As many as you know we played UM-Crookston on Thursday night at Hutton Arena. It's normally unusual for a Division Two team travels to a Division Three for an exhibition game but Crookston wanted to come to the Twin Cities. We obliged.
The game got off to a rough start as we couldn't get things going early on. Our offense was stagnant and we were taking quick shots. Never a good way to start especially against a scholarship level school. We decided to sub in our "second unit," and they gave us a huge spark. That group on Thursday was Brandon Rieg, Victor Easter, Christian "Danny Ainge" Taber, Dior Ford, and Charlie Choiniere.
We went on a couple of nice runs during the first half and ending up leading by 12. I believe we shot right around 50% from 3 during the first half. A major difference since our Lakehead exhibition.
As the second half begun we tried to get the offense moving a little better and we got a couple of quick 3's from Tyler Pannell. Crookston looked shell shocked.
After getting the lead close to 20 Crookston changed things up and went to a 1-3-1 zone with a 6'10" guy at the top. Their length definitely gave us some issues. The zone also made us stand around. We didn't get any reversals and took some bad shots. Crookston got within two with about 8:40 left and that's when everything changed.
We could tell they were getting tired and we started attacking a little more. We got into the paint and ramped up our defensive pressure and intensity. I believe we went on a 17-1 run near the end if the game. They were tired and that is proven by their 1-9 free throw shooting and six turnovers in the last 8:40. It was a nice win for us. Any time you can beat a D2 school it's exciting for your program.
We were led by three double figure scorers including Tyler Pannell, Brandon Rieg, and Christian Taber. We ended up shooting 16-33 from 3. I'll take that any day of the week. It's a high number of 3's and probably more than we would like but when you shoot that high of a percentage, you have to take it.
We officially open up on Tuesday against Northwestern College at 7:30pm following the women's game. We will also be honoring Row of Honor inductee Don Meyer before our game. He wasn't able to make the original date. I am really looking forward to meeting him. I hope our team is as well.
This is my first venture on writing this on my phone so please excuse my many errors in their entry
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Webcast Tonight vs. UM-Crookston
Here is the link to our last exhibition game tonight UM-Crookston vs. Hamline at 7pm Central Time at Hutton Arena.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Lakehead Exhibition
Last night we took on Lakehead University from Thunder Bay, Ontario in an exhibition game. They are a team that returns several players from their Provincial Championship (Ontario) last season and they finished 4th in the country. Lakehead had already played seven games this season and including a win on Friday night vs. UW-Stout.
The game started off with a bang for us as we got out to an 11-0 lead. Things were coming easy for us right off the bat. It was clearly a shock for Lakehead, then they woke up. I'm not exactly sure what type of run they went on but it was at least a 20-2 run. We all of a sudden looked sluggish and weren't running our offense.
We battled back and got the game back within three at the half, 44-41. We left their shooters wide open on a few occasions and they made us pay. We talked about their shooters only during pregame. Normally, we are able to talk about them more but we had limited knowledge of their players besides a few highlights on youtube and a few box scores. That's an adjustment for everyone including the coaching staff. As we get into the season we'll have full game film to show the guys. Learning experience all the way around.
The second half didn't exactly get off to the way we wanted, as we got down as many as ten points. From what I saw, the lead hovered around double figures for a little bit as each team was trading layups and/or three's. I actually didn't see the last 13 minutes of the game because I had to bring a recruit to the airport but this is the rundown that I got from everyone else:
We battled back to actually take the lead with the help of Victor Easter's defensive efforts. He was the spark we needed and he dominated play for a long stretch. He clearly got some help during this time from both Charlie Choiniere and Mike Campbell, but Vic was stirring the pot. As I was on the way back from the airport, I was getting updates on my phone, it seemed like we were getting momentum. Yet, Lakehead didn't back down.
I arrived back in Hutton with 10.2 seconds left. It was our ball on the sideline as we were down three. Coach Whitmore was just drawing up a play to get a look from three. Lakehead then fouled Mike before the ball was inbounded. He made 1 of 2, we fouled immediately on the 2nd miss. They made the first one, and then Noah Aguirre got the rebound on the second (we had no timeouts left). He took it the top of the key and had a great look from three to tie the game. The shot went in and out, and we ended up losing 98-95.
We were led by Mike Campbell's 30 points on 11-15 shooting including 8-12 from the FT line. Brandon Rieg finished with 13, Tyler Pannell had 12, and the aforementioned Victor Easter finished with 10.
There were many positives for us during the game. We got the face the most athletic team we'll play all season. We got a close game, one in which we battled back after facing some adversity early in the second half. We had two of our top recruits at the game, both of whom got to see our uptempo offense. Our offense usually takes a while to get going, I don't think we are where we need to be yet, but to put up 90+ points on an opponent the caliber of Lakehead is a good thing.
Some of the negatives to the game were that we left too many of their shooters open, even after they made one of two three's previously (that was talked about above). We shot 5-16 from 3. That's not a great number especially at home. I thought we had some good looks but they did close the gap quickly to at least get a contest. We shot 20-30 from the FT line. Getting to the line 30 times is exactly where we want to be but we have to shoot better than 67%. We should shoot at least 72% from the line with the shooters we have. With the 3's and FT, we make two more 3's, we win. We make four more FTs, we win. Simple as that.
We turned the ball over 25 times. We had 17 in the first half, so we clearly settled down in the second but we should be have 17 turnovers at the most for the game. We will probably turn the ball over because of increased possessions but a number in the 20's isn't acceptable. As a staff, we aren't dumb enough(maybe some think we are) to believe that we'll turn it over less than ten times a game. Especially at the tempo we want to play at. We got outrebounded by 10, 47-37. We lack size to an extent, so will need to get help from our guards to get in there and grab boards. We leaked out too much instead of concentrating on rebounding. That potentially could be a trend throughout the season but we need to get bodies on someone and attack the ball off the rim.
Another positive is that is the first time we have played against someone else with the exception of our six alums. It'll be a great game to learn from. As time goes on, our guys and our coaching staff will make the adjustments in order for us to have a successful season. We'll watch some film on Monday and then get ready for our St. Cloud State scrimmage on Tuesday afternoon. SCSU will be another great test, as it is every year.
The game started off with a bang for us as we got out to an 11-0 lead. Things were coming easy for us right off the bat. It was clearly a shock for Lakehead, then they woke up. I'm not exactly sure what type of run they went on but it was at least a 20-2 run. We all of a sudden looked sluggish and weren't running our offense.
We battled back and got the game back within three at the half, 44-41. We left their shooters wide open on a few occasions and they made us pay. We talked about their shooters only during pregame. Normally, we are able to talk about them more but we had limited knowledge of their players besides a few highlights on youtube and a few box scores. That's an adjustment for everyone including the coaching staff. As we get into the season we'll have full game film to show the guys. Learning experience all the way around.
The second half didn't exactly get off to the way we wanted, as we got down as many as ten points. From what I saw, the lead hovered around double figures for a little bit as each team was trading layups and/or three's. I actually didn't see the last 13 minutes of the game because I had to bring a recruit to the airport but this is the rundown that I got from everyone else:
We battled back to actually take the lead with the help of Victor Easter's defensive efforts. He was the spark we needed and he dominated play for a long stretch. He clearly got some help during this time from both Charlie Choiniere and Mike Campbell, but Vic was stirring the pot. As I was on the way back from the airport, I was getting updates on my phone, it seemed like we were getting momentum. Yet, Lakehead didn't back down.
I arrived back in Hutton with 10.2 seconds left. It was our ball on the sideline as we were down three. Coach Whitmore was just drawing up a play to get a look from three. Lakehead then fouled Mike before the ball was inbounded. He made 1 of 2, we fouled immediately on the 2nd miss. They made the first one, and then Noah Aguirre got the rebound on the second (we had no timeouts left). He took it the top of the key and had a great look from three to tie the game. The shot went in and out, and we ended up losing 98-95.
We were led by Mike Campbell's 30 points on 11-15 shooting including 8-12 from the FT line. Brandon Rieg finished with 13, Tyler Pannell had 12, and the aforementioned Victor Easter finished with 10.
There were many positives for us during the game. We got the face the most athletic team we'll play all season. We got a close game, one in which we battled back after facing some adversity early in the second half. We had two of our top recruits at the game, both of whom got to see our uptempo offense. Our offense usually takes a while to get going, I don't think we are where we need to be yet, but to put up 90+ points on an opponent the caliber of Lakehead is a good thing.
Some of the negatives to the game were that we left too many of their shooters open, even after they made one of two three's previously (that was talked about above). We shot 5-16 from 3. That's not a great number especially at home. I thought we had some good looks but they did close the gap quickly to at least get a contest. We shot 20-30 from the FT line. Getting to the line 30 times is exactly where we want to be but we have to shoot better than 67%. We should shoot at least 72% from the line with the shooters we have. With the 3's and FT, we make two more 3's, we win. We make four more FTs, we win. Simple as that.
We turned the ball over 25 times. We had 17 in the first half, so we clearly settled down in the second but we should be have 17 turnovers at the most for the game. We will probably turn the ball over because of increased possessions but a number in the 20's isn't acceptable. As a staff, we aren't dumb enough(maybe some think we are) to believe that we'll turn it over less than ten times a game. Especially at the tempo we want to play at. We got outrebounded by 10, 47-37. We lack size to an extent, so will need to get help from our guards to get in there and grab boards. We leaked out too much instead of concentrating on rebounding. That potentially could be a trend throughout the season but we need to get bodies on someone and attack the ball off the rim.
Another positive is that is the first time we have played against someone else with the exception of our six alums. It'll be a great game to learn from. As time goes on, our guys and our coaching staff will make the adjustments in order for us to have a successful season. We'll watch some film on Monday and then get ready for our St. Cloud State scrimmage on Tuesday afternoon. SCSU will be another great test, as it is every year.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Live Feed vs. Lakehead
Here is the link for the LIVE FEED for our game vs. Lakehead University from Thunder Bay, Ontanrio
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Alumni Scrimmage
On Sunday morning we took on a few of our Alums in a scrimmage to start the new competitive season. The Alums only had six guys, so it made it challenging for both teams. They obviously weren't in the shape that we are in and played zone the whole game. We couldn't implement our new defensive schemes because we didn't want them calling for mercy ten minutes in.
We got off to a decent start but then it was pretty much downhill for there. We didn't play with much energy (or least the energy we would've liked) for most of the first half. We were actually down at the half. We didn't take care of things that we could control like effort and rebounding (more on this later). We ended winning the scrimmage as the alums wore down in the second half.
One thing our guys weren't exactly ready for was the size our alums brought. Carl Hipp, who is now 6'8" and probably 240lbs and Kris Anderson (6'5" and 260lbs) brought a ton of size and muscle against our relatively small team. That will help us prepare for teams like UW-Whitewater, Augsburg, and Gustavus. Hopefully, it will make our guys understand how important it is for us to box out and rebound. We were spoiled the last couple of years with having Carl on the interior.
Overall, it was a great learning experience for our guys. The alums played a very physical brand of basketball and most of our guys weren't exactly ready for it. We've watched some film and hopefully we can apply that to practice and then our exhibition game coming up on Saturday vs. Lakehead University from Thunder Bay, Canada (we are in talks to have a live feed for the game, I'll try to keep you updated on that).
Just want to say thanks to the Alums that came out, Kris Anderson, Sam Weiner, Brandon Hayes, Dan Andersen (who is our new assistant coach), Pierre Harris, and Carl Hipp. We appreciate the support you guys give to the Hamline program. We also had a few Alums show up to watch in Charlie Hipp (Carl's dad) and Mike Gray
We got off to a decent start but then it was pretty much downhill for there. We didn't play with much energy (or least the energy we would've liked) for most of the first half. We were actually down at the half. We didn't take care of things that we could control like effort and rebounding (more on this later). We ended winning the scrimmage as the alums wore down in the second half.
One thing our guys weren't exactly ready for was the size our alums brought. Carl Hipp, who is now 6'8" and probably 240lbs and Kris Anderson (6'5" and 260lbs) brought a ton of size and muscle against our relatively small team. That will help us prepare for teams like UW-Whitewater, Augsburg, and Gustavus. Hopefully, it will make our guys understand how important it is for us to box out and rebound. We were spoiled the last couple of years with having Carl on the interior.
Overall, it was a great learning experience for our guys. The alums played a very physical brand of basketball and most of our guys weren't exactly ready for it. We've watched some film and hopefully we can apply that to practice and then our exhibition game coming up on Saturday vs. Lakehead University from Thunder Bay, Canada (we are in talks to have a live feed for the game, I'll try to keep you updated on that).
Just want to say thanks to the Alums that came out, Kris Anderson, Sam Weiner, Brandon Hayes, Dan Andersen (who is our new assistant coach), Pierre Harris, and Carl Hipp. We appreciate the support you guys give to the Hamline program. We also had a few Alums show up to watch in Charlie Hipp (Carl's dad) and Mike Gray
Thursday, October 20, 2011
So it has begun...
As most everyone knows, practice started for D3 basketball on October 15th. Like everyone else, we went twice on Saturday and then twice again on Sunday. We got a lot of things in and our guys' heads were spinning, even the veterans. We've decided to implement some different things into what we do and it has put a lot of guys on the same learning curve. We are hopeful that our new schemes will work out.
The guys have been getting after it pretty good throughout practice, today was the exception. I wasn't exactly pleased with the way we were playing today. Some of it had to do with some new drills and us deciding as a coaching staff to mix the groups a little bit. It certainly wasn't pretty at times and I'm sure some of the recruits who came to practice weren't exactly impressed. I think it's important to mix in groups because we aren't going to sub five for five all time. It might happen some but that will be the exception.
We are pleasantly surprised by how some of the guys have played. As of right, we feel that we can probably put 14 different guys out there right now and not miss a beat. As we all know, that can and will change as the season progresses. It could be a higher or lower number. To have as much depth as we think we have right now, is definitely a good problem to have.
As a staff, it is always difficult to figure out the rotation for games. This year could be a little easier, as we have four different opportunities to see how the guys react to playing someone else and in a game situation. On top of that, some guys shine better when the lights are on and others go to the corner. Hopefully, we have a bunch of guys that like the light. We will have a Alum Scrimmage first, then an foreign exhibition game, followed by another scrimmage, and then exhibition game before we open up the season.
We start with a game against Northwestern College on Nov. 15 as part of a doubleheader with the women's team. Other non-conference games will include @ UW-Eau Claire, UW-Whitewater, Cal Tech, and @ Chapman (CA). Once again it should be one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.
To go back on some of my previous blogs, I was super wrong on my World Series predictions. St. Louis and Texas are playing some great baseball right and are certainly deserving of being there. I know that Fox is not happy with those two teams there because ratings must be brutal. Fox needs the Yankees or Red Sox there to drive up the ratings otherwise they will lose money.
The guys have been getting after it pretty good throughout practice, today was the exception. I wasn't exactly pleased with the way we were playing today. Some of it had to do with some new drills and us deciding as a coaching staff to mix the groups a little bit. It certainly wasn't pretty at times and I'm sure some of the recruits who came to practice weren't exactly impressed. I think it's important to mix in groups because we aren't going to sub five for five all time. It might happen some but that will be the exception.
We are pleasantly surprised by how some of the guys have played. As of right, we feel that we can probably put 14 different guys out there right now and not miss a beat. As we all know, that can and will change as the season progresses. It could be a higher or lower number. To have as much depth as we think we have right now, is definitely a good problem to have.
As a staff, it is always difficult to figure out the rotation for games. This year could be a little easier, as we have four different opportunities to see how the guys react to playing someone else and in a game situation. On top of that, some guys shine better when the lights are on and others go to the corner. Hopefully, we have a bunch of guys that like the light. We will have a Alum Scrimmage first, then an foreign exhibition game, followed by another scrimmage, and then exhibition game before we open up the season.
We start with a game against Northwestern College on Nov. 15 as part of a doubleheader with the women's team. Other non-conference games will include @ UW-Eau Claire, UW-Whitewater, Cal Tech, and @ Chapman (CA). Once again it should be one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.
To go back on some of my previous blogs, I was super wrong on my World Series predictions. St. Louis and Texas are playing some great baseball right and are certainly deserving of being there. I know that Fox is not happy with those two teams there because ratings must be brutal. Fox needs the Yankees or Red Sox there to drive up the ratings otherwise they will lose money.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
It's almost here...
11 more days until practice officially starts and I can't wait.
So, this past weekend I was able to head to Madison for the Nebraska-Wisconsin football game. I got to experience pretty cool and it's down below. This isn't my video and I am clearly not tech-savvy enough to get it from my phone to here. I'll work on that.
I still think West Virginia has a better atmosphere and is louder. You be the judge.
Pretty cool stuff either way.
So, this past weekend I was able to head to Madison for the Nebraska-Wisconsin football game. I got to experience pretty cool and it's down below. This isn't my video and I am clearly not tech-savvy enough to get it from my phone to here. I'll work on that.
I still think West Virginia has a better atmosphere and is louder. You be the judge.
Pretty cool stuff either way.
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