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