Greetings from the Freeman Center! Things are moving swiftly around these parts. We are entering the third week of classes here on the CNU campus, and everyone is starting to get into the swing of things. The start of the fall semester is always a fun, refreshing time for any college. Seeing the hustle and bustle during the day, as old faces mix in with the new, adds even more to the unique vibrancy of the CNU campus, which on cue has really come alive as the semester unfolds.
 
The men's basketball squad has been busy. As is the case at the beginning of every fall semester, academics are the first and foremost priority right now. It is very important that the guys establish a solid academic footing over the course of this first month and a half, before practice begins and their schedules become busier. With that in mind, we take a very proactive approach to academic support here. Study halls, time management workshops, weekly meetings, mentoring, and tutors are just some of the resources made available to our athletes through the coaching staff and the fantastic academic support centers of our athletic department and CNU.
 
This time of the year is a time of adjustments and acclimation for the players. The returners are getting used to their new roles and the expectations that come from being a year older and more mature. Still, no group goes through a bigger adjustment process right now than the freshmen. College life is an entirely new experience for these freshmen, and college courses are usually a big departure from high school for many of them. As coaches, it is essential that you spend a lot of time connecting with and strengthening relationships with your freshmen during this time, so as to better guide them through this process. Leadership by the upperclassman is also imperative; after all, those guys have gone through it themselves not too long ago. We've set up a system here where we assign every freshman an upperclassman mentor, who is accountable to helping that freshman navigate the waters of first semester college life.
 
Besides academics, our guys have begun their preseason strength and conditioning regiment with strength coach Mike Query. Under NCAA Division III rules, us coaches cannot do anything on the court with the guys until October 15^th. Having a full-time, passionate strength coach like Coach Query to run the team through these voluntary workouts is an invaluable resource for a Division III school.
 
Off the court, the start of the semester also brings about the launch of our annual community service initiatives. Last week, the men's basketball players along with many other CNU athletes took part in the “Kids First” campaign, encouraging safe driving on the roads of Newport News. In the coming weeks we will start our “SLAM” and “VICTORY” programs, in which our guys will travel to local elementary schools to mentor, read to, and spend time with school children throughout the course of the fall.
 
For the coaching staff, we are managing all of this, plus preparing for the start of the upcoming season and conducting the never-ending aspect of recruiting. We'll be out on the road a lot this next month watching workouts and making in-home visits, trying to solidify another solid class of future Captains. NCAA rules prohibit us from commenting on any recruits or commitments, but after a few weekends of campus visits already I would say we're on the right track on the recruiting end!
 
We've got a lot going on right now, but it is all being done with the excitement and anticipation of the upcoming season – which is now only about a month away from officially beginning. This was made all the more real last week when Coach Krikorian announced our finalized game schedule for the 2012-2013 season. It is a tough and challenging slate; one that will hopefully prepare us well as we attempt to make another postseason run in March. Go to CNUsports.com to check it out.  
 
As always, you can follow along with the day-to-day action here on our Facebook page and on ever-popular Twitter through @CNUBasketball (I will save my rant about Twitter and social media for another day).
 
We hope to see you out and about over the coming weeks as our fall sports teams continue their own quests for a championship. Come on and bleed CNU blue with us. Go Captains!