And the season begins...

Sweeney here to inform any of you who saw the Big South Media Day please don’t believe everything that you hear. We were picked to finish 9th out of 10th but this year will be different I promise you that, if we don’t have a winning record I will never write another blog. Some of you may rejoice at this news, but either way it’s my senior year and I’m not going to be writing anymore anyway.

I’ve been thinking about things that I want to do this year with the blog, the first is November I will not be shaving. Glenn is also going to participate with me in the effort to see how thick we can grow our beards during this month. My fear is this may make ourselves a target to the MD student section, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.( hopefully we will update with pictures but no promises) Another thought I’ve had is that I won’t be seeing many meaningful minutes during the games this year. Some may think that this is negative thinking, but I am just basing that on the minutes I am getting in scrimmages when there are only 7 guys on my team. I’m figuring when we combine the teams to have 15 players that the little bit of time I have been getting is going to dwindle. As a result I am going to have to record different stats, so in any game that I actually get in I will update with a blog that gives you my stats that may not show up in the box score. To help fill my stat line I will keep track of any time I touch the ball. (This does not include the game pass the rock if you don’t know what that is go back to the It’s Over blog on Jan 28th)Also I will be keep tracking of any screen that I set. Finally this year I will be keeping track of hockey assists, which is if I pass the ball to the guy who passes to the guy who scores I will be counting that as a HA in my score book.

Now for a word from Glenn...

Before one of our film sessions last week, coach Radebaugh went around the room and asked a few players on the team what the funniest moment in practice had been. We have been through about 15 practices and there has definitely been plenty of funny moments that make us all fall out of our seats laughing. But there are two moments that stand out the most. We here at Red Shirt Year and Beyond want to get the fans/readers involved by having our first ever poll to decide on which moment was in fact the funniest.

During one of our first practices, we were doing a 5-on-5 drill in the half court and then running in transition back on defense. K-Mart (Kelvin Martin) got a steal and was heading in for the basket when an extremely frantic coach Radebaugh appeared out of nowhere yelling, “Stop K-Mart! There’s a wet spot!” Someone had fallen under the basket the play before and their sweat hadn’t been wiped up yet so coach was trying to keep K-Mart safe. I must admit, coach Radebaugh did a great job of picking a spot on the floor, beating K-Mart to the spot, and building a wall, just like he teaches us. But it was too little too late. K-Mart neglected to listen to coach’s warning and took off right in front of coach and proceeded to dunk directly on top of coach Radebaugh and his outstretched arms, quite a sight if you ask me. In a post practice interview, K-Mart had this to say about the dunk. “Right when I got the steal at half court, I saw coach Radebaugh and decided at that moment I was going to dunk on him. I wasn’t worried about the wet spot at all… I have never seen coach get dunked on before and I wanted to be the first to do that. It relieved a lot of stress and I wouldn’t hesitate do it again if the opportunity came again.”


After a long morning practice, we found ourselves back in the gym for the evening practice during our stint of 3 two-a-days in a row. We were doing a 4-on-4 ball screen drill. Austin Johnson was on offense, wearing blue. The drill was designed for him to come off a ball screen, read his options, and then make the correct pass. After being scolded for dribbling the ball too much on the first attempt, Austin figured he’d make his reads quickly and get rid of the ball as soon as possible. It just so happened that Coach Radebaugh was wearing his all blue coach’s attire (bad decision). Austin proceeded to come off the ball screen, made his reads, and apparently none his teammates were open at the time. He then ball faked to the corner, and fired a pass to the top of the key. Where an unsuspecting recipient stood, wearing his all blue coach’s attire. To get first hand perspective of the play, we asked Mr. Johnson to take us through the scenario. “On the previous play, Coach Richey sternly suggested I get rid of the ball quicker and not dribble as much. As I was coming off the screen, my first 3 options were completely unavailable, my final opportunity to get rid of the ball was to quickly reverse the ball before the defense recovered. While looking at my first 3 options, I saw an all blue blur out of the corner of my right eye… With the thought of Richey’s instruction still in the back of my head, I swung the ball with Randy Johnson-like velocity… As I was following the flight of the ball, I soon realized it was on a path of destruction… In the way, was an unaware Radebaugh, and there was no going back.” Needless to say, Coach had a few words for Austin, and then practice went on.

Please do not be afraid to voice your opinion and be heard throughout the Red Shirt Year and beyond fan base. Yes, I do realize that the poll also has a vote counter visible to the public so everyone can see how much of a success or failure our first poll is. So if you would be so kind and vote to prevent Sweeney and I from running through the computer lab voting on every computer to get our numbers up!

Sweeney and Self

Were Back At It Again....

Hello redshirt year and beyond fans. It seems that we have dusted off our keyboards and decided to keep the blog going for another season. I am deeply sorry for the enormous delay and lack of dedication on our part. It was a hectic summer and already a busy fall. But I realize we haven’t updated since Sweeney’s cruel April fools prank. So I’ll try to catch you all up to date.
Spring workouts consisted of waking up at 5am for 530 lifting and conditioning four days a week for 8 weeks. I feel like we could have gotten up around 8 or so and still gotten just as strong and in shape, but then again it’s not my call. Anyways, we were rewarded for this rigorous schedule by going paintballing against the coaching staff for an afternoon. Coach Powell took home the heart and hustle award when he decided to jump into a nearby pond to avoid being shot. Only to get pummeled with paintballs the second he got out.

The freshmen came in for the June session of summer school. We have added six new players this year, four of which joined the team in June. After dealing with strength and conditioning coach for a month, we were finally let go and allowed to go home until August 24th.Upon our return, Coach Radebaugh declared he would beat one of us in the mile run when we got back. That statement motivated many members of the team to stay in shape while we were home. The guards had to run a 5:35 mile, the wings a 5:45 mile, and the posts a 5:55 mile.
Sure enough, when we lined up to run our mile, Coach Radebaugh himself lined up beside me with the look of the eye of the tiger. He then gave the cadence, “ready, set, GO!” Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw Coach during the whole run. But that wasn’t the last time he saw us. K-Mart and I had the opportunity of lapping him on the final turn of the final lap, but we had more class than that. I won’t mention coach’s mile time because I’m sure he’s an avid follower of the blog and we don’t take shots at our own fans. Coach failed to beat a player that day, with hard work and a hope. (one of coach’s building blocks of the fall season)

Now a word from Sweeney…

To all the new fans I would like to say WELCOME! To the loyal fans who have stuck with us through our 6 month hiatus from blogging, I would like to sincerely apologize and say THANKS.

For a quick recap, this summer was amazing, to say the least. I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with Austin, while Jo’el rolled a double bed in the corner of the kitchen, and Glenn occupied the living room with an air mattress. Needless to say, the electric bill way through the roof, and that’s not OK with me considering that money comes out of my pocket. Lots of video games were played and seasons of lost were watched. Probably too many, but many memories were made, far too many to recount.

Since being back to school in August, I have been traveling on the weekends. The first week I went to Gainesville to see the Bucs play in the swamp, for a recap we got our $450,000 check and went home. The next weekend I went to Wofford University and unfortunately the mighty Bucs fell again. I’ve been to Columbia twice with Jo’el and Austin, some great weekends of football.

Now back to the subject at hand, basketball. As promised last year, I told everyone that I would be back as a walk on, and I AM. The scholarship was great if you like free tuition, books, and room and board. Let’s get this straight, all that is nice but that’s just not for me. I feel like I connected with the average redshirt year and beyond fan last year as a walk on before I earned a scholarship. If you’re thinking I get to run less or go to weights whenever I feel like it, that is completely false. I still do everything I did last year as a scholarship player, and everything everyone does this year. So in conclusion with this blog, I hope to chronicle the up and downs of life, basketball and academics of a Division 1 walk on in the Big South.