Happy New Year from the Freeman Center! We hope you and your loved ones enjoyed the holidays. I was able to enjoy a nice New York City Christmas back home, and likewise, everyone else in the program benefited from some relaxing time with their respective families. However, that is now in the rearview mirror as things are kicking into high gear around the CNU campus – the spring semester starts already on Wednesday, and we here at CNU men's basketball are progressing through a pivotal part of our season.
Coaches and players alike always look forward to the winter break period. There are no classes or any other distractions on campus; it is just several weeks of nothing but basketball. It really gives you some much needed time to develop as individual players and strengthen your team identity. The teams that win conference championships in February are the ones with players who have really gotten better individually and collectively during winter break. Our guys have been putting a lot of time and effort into workouts and practices, and we are eager to keep moving forward.
From a strictly results perspective, any coach would take the 10-1 record that we currently possess. However, our actual statistics belie our overall record – we still have huge amounts of room for improvement as we go through Capital Athletic Conference play for the first time ever. Our record is really a testament to the fight and determination that our guys have in finding ways to win games. From a technical standpoint, both our offensive and defensive execution must continue to improve at a high rate for us to maintain success through what is going to be an extremely demanding conference schedule.
The CAC currently has four teams in the national top 25, and several other teams playing at a very high level. We find ourselves in one of the toughest conferences in the nation this year. Of course, we relish the challenge, but also understand that the margin for error is not very large. It is essential that we come out ready to play each and every game.
We started 2014 by outlasting a very athletic Frostburg St. squad on Saturday. The Freeman Center had great energy as we hosted dozens of elementary school students for Youth Spirit Day. Afterwards we held a team autograph session, and it was tough to tell whether our guys or the kids were more excited for it. I even had my autograph requested a few times. I'm guessing they were fans of this blog (who can blame them). Please alert me though if any of those signed game programs end up on EBay.
Our next game brings a very, very good Wesley team into the Freeman Center on Wednesday. We are no strangers to the Wolverines, having played them in each of the previous three seasons. Coach Jerry Kobasa's squad is currently ranked in the top 20 nationally, and features an array of talented perimeter players along with one of the best big men in the nation in 6'8" center David Langan. Wesley is undoubtedly going to be a handful, and we will have to perform at a very high level on both ends of the floor in order to keep our current win streak going.
I do know that our coaching staff will put together a great scouting report and our guys will be up and excited for this next challenge. We need all the support we can get, and hope that you can join all of the returning students to make the Freeman Center a loud and energized home court for us on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7pm. See you there!
