SD Zoo, Harbour Tour and Lee going off on the ocean...

What a neat zoo! I know why it is known nationally / worldly. I know each player had a separate best memory of their favorite animal. It seemed like most of the favorites were elephants, tigers, hippos, polar bears and then the snake exhibit. Mixer, Hipp, Corey, Bradley and I got attacked by some species of monkey...i'll post the video later! Lots of fun memories hopefully for the guys. We found a good dinner place in Mimi's Cafe. Kendall stole the night with an order of Lamb shank and a side of pancake. The best was the he asked in a straight face if he could substitute his salad with a pancake...the waitress wasn't sure how to respond.

Today is the last day out here to do some exploring. I think we are going to drive north up the pacific coast highway and see some of the coastline. Maybe venture down to the harbor area or the "Gaslight" district. I am sure we will find some good Mexican food to wrap up the trip this evening.

UCR...

U of California Riverside is really good! We competed hard last night, but they were just too good. We missed some shots tat have been falling for us, but they may have a lot to do with the 6'8" wings flying at our shooters. It certainly was a long day for the guys coming off a tough loss at Pt Loma. We left about 10:30 grabbed some breakfast, drove 90 minutes to Riverside, shot for about 1 hour, walked around a mall for awhile, grabbed pregame meal, then headed over to the game. We got back to lovely San Diego about 11:00...long day.

Yesterday was Stefan's birthday! We sang a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday in Applebees. The other customers looked at us funny! He turned 22 yesterday. Happy Birthday Stef!!!

We are off to the Zoo today. Hopefully a lot of fun will be had by our guys.

I will try and get some videos up on the webpage shortly...the wireless connection takes forever to load videos.

Good team at home...

Point Loma did things I had not seen on tape while at home...they made shots by a lot of different players. They played really well last night from what I can tell. They were led by Ryan Beal who went for 29 points on 11-12 from the field. The score was not indicative of the game. It was a game of runs and we just did not have the last run. We had stints during the game that we looked awfully good. The first 8 minutes of the second half was by far the best bball we have played all year. We will need to improve upon that glimpse. Will, Tim, Bentley and Lee really played well for us. Lee may have had his best game of the year. Bentley had a couple great back cuts and scores and will & Tim continued to score for us at a good rate.

We have a huge challenge tonight to say the least. They have a couple guys that will start for them...one transferred from USC (#20) and one transferred from Gonzaga (#42). They have pretty good talent. Also, a neat side note, the head coach, was an assistant with Tim Floyd with the Bulls just after the Jordan era concluded.

We continue to have a good time. Hopefully we can add to a positive bball experience out here tonight, then enjoy the two days of freedom. We are soooo lucky to have a school that allows us to take trips such as this. We are also so lucky for the wonderful student athletes that we have! Thanks!!!

1st full day...

We had a good day yesterday! We headed over to practice at 9:15 and went for about 2 hours and got a lot of shots up (hopefully shoot it better today!) and tried to just get used to our surroundings. PLU has a neat old gym that overlooks a beautiful beach. All their athletic facilities are just set right on the edge of the beach. If you ever had a frustrating day as a coach or player you could go look at this and it puts life back in perspective quickly.

After practice we grabbed some lunch and went to Pacific Beach and messed around for a couple hours. We just walked up and down the boardwalk and took in the scenery. Lee was brave enough to jump in the water and did some "skim" boarding. He certainly is in his element out here at the beach! The other highlight was a skateboard guy knocking over a guy on a bike and the guy meeting the shrubs abruptly! He went over handle bars and into the bushes, but he jumped up and kept riding like nothing happened. We got quite a laugh.

We ate at a great pizza place for dinner then returned to the Town and Country for the evening.

I am so anxious to see how we play today. I hope we can match their toughness and we can make some buckets. I think we will have a great chance if defend them. They are a solid team without great athletes. It will be interesting to see how the game will be called and if we can get comfy out here.

Cross your fingers for us! Go Vikings!!!

LaGrange and we made it to Cali...

The trip yesterday went great. It certainly was an early morning after a long day. Saturday was certainly sweetened after a good win over LaGrange. Both teams were sluggish the day after exams, but hey, it is a win!!! Tim Miles got his first double double of his career and has told most people he has seen out here in Cali :)!We finished the game in the right fashion by making big free throws and getting a few consecutive stops. We need to find a way to start putting up some more points as the season continues.

We made it out yesterday without a hitch. The guys were so excited. It was fun to see them and their faces getting ready to land out here. I have said it so many times, but we have a wonderful group of guys that I am proud to coach. After we landed we got the vans, got through baggage claim, and got checked into the hotel. The hotel is a little dated, but it has a beautiful courtyard area that will be fun to hang out in. We just chilled out at the hotel for a couple hours and got a little rest. We ran to "Old Town" San Diego last night for a authentic Mexican meal. It was awfully good. We discussed the promotional path that Proteage is going to take over the next few years. They are currently in "K mart", "Super K mart" and "Special K mart". It really is comical listening to Tim and Kendall discuss their fantasy world...

We need to have a good day of preparation for the game tomorrow and get them to think about basketball for a few hours today, while still enjoying the beautiful area out here.

We are so blessed to have the chance to get out here and see new places. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Schulte's today. Michael will join us tomorrow morning.

Congrats to the women's team for a big win on Saturday vs. Maryville.

Schulte and Mix

Schulte and Mix

Lee Dunking!!!

Coach Bradley and Lee throwing it down!!!

Stefan "break dancing"

This is pretty funny...Stef was called out by the group that was here with Hoops Madness. He represented us well!!!

Schulte dunking???

Micheal, the crowd favorite, throwing it down...

Hoop Madness Clips...

Big Dave throwing it down!!!

LaGrange and Cali...

We are in the midst of exam week and that always brings up a tough spot for coaches. I know when I was a student it was always a welcome relief to get together for a couple of hours and practice during the week. As a coach it is tough to demand too much this week, but you don't want to slip any in your progression during the season.

We are trying to prepare for a great trip out to California with a stop in LaGrange prior to flying out there. The plans are coming together. We have tickets, a hotel, vans, and a couple practice times locked up. Now it is to planning the fun free time we get out there. It sounds like there is just so much fun stuff to do out there. We have gotten so many suggestions, but there is no way to do it all! Hopefully we can work in Sea World, beach, a harbor tour, or maybe the zoo???

We will try and update you while we are out there! It is going to be a lot of fun and I can't wait to enjoy the rough weather that will be out there!!!

Montgomery...

We did not fair the way we wanted to down in Montgomery, but there were some positives that came out of the weekend. The Faulkner game was nip and tuck for abut 38 minutes. We made a couple mentally tired mistakes down the stretch that led to some easy buckets for the home team. We shot the ball well from the field and from the FT line. The AUM game was a frustrating one, because they were awfully good pretty much all day. The biggest issue for us was just getting stops. It seems as though they scored about every possession. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds (while in Montgomery) to give ourselves a good chance. Lee had a good game going, but got in some foul trouble and that took away some confidence our guys had early in the game. We kept fighting, but just couldn't get over the hump against them.

Faulkner...

We gave a very good effort last night vs. the Eagles. They have always been a team that is best classified as relentless. Coach Sanderson, is the son of legendary coach Whimp Sanderson. We played great defensively in the first half and just could not sustain the rebounding in the second half. We had way too many turnovers in a game like that. Hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow at AUM and get a win. Thanks for the parents that traveled to Faulkner. We have the best parents!!!

Big Weekend in Montgomery!!!

We need a big weekend heading into the exam week. Faulkner and AUM are always tough place to try and go and get a win, but that's what's in front of us. Hopefully yesterday's practice will translate into some good feelings going into tonight. If we can take care of the ball and rebound with them we should be able to compete both nights. Cross all your fingers for us and hopefully we can pull off a couple upsets!!!

Covenant Game...

We had a tough road loss on Monday night. David Holloman had a great night for us and Bentley really played with a lot of determination throughout the game. We missed a lot of open shots and their zone defense really made us slow on both ends of the floor. We just had one of those nights that we need to learn from yet forget. Hopefully we can bounce back this coming weekend in Montgomery against 2 of the top two teams in the SSAC.

WLAQ 1410 Radio Schedule...Randy and Bob!!!

We are so blessed to have Randy Davis and Bob Williams do some of our games throughout the year. They certainly are a joy to have around the program and they have some wonderful stories to tell! Randy is a member of the Rome Sports Hall of Fame and has been in the Sports Radio world his whole life. Bob is a wonderful person that is fiercely loyal to his Berry College Teams! Below is the schedule that Randy has given us for the year. You can get to the radio broadcast from the main athletic webpage at Berry. Sorry it is a little late!

Dec. 5 @ AUM 5:00
Jan. 7 Brewton Parker 8:00
Jan. 9 SPSU 4:00
Jan. 16 @ Emmanuel 4:00
Jan. 23 SWU 4:00
Jan. 25 @ Shorter 8:00
Jan. 30 @ Lee 7:00
Feb. 1 Reinhardt 8:00
Feb. 6 AUM 6:00
Feb. 13 @ SPSU 4:00
Feb. 16 Shorter 8:00
Feb. 20 Emmanuel 4:00
Feb. 22 Truett McConnell 7:00
Feb. 27 @ SWU 4:00