The Rookie

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]HALF TIME[/color]

[color="Navy"]The first 5 minutes went well, and we opened an 13-5 lead. Lots of defensive pressure forcing them into turnovers. Maurice William in particular was looking impressive.

As we moved towards 10 minutes we were still fighting hard. Maurice had dried up all of sudden throwing bricks everywhere but the D was looking good. Unfortunately it can be difficult to keep solid defensive pressure up for a whole half and they started to close in on our lead.

However, the last 2 minutes saw the Bobcats go on a terrible shooting streak and we eventually managed to put the ball in the hoop and get to the half with a 9 point lead! Go Vandals![/color]

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]FULL TIME[/color]

[color="Navy"]They closed in to 6 points early in the second and I was ready to strangle Barnes. The guy shoots from everywhere and never looks like scoring. Luckily the Bobcats were just as bad. Eventually they started to hand us the ball on a plate and with 14 minutes to go we were 16 points clear. The shooting % by both teams was terrible!

The game continued to be ugly. I guess maybe our defensive hustle deserves some credit but the Bobcats could simply not keep the ball. As we ticked down to 4 minutes left we had a 20 point lead. How? I don't really know!

In the end we were all pleased to chalk up a victory, but as the stats show this was a case of we were bad, but they were worse![/color]

[color="Navy"]I couldn't help myself after the game. I know it was wrong, but Calvin looked so pleased with getting the player of the game, I just had to say something.

"Congratulations Cal." He gave me a big smile, which turned into a frown as I added; "I don't think I will see anybody play worse than that and get an award. You must be proud."

I hope Coach doesn't hear about that![/color]

[bloomington]

Calvin Barnes may have gotten the player of the game award but I would throw in an honorouble mention to Pete Howard for his 8 steals, 4 assists and only 1 turnover.

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]GAME DAY #03

Time to face SE Louisiana who are from the Southland conference. They had lost their opener to Denver 89-94, and I felt we would have a real tough match today. They really had one go to guy; Gary Arline who hit 37 points against Denver. [/color]

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]HALF TIME[/color]

Can the widgets be any more annoying! If you don't turn them off at the main page, they just get in the way. They should have a little "x" on them or something! I will just play with them off.

[color="Navy"]The game opened up early and was a joy to watch. In complete contrast to the game before both teams where hitting the net. We had a 17-15 lead after 6 minutes shooting .583 against their .778!

With 3 minutes to go we had worked out to a 10 point lead. Our bench was doing a great job and our defensive pressure was causing SEL a lot of problems.

At the half, we were a happy bench. We had forced them to turn over the ball, created steals, and had kept a reasonable shooting average. Maurice Williams had come to play! Fingers crossed for the 2nd.[/color]

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]FULL TIME

As we ticked by the halfway mark of the 2nd half, we still held a 12 point lead. SEL had got it back to 9, but we recovered. Our shooting percentage had dropped off though, and we were a little concerned that we were giving SEL a chance in the run home.

With 4:30 to go, SEL got to within 6. We had stalled on offence, really struggling to get the ball inside. Have to give a mention to Darell Smith who was posting some good numbers from the bench. A tense run in.

We held strong to the end. Our defensive pressure really got us over the line, and we set up some nice baskets to finish out comfortable winners.[/color]

A bit strange. As soon as the game ended, the practice screen popped up over the court followed by recruit targeting etc..

[color="Navy"]So a pleasing win to get us to 2-1 in the middle of a 5 game away stretch. A hats of to Maurice Williams and Darrel Smith in this one.

For the training set up, I gave defense 15 and dropped endurance to 5 for the week.[/color]

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]GAME DAY #04

Time to travel to Colgate for our 4th away game on the spin. The Raiders are a part of the Patriot league have have a 3-0 record. They had won their last start against South Alabama by 8.

We had some confidence in our own group after a couple of wins, but we knew Colgate would present a challenge for us.[/color]

[fondfoat]

The widgets!! I turn them off whilst I am playing. Then I minimize out to edit my screenshots to add them here. I maximize back in and there are the widgets plastered all over the match preview screen.

I can't go to the game because the widgets cover the buttons that advance the game. Therefore, I have to shut the game down and start again! I will have to remember to save just before tip off each time Terrible design.

Colgate were 2-1 but when I had to resim they become 3-0. They turned a 16 points loss into an 8 point win against South Alabama.

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]HALF TIME

Things were going okay for the first 7 minutes, but we slipped 5 behind. The main reason was Kenny Taylor had hit 3-4 from 3 point land. We would need to pressure his shooting more.

With 8:30 left we tied it up. The game was fairly free flowing. They had hit4-9 from the 3 point zone whilst we were not amused with Pete Howard hitting 0-5 from 2 point range. Looked like it would be a tight match.

We got to the half with a 3 point lead. We were 7 up with just over a minute but made a couple of poor shot choices. I found it hard to bite my tongue because I could not understand why we were taking 3 points shots. We looked dangerous in the paint and crap outside. I think the guys were trying to match Colgate![/color]

[fondfoat]

[color="Navy"]FULL TIME

It was a very even half. A couple of times we skipped away to a 9 point lead and then Colgate would close it down again. With 6 minutes left, I was quietly confident. We had answered nearly all that Colgate had thrown at us, and we were still 6 points clear. Of course, it can turn around quickly, but I felt good.

We did lift our game even more on the run in and ended up a comfortable 14 point winner, though Barnes did hit a 3 on the buzzer. A lot of positives I felt. Barnes, M. Williams, and Smith did well rotating through the guard positions and Fletcher matched Oates which was a worry pre-game. Excellent defensive hustle again, but just stop it with the 3 points already![/color]

[color="Navy"]So there were 3-1 all away from home. One more away trip before we could show the home fans our stuff![/color]

BTW guys, where can I see the game day attendance?