Finishing Touches

It is always a battle to determine where your team is and to evaluate all your players and how they fit in with the team.  We have a week to go before we leave for Carroll College and their tournament.  We play Carthage College on Friday night.  More on them later.  We have one more scrimmage which is coming at a good time.  Our first scrimmage was after 8 practices, now I think we will have a better gauge of where we are as a team.  Especially in the last week, we have shown steady improvement.  There is a saying, “You are what you emphasize.”  I think some of those things are starting to show through, and starting to look like a good basketball team.  Our young guys are also starting to get it going.  It is tough to start for them, but now they can feel they are starting to belong.

4 More Newcomers

James Shelman – Guard – Solon, Iowa 

James has improved so far this year.  He has not played a whole lot of organized basketball to this point, and it showed early on.  But now he is starting to hold his own.  He does a good job of leading the team into offense and will get better each week.

Jordan Mensen – Wing – Maquoketa Valley

Jordan was a solid wing player and athlete in high school.  He is an excellent shooter and knows the game real well.  As Jordan gets stronger, he will continue to find his way.  He has a very good shot, but needs to quicken it up a little bit so that he can get more of them off.  We will see some very good games from him on the JV team this year.  He has the ability to make a few shots in a row.

Austin Perry – Post – Norwalk

Austin is an excellent rebounder.  He comes from a good basketball program in high school, and was well coached.  He has to battle against Wes Nordquist everyday, and that can do nothing but get you better.  We are starting to notice him making some good plays and is improving all the time.  Austin has a good inside out game, and we need to get him to be more versatile.  As we get to that point, we will see even more strides.

Alex Satchell – Post – Colorado

Alex, is our first player in my program from Colorado.  It is a big change for him to leave home and be 10 hours from your house.  He has adapted very well.  He shoots the ball from 8 -15 feet very well.  He needs to add strength to his body to be able to handle himself around the basket.  This is always the biggest challenge for our young post players.  His defensive fundamentals are improving and we are glad he is here.

I love coaching this team and I can’t wait to get going.  What I love about all 27 guys is that they love to compete.  They aren’t afraid of the moment, and I hope that doesn’t change within the season.  This is a good group that will improve a lot as the season goes along.

Go Beavers!!!

Coach VH

On to State

My household has had a great week.  Jayson is running cross country and his team ran in districts this past week.  The top 3 teams make the State Meet.  The coaching staff was thinking we could be between 3 and 7.  Hopefully just good enough to make it.  To make a long story short.  We beat 3 teams we have never beaten before and ended up winning the meet.  Our team had never won a cross country meet, and we win the district meet against 20 teams.  What makes is fun for the team, was that the top 10 kids medal.  We did not have a medalist.  We had 5 guys between 12 and 27 ( 5 runners count) and the guys all had good times.  Cross country is mental warfare, I used to think it was a sport for the guys who weren’t big enough to play football.  Now that may be true to a certain point, but it is tough to run 3.1 miles on a golf course with 120 other runners at the same time.  And then you are trying for the best time and pushing yourself to the brink of exhaustion.  I have the utmost respect for those runners.  Anyway, we are running at state in Fort Dodge on Saturday afternoon at 2:30.  It is supposed to be very cold, so Barb and I are going to find some way to stay warm and run along with Jay and the rest of his teammates.  (We are a couple that does not enjoy cold weather)

Our team is about to embark on the stretch of the season where we play a couple of scrimmages and find out a lot about our team.  What makes this difficult, is that you decide to play a certain way and then you guard yourself that way in practice.  Then in a scrimmage, the philosophy of the other team may be different.  They may double in the post, they may deny wings and put a lot of pressure on you, they may play zone or press.   These scrimmages help you to find your way against different types of teams.  Every once in awhile during non conference games you will find some real funny scores, because a team does things against you that you did not expect or don’t see very often.  The conference games usually will have less surprises, and comes down to execution and taking away certain things of the other teams.  It is a fun process and one that takes time to find your team and what defines us.

We have 12 newcomers, and I will talk about 4 of them today.

Jarod Juhl – Harlan, Iowa.  He is a 6’5” wing player.  I choose him first because he is on my mind the most right now.  Last year, he broke his leg and ankle in his last football game.  He did not play a basketball game until February.  I have known his dad for many years, and as most of you know we have had a nice connection in Harlan.  Jarod has potential.  But Jarod is injured again.  He had stitches put in his shin from some box jumps a month ago.  He practiced the first day, and woke up the next morning unable to move his leg.  As we have found out, he got skin infection from the stitches, and it went down to the plate and screws in his ankle and leg from surgery last year, therefore, had to have surgery again.  He will be out another 6 weeks.  I feel bad for him, as this has taken probably 2 years of his life.  But he is a tough kid and I am hopeful that he will find a way to get back on the court as soon as he can. 

Sam Lipps – Algona, Iowa  Sam is a 4 man that stands 6’5” tall.  He really shoots the ball well from the perimeter and is crafty around the basket.  He is left handed and as he gets bigger and stronger we are hoping for good things from him.  Even though he is quiet by nature, he secretly is the guy that gets all the laughs.  He is a fun guy to be around.

Bobby Ivey – Storm Lake St. Mary’s – 6’3” wing player.  Bobby has won a state title and is a guy you can count on to do the little things for you.  He is also left handed and is a winner.  As Bobby gets stronger he will improve, and his confidence will also get better.  I have known Bobby since he was a little guy, as his father and I have been friends for many years, and now his mom, Grace, who is the athletic secretary, has worked here for 3 years.

Joe Frost – Denver, Iowa.  Joe is a 6’4” wing also.  Joe can really shoot the ball.  His shot is smooth and easy, and I think of sweet music when I see him shoot.  As he gets stronger and learns the program, he will become a real nice player.  He is one of 2 freshmen to make the varsity as of right now, and has proven he can stand up to the older guys and play right with them.  He has surprised me with his rebounding, which is one of his strengths.  He has a bright future.

Go Beavers!!

Coach VH

3 Practices Down

This is always a fun time of the year for me.  I love to see how we have improved as a team, and trying to find solutions to be a really good team fascinates me and is something I really enjoy.  There is always a player or two that comes out of the woodwork, and really surprises you, and is ready to take the next step as a player.  We have a few of those guys like that this year.  We have high expectations and look forward to a competitive year.

Fall Break is coming up, and it is a good time to really just play basketball.  We have next Monday and Tuesday away from school, and we even send home a few of our guys, especially, some of the freshmen and let them get home for a couple of days.  We have a scrimmage soon, so we need to spend a little extra time with our varsity over fall break. 

My son was supposed to run in the District Cross Country meet today, but the weather is so bad, that they were postponed to next Monday.  It has to be a really tough day outside to not run a cross country meet.  But Barb and I are thrilled as we don’t have to run around after those guys today.  We don’t practice till 7:00 tonight, so I am going to take the afternoon off, and go home and hang out today.  I haven’t done that much lately, and will try to catch up on a couple of shows that we DVR.  DVR is one of the best inventions of all time.  Can’t live without it. 

I keep putting this off, but I will start spending some time on our newcomers next time.  We have a lot of them, so I will take 3 different posts to get them taken care of.

Go Beavers!!!

Coach VH

One Week to Go

We are anxiously waiting for next Monday at 7:00.  We can then get our guys on the floor and develop as a team.  The older I get, the more I look forward to getting started.  I guess that is a good sign.  If it was opposite, I guess it would be time to quit.  These young kids energize me.  They have such high hope, have a lot of energy, and love being around each other.  It makes for a lot of fun for me.

Starting in the next couple of weeks, I will introduce our new faces in the program.  It is always a challenge to get our practices organized when you have 28 guys.  But in the past, the more players we have, the better our team has been.  It provides excellent competition.

It is Homecoming Week this week, and I am glad we can get that over before practice.  We had 10 of our guys volunteer their time at an event on Sunday.  It was for “Persons with Intellectual Disabilities”.  It was a Storm Lake Community event, and it was an omelette breakfast.  Our guys cooked the omelettes and did a great job.  The first omelette you make is always a little tough, but they were taught well, and they did a great job.  What I love about our players, is that they are great communicators.  They could talk to anyone while they were waiting for their breakfast and it was fun to watch them at work. 

Yes, I am still trying to finish the schedule for next year.  Tired of it, 2 to go.

I have put my golf clubs away.  Haven’t played in 3 weeks, and the weather isn’t good anyway.  I have a love-hate relationship with Fall.  I hate it, because I hate being cold, but love it, because basketball is near. 

Went out to the movie last night with my wife.  We went to Taken 2.  Excellent movie, one of the better flicks of the year.  If you like action and drama, then this is your show.  Barb and I decided we would never visit Istanbul, Turkey.  That is where the movie was taken (get it?), and I think I will visit somewhere else. 

Go Beavers!!!

Coach VH

Almost Ready

We have 17 days till practice starts and the guys are very fired up to get going.  We as coaches are ready also.  It always takes some time to organize how you want your practices to go and to get plenty of work in and at the same time let everyone have their opportunity to show what they can do. 

I am ready for a fun weekend this week.  Every year my 3 college roommates and I go to an Iowa Hawkeye football game.  This is our weekend.  One of the guys can’t go, but Al Anderson, who lives in Des Moines, has an RV and we go a night early and prepare for the tailgating the next morning.  Our Hawks to this point, are not real good.  I think it will be tough to go 4-4 in the Big Ten.

I love my job as I feel I don’t work a day in my life.  I love my job, but the worst part of my job really takes a lot of work.  The worst part is scheduling.  Now that we are down to 8 schools in our league, we have to get 11 non conference games.  It is very difficult to get all these games to work out.  It takes a lot of phone time and wait time on other teams making decisions.  I am almost done for next year, but still a ways to go.  Every school has their own agenda.

Go Beavers!!!

Coach VH