Thoughts from Queen City Tournament

Hey,

Good weekend in Charlotte, NC. Those fields are perfect for laying out, making huge cuts, and at the end of the day, walking back to your car barefoot.

Here are my reflections from this weekend

1. Sidelines - When our sidelines were in the game, we were unstoppable. Our team was excited to play as an entire team again, and you could see this excitement during the first game. While the defense was on the field, the offense was extremely helpful in the sidelines. Every person on the field had someone yelling at them, "up" calls were yelled, and our defense was stopping every type of cut. The defense was aware of all things happening, which is a scary thought for an offense. While the offense was on the field, the sidelines whenever they turned the disc over. Also, we went crazy when they scored and congratulated them for making the easy passes. This sideline effect allowed us to keep playing at our level throughout the tournament, except for a couple of times when the sideline went quiet.

The sideline effect helped us in the UNC Darkside game and the Notre Dame Papal Rage game. However, in each of those games, we saw what happened when the sideline goes quiet. When there is little sideline support, it only takes a couple of passes to break a defense. We saw a lot of easily executed deep hucks happen.

What we need to learn is how to better communicate as the sidelines and how to sustain our high level of sideline energy. I think the best place to learn this would be at practice. At practice, the gimps and subs on our team usually bundle up and hang out right next to coach. We need to be more intentional about our time at practice.

2. We can get in better shape. We outran a lot of our opponents this weekend, but I still think we can get in even better shape. Our core workouts for track haven't happened in a long time. Also, I think some of us (including myself) need some work in the weight room when it comes to the squat machine. I want to be in the type of shape where I can sprint down on a pull and play great defense for 10 throws, then maybe start fatiguing after that. It seemed like getting down on the pull and the first 4 throws was about all some people could manage this weekend. Also, our pulls can improve A LOT from some upper body workouts.

3. Stagnant defensive offense - The defense needs help with the goal line offense a lot more than our offense. For some reason, when we get on the goal line, everyone wants to score the goal. This causes a lot of clutter in the open lanes. If we learn to stick to our game plan, we could be a lot more effective. I need to learn this especially. It's hard to be the guy who stretches the stack to the back of the endzone. It's hard to be the guy who doesn't get a lot of scoring stats because you're helping the team open up lanes. It's hard to be equally as explosive cutting back to the stack as your cut to the open side. It's hard to be the guy who knows he's not going to try his cut because it's not his time to. Every member of our team will benefit a lot if more of us are willing to be become that guy.

Slam Dunk Contest - Dwight Howard's first dunk wasn't worth a 50. Rudy got duped, his first dunk was awesome. The man who won deserved it.