win.

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Basketball game is picking up

Last Wednesday, we had our second game of the season. I played better, but our team played better also. We beat a pretty solid team and we did it with good play from everybody. We were a lot more aggressive, confident and accurate and it showed as the game wore on. Personally, I had a better game with two fastbreak layups and a 3-pointer. Next week, we have a game that we should easily win, but we’ll see.

I also played today after work and I had a pretty good day. I’m still getting pretty winded sometimes, but I’m hoping it’s just that I’m out of shape. I’m a tiny bit concerned that I may have some kind of asthma or something, but I’m going to give it more time. Today, I did most of my work from inside, making nice passes and playing very aggressively near the hoop. I also got some tough boards and had some nice defensive plays.

Unfortunately, I picked up a nice little injury, too. A big (very big) guy on the other team was dribbling about 15 feet from the hoop. I snuck up on him and when he spun towards me, I stole the ball. I tapped the ball towards my basket and took off after it. But as I stepped by him, he cut me off with his leg. His knee went directly into my thigh and gave me a pretty nasty charlie-horse. I can barely straighten my leg, and standing up and walking are both very painful. I’m a little concerned that I may not be able to play on Wednesday, but I’ll have to wait and see.

It’s good to be playing again and I’m pretty excited about my team in the league this year. We’re pretty good and it’s really fun to play with these guys.

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Another basketball league season begins

Well, the winter league has begun and our team started off with a win this year. But really, when I say “our team”, I’m referring to one dude who scored 30 of our 40 points. I’m pretty sure dude played ball at Texas A&M and he still plays a few days a week around Dallas.

The rest of our team was pretty mediocre on offense. I think we played very solid defense, holding the other team to only 27 points. I think our defense will be the thing that carries us for the first few games and I’m glad we have it to fall back on. I think our team is solid, we just need to get in shape. We’re going to be pretty good.

I personally have a lot of work to do. I didn’t score tonight and I had a few wide open shots. I did have a couple steals and I picked up some ticky-tack (read: bogus) fouls. I had 4 with about 9 minutes left. I really felt the refs just had my number, but I made a couple silly plays too. But I typically start seasons off slow and pick it up after a couple games. I hope that holds this year.

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Florida Basketball up to 11-0 for the best start in school history

That’s a pretty big deal. First, Corey Brewer gets the first triple-double in school history. Now, the team has set the record for best start. That’s pretty great, especially considering that two of those 11 wins were against Wake and ‘cuse on back-to-back nights. It’s awesome that the Gators are a real contender this year instead of a team that’s “rebuilding”.

Having fun in Florida

I’m in Jacksonville and things are going well so far. I spent the day doing my Christmas shopping and meeting various people for meals and such. I’m here in Jacksonville for several days this Christmas, so I think I’ll be seeing a lot of my friends and family.

My space on MySpace isn’t my space

I’ve set up a phantom account on MySpace so I can spy on people. Another friend put me up to it and I’m weak, so I went along with her plan. I’ve mostly been checking in on people who went to my high school. I have also been checking out profiles for friends of friends of friends because I need to know “what’s wrong with him?” or “is that so and so?” (it’s usually not).

So far, I’m pretty underwhelmed by MySpace, but that’s probably because I’m stupid and I just don’t get it. Maybe I’ll come around eventually.

This is probably the lamest blog ever

If there’s a lame blog award, I want it. I’ve earned it and it’s rightfully mine. Don’t try to keep it from me or give it to some other not-quite-as-lame blog.

Speaking of lame, Blogger seriously needs to work on their spellchecker

I just spellchecked that last blog entry and Blogger’s spellchecker flagged the word “blog”. I like Blogger and I think they provide a good service, but I think maybe it’s time to upgrade the spellchecker. Also, it flagged the word “underwhelmed” and suggested “underwhelming”; I guess Blogger has preferred tenses for certain verbs or something. It also doesn’t like the word “spellchecker”. I’ll concede that I may have made that one up, although Dictionary.com says it’s legit.

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Florida Basketball up to 10-0

There’s not much to say other than that. Our team has just come out of nowhere and is proving to be a dominant force this year. We’ve gone from unranked (really, we were ranked somewhere around 40 before the season) to No. 5 in a few short weeks. This team is setting records like crazy and we’re improving every game.

Corey Brewer had the first triple-double in school history against JU. With all the superstars–Williams, Miller, Harvey, Nelson, Haslem, Lee, Walsh, Roberson–we’ve had in recent years, it’s surprising that Brewer’s was the first; I hope it’s not his last. The kid’s a sophomore! The irony, of course, is that he got a triple-double on a team that’s playing better team basketball than any Gator team I can remember. He had 13 assists, which is impressive considering he usually plays shooting guard or small forward.

Over the next few games, we’ll see what these guys are really made of. Miami will be a tough game, but if they can get through that game, it’s possible they’ll be 13-0 before starting the conference schedule. Not only would that be the best start in school history, but we should be sneaking up on the longest win-streak in school history. This could be a really exciting year.

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Week in review

I’ve been busy since my last post. On Sunday, some friends and I went to see Ice Harvest. Meh. That’s about all I have to say about that.

On Monday, I went to see the Alabama State vs. Florida basketball game with a friend. We scored some free tickets, but we wouldn’t have had trouble getting seats anyway since there was hardly anyone there. The Rowdy Reptiles section was full and jumpin’, but the rest of the place was sparsely populated. We won handily and it was obvious that the Gators are going to continue improving from game to game. We now have our best start since 2000.

Tuesday, I basically traveled all day. I left Gainesville at about 10:15 AM EST and arrived in Los Angeles about 7:30 PM PST. It was a long day.

Wednesday, I went into work and had a fairly productive day. I left the office around 5 o’clock and headed back to the hotel. I wasn’t feeling too well–I had a cold that seemed to have precipitated from my allergies kicking up in Florida–so I didn’t leave the hotel room till Thursday morning. I was on the company’s dime, so I ordered room service and watched basketball all night. Just what the doctor ordered.

Thursday, back to the office for another productive day and then back to the hotel for a few hours. I hit the gym for the first time in a couple weeks and it felt pretty good. I tend to get pretty out of shape when I travel because I need a solid routine to keep me in the gym.

After the gym, I drove down to Orange County to have dinner with a friend from Project. We hadn’t seen each other in more than four years, so it could’ve been pretty awkward… but it wasn’t at all. We ate at a little Cuban place and had a good time talking for a few hours. I’m glad we’ve reconnected and I hope we can keep in touch.

Friday, I worked a half day and then started my trip back to Texas. It was a pretty uneventful day, which is just how I like it when airplanes are involved.

Gators basketball continuing to improve

Right now, I’m listening to the Gator basketball game. I think it might’ve been blacked out because there were something like 400 unsold tickets. Anyway, we’re rolling over UCF pretty well and I’m impressed with our play. I think we’re up by 40 points right now. Sheesh. This might be the best start we’ve had in the Billy D. era. We’ll be 7-0 after today and probably Top 10 after this weekend. Not bad for a team that lost 60% of its offense to the NBA.

They just announced a final score of 80-47. Our 7-0 start is the best in 21 seasons and this is only the third time we’ve made that mark. Nobody saw this coming.

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Gator Bait!!

I don’t have much to say because there isn’t much to say. We own the ‘Noles. We beat ‘em at Ron Zook field last year and, if not for some egregious officiating, we would’ve beat ‘em at home two years ago. In fact, there are a lot of parallels to our 2003 matchup, but the glaring difference is that the refs didn’t blow call after call this year.

At any rate, by blowing out FSU, Urban Meyer has redeemed himself and our season (not that Urban really needed much redeeming). Granted, a win at South Carolina a couple weeks ago would’ve been wonderful, but beating all our big rivals–UGA, UT and FSU–in a season for the first time since 1996 is plenty reason to celebrate. Pile on our first season since 2000 without a home loss and things just seem that much sweeter.

So, the pros of our season just might outweigh the cons. With the whooping we put on FSU, we might get a decent bowl bid. Also, we played a very difficult SEC schedule this year and Urban still had a decent season while installing a new system and working around several key injuries. It’s obvious that a healthy Gator squad with a full year of Meyer’s offense under its belt will be a force in the SEC next year. Also, it seems we may have finally taken back the Swamp.

All in all, it’s been a good season. I’m glad I got to go to both the Tennessee and FSU football games. Next up, the Alabama State vs. Florida basketball game on Monday night.

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So far, so good

Thanksgiving was excellent and I really enjoyed the time I spent with my family. It was a little short, but very good.

Then, last night, I went to the Florida State vs. Florida basketball game. Although we opened facing a 21-4 deficit, we came back to win by 8 points (74-66). It really should’ve been a much bigger win, but the ref’s were calling everything, even things that didn’t actually happen. I wasn’t happy with the way they called it, but I doubt FSU was either. It was just a sloppy officiating job on both sides of the floor.

Anyway, it was good to see us get the win because our guys had to win in completely different ways than they did in New York. In the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, we won with our 3-point shooting. Last night, we were forced to win without our 3-pointers. We were also facing a very aggressive defense and finicky ref’s who would sometimes call every little thing and sometimes would miss obvious calls. All in all, it was a tough way to win, but our team was able to pull it out in spite of our youth.

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