BlueCrewPres

Not sure if my location shows up, but I've been viewing from Spain since October. Haven't discovered in diamonds in the rough yet, but I'll keep looking for the mythical 4... Fish- if you do read this, where in Spain are you? I'm in Cantabria but am off to Palencia this wknd to hang out with some US bball players for their team.

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Could either of you provide a short halftime summary...I am stuck in a computer lab working on a paper and can't listen and there is no gametracker to provide any details of the game. Thanks in advance!!

People on this board have been discussing and debating who is starting, who is playing this many minutes, who is coming off the bench, etc., but I would like to shift to the topic of team leadership. This is a HUGE intangible, and clearly we did not possess it last year. I know Drejaj always brings his intensity on the court, and hopefully IV will lead by example while playing, but will we have a player challenging the team in the locker room when we're down by 7-10 at the half or down by a bucket with two minutes left?? We didn't have that vocal leadership last year, and we started off the season slow, losing to much lower teams and coming up short in almost all of the close games. From what I have read, Lisch and Liddell are accomplished players and will improve this team tremendously, but they will not be the leaders of the team. VN is in only his second yr despite being a senior, and Drejaj's role will defitinely not be comparable to a team MVP who can inspire players by putting up flashy numbers. Ian has never been a vocal player/leader, and I have little reason to believe JJ will step up and fill this role. Who does that leave?? Those of you that have watched practices, what have you seen? Thoughts, comments, disagreements??

Watched the Under-21 U.S. team play one of the Dallas Mavericks summer league teams yesterday in a game preceeding the 05 Global Games. The U-21 team was coached by Phil Martelli and comprised of players like JJ Redick, Justin Gray, Rudy Gay, Nick Fazekas, Rajon Rondo, and Curtis Withers. The Mavs team had Roger Powell, Keith Langford, a few "projects" (who were much worse than Ian and Bryce, trust me), and other no-namers. The Mavs completely manhandled the U-21 team 102-86...I know the U-21 roster had just been finalized the day before and those guys probably hadnt played much together, but they were completely out of sync and there was no communication at all. Withers in particular was disappointing: 1-7 from field, 3 pts, 4 fouls in about 10 minutes. I'm sure he'll be tougher come December but yesterday he was far below what I've even seen him do at the Savvis Center; he was getting blocked out for almost every rebound and was rusty on his turn-arounds. Best player was Justin Gray, with Aaron Brooks (Oregon) and Glen Davis (LSU) also playing very well. (For any UofI fans, R.Powell played with heart and pulled down several nice boards...still has a shot at a roster spot). U-21 team plays Ukraine, Slovenia, and Lithuania before the "medal games" next weekend. http://www.globalgamesbasketball.com/index.htm

The Blue Crew will return....I have ended my run as President (last 2 yrs) and a new exec board has been elected. The new President is aiming for more members and has been working with the orientation sessions over the summer for incoming freshman to recruit new members. She becomes the third President of Blue Crew and the first female President. FYI, approximately 65-70% of Blue Crew last year was female.

Thats funny, because I believe you spent half that game in our section while not having the audacity/cojones/spirit/pride to even join our group... Thank you to those posters who applauded our efforts thusfar this year. It is not easy to get students to come out when we are having a good year let alone a season like this one. I appreciate it. Bbobby, I think I speak for everyone when I say that nobody would miss your inane posts if you simply disappeared and never returned. I do not see how you can call yourself a Billiken fan while ripping on every aspect of the team/fans/university/personnel.

Pitino and Co. fall to Pender's Cougars tonight 70-67. Houston attempted 62 shots in the game, 35 of them 3's... After we surprise Cinci on Saturday the CUSA rankings could look weird for a few weeks...

Tom's 3-4 from the line included one bank-in (that I didnt hear him call)....Ian barely nicked rim on one of his. Several questionable calls against us but lets face it, these werent the deciding points of the game...we lost it for ourselves.

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VN has played sparingly....apparently the Peay announcers didnt see the pronunciation guide in our media booklet....

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