Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas with family and friends.
We travel to Lynchburg tonight for a 7 p.m. tip-off. You can listen to the game on 96.1 FM beginning at 6:30 pm. Lynchburg returns all five starters and has four transfers on a very talented and athletic LC team.
Before we return home on Jan. 11th (Wed.) vs. Guilford College at 7 p.m. (Hope to see you at Nininger Hall) we will play at Randolph-Macon on Jan. 7th (Sat.) at 2 p.m.
After the two games in the Don Glick Classic we played at Ferrum and then we went to play in the Daytona Beach Shootout where we lost to two very good teams - Taylor Univ. (Ind.) (ranked #14 NAIA) & North Central (Ill.). Several guys played very well against top competition which will hopefully prepare these younger guys for ODAC games. While our games were in Daytona Beach the team stayed in Orlando. While in Orlando the team was able to go the Orlando Magic vs Miami Heat game on Dec. 21st. Thanks to a good friend who works with the Magic, my team was able to get onto the floor during warm-ups. It is amazing how BIG Dwight Howard and LeBron are in person. Then on the 22nd the team went to Islands of Adventures. This was a good trip that allowed our young team to play against top competition while also allowing them to bond and grow. The experience of the trip should pay dividends down the stretch for our program.
We have lost a few games after starting the season 4-2. The guys are playing hard and together while we are still trying to find consistent production from our 13 healthy bodies –all freshmen and sophomores. Cody Griffith, our leading scorer has missed six games and Daniel McClain, our leading rebounder has missed for 4 games. Unfortunately, we just received the news that Daniel will be out for the season with a torn ACL.
Currently, we are 1-1 in ODAC play which has us in the middle of the pack early on. We (the staff)have told our guys we have 14 conference games that we need to take one at a time and continue to get better each day so we are playing our best basketball come late February (ODAC tourney).
I want to thank everyone who attended our Don Glick Classic and donated a canned food item to the local food pantry. We were able to help reach out to over 100 families in the immediate area during the Christmas Holidays.
Also, at the top of the blog is a photo from our Holiday Hoop Clinic which is a FREE clinic for boys and girls during the Don Glick Classic. With the support of our partner - Wal-Mart of Dayton - each child receives a Bridgewater College basketball t-shirt, basketball, popcorn chicken and drink. This is just a small way for our basketball program and Wal-Mart of Dayton to give back to the community before Christmas.
