B-RadHoops - September 2007
September 30, 2007
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Go Highlanders, Brad
September 23, 2007 The official Big South pre-season men's basketball all conference team and predicted order of finish will not be released to the media and public until October 9th, Big South Media Day. But the results have been tabulated and circulated to league members. I hope I am not violating the Big South Code of Silence by spilling the beans that the pool of voters, comprised of conference coaches, conference members sports information directors (SID's), and media representatives who cover the league, don't think the Radford Highlanders have much of a chance to win the Big South this year. Logic is on their side. They're looking at a roster minus its top two scoring and rebounding producers from a year ago and on which only returns one double figure scorer. But what they haven't taken into account is that a new year gives any group of players a chance to carve out their own identity. It gives a team a chance to establish how they will play and how well they will do what they do. And since our team, and athletic department are in the first stages a rebuilding effort, the results of those voters helped crystallize some thoughts for me about our team and where we are right now. While listening to a CD on my way to work I heard a protest song released by Bob Dylan in 1964, about 25 years before most of our players were born. Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen NCAA rules allow coaches to work on the court with players for up to two hours a week until October 12th, when in season practices officially begin. Before September 15, coaches are limited to group workouts with no more than four players. After September 15th we can conduct two hours a week of practice with the entire team. Last week, our staff had the chance to train the entire team for two hours. As these early practices typically go, players are trying to find themselves and get a feel for each other and for the coaches. Our first couples of times out on the floor together were no exception. We stumbled and bumbled a bit, but more importantly, the attitude and work ethic of our kids has been extraordinary and worthy of attention--if not now by the Big South Media Mafia, then by the end of the season. If you are interested in finding out more about attending the Inaugural Radford Highlanders Men's Basketball Banquet, please contact Assistant Coach Rick Hall at fnhall@radford.edu or by phone at 540-605-6483 for specifics. It's November 1 at RU West. Special thanks to Sports Information Director Drew Dickerson for the technical upgrades recently made to help new subscribers register for B-RadHoops. You can now also access B-RadHoops archives. So spread the news to help us continue to grow the B-RadHoops community. Here's the link. September 16, 2007 This past weekend, two Radford University Highlanders Alumni and Friends Receptions with President Penelope Kyle and Highlander Coaches were held. On Friday evening Tom (’87) and Julie (’89) Fraim hosted a large crowd at their beautiful Virginia Beach home where I devoured a significant quantity of crab cake hors d’oeuvres. Tom’s father…another Tom, a retired college basketball official who doled out a few technical fouls in his day, entertained with stories of referee – coach encounters with Bob Knight, Lefty Driesell and Bobby Cremins. I am going to try to get him out of retirement and see if we can get him assigned to a few Big South contests. I also met Mr. and Mrs. William Braithwaite, friends of the Fraims and of Radford. After Bill and I exchanged business cards he asked why I gave him a card with Assistant Coach Rick Hall’s name on it. I quickly realized the stack of business cards I had pulled out of my briefcase had been left by Rick when we traded computer bags a few weeks back. I hope to be smoother with my substitutions and tactics than I am at handing out the proper business card. So, if anyone else from the party is in possession of a Rick Hall business card, trust me, I was there. And if you want to reach me, call Rick. He’ll get us connected. On Saturday we were in McLean, Virginia at the home of Kent (’93) and Jenny Warren. Kent played Rugby for a few years at RU and Jenny ran track at Boston University. Alumni from Northern Virginia and Maryland enjoyed live music, great food (delicious polenta appetizer), and spirited camaraderie. Dwayne Chandler (’89), President of International Resources Group, Inc., danced with President Kyle and enthusiastically demanded a win over West Virginia (his wife, Patti, is a WVU alumnus). I met Sean Peay (‘91) and his wife Jena. Sean played soccer at RU and is now the President and CEO of Dynanet Corporation, an IT Solution and Network Global Communication Company. Marcelo Bravo (’90) of Raul V. Bravo and Associates Inc., a transportation industry consulting company almost solved a personal issue. My daughter, Ali, is approaching driving age but doesn’t like to get behind the wheel to practice. Ali is very interested in languages and promised to regularly get behind the wheel if I asked her if she wanted to drive in Spanish. Bravo provided this translation. Tu quires manejar? Ali said No va, “no go”. She says manejar translates to “operate or manage”, not drive. Jeff Milloy (’77) President of The Molloy Group, and wife Liz Wells Milloy (‘80 ) were in attendance. Jeff, a serious Washington Wizards fan, informed me as a Wizard VIP season ticket holder, he has a hotline to longtime friend of mine Wizard GM Ernie Grunfeld. Baseball coach Joe Raccuia cleaned up for both events by arriving sans chewing tobacco. Women’s basketball coach Jeri Porter was in Virginia Beach on Friday and softball coach Mickey Dean was in McLean on Saturday. I met some really fantastic people, who are eager and enthusiastic supporters of Radford athletics. I was pleasantly surprised when several people mentioned they read B-RadHoops like Barbara-lyn Belcher Morris who concurs with Phil Jackson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about the benefits of YOGA for a basketball team. So, some 850 miles later, I am back home and even more excited about our potential to build financial support and a loyal fan base. REMEMBER TO SAVE THIS DATE. Highlander Tip-Off Banquet, Thursday, November 1, 2007 Location: RU West Thanks. Brad September 9, 2007Phil Jackson was recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and is considered to be one of the greatest Head Coaches in NBA history. The guy has nine NBA championship rings. And a quirky personality that meshes Native American spiritual practices, New York city game instincts and out of the box cerebral training. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA all time leading scorer. He doesn’t have as many NBA championship rings as Phil Jackson but he does own the game’s penultimate single scoring move, the Sky Hook. And both these legends have been caught in a Cobra pose or two. And starting this week Duane Ricks, Martell McDuffy, Kenny Thomas, Amir Johnson and the rest of the Radford Highlanders will be trying out all sorts of similar moves. We’re talking YOGA here, no not yogurt, YOGA. As an on again, off again practitioner of yoga, like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Phil Jackson, I am a firm believer in its benefits and believe it can be a big help to a college basketball player. So this week, our team will hit the mat for their first experience with yoga basics like Up Dog, Down Dog, Corpse Pose, Triangle Pose and Sun Salutation A. Practicing yoga requires minimal equipment. All you need is a mat. However, finding a mat that fits a 6’ 8” power forward is a little tough. A mat roll is 102 feet long, advertised to accommodate 17 people. That is 17 people who are only six feet tall. But that doesn’t work for 17 basketball players. So we’ve had to order two mat rolls that we will custom cut to fit our players. We will use the Martial Arts Room in Peters Gym, bring a boom box for some tranquil music, get barefoot and try to find balance. October’s Yoga Journal has an article Play at Your Peak by Stephen Cope. He writes about how yoga can help people achieve flow. “The state of complete absorption….when you are pursuing activities that require focus, skill, and persistent effort”. Just like basketball. A shooter on a hot streak or a player controlling the action with uncommon poise are often referred to as being in the zone or in the flow. Cope’s research finds that yoga lessens performance anxiety and enhances one’s capacity to enter into a flow state. SAVE THIS DATE. September 2, 2007We’re two months to tip-off and have just released a most challenging schedule, and I am not just spewing coach speak. We’re playing heavy hitters from the BIG EAST (they capitalize to emphasize the big), the Big 10 (they actually have 11 teams), and the SEC. And 11 of our first 17 games are on the road, in hostile territory. In the press release I’m quoted as saying “the very best way for a team to improve is to continually test its limits”; but this schedule also guarantees a coach sleepless nights and Excedrin headaches! Appalachian State 34 Michigan 32 One of the greatest upsets in college football history occurred yesterday afternoon in front of 110,000 fans in Ann Arbor, Michigan when the is Appalachian State Mountaineers beat the Michigan Wolverines. That probably means the Big Ten powerhouse is now very wary of small southern schools who agree to open up an athletic season with them. I suspect the Wolverine ballers will not be complacent when our Highlanders open up Michigan’s home basketball slate on November 9th. The building blocks of this year’s schedule include guarantee games, a few series contests, some non conference home and away games in the same year and 14 Big South Conference games. This year we are playing four teams that will not return games at the Dedmon Center. These are guarantee games where a school from a major conference provides a guaranteed amount of money to have an opponent play an away game. Schools from major conferences compliment their conferences schedules with these additional home games to hopefully pad their records and build ticket revenue. The host school’s conference office assigns refs, chosen from a pool of officials that primarily work games in the host schools conference. Our guarantee games this year are Michigan, Air Force, South Carolina and Georgetown. We also have three games that are part of contractual series. Our home contest with West Virginia is part of a 2 for 1 deal in which Radford will play at West Virginia two times but West Virginia only plays at Radford once. We play at Eastern Michigan two days after playing Michigan and they will return that game next season. We play at James Madison in mid December and they will return that game next season also. We will try to schedule more non conference series games with Virginia schools in the future. One of the scheduling difficulties of smaller conference schools like Radford is getting home games. We play 14 Big South games (7 at home and 7 on the road) and we are allowed to play 29 games prior to the conference tournament. This year we have 13 home games and 16 road games. To get more home games, schools from conferences similar to the Big South sometimes agree to play two games in the same year giving each school a home date. We are doing that this year with the two schools that will be Big South scheduling partners next year (Gardner Webb and Presbyterian) and also with Atlantic Sun member Campbell University. We are excited about hosting 6 Saturday evening games in the Dedmon Center. Please take the time to go onto RUHighlanders.com and save the dates for our 13 home games and spread the word. If you live within driving range of our campus, please plan on making our games on Nov 17, December 19 and Jan 2. Those games occur when school is on break and it is vital that we fill the arena to make the Dedmon Center a true home court advantage Stay tuned for season ticket and individual game ticket information. Brad P.S. Can’t leave B-RadHoops without mention of food. Next week we will have details of the first Radford Highlander’s Men’s Basketball Tip-Off Banquet which will feature meetin’, greetin’ and eatin’ southern style |
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