9-0 in the league

Well, we finished the regular season undefeated and we’ve entered the post season as the favorite to win it all. We won our first playoff game easily and we expect to win our second game this week. There’s really only one team that we think can beat us, and we beat them earlier this season. I’ve been playing very well and I’m pleased with my progress this season. I’ve been alternating between point guard and shooting guard and I’m comfortable at both positions. I’ve always been more of a shooting guard because I’m good at moving without the ball and getting myself open looks, but I’m getting more confident at point. The biggest improvement has been in my 3-point shot, and I think my team has really started trusting me to knock down shots. I sense that my teammates are trying to get me open behind the line and I generally don’t let them down. I’ve been hitting open shots and, more importantly, making big shots at critical times. I’ve also been working on playing around the rim and I’ve seen improvement there. Most of my success near the basket has been thanks to my teammates seeing me when I get open.

Florida basketball in the Final Four!

After five straight years of early exits, we’re heading to the Final Four in the NCAA tourney. All year, I’ve been consistently impressed with our team, but they’ve really surprised me in the tournament. There’s just no quit in this team and they’re not intimidated by anyone. I really think we have a very legitimate chance at winning it all this year. The best part is that it’s a complete surprise. We weren’t even ranked pre-season, and I don’t think anyone really expected much of Billy D. and the Gators. Next thing we know, they’ve got 17 straight wins to open the season. There were a few bumps in the road near the end of the regular season, but I think those were just growing pains. We’ve adjusted and we’re looking our best right now, at the best possible time.

Also, this was supposed to be a “down year” for the SEC. For a down year, we’re doing pretty well considering we have a decent shot at having SEC teams battling it out in the Championship game.

Playing a little cards

Not much to report with the poker. I’ve been running a little bad lately, but that’s gonna’ happen from time to time. I feel like I’ve been playing well and making good reads, so I just have to stick it out. I’ve become very good at controlling the table when I play live. I make good moves and use my table image to my advantage. I’ve become particularly good at getting my opponents to show me their cards when I want to see them (usually when I want to know if I made a good laydown). I wish the cash flow was following the information flow, but I guess I just have to give it time.

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Finished basketball league 8-0 for the regular season

Last night, we capped our perfect season with a 5-point win. It was a tough game because we were playing without our best offensive player and without our best perimeter defender. We compensated by playing good, solid team basketball and playing well in the 2-3 Zone defense. Offensively, we moved the ball very well and constantly found ourselves with good, open looks. All season, we’ve been talking about how we need to move the ball better around the perimeter so that we break down our opponents’ defense before we score. Last night, we did exactly that and it made scoring very easy. Of course, we didn’t score a lot of points (passing the ball 6 and 7 times makes a possession last longer, so we got fewer chances to score), but the other team didn’t score many either.

The other team was definitely more athletic than us, but they didn’t take advantage of their strengths and our defense took them out of their normal gameplan. We bottled up the point guard at the top of the key, so he never had open looks and he had to pass the ball to the wing as soon as he got down the floor. We forced tough looks, even inside where they had a huge height advantage, and got a lot of defensive rebounds.

Personally, I had a very solid game. I scored something like nine points on seven or eight shots. I made a couple three-pointers, a layup and a freethrow (1/4 from the line, though). I missed a couple easy buckets–a runner/teardrop in the lane that was in and out, and a turnaround jumper that I shorted because I didn’t realize I was so far from the basket–but I thought my shot selection and execution were very good. I had a few assists and generally caused the defense a lot of trouble because I moved around so much.

Playoffs start in a few weeks and we’ll be the one-seed. I think we can win it all, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

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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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Another basketball season in the books

Tonight was the last game of the season, a season that wasn’t as bad as it looks on paper. We finished 2-6, but our last 5 games were much better than the first 3. The first few games, we just got whooped and our team was awful. A big reason was that we couldn’t get anyone to show up and we hadn’t played together at all. The fourth week, we pulled out our first win and actually looked like a decent team. The fifth week, we looked even better and pulled out our second win. Then, we ran into the three best teams in the league and lost all three games.

What is promising is that we hung right in every game down the stretch. Our first losses are all by double digits. Our lost losses (against the best teams) were all single digits. If our schedule had been reversed, I think we could’ve finished 5-3 instead of 2-6. C’est la vie.

We still don’t know if we’ll get to play in the playoffs. We’re at the bottom of the league, so if they axe the teams with the worst records, we’ll be out. But, if we make the playoffs, I think we can actually make a run because our team has improved every week. Also, it’s likely we’ll get a rematch with the team we played tonight and I honestly think we can take them now that we’ve played them. They basically beat us in the first few minutes of the game when they killed us from the 3-point line. We outscored them by 4 in the second half after we switched to a 3-2 Zone defense.

Anyway, it was a good season. I think if we can get the same together for the Winter league, we’ll be in good shape.

As for my individual performance, I played pretty badly at the beginning of the season. I scored every game, but very few points. The last three games, I scored 12, 10 and 6 points respectively and hit 8 3-pointers. The 12-point game was a 4-for-6 shooting night beyond the arc. I’ve been pretty much exclusively running Point Guard since the middle of the season and I’ve been doing pretty well. I’ve had some turnovers, but I’ve also had some nice assists. For next season, I’d like to learn how to take better care of the ball and when to “camp out” at the 3-point line and when to be slashing and crashing.

That is all.

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Two-week update

It’s been quite a while since I wrote anything here. Why? I’m lazy.

Ok, so what’ve I been up to? Well, I’ve had two basketball games since my last post and I’m finally starting to play pretty well. Last week, I had 12 points on 4-of-6 3-point shooting. This week, I had 10 points–2 3-pointers, an 18-foot jumper and a couple freethrows. Those are decent point totals since this league plays a 36 minute game with a running clock and a 2-minute half time. Our team is averaging somewhere in the low 30s per game. We lost both games, but against decent teams and both games were pretty close. Last week, we just couldn’t hit our freethrows and this week, we basically didn’t have an answer for their big man.

Poker

Well, I have played for about a year online and have seen moderate winnings. Mostly, I’d been playing to get experience and learn more about the game. Recently, I decided to try and grind out some actual steady money, so I started playing Limit Hold ‘em cash games. I started at Micro Limits–$.5/$1, 4-tabling–and am gradually moving up. My win-rate was just over 4BB/100 hands for almost 6,000 hands. I just moved up to $1/$2 Limit and I’m up, but I’ve only played a couple hundred hands. Anyway, I’ll play $1/$2 until I’ve won about 300BB, then I’ll jump to $2/$4. Slow and steady.

Reading

Since I returned from Europe, I’ve been reading a lot. Mostly, I’ve been reading books on poker, but I’ve also read some good fiction. Right now, I’m reading David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris is just a great author with a unique perspective and writing style. It’s just fun to read his stuff. Next, I think I’ll move on to John Irving’s latest book, but first it has to come out in paperback.

Work’s been rough

That about says it all. When I returned from Europe, I assumed the responsibilities that had previously been two peoples’ jobs. Actually, it seems I’ve taken on even more responsibility than that. Anyway, I’ve been ultra-busy and it’s been keeping me from pursuing acting like I want to. I know I should continue pursuing acting, but my schedule at work is very demanding and volatile and I don’t want to over commit myself. Hopefully, things will calm down by the end of the year and I can get back on the bus.

Headin’ home for football

I will be going to Florida to see the UT vs. UF football game next month. Really, I’ll be hoping to see the game since I don’t have a ticket. Basically, I plan to fly into Orlando, rent a car, drive to G-ville and start hunting for a ticket. I’ll be getting to G-ville on Thursday afternoon, so that’ll give me almost two full days to find a ticket.

I really should find something more interesting to write about.

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Mom’s in town

My Mom is in town for an annual conference that she always attends. Of course, she’ll be spending most of her time at the conference, but I got to spend some time with her yesterday. We went to Kathleen’s Art Cafe, which is probably my favorite local place for getting really good food. The atmosphere is also really great. I think Mom liked it a lot.

After dinner, we went to Starbucks for some coffee and she finally got to see all my pictures from Europe. There are about 1,000 of them, so we just kinda’ skimmed most of them. All in all, I had a super time and I’m glad I got to spend some time hanging out with my Mom.

Another basketball win

Last week, we got our first win (I think we started 0-3 this season). I don’t really remember it, but I think we played a pretty good game. This week, we got another win, but in a very unusual way. First of all, we only scored 33 points. Second, one (of six) of my teammates scored 22 of those points. Third, we won by one point in Double Overtime. In this league, Double Overtime is “Sudden Death”. That’s right, I said “Sudden Death”. But I should go back a bit before the end of Double OT.

Just before the end of regulation, the other team had possession with 1:18 remaining. They got it across half court and then the Point Guard said, “One shot! One shot!” A team will usually go for “one shot” if there’s approximately one shot-clock worth of time left in the game. We don’t have a shot-clock, but 1:18 is a lot longer than the shot-clock in any league. Fifty seconds later, they finally decided to go for a shot and their Point Guard made a nice 3-point play (in our defense, it’s tough to defend for 50 seconds and still get a stop). Our super scorer immediately answered with a 3-pointer and we went our first OT.

We made it through the first OT without scoring. Neither team could score and no one was hitting free throws. It should be noted that OT was only 2 minutes with a running clock, so there weren’t really many scoring opportunities. We began the second OT looking about as well as we began the first. With very little time remaining, their big man got two free throws. He missed the first. Then made the second. But wait! He also stepped over the stripe for one of the few “lane violations” I’ve ever seen called. It was a good call, but a pretty unusual one. We got the ball back, used a couple time outs and took it up the floor. On what looked like a broken play, one of our guys pulled up for a three-pointer and intentionally double-clutched to try and draw contact. Lucky for us, he succeeded…at drawing the contact, at least. He connected on the second free throw attempt and that ended the game (remember, we were playing sudden death).

So, that was probably the most bizarre ending to any basketball game I’ve ever played. That is all.

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