Friday, December 4, 2009

NSIC Play Opens This Weekend

Hi Warrior fans, well the NSIC schedule opens tonight as we are up in St. Cloud getting ready for out game against the Huskies. It should be a great atmosphere and hopefully a fun game. The team just completed it shoot around and we are now heading to a local Subway for our usual pregame meal while on the road.
As for tonight's game we are expecting a hostile environment and loud crowd. St. Cloud St. always has good crowds for basketball games and with this being the conference opener I would expect maybe a couple more people then usual to see this game. The game tonight will be a great challenge to us as we are taking on a team loaded with talent both inside and out. As many Warrior fans remember last year the Huskies had our number and they return all players but 2 from last years squad. Along with the returners they also have added some other nice players to make them the favorite to win the NSIC this season. On the outside they have a trio of great shooters in Taylor Witt, Josh Ortmann and Brett Putz all can have huge games from the 3 point line so we cannot let them get going. Inside they have All-American candidate Matt Schneck along with wing/post player Andrew Bernstetter. The focus for tonight's game will once again begin on the defensive end where we must continue to improve on shutting our man down one on one, also tonight we must be aware that they will want to get the ball inside as much as possible so we will need to have great defensive rotations. Off those rotations we will also have to make sure we are getting a body on the weak side rebound and not giving up a ton of offensive boards like we did last weekend against Mankato. On the offensive side we will need to get scoring from a variety of players. We cannot just hope that DJ continues to have huge games and other guys will need to step up to the plate. Hopefully we can learn from last weekends game and have a great showing tonight in front of a great crowd. GO WARRIORS!!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Pre-game Alumni social event @ O'Gara's Bar 12:30 to 2:30, free appetizers! :)

    Hey Warrior fans, well it was an up and down weekend for the Warriors as we went 1-1 out at the Hoopsfest.  It was a fun event and our guys learned a lot from playing against two quality teams.  Hopefully we can care over what we have learned to this coming weekend as we will be playing two very tough, talented teams.  
    As for this weekend.  On Saturday before the Concordia St. Paul game there will be a Pre-game Alumni social event at O'Gara's Bar and Grill from 12:30 - 2:30.  This event is open obviously to all former alumni along with parents, family and fans of Winona State.  For those of you who do not know where O'Gara's is located the address is: 164 Snelling Ave. North, St. Paul, MN.  If you need more information on the place here is a link to there website: http://www.ogaras.com/.  Just copy and paste it into a web browser to go it.  Finally at O'Gara's on Saturday not only will it be the spot to gather for Warrior fans it will also be the spot to grab some free appetizers as they will be available while they last.  So let get everyone together to catch up on old times and then head on over to Concordia St. Paul to cheer the Warriors onto victory.  GO WARRIORS!!!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Hoopsfest Kicks off Today!!

Hey Warrior fans, well we are out here in Sioux Falls all ready for the hoopsfest to begin today. So far the event has been wonderful, we got into town last night around 4:30 and headed right down for a dinner with the other 7 schools in a big ballroom. The dinner was excellent for a buffet style meal which was surprising as it can be hard to make a real good meal for so many people but they pulled it off. After that we had some down time so our guys relaxed in the rooms and got a good nights rest. This morning we were up early for shoot around at 8 am, the focus was great and I think we are ready to go. Unfortunately we will not be playing today with CJ Erickson. CJ sprained his ankle at the end of practice yesterday and it ballooned up pretty good on him so he is a no go today and probably tomorrow. So we will have to have other guys step up and fill in for him while he is out. Today's game will be a good challenge for us as UM Crookston is much improved over last year. They have a couple of great scorers that we must contain and we will need to be patient on the offensive end working for that great shot. If we do the little things right, rebounding, taking care of the ball, making the extra pass to the open man we should be good but if we do not it will be another long night. It will be a great day of basketball out here and we are looking forward to our match up at 2 pm. Then we will be able to watch many of the other talented teams play tonight, it is a full day of basketball. Until after the game...........GO WARRIORS!!!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Game Time Versus Concordia St. Paul Changed!!

Hi Warrior fans, sorry for being so slow on the blog this year I am trying to pick it up here and I should be full go again here soon, it has just been a very buys beginning of the season for me. Anyway just so everyone knows the game time for our game at Concordia St. Paul has been changed from an 8 pm start on Saturday Dec 5th. to a 3 pm start on Dec. 5th. The change will mean a quick turn around for the Warriors as they play the night before up in St. Cloud at 8 pm. The reason for the change is due to the Concordia St. Paul volleyball team hosting the Division II National Championship. Hope this does not change many plans and look forward to seeing everyone as usual up in St. Paul as we again invade the CSP campus turning it purple and white. Check back very soon as I will have a preview of the Hoops Fest that takes place this Saturday and Sunday for the Warriors. Until then.....GO WARRIORS!!!!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Warriors Win Opener, Host Tournament This Weekend!


Hi Warrior fans! Well the Warriors were able to come out on top Monday night as they took care of the UW Stout Blue Devils 83-66. The game was a sloppy one on both sides of the ball as the two teams combine for a total 39 turnovers during the game. While the pace of the game was uptempo the Warriors must do a much better job taking care of the ball going forward or it could doom them on many nights.

A couple of highlights from the game against Stout for the Warriors first had to be the shooting percentage from the field. The Warriors shot the ball at a clip of 30-59 (50%) for the game along with hitting 9-23 (40%) from the 3 point line. The Warriors at times were able to have great spacing on the floor which created good driving and passing lanes. This lead to many open shots that the Warriors were able to knock down. Another area were the 19 assists on the 30 converted field goals on the game. When a team is able to get almost 66% of the made field goals from assists that shows the team was sharing the ball and finding open people during the game. It is good to see the Warriors sharing the ball and making the extra pass to find the open man. A final positive area was the free throw shooting where the Warriors went 14-16 (88%). As any basketball person knows free throws are a key to any victory and the Warriors were able to convert free throws in this ball game at a high percentage.

Some areas where the Warriors need to continue to work on are areas that were listed to the keys of the game. First the Warriors must talk much better on both ends of the floor. Not talking once again gave Stout many open looks from the 3 point line and under the basket for easy lay-ups. The second area was again rebounding, even though the Warriors won the battle on the boards they cannot give a team 13 offensive rebounds a night and expect to win many games. The final area the Warriors struggled in was taking care of the basketball, as stated earlier the Warriors had way to many turnovers during the contest and many of them were turnovers that should not have happened. Too many times on outlet passes the Warriors were not reading the defense and making passes right to UW Stout. On other occasions they would not sweep through being aggressive taking care of the ball and tips occurred which ended up with a steal for Stout. We must value each possession that we get during a game, taking care of the ball has always been an area of success of the past couple of seasons for the Warriors so we must do a much better job in this area as we move forward.

Looking ahead for the Warriors they are hosting the Merchants Tip-off Classic this weekend. Teams included in the tournament are Clarke College (Iowa), Cardinal Stritch (Wisconsin) and Palm Beach Atlantic (Florida). All three teams are quality programs and should bring in some good talent for Warrior fans to watch. Game will start Friday at 5 pm when Cardinal Stritch and Palm Beach Atlantic take the floor. The Warriors and Clarke College follow at 7 pm. Hope to see you all there this weekend for the games!! GO WARRIORS!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Warriors Open Season Tonight!!

   The big day is finally here Warrior fans!!!  The Warriors kick off the season tonight as they take on UW-Stout at 8 pm in McCown gym.  It's is an exciting time for the squad as they have been working hard since last seasons loss in the NCAA Regional Tournament.
   Keys for a Warrior victory tonight:

1.  Talk, talk, talk.  One of the biggest obstacles any basketball team has is communication out on the floor.  This will be a key to every game for the Warriors and it starts tonight.  This group can be a good defensive team when they talk to each other out on the floor, it is when the communication breaks down that the defense starts to struggle.  If the Warriors want to have a great game tonight and a solid season they must talk from the beginning to the end of the game.  If they fail in this area it will come back to haunt them if not tonight but down the road.

2.   Crashing the boards.  As any Warrior fan knows rebounding was a huge downfall of last years squad.  Well so far this year the Warriors have been out rebounded by every team during the exhibition season.  That stat is going to have to change as the Warriors will be running into teams that are very good on the boards here in the future so they need start now by controlling the boards on both ends.  

3.   Stay patient on the offensive end.  The Warriors have many weapons on the offensive and as they always have five guys on the floor capable of scoring from anywhere on the floor.  While this is a great weapon to have on the offensive end of the floor it can cause issues if we are not taking a great shot.  Staying patient, making the defense work and making the extra pass will all be keys for Warriors tonight.  When they work for a great shot they usually are able to get a great one over the 35 second shot clock but sometime we rush shots or take contested shots that we could pass up or take later on in the possession if really needed.  

Finally the key for the season will be going out and having fun.  This is a game that all of us love to play and you must always keep the game fun.  It is going to be an exciting season and we cannot wait for the tip off at 8 tonight!  GO WARRIORS!!!
   

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Warriors Conclude Exhibition Season Tonight!

Hi gang, sorry for the late post on game day but was really busy today with stuff.  Well tonight the Warriors close out the exhibition portion of the season when the host the St. Thomas Tommies from the MIAC.  This game should be another great game as both teams have there sights set on having good seasons once again.  
As many of you remember St. Thomas was the only squad to come in and beat the Warriors back during the 2007-08 season.  While the defeat might have been a blessing in disguise as the Warriors used the loss as a huge learning tool and did not lose another game that season as they went on to win the schools seconds national championship.  Well that was two years ago and many of the players on both side of that game are no longer around.  
For the Warriors tonight's game will again test them in many areas where improvement needs to be made.  First off the Warriors will need to contain there man one on one.  The Tommies really look to break there guy down one on one so we must contain our man and not allow dribble penetration.  We will also have to talk better on both ends of the floor.  We will see a ton of ball screens and hand offs tonight if we do not talk we will end up having two guarding one guy which will leave them a ton of open shots.  On the offensive end we need to communicate better as we must keep good spacing and take care of the ball as we will see some full court pressure.  If we do not take care of the ball and keep going spacing there pressure will get us causing for a long night.  This game will be a great final warm up for our guys as we will see a quality opponent that would do very well in our conference.  The guys have had a good week of practice but now we must carry over what we have been doing to a game situation.  It should be fun one as tonight at 7.  Hope to see you all at the game.  GO WARRIORS

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Winona State vs UW Eau Claire

Hi Warrior fans, well tonight is a new night for our Warrior basketball team so hopefully we can put the struggles behind us from our opener and play much better in our game tonight versus UW Eau Claire.
Tonight's game will once again test the Warriors on a variety of fronts as we must show improvement in almost every area of the game. The main areas of focus will again be on shutting our man down one on one and team rebounding. Those two areas need to be improved dramatically if the Warriors want to play well tonight against a good offensive and rebounding team. Tonight we will once again by playing a variety of line-ups on the floor as we are looking to find the right combinations of guys who can play together. Finally what will be interesting to see is if we can carry over what we have worked on the last two days in practice. Both days were excellent days on the floor but if we cannot carry over what we have done then we will be making little progress as a squad. Carry over is a must and we must start that tonight to have a successful season. Tonight's game should be interesting so I hope to see all of you fans there at 7 o'clock when the ball goes into the air. GO WARRIORS!!!!!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Warriors Struggle in Opener

Hi Warrior fans.  Well the new season did not get off on the right foot last night as the Warriors struggled in every area of the game in falling to UW-LaCrosse.  The game was a tight game throughout as neither team had a lead larger then 9.   The Eagles controlled the game and tempo the entire night as they worked for getting great shots on the offensive end, while the Warriors rushed and took many difficult shots.  The Eagles were also able to own the boards as they out rebounded the Warriors by a 38-35 margin and had 8 more rebounds then the Warriors in the second half.  While the loss is not something that Warriors wanted to deal with they now know the areas that they must improve and work on as a team.  Rebounding, containing a man one on one and working for a great shot on the offensive end are just a few of the main areas will continue to concentrate on.  Thursday nights game against UW Eau Claire will be a huge measuring stick for the Warriors to see if they have cleaned up there mistakes from this game and to bring back confidence to the squad.  Thanks to all the fans who showed up for the game and we hope to see you this Thursday as the Warriors take the floor again.  GO WARRIORS!!!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Exhibition season kicks off tonight!!!

Hey Warrior fans!!! Hope everyone is getting ready as our new season is approaching quickly and the exhibition season kicks off tonight when the Warriors host UW-LaCrosse Eagles tonight at 7.
This will be the third straight season the Warriors and Eagles have met to begin the Exhibition season. If you remember last year the Eagles took the Warriors down to the final minute but the Warriors were able to hold off the Eagles to come out with a 76-73 win.
For the Warriors tonights game will be a great opportunity to step out on the floor for the first team as a new team and to see where they are at as a squad. Expect to see a variety of different line-ups on the floor throughout the game as the Warriors will be working on meshing the returning players with the new players. The exhibition season is a great time to find out what works and what needs to be worked on. While the Warriors return many players, new faces will be seeing the floor for the first time tonight. Newcomers Xavier Humphrey, Zander Culver, Kellen Taylor and CJ Erickson will be hitting the hardwood in Warrior colors for the first time along with three red-shirts Jordan Fischer, Dan Kratz and Clayton Vette. These seven along with the returning eight players from last year give the team a ton of depth and talent. It should be an exiciting night in McCown for this years squad.
As for UW LaCrosee, they return a ton of talent including there top 3 scorers from last season. Look for Tony Mane and Trevor Stratton to lead the way for the Eagles as both avered right around 17 ppg last season for them. Along with those two guards, the Eagles return 6'9 post player Andy Merklein who finished the year averaging 9.7 ppg and 6 rpg. The Eagles also have many other returning players who saw action for them along with some talented freshman.
Check back tomorrow for a recap on tonights game, until then GO WARRIORS!!!!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Warriors Looking Good!!

   Hi everyone, well the season has begun and we are off to a very good start.  The guys are picking up on stuff quickly and we are making good progress everyday.
   One thing I think many people forget is how important that team chemistry has to be on the court to be successful.  Each year is a new team so it takes time for everyone to get used to playing with each other, know each others strengths and weaknesses.  With this team while we do have a lot of returning players we also have four new players so getting them all on the same page will take time.  You can see progress being made everyday as we are showing more trust in our teammates on the defensive end and offensively we are learning to work together to get a great shot each time down the floor.  One item that has really improved in a week is the passing on the offensive end.  The first couple of days we saw a ton of turnovers but the guys have slowed down and they are getting used to playing with each other.  A key for this team, as with all of our team in the past, we want to take care of the ball and limit turnovers.
    This past weekend we had our first purple/white scrimmage along with our annual family day.  It was a great day all around as our scrimmage went as well, Coach Browns team won 3-1 over Coach Gove, but Coach Gove team lost by a total of 3 points in those 3 losses.  In each session the guys were put onto different teams so many different combinations were out on the floor, which gave us a ton of looks of different line ups we could have this season.  A team strength for this year will be our depth, we do not have one guy that we would not be afraid to put on the floor.  After the scrimmage the team and parents meet down at Bub's Brewing Co. for the annual lunch.  It was a excellent time as it was an opportunity to see many old faces along with many new faces.  Every had a great time and each player did a good job of introducing themselves along with the family that was in attendance.  
    Looking forward we are closing in on that first exhibition game of the year which will take place November 2nd versus La Crosse.  We still have a ton of work ahead of us but we will have a couple more team scrimmages to get ready for the game and we will really start to focus on items we need to clean up on both ends of the floor.  The guys are working hard and excitement is in the air as we cannot wait to get out on the floor for the first game of the season.  
    This is it for now, until next time.....GO WARRIORS!!!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Warriors Kick Off New Season

Hi Warrior fans, well it is official we have started practice and the 2009-10 season in underway. The first practice of the year went well as the guys gave great effort and focus during the day. After our first official practice we had a little bit of time off before coming back on to the court last night for our "Warrior Madness" event. The event as excellent and we thank all the fans who showed up to support both men's and women's teams along with giving money to Winona Health's breast cancer center. The night started off with the introduction of both teams with the women's team then taking the floor for a 10 minute scrimmage. After that it was our turn to get out and give the fans a view of this years squad, our scrimmage ended up a tie at 29-29.
At the conclusion of the scrimmage both teams put out some of their top shooters to square off in a 3-point contest. The winner of the contest ended up being, senior David Johnson, who was able to out shoot one of the women's new freshman players. In between the 3-point contest we also held a dunk contest. Luke Doedens stole the show with the dunk contest, Luke was able to complete a variety of entertaining dunks including throwing a ball of the back wall behind the basketball hoop, catching an bounce ally-oop pass that was thrown from in the middle of the padded stands by Brad Meyer and finally a pass off the side of the back board from Jon Walburg.
Overall it was a fun night and we look forward to doing this again next year. Up next for the Warriors we will be holding our first scrimmage of the year this Saturday, October 17 at 9:30 am in McCown gym. The scrimmage is open to the public and we invite all of you to come and watch. Finally this weekend is Family Weekend at WSU, we look forward to seeing all you parents at the scrimmage and then lunch afterward. GO WARRIORS!!!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Follow John Smith in Portugal!

Hey Warrior fans, I hope everyone is getting ready for the season as we are only 8 day away!

We have some great news that former Winona State star, John Smith, is now playing professionally over in Portugal. He left a couple of weeks ago to take part in per-season activities and his season will be beginning soon. For those of you who want to follow John he has set up a blog at the following site - http://johnsmithbasketball.blogspot.com Just copy and paste that in your web browser and it should take right to his web site. I will also be putting a link in our "links" area here for you to follow him through that as well. We wish John the best of luck on his new journey and look forward to keeping in contact with him as he blogs back to all of us. Good luck John!!!

A quick update on a couple of items that will be coming up soon for the current Warrior squad. First we will be holding "Warrior Madness" on October 15th. The event, which will also include our women's basketball team, is in part to raise money for breast cancer and is in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Weekend here at WSU. The door will open for the event starting at 6:00, admission for the event is $1 with that going to Winona Health Mammography. Also a meal will be offered from Hy-Vee from 6-7 pm, the cost of the meal is $5 with $2 from the meal going to Winona Health Mammography. Finally at 7 pm the men's and women's team will take the court for a 3 point shooting contest, dunk contest and short scrimmage. Also during this time there will be a ton of different give aways and drawings for those in attendance. Then on Saturday October 17th we will be holding an open scrimmage to the public starting at 9:30 in the morning. Admission is FREE and we will be going up and down for around an 1 1/2 hours. This will be a great opportunity to see the players in full action for the first time of the year. We hope to see all of you at both of these events. GO WARRIORS!!!!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Season less then 2 weeks away!!!

Hey Warrior fans I hope everyone is getting ready for the new season as it is fast approaching.  The guys have continued to work hard during individual workout and lifting sessions and we now have started conditioning as the season closes in.  Over the past couple of weeks you can see the excitement in them growing as they want to prove to carry over the winning ways of past Warrior seasons.
The season will officially begin on October 15th with an open practice to the public beginning at 6 pm.  Not all details of the event have been released but it will be a great opportunity for Warrior fans to come and meet the team as they begin the new season.  Just two days later on October 17th the Warriors will be holding their annual Purple/White game and "family day."  All family members of Warrior players are invited to come watch the team play with a get together to follow down in the basement of Bub's Brewing Co.  This is a great opportunity for us to bring everyone together once before the season gets going to get to know each other once again and talk about the up coming season.  The scrimmage will be open to all public on the 17th.  The scrimmage will start around 9:30 and will run for around an hour.  Even though the season will be only two day old our guys will be ready to go and it is a great chance to watch them in action early on in the season.  

Well that is all for now Warrior fans, an alumni update is on the horizon as many of them were in town this past weekend.  It was a great time as our current and former players were able to catch up with each other and tell stories of the past.  Nothing is better then seeing so many great people in one place.  Until next time, GO WARRIORS!!!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Workouts Started

Hi Warrior fans, hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Well the new school year is two weeks old and our guys have been hard at it for a week now. Currently our guys are working hard as they are lifting 4 times a week, while having individual workouts with coaches two times a week, finally they have been also playing on their own a couple times a week getting to know each other out on the floor. The guys have come back in great shape and their attitudes have been awesome. A lot of excitement is in the air and you can feel this group wants to carry on the tradition of Warrior basketball. Their will be a ton of competition on this years squad and we have a very deep team with every guy bringing something different to the table. It is going to be a challenging but fun year for the Warriors and we cannot wait for October 15th. In other news we will be having family day this year on October 17th. This day allows all of our families and players a chance to get together before the season for a meet and greet as well as a great meal. This event has always been a fun event for everyone as it gets our parents ready for the new year along with a chance to meet the new members of the team. As always the at the end each player will get up and give everyone in the room a little information about themselves as well as answering questions from a panel. This is it for now but check back very soon for an alumni update along with other events we will be apart of very soon. GO WARRIORS!!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

New Blog Look

Hello Warrior fans, as a new season is upon us it was time to give the blog an update so this will be the new look of the blog for the 2009-2010 season. As a team we are thrilled to be starting a new season and look forward to giving you fans another exciting season of Warrior basketball. Many of the players are now back on campus and getting ready for school to start next Monday. Cannot believe it is time! GO WARRIORS!!!

Friday, August 14, 2009

2009-2010 Roster Finalized

Hey Warrior fans, hope everyone is getting excited for the upcoming season. WSU has been busy over the past week as fall sports teams are back and working hard. It is great to see the excitement in the air as each program is expecting great things this season. It will be another great year for Warrior athletics!

Our 2009-10 roster is updated and finalized. (http://www.winonastatewarriors.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball) Click to view
As you will see we have added 4 new players. Zander Culver, Xavier Humphery and Kellen Taylor all signed back during the early signing period last fall and CJ Erickson is transferring in from the University of Evansville after playing a season with the Purple Aces. CJ is originally from Minnetonka High School where he helped lead his team to the 2008 4A State Championship. We are very excited to have all four of the outstanding student-athletes joining an squad which went 24-9 last season with an second round appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Some other changes you will notice to the roster is the numbers that guys will be wearing for this upcoming year. Having ordered new uniforms has allowed our guys to change numbers if they wanted to and many of them did. The new uniform order has been submitted and we soon go to press. The uniforms will be custom made uniforms from Ripon Athletics, which is located in Berlin, Wisconsin. The people over there do a great job coming up with uniform designs and with the help of Eric Malvik we will have another set of uniforms made specifically for Winona State.
Finally, all of the team members will be reporting back to Winona, next week as school get into full swing on August 24th. It is an great time to be back on campus and everyone is ready to get another year in full swing. Keep checking back and hope to see many of you on campus this fall during fall athletic events. GO WARRIORS!!!!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

New School Year Almost Here!

Hi Warrior fans!  Hope everyone is doing well and getting excited for another big season from the Warriors.  Here are some updates on our team and former players....congratulations to Jonte' and Jen Flowers who tied the knot back on July 25th in Madison, Wisconsin.  It was a wonderful wedding and very nice to see how happy those to look together.  Nice looking couple!!!!!....Quincy Henderson has made it to the playoffs with his team over in Australia.  His team looks like it has finished in second place in there division and will be taking on the top team in the other division.  Good luck Quincy in the playoffs, bring back the title...The new uniforms are looking very nice and a decision on them will be finalized soon.  All I can say is we are staying with what the voters wanted we will be white for home games and black on the road.  They are going to look very sharp...Finally our guys are finishing up with there summers and getting ready to come back here to Winona in a couple of weeks.  Our freshman will be reporting here on the 18th of August with the rest of the guys coming in during that week.  We will be having a nice squad once again this year and as a staff we look forward to working with all 15 guys.  Well that is all I have for now, check back soon for updates as we are getting close to starting the season!!!  Go Warriors!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Thanks for your support!

Hi, Warrior fans, the basketball program would like to thank all those who supported Warrior Athletics by taking part in the Warrior Club Golf Tournament this past Monday. We had a great turnout and it was fun to see many familiar faces that we see at all Warrior athletic events. Without the support of you Warrior athletics would not be where they are today, thank you!!!! As for the golf I am not sure what team turned in the winning score but I heard it was a 16-17 under par that took home the title. Congrats to all those who took home prizes as well, there were some very nice prizes this year and thanks to all those who donated them to the event. Now we can look forward to homecoming weekend and the Warrior Club auction which will be on Oct. 3rd....As for basketball news not much going on right now, the recruiting period is coming to an end as we only have a 1 1/2 weeks left in the current period. It has been fun going out to watch many of the top players in the Midwest play, the Midwest region is not short on talent this season and I think it just shows that basketball continues to get better in the Midwest. Well that is all for now, but check back next week as we will have another update.

GO WARRIORS!!!!!!!!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

New uni's and other items

Hey Warrior fans, time for another update on what is going on with our program. First off we will be getting new uniforms for the upcoming season. We are currently looking at some designs for them so if anyone has a suggestion pass it on. I have posted a poll asking what color our dark uniforms should be. We obviously will have a white uniform but in the past we have gone with black or purple. So should we go back to purple or stay with black?
On a couple of other side notes. Former Warrior John Smith is down in Las Vegas right now playing in a tournament which features some of the top players looking to go over seas to play for the up coming season. A ton of coaches and scouts from all over the world are in Vegas here for the next couple of weeks to watch players play in this tournament and the NBA Summer League....We had a new Warrior join our family a couple of weeks ago when Chad and Lisa Barfnecht had their second child, a baby girl, congrats Chad and Lisa!!!......Quincy Henderson checked in the other day and his team is currently in 2nd place on there side of the region. If his team can hold onto this spot they will continue on into the playoff that start at the end of August....Well that is all for now Warrior fans keep checking back as I will continue to update this more and more with the new school year fast approaching.

GO WARRIORS!!!!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Summer Update

Hey Warrior fans, yes I know it has been a very LONG time since I last blogged but it has been a very busy summer and I finally found a couple of minutes here to give an update on everything that has been going on. Now I just have to figure out where to start.

Updates on our current team. We are pretty much set for next season with everyone signed up for classes now and ready to go. Many of our guys came back to work summer camp and worked out together each day. It was great to see these guys as many went home for the summer so it has had been a while since we had seen them. Our three incoming freshman were also on campus the week of our camp for registration of fall classes, they also had an opportunity to hang out with the rest of the team and workout as well. This was a great experience for them because while they had met many of the players on their visit to WSU last fall this was their first time to really get to know everyone before they come back for school in August.

Updates on our former players. We had a former player get married a couple of weeks back when Travis Whipple tied the knot. It was a wonderful wedding and reception also many of the former players and current players were in attendance for it so it was a little bit of a reunion party. The one great thing many people do not realize about our team is the relationships that were made on the basketball court carry on well past basketball. It was great to see how teammates of the past still keep up on each other and really take interest in supporting other teammates. Also it is great to see how past players go out of there way to talk to current players to catch up with what they are doing and maybe give them a little advice. It was a wonderful day that is for sure.
On to other alumni updates Jonte' Flowers has signed a contract to play basketball over in the top basketball league in France. The team he is going to play for is JA-Vichy. Do not know much about the team yet but here once everything settles down I will be able to give more information for people. Here is the link to the teams website: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.ja-vichy.com/&ei=OCJVSpDyJYeeMLTEwLcB&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.ja-vichy.com/%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Updates on recruiting. Due to NCAA rules I cannot say much other then we are out watching many great players. We have seen some players we would love to have wear the Warrior uniform and we will continue to watch for others over the next couple of weeks. Trips to watch players play include going to Milwaukee (twice), Chicago, the Twin Cities, Kansas City and who knows where else it might take us. I must admit I really enjoy this time of year even though the travel can get long, seeing so many kids out there playing the game of basketball with excitement and desire is fun to watch.

Well that is all for now, don't worry I will begin to update this more as we close in on another season. Only 6 weeks until everyone is back at school so summer is coming to an end fast.

GO WARRIORS!!!!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Flowers Goes for Championship

Jonte' Flowers has taken his team to the brink of a championship in the Swedish Basketball League.  Jonte' and his team is gearing up for one more tilt on the season as they will take the floor Tuesday morning (our time), in a game 7, winner take all against Sundsvall.  The Solna Vikings were able to send the series into a game 7 with a win in game 6, 77-69.  In that game Jonte' had 13 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.  After this final game Jonte' will be heading back to the states and eventually back to Winona where he will be finishing up his degree from Winona St. and continuing to work out over the summer.  He also will be holding individual workouts for any young basketball player who is looking to improve their basketball skills.  We wish Jonte' the best of luck once again and hope he can bring home another title.  

Go Warriors!!  

Friday, May 1, 2009

2009-2010 Schedule Released!!!

Hi Warrior fans, I hope everyone is doing well and getting exciting for our 2009-2010 season. Just yesterday we finalized our 2009-2010 schedule that you can find here below. We really like this years schedule as it gives us 5 non-conference home games to go along with the 10 conference home games and the 3 home exhibition game we will be playing. We tried our best to again schedule a Division I opponent for exhibition but we were unable to secure one as no team is willing to play us. While this is disappointing we look at this as a feather in our cap as all Division I teams understand we have a Division I type program even though we play at the Division II level and we are capable of beating a Division I team on any night. As for the exhibition games we were able to secure some very tough teams from the WIAC and MIAC conference. La Crosse, Eau Claire and St. Thomas will each challenge us and give us a good perspective of where we are at as a team to start the season. Then when the season starts we will be tested by another WIAC team in Stout before holding our own tournament which will feature Clarke College (IA, DIII), Cardinal Stritch (WI, NAIA) and Palm Beach Atlantic (FL, DII). After those games we head out to Sioux Falls, SD to take part in the NSIC Hoopsfest where we play against Minnesota State-Mankato and UM-Crookston in non-conference games even though they are part of the NSIC. We conclude our non-conference season with two game over Christmas break when Adams St. (Col., DII) and cross-town college St. Mary's (DIII) come into play. Just like our exhibition schedule we are happy with who we were able to bring in to play for our non-conference schedule as many people do not understand how hard it is to get teams to come to Winona to play. On top of that we are elated to be getting 2 Division II schools to come into Winona to play in Adams St. and Palm Beach Atlantic, while we are only guaranteed to play Adams St., we could play Palm Beach Atlantic in our tournament. Finally our NSIC conference schedule is going to be the same as last year only everything is flip-flopped around so we will be playing the same teams we played last year twice and the same teams we play last year only once. This year Warrior fans will be able to catch UM-Duluth, Minnesota State-Mankato and Southwest Minnesota State, three teams who last year did not play in McCown gym during the regular season.

WINONA STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL
2009 – 2010 Schedule
Date Day Opponent Div. Location Time
Nov. 2 Monday UW-La Crosse- # III Winona 7:00
Nov. 5 Thursday UW-Eau Claire- # III Winona 7:00
Nov. 12 Thursday St. Thomas- # III Winona 7:00
Nov. 16 Monday UW-Stout III Winona 8:00
Nov. 20 FridayCardinal Stritch vs Palm Beach Atlantic $ Winona 5:00
Nov. 20 Friday WSU vs Clarke (IA) $ Winona 7:00
Nov. 21 SaturdayCardinal Stritch/PBA vs Clarke (IA) $ Winona 5:00
Nov. 21 SaturdayCardinal Stritch/PBA vs WSU $ Winona 7:00
Nov. 28 Saturday UM- Crookston II Sioux Falls TBA
Nov. 29 Sunday MSU-Mankato II Sioux Falls TBA
Dec. 4 Friday St. Cloud State II St. Cloud 8:00
Dec. 5 Saturday Concordia St. Paul II St. Paul 8:00
Dec. 12 Saturday Bemidji State II Winona 4:00
Dec. 13 Sunday UM- Duluth II Winona 4:00
Dec. 19 Saturday Adams State II Winona 7:00
Dec. 29 Tuesday St. Mary’s III Winona 8:00
Jan. 2 Saturday Northern State II Aberdeen 8:00
Jan. 3 Sunday U. of Mary II Bismarck 8:00
Jan. 8 Friday Southwest MN St. II Winona 8:00
Jan. 9 Saturday MSU- Mankato II Winona 8:00
Jan. 15 Friday Wayne State II Winona 8:00
Jan. 16 Saturday Augustana College II Winona 8:00
Jan. 22 Friday MSU-Moorhead II Moorhead 8:00
Jan. 23 Saturday UM- Crookston II Crookston 8:00
Jan. 30 Saturday Upper Iowa II Fayette 8:00
Feb. 5 Friday Northern State II Winona 8:00
Feb. 6 Saturday U. of Mary II Winona 8:00
Feb. 12 Friday Wayne State II Wayne 8:00
Feb. 13 Saturday Augustana College II Sioux Falls 8:00
Feb. 20 Saturday Bemidji State II Bemidji 8:00
Feb. 24 Wednesday Upper Iowa II Winona 8:00
Feb. 27 Saturday St. Cloud State II Winona 8:00
Mar. 3 Wednesday NSIC 1st Round II TBA TBA
Mar. 6 Saturday NSIC Semifinals II TBA TBA
Mar. 7 Sunday NSIC Finals II TBA TBA
Mar. 13 - 16 Sat. - Tues. NCAA Regional II TBA TBA
Mar. 24 - 27 Wed. - Sat. NCAA Elite Eight II TBA TBA

Monday, April 27, 2009

Warriors to hit the Links

Hey Warrior fans, its been a while since the last post but I finally have something that is worthy of posting on here. Tomorrow the Warrior basketball team will be taking part in the 11th annual golf tournament that will be taking place at Westfield Golf Course. This years tournament is set up like many in the past with groups of 4 playing in a best ball style tournament with every player have their drive used at least once during the round. It should be a great day weather wise and hopefully it will end up being a great day for all the Warriors on the course. The following is a breakdown of the teams that will be participating in this years event.

Team 1
Josh Korth
Luke Doedens
Dan Kratz
Coach Brady Moore

Team 2
David Johnson
Travis Whipple
Max Hintz
Brad Meyer

Team 3
Bryce Welch
Jordan Fischer
Clayton Vette
Coach Mike Leaf

Team 4
Ben Fischer
Jon Walburg
Joel Armstrong
Coach Tom Brown

Obviously some other Warrior players are missing but they are unable to attend due to prior engaments. While I am not positive who won last years tournament I am pretty sure Josh Korth, Brent Reise and Shane Neiss were a part of the winning team. But I could be wrong so do not hold me to it.

Quick update on Jonte' Flowers and his Solna Vikings. Jonte's team lost today and is now down 3-2 in a best of 7 series. Game 6 will be coming up later this week and hopefully Jonte' can lead his team to a couple of wins in a row to end the season.

The results of the tournament will be posted later in the week.

Until next time. Go Warriors!!!!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Alumni Update

Hey Warrior fans well it is time once again for our Warrior alumni update. So here we go.

Congratulations to former Warriors David and Emily Zellmann on the birth of their baby boy, George David Zellmann, born on April 2, 2009. George tipped the scales at 8 pounds, 3 ounces and measured in at 19.5 inches long if I remember right. Welcome to the Warrior family George and we cannot wait to see you in a Warrior uniform some day!!....Former WSU great Zach Malvik has began his comeback to playing professional basketball again after being cleared by his doctor last week to start shooting again. Zach who is looking to play again starting this fall is working out up to 3 times a day while also running workouts for youth basketball players....Congratulations goes out to 2 time national champion, Brent Riese, who is now working for Impact Sports in the sales department back in Madison, Wisconsin...Another congratulations is in order the former Warrior Chad Barfknecht who is opening up his own chiropractic practice in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Chad is a graduate of Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa...The two time NCAA National Player of the Year, John Smith, has completed his season with the Vermont Frostheaves after losing in a playoff game last week. John will be moving back to Winona in the next couple of weeks and will continue to workout here in Winona looking for more professional basketball opportunities which will be coming to him shortly...Another Warrior great playing professionally is off to a good start as Quincy Henderson is averaging 11.9 points and 9.8 rebounds a game for his Kilsyth Cobras team that is currently 2-3 on its young season..

Well this is all I have at this time but if any of you Warrior fans have updates for me please let me know as we try our best to keep up on all of our Warrior alumni but it can be tough at times having so many of them.

Go Warrriors!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Jonte' Leads Solna to Swedish Finals

Hey gang with our season being over the updates have slowed but I will continually update you with as much news as we can come by. The biggest news coming from our Warrior basketball program is that Jonte' Flowers has lead his Solna Vikings team into the finals of the Swedish Basketball League. Jonte' playing in a decisive game 5 of a semi finals series had a huge game with 33 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals in a 85-73 win. With the victory Solna moves on to play Sundsvall in the finals. All of the finals games will be on the Internet to watch and you can find out more information on the time and days of the finals series by going to the Swedish Basketball League homepage or by clicking on this link where you can also find full box scores on all of Jonte's games in the semi finals: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.svenskabasketligan.se/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DSvenska%2BBasketligan%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
Also a interview of Jonte', his coach and teammate after the final game of the semi-finals are also available for viewing by clicking on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeVC_YhR04o
And finally I found a couple of other video clips of Jonte' and his team. I guess they are really impressed by his ability to steal the basketball by looking at this clip. They must not have realized they were getting the player who owns Winona State's all time steal record and ranks as as one of the best all time in all of NCAA basketball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um-CMO-itMU Here is another short clip as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vNt8S-k55A

We wish Jonte' the best of luck as he starts his series in the Swedish League finals and look forward to watching him bring home another championship.

Go Warriors!!!!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

New Poll Question

Hey Warrior fans, even though the season is over the blog must go on and it is time for another poll question. For this poll the question is very simple but complicated, who has the best rivalry with WSU? I feel everyone can go a variety of ways on this question because over the years WSU has had a huge rivalry with many teams. If one looks back over a long period of time one might go with UM-Duluth as they were a huge rival with WSU in football and basketball back in the 1990's. Once UM-Duluth left, Northern St. and Southwest Minn. St kind of took over as big rivals of WSU. Then over the past couple of years a rivalry has been started with Minnesota State-Mankato, St. Cloud St. and Augustana. But we also have many other schools in our conference that could break into this category as well. So let's hear it fans who do you think is the biggest rival for WSU?

On another note the Warriors are back again working out and getting ready for next season. I must say it is hard having to say good-bye to the seniors but it is exciting to start working toward next year all ready. Our guys are currently working out extremely hard and many are putting individual efforts in to improve their game. Seeing this type of work being put in is great to see as our guys are looking motivated and determined to get back to where they have been in the past.

Until next time, GO WARRIORS!!!!!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Get to Know - Luke Doedens


Hey Warrior fans, I know it has been a while since we have done one of these but it is time once again to "Get to know your Warriors." This time we will get to know our freshman guard, Luke Doedens from Cedarburg, WI. One thing Luke forgot to mention in his interview was a special skill no one really knows about. Well in talking to him and others, Luke is a great fisherman back home but he seldom lets others know about this skill for some reason. So if you are ever looking for a guy who can fish with the best of them look Luke up as he will test your skills.

What is your full name?
Luke Thomas Doedens
What are your parent(s) names?
Andy and Sandy Doedens
Do you have any brothers/sisters?
Chad- 23, Niki-22, Kelly-16
Do you have any pets?
Dog- Dawg
What is your major here at WSU?
Marketing and/or Bus Admin/HR
Why did you select WSU?
I chose WSU because I liked the atmosphere, the coaches, the players, and the town.
What is your favorite color?
Cyan
What is your favorite food?
A wrap in the caf
What is your favorite TV/Show?
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
What is your favorite movie?
Tommy Boy
What is your favorite type of music?
Rap/ Hip-Hop
What is currently playing in your Ipod/cd player?
Blueprint 2 by Jay-Z
What is your dream job?
Cabana Boy
What is your greatest sports achievement?
Being a part of a National Championship team
What is your favorite type of basketball shoe?
I look good in anything Bert… I do not care. Hyperdunks or pro-models if you need an answer.
If you could go to a major sporting event, which one would it be?
Floor Seats at a Boston Celtics game
Who have you looked up to the most in your life?
parents
Who is your favorite actor/actress?
Will Smith
Who is your favorite singer/artist?
Weezy
Who is your favorite professional sports team?
Celtics?
Who is your favorite basketball player?
Dwayne Wade or Chris Paul
Who is the best person you have ever played basketball against?
Jerry Smith
Who is the cleanest person on our team?
Not Gar
Who is the messiest person on our team?
Dan Kratz
Who is the best dunker on the team?
C-Rob
Who is the best video game player on the team?
Tree Frog (Joel Armstrong)
Who on our team would you choose to be the President of the US? Why?
Whipple
Who on our team is most likely to be famous? Why?
Maximilian Paul Hintz on ‘Top Chef’ or Ben Fisher as a NFL analysist on ESPN
If you had one word of advice for people what would it be?
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Friday, March 20, 2009

Alumni Update


Hey Warrior fans, hope everyone is enjoying march madness as much as I have been. Yesterday I have a college game on my main TV, a high school game on my small TV and then my computer going with the 3 other CBS games. It was a great day!!

Anyway even though the season has ended the blog according to many of you cannot. So I will not let this thing go so keep checking back for updates and items of interest of our team. I also have to complete our "Get to know you Warriors" segment so keep checking on that as well. But for this update we are catching up with our alumni. Many 3 of the guys from the 2008-2008 team who are playing hoops across the country.

For starters Jonte' Flowers is playing in the 1st round of his playoffs and he had a huge game last night in an elimination game for his team. From the sounds of it Jonte' pulled of the same type of performance he had a couple of times in a Warriors uniform as he went for 37 points 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 1 block. Not a bad night. Now Jonte' has to lead his team one more time as they are tied in the series 2-2. To read the story of the game click on this link = http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://basketligan.sportsverige.com/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsvenska%2Bbasketligan%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGIH_enUS242US242%26sa%3DX

Another former player who team has been playing well since he arrived is John Smith. John is currently playing for the Vermont Frostheaves in Burlington, Vermont. Since John has joined the team they have gone 6-0 and they have one game remaining. With the current winning streak that his team is on they should qualify for the playoff that will start next week. For an a look at John and his team you can go to the following website http://www.vermontfrostheaves.com/. To see how John is doing individually you can follow this link - http://webcast.crezbasketball.com/Team.aspx?Scope=Premier+Basketball+League+2009&TeamId=Vermont+Frost+Heaves&TeamName=Vermont+Frost+Heaves

Finally the last alumni playing basketball still is Quincy Hederson. Quincy is over playing hoops in Australia for the Kilsyth Cobras and they just had their first game of the season on March 14th. In the game Quincy scored 15 points while grabbing 11 rebounds in his teams victory. From talking to Quincy he sounded like he was happy with his performance in the first game but I am sure he feels he needs to improve but a double-double is pretty darn good.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Season Comes to an End

Hi Warrior fans, well our season came to a crashing end yesterday as we just couldn't knock down enough shots to pull out a win. I would first off like to thank all of the fans for the support they gave us throughout the year. While many people did not expect a lot from this team you (the fans) believed in us the entire year and knew this team was capable of great things. I really feel this season was a huge success as not many people understand how difficult it is the make it to the NCAA tournament and just how difficult it is to win games once in the tournament. Our guys have nothing to hang their heads about as they are a class act. They play the game the way it should be played, they respect the opponents, officials, fans of other teams and they represent our University with honor.

On to the rest of the trip. Here is a log for Day 3

Sunday, March 15th

8:45 - Wake up call. Nice to sleep in a little bit more then the past couple of days for our guys.

9:00 - Breakfast again down stairs. Each day the food has been going a bit more down hill as the once great tater tots are now not even worth taking a chance on. Disappointing but what do you expect when its free.

11:00 - Shoot around over at SMSU. We go through Auggie personnel and get our legs stretched out for a bit. Everyone has good energy and focus. Nice to see.

1:00 - Tradition, it is time for Subway. Now we missed out on Subway yesterday because of our game being at noon but the only other time I can remember that we missed out on Subway over the past 5 years was the day of the National Championship games when we would have to eat breakfast for pregame.

2:00 - Everyone back at the hotel for some rest before the game. It is interesting to see what guys do with there down time. Some do homework, other now play a game of cards not sure what game, some take naps and finally some sit on cell phones and talk all day. Top cell phone user on our team might be Mike Mueller. Dude seems to always be on the phone talking to someone. But the top text person on our team is either Ryan Gargaro, Jason Gorman or Curt Robinson. Seems like they are always texting away and they do it fast but not as fast as Quincy Henderson could. Rumor has it back in the day he could text while sitting in class, phone in pocket and text away without ever looking at his phone. Impressive.

2:30 - Wild ending to the Tennessee/Mississippi St. game going on. Both teams are trying to give the game away it seems like. Guy falls out of bounds with the ball for Mississippi St., then Tennessee gives it right back. Crazy game gotta love March Madness

3:15 - Load the bus for SMSU.

5:00 - Tip off

6:45 - Season comes to an end. Tough

8:15 - Everyone is loaded ont he bus after spending some time after game with friends and family. Now time for the long boring trip back home.

9:00 - Stop at Arby's in Worthington. I have been told Arby's has a new sandwich that is just awesome it is the roast beef burger or something like that. So if you are into Arby's you are supposed to try it and add double the beef for a $1 more says Coach Leaf.

9:45 - Back on the bus for the rest of the trip home. A movie was put in but I have no idea what it is and I will be honest I'm not in the mood to figure it out. But anyway it is your basic action movie that we have all seen a million times but with different actors. We have car chases, gun fights, bombs going off, the main character getting shot at by 20 guys at once but still no one can shoot him but he can knock off all of them, the love scene with the girl that the main character hates at first, a villain who demands money and almost get it but in the end our main character pulls off the miracle and gets the villain. Lets just say in this movie the main character can drive his car on to the top of a train, then jump the car into a train car after the villain unhooks the part of the train the car was on. This movie was just stupid.

11:30 - Well after that thriller of a movie we go with the great movie of Madagascar 2. Ben Fischer loves the penguins in this movie for some reason. But any Disney movie is a good movie so this was an enjoyable one to watch given how the day had gone so far.

1:00 - Pulling up to Memorial Hall at WSU. Everyone unloads the bus one last time for the season. Really weird not having our season end out in Springfield, MA. But after going down to the locker room real quick I walk up and walk by the trophy case with the 2 National Championships we have and realize how great of a group our seniors have been. Wow!

Go WARRIORS!!!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Warriors into 2nd Round

Hello Warriors fans!!! Well yesterday was a great day for our team as we were able to pull out a win against an excellent Metro St. ball club. The team was excited with the win but also has refocused as they understand we have another challenge tonight against Augustana. Well here is log of yesterday's travels.

8:00 am - Wake up call, we decided to not use our shoot around time at 7:00 in the morning. We felt it was important for our guys to get a little extra sleep and we felt after our practice the day before our guys were ready to go and so we didn't need to get up so early for a shoot around.

8:15 - Breakfast, pregame meal down stairs at the buffet. Food was okay but nothing great once again. The one nice thing is we don't have to leave the building for breakfast like we do at many other places on the road.

10:00 - Load the bus to go over to SMSU for the game. Guys focused and ready to go.

10:35 - Walk through and shoot around in SMSU volleyball gym. Since we didn't use our shoot around time at 7:00 am we were able to use a shoot around time at 10:35 instead but just not on the main floor. This works well as many of our guys before our home games like to get into Talbot gym for shots and stretching so this is close to a regular warm up for a home game.

11:30 - Guys leave the locker room and take the floor for pregame warm ups.

12:00 - Tip off against Metro St.

1:45 - Final horn sounds as we pull of a 60-59 victory.

2:30 - After the guys are done talking with all the friends, family and fans who came out to watch the game they head over for some lunch at Arby's.

3:30 - Team is back and now watching the St. Cloud St./Auggie game. The game is starting to get close after Auggie has a 18 point lead early in the second half.

4:15 - St. Cloud and Auggie game is over. What a finish as Auggie throws the ball with 2.8 seconds left to the top of their three point line to there big man, who then pass the ball over to their best shooter who knocks down a three. The guy was able to get his feet set and had a great look as a St. Cloud guy went to the basket instead of staying right on him. Unreal ending to a great game.

4:30 - Guys head back to the hotel for some rest before going back over to our new favorite spot Applebee's. Don't think I will be going to an Applebee's for a while after this trip is over but hey not a lot of options out here so we will take what we can get. I think the guys really like the 2 for $20 deal because they get the boneless buffalo wings. I had the wings as well they are okay but no where as good as Buffalo Wild Wings.

6:30 - Time for dinner is pushed back as the guys head over to watch the SMSU/Northern game first and then head over to Applebee's. SMSU dominates the entire game as Northern is just not hitting anything.

7:45 - After the game everyone is over at Applebee's for dinner. Place is packed, service is pretty slow as it take at least an 1 1/2 hours for the food.

9:30 - Head back over to the gym to watch the 2nd half of the Mankato/Fort Lewis game. Mankato is up 45-35 at halftime but take total control in the 2nd half and walk away with an easy win.

11:00 - Lights out and off to bed as we get ready for another huge game and day.

Well that was our Saturday out here pretty much in a nut shell. Everything has been great so far as the set up of the gym is great, the people working are great and all the fans have been great. We are really happy with the win against Metro as they are a very very good team. I felt our key to the game was our patience with the zone and working for a great shot. Early in the game we rushed a couple looks but settled down and really did some nice things. On the defensive side our guys did a good job for the most part containing their man and making them work for good shots. Our one problem again was rebounding and we must do a better job of that tonight or we are going to get killed. Auggie is a great team with a lot of different weapons and we must make them work for everything they get. Hopefully our guys are rested and ready to go for another great challenge.

Unitl next time, GO WARRIORS!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Day 2 - Practice Day for Metro St.

Hey Warrior fans hope everyone is getting ready for the big game at noon today. He is a quick look at our second day out here in Marshall.


6:30 - Wake up call

7:00 - Team meets down stairs for a buffet style breakfast. Food is pretty good for a buffet style but you can see many of our guys are not used to getting up this early. It will be interesting to see how well we practice.

9:10 - Load the bus to head over to the RA Facility for our practice. The one plus of being first is we are able to do all of our stretching out on the main floor. The only rule is we cannot touch the basketballs until our official basketball time starts at 10:00 am. So no shoot around for the players or coaches before we officially start at 10.

10:00 - The clock starts and we have 55 minutes to go through our practice. This amount of time is the same for every team that comes in today so you have to move through stuff quickly. We make sure our guys get a lot of shots up so they get used to the shooting background here. This background is one of the tougher ones in the conference because there is a ton of space behind the hoops, unlike in Winona which is an easy background having the wall right behind you.

10:55 - Clock hits zero and we have a very spirited practice. Guys shoot the ball well, we moved well and I think after seeing this we will be ready to go at noon tomorrow.

11:05 - Get back to the hotel to watch the Gophers. They are up early and seem like they might be able to stay with Michigan St today.

12:15 - Go around the rooms to make sure none of our guys are sleeping. Even though this is down time today for us tomorrow we will be playing a game at this time so we do not want anyone sleeping as we need everyone ready to go at noon.

1:05 - Gophers fall to Michigan St. They struggled to get good looks the entire second half, now they have to wait for Sunday to see if they get in. I think they are in.

1:10 - We head across the street to Arby's for a quick lunch. Today during lunch Ben Fischer gives his ideas on who is going to be the #1 seeds. In his eyes he thinks 3 Big East teams are going to be #1 seeds along with North Carolina. Not sure on this some guys including me debate with him on his ideas. In the end he holds strong that Louisville, UConn and Pitt will be #1 seeds but I think he might be cracked in the head a little bit. My picks are Louisville, North Carolina, Memphis and UConn, but I want to say Michigan St. if they win the Big Ten, even though I think the Big Ten is down this year.

3:00 - Our women's game is getting ready to go over in Mankato so some guys are getting ready to watch it on their computers only problem is the wireless is too slow to watch so updates on the score is all we can get.

4:00 - Some guys are napping while a couple of them are down shooting pool in the rec area at the hotel. I guess Gorman is a pretty good shot from what I hear. Don't put any quarters down at a table he is at or you are just giving him a free game.

6:30 - Head over to our new favorite spot, Applebee's. Not much else around this town so that is why we are back. Many do a pasta bowl or salad for a meal along with an appetizer as the 2 for $20 deal is still going.

7:30 - Applebee's messes up our order so some guys still don't have meals and now a coaches meeting has started to Coach Leaf heads to that while his food is just arriving. So some of our guys split his ribs and fries basket.

8:00 - Finally leaving Applebee's as everyone is done eating. Now its just time to lay low as we get ready for the game.

10:00 - Everyone is in their own rooms getting ready for the game.

10:30 - Lights out for the team but the coaches stay up and watch the Duke vs Boston College and Syracuse/West Virginia games. Pretty sure some of our guys are watching too as I know they cannot just fall asleep on comand.

11:00 - Boston College just runs one of the strangest plays in basketball as it seems all they wanted to do is get the ball inbounds and let the clock run out but the problem is they are losing. Not a good ending to that game.

11:06 - Yes, Syracuse is in overtime again. I hope this goes another 3 or 4 overtimes but Syracuse knocks down a couple 3's early and pull out the win. They are on a roll.

11:30 - Off to bed.

Well that was our day out in Marshall. Looking forward to the game and seeing all the fans. Until next time. Go Warriors!!!!!!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Day 1 - Warriors Head to Marshall

Hey Warrior fans, hope everyone is getting ready for the big weekend and has plans on making it out to Marshall. It should be a great tournament and our guys are looking forward to the noon game on Saturday. Well as I stated the other day I have been keeping a log again of our adventure out here and what we have been up to so far. Here we go, again.

Thursday - March 12th

12:30 - Everyone is loaded on the bus and ready to go. We have 24 people going on the trip and we have a 48 passenger bus so everyone should have two seats for themselves to stretch out but for some reason Joel Armstong and Jordan Fischer are sharing a seat, freshman are funny sometimes. After a couple of minutes Jordan does get his own seat up near the front of the bus.

12:45 - Find out the Gophers are now only up 50-49 against Northwestern. We are getting updates from a phone, technology is great!

12:50 - Time for the first movie of the trip. "Role Models" This movie was one I was looking forward to watching but it was a disappointment. I would not recommend this to any family to sit down and watch together. Definitely has some language and other items that are for adults only, but our guys like these types of comedies as most college students do.

1:10 - Find out the Gophers pulled out the win. Great to hear as they will be on now in the morning and we can watch them after our practice. Only bad news is they are playing a Michigan St. team that has dominated them, twice.

2:30 - Out in the middle in the great flat lands of Minnesota. I think we are around Jackson so we have about two hours left on our trip. The first movie is coming to an end and we are looking at our next movie, "Resurrecting the Champ."

4:15 - Movie is over we are about 30 minutes out. The movie was based on a true story when a struggling report run into a man he thinks is a former boxing champion and writes a story about the man in hopes of getting his career off the ground. This movie was okay but not a must see. I actually remember hearing about this on ESPN a few years back so it is kind of weird a movie was written so fast about it but if you like reading columnist from newspapers you would find this story interesting.

4:16 - Coach Gove is putting in one of the box sets of the series "Cheers" and attempting to find one of the shows he really likes, only problem he can't remember which one it is. We end up starting the episode where Frasier ends up out a window on the top story of the Cheers building threatening to jump because Lilith his wife is leaving him to go live under ground with her new boy friend.

4:30 - We get to Marshall and head over to Burger King for a quick bite to eat for our guys. "Cheers" episode is just getting to the good part too.

5:10 - Done with our quick little snack we check into our hotel. Haven't been in this hotel in a while but last time we were hear they had a basketball hoop in the swimming pool which is always fun.

6:00 - Load the bus and head over to SMSU for a shoot around and to stretch the legs after the long ride. We don't get to practice in the main gym as they have high school games going on but we use the gym where they play volleyball in. Nice little gym and set up for volleyball, a lot like our Talbot gym in size but they have nice scoreboards, jumbo-tron, perfect set up for volleyball. Very nice.

7:30 - We complete our shooting and get ready to load back on the bus. Lots of people at the high school games, SMSU needs a bigger parking lot as a ton of cars are parked well down the street.

8:00 - Team heads over to Applebee's for dinner, which is right next to us. Applebee's has the 2 for $20 deal going on right now so many of our guys go with that. You get to entrees and an appetizer for $20 very good deal actually as the entrees are at least a $1.50 less and basically you are getting a free appetizer on top of that.

9:30 - Head back to the hotel and get ready for bed. We will be getting everyone up early as we must get used to this because of the time of our game so guys will be up at 6:30. So lights out is 10:30.

Midnight - I know I should be sleeping like our guys but couldn't as UConn and Syracuse just went through one crazy game and it is not over yet! Just starting the 5th overtime.

12:09 A.M. - Syracuse pulls away in the 6th overtime, 127-117. I'm sure not many of you watched it live but you will see replays of it on ESPN as they show highlights and talk about it for the next 24 hours straight and actually make people sick of hearing about it in the end. ESPN likes to go overboard with great games too much for my liking.

12:20 - Off to bed. Wake up is going to come fast at 6:30.

Check back later for more on our trip.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Warriors to take on Roadrunner in Mashall, MN

   Hi Warrior fans, first I want to apologize for not updating this in a while.  It has been a couple of crazy days with school back in session and I just couldn't find time to get back at this thing until today.  But now it should be back to normal here as we start the most important week of the season.  Obviously by now most of you know who we are playing on Saturday.  Metro St. is currently the #8 ranked team in the nation and they will be a huge challenge in the 1st round.  While we will be tested our guys are looking forward to the challenge and will enjoy being in an underdog role.  It will be something new for our guys but we are not expected to do much so all the pressure is on those top teams that have been playing well.  It should be a great tournament in a great atmosphere and we are looking to make some heads turn this weekend.  
  Now on to some good news for all the fans, back by popular demand I will be keeping a log for this weekends games.  I have had many family members of players along with fans talking about how cool the log was when we went on our Northern/Mary trip.  Well since this weekend is such a big weekend and everyone enjoyed it before I will again be keeping a log starting at 12:30 tomorrow when we depart for Marshall.  So keep checking back day by day as I will update this site with what the Warriors are up to on this trip.  
Until then, GO WARRIORS!!!!!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Warriors vs Huskies, Part III

What's up Warrior fans, Coach Moore, here with a preview of our game today versus St. Cloud St. Today's game will be second time we have played St. Cloud in the past seven days. The last time we meet I am sure many fans remember the Warriors 81-100 loss up in St. Cloud. On that day we were a team that did not do too many things right and we struggled with every aspect of the game but today we are hoping to turn it around by playing much better in front of our home town crowd.

Keys to the game today will be like they have in many of the past games. We first have to make sure we get out and find where the shooters are. In the past two meetings the Huskies have been able to get shooters wide open shots pretty much whenever they wanted because we were not sound defensively by not talking or seeing the screen. Today that must change and we cannot lose the shooters they have on the floor. Second key will be making sure we get back in transition. This has been a problem that we have had all year but it really is starting to show in the past couple of games as we have given up easy looks to all the teams we have been playing for the past two weeks. Today we have to get back on defense and not let them get the ball down the floor to a wide open shooter. Finally we must rebound the basketball. That statement is a broken record with this team as we really struggle to win games when we do not rebound. Now on Wednesday we were out rebounded by 10 and were still able to come out on top but today if we let that happen we will be in a world of hurt. We must rebound on both ends and we must go get loose balls when they are on the floor, the team that gets to the loose balls will be the team getting another key possession that they can use to score.
We had a great shoot around this morning and our guys really seemed ready to go. They know what is at stake but they also know it is all up to how we execute that will determine if we win this game. If we do the little things we should be okay, if we do what we did last Saturday it will again be a long day. Hope to see you all at the game. GO WARRIORS!!!!!!!!