Hello out there from the friendly – and mostly dry – confines of the Freeman Center! Hurricane Sandy had put most of us here Hampton Roads under house arrest to begin this week. Fortunately, it seems the damage was very minimal to the CNU campus and the surrounding community (the same sadly can't be said for my hometown area – hang in there NYC!!!). Not that there is ever a good time for a hurricane/nor'easter/arctic storm to roll on through, but this one came at an especially inopportune time for all of us here at CNU.
 
This is because, even though it's hard to believe, the calendar is set to turn to November, and with it there is much activity and excitement on campus. The CNU men's basketball squad has certainly hit the ground running. The past two weeks have featured many spirited practices to go along with team meetings and other activities as we prepare for the beginning of the regular season.
 
In NCAA Division III, coaches cannot work with their players on the court until October 15^th, so once practice begins there is a great deal that you have to get done in a relatively short amount of time. After a week and a half of practice, the coaching staff put together a list of areas we still needed to put a lot of work into before our first game. We stopped adding to the list after it became apparent that we were including every fundamental aspect of team basketball! This is normal though; early practices are almost always very high with energy but low on execution. This is especially true when you have so many freshmen and sophomores like we do this season.
 
Although we still have a lot to fine tune, there have been many positives to take away from practice so far. Our sessions have been intense, energetic, and the guys have been working hard. Improved execution of our offensive and defensive plans will come with time. In the meantime, the coaches will be looking for some of the upperclassmen to step up and take on increased leadership roles on the court as we begin to enter our first slate of games.
 
And what a first slate of games it is! We have a very demanding schedule in November and December that will certainly challenge our young squad. The fun starts this weekend in conjunction with CNU's Homecoming. Our annual Midnight Madness celebration will be Friday night, where the CNU community will be introduced to the 2012-2013 Captains (sadly, I pulled a hammy last week and have decided to bow out of the Slam Dunk Contest -- please try to contain your disappointment). Saturday will feature our 3^rd annual Alumni Game, in which our squad will take on a team comprised of past CNU basketball players, many of whom went on to play professionally after their time at CNU.
 
Then on Monday comes a thrilling opportunity for us, as NCAA Division I member Hampton University will visit the Freeman Center for an exhibition game. Hampton is a perennial power in the MEAC conference and is just a year removed from the NCAA Tournament. They will certainly be a great early season test for us. More importantly though, the Hampton exhibition on Monday is a fundraiser for the Coaches vs. Cancer organization and the American Cancer Society. Admission is free; we are asking that in lieu of admission attendees make a donation at the door to Coaches vs. Cancer and the ACS. So please come on out to cheer on the squad and support a great cause.
 
All of us are excited to join in the CNU community for Homecoming and to reconnect with our fans at the Midnight Madness, Alumni Game, and Hampton exhibition events. It's time for the college basketball season to begin to take off. See you out there!