Cal Lutheran Tournament Part I

I would've liked to post while we were out in California but I wasn't going to pay $13 per hour for internet connection in my room. Needless to say, here is the rundown.

Dec. 26
We weren't able to practice on this day because it would make break the 19 week rule which I'm sure is broken by many teams in our conference and throughout the country. We spent the first night at Disney in Anaheim, CA. We got to head out for a little bit and walk around. My lunch didn't sit well with me and I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I would've liked.

Dec. 27
We headed up to Thousand Oaks area to our hotel and then to practice. After checking into our hotel at the Four Seasons (yeah I know, way too nice, hence the $13 internet connection), we headed up to Cal Lutheran to practice. They have a great athletic complex and everything looked new. They even had an outdoor pool, which we definitely don't see in Minnesota.

We had a pretty bad practice, which was somewhat expected because it was the first time we were together in over a week. We wanted to put some new things in with Ray Brown playing a little point. It's certainly a different look for our team and it made matchups really tough for both of our opponents out there.

After practice, we hung out a little bit and then headed to Westlake HS for a shoot-around/practice. We were really thankful that we could get the extra time in the gym. We certainly want to thank Coach Tom Donahue for opening the gym for us on a Sunday evening.

Dec. 28
We had breakfast at this great place called Jack's. It was phenomenal food. After breakfast we headed back to Cal Lu for another practice. Again, it was a little sloppy but a little more spirited than the day before.

After practice we headed to Venice Beach to check things out. We were able to see the famous bball court from "White Man Can't Jump." There were certainly no Billy Ho or Sidney playing on that night. I don't think anyone that was playing could've hustled anyone in our travel party. We also got to see some great street performers as well as check out the many different shops that had.

Once the sun went down we headed to Malibu to see Barbie (just kidding) and got some food at Gladstone's which is right on the beach. They had great seafood there and it was a great atmosphere. We ate very well and the guys got to see what it's like to be a D1 player with all the great things we were able to provide them on the trip.

And that's for the Part I, I'll try to get Part II in here over the next couple of days. It's a busy week with Carleton tomorrow, Bethel on Monday, St. Mary's on Wednesday, and then Gustavus on Saturday.