I am sad to say it, but there aren't going to be many more blogs.  I will follow this blog up with a final special edition blog.  So keep checking in the next week or two.  Sorry again for the infrequent posts.  Let me catch some of you up with what has happened since the last blog. 

            I'll start off with the bad news/events first.  We were undefeated at home in conference play for the past two seasons.  We took care of North Florida in the first game of the last weekend of conference play.  Everyone played well and things seemed to be falling into place.  I thought there was no way that Jacksonville could beat us on senior night, at home in front of a great crowd of 3,000 plus.  But just when you don't expect it, the unexpected happens.  We came out really sloppy in the first half and dug ourselves a hole.  The second half was good enough to send the game into overtime, but not enough to carry us to victory.  Alex Renfroe could have scored 50 points had a few more free-throws falling.  He ended up with 38.  Not too bad.  With that loss we headed into the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament as the number 3 seed.  For those of you who were at the first round game of the tourney know the significance that Mick Hedgepeth had in that game.  What a play at the end.  He got a missed last second shot by yours truly, and made a power move to score with 0.2 seconds left in the game to give us a 1 point lead and ultimately the win.  It gets me nervous thinking about it now and it happened two weeks ago.  So we advanced to the second round against a tough ETSU team.  They played very well. Congratulations to them on winning the tournament and good luck in the NCAA tourney.  They were the best team in the A-Sun for that week and deserved to win.  It seemed that everything we tried to do, they had an answer for.  Whenever we needed a stop, they would hit a shot.  Whenever we needed a bucket, they would play great defense.  That's what good teams do when games are on the line though.  So congrats again to ETSU and good luck.

            So all of our dreams, goals, and expectations died that night when we lost to ETSU.  Our chance for a fourth straight A-Sun tourney win, gone.  Our chance for a fourth straight NCAA tourney game, gone.  Our chance at upsetting one of the best teams in the country in front of the entire nation, gone.  But our chance for post season play was not gone.  We were invited to play in a new tournament this year called the College Insider Tournament, CIT.  There are a lot of good mid-major schools in the tourney and should make for competitive basketball.  We travel to Evansville tonight to play in the first round of the CIT.  I am not going to lie about this.  It has been a rollercoaster of emotions for our team, at least me in particular.  Being a senior and having all our goals and expectations out of our reach, it is hard to cope with what all I feel.  Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to still be playing and it is an honor to play in the CIT.  But when you aren't prepared or aware of the fact that you could possibly play in another tournament other than the NCAA, it is hard to switch mentalities.  I went from thinking that I would never be able to play again.  Something I have done since I was five years old, to having the opportunity to play again.  But not in the NCAA tourney, which I have played in the past three years.  I don't want to sound greedy, but I guess I am a little bit.  It just so happened that we were on spring break last week and coach gave us some time off.  I had some time to think and reflect on my emotions.  One thing I realized is what matters the most to me in sports and life.  This all might sound a little sentimental and cheesy, but bear with me.  When we lost to ETSU and I had a night or two to think about the fact that our goals as team, as seniors, and as individuals were now gone, it was hard.  I was in shock.  I couldn't believe that I wasn't going to have another opportunity to ever play in the NCAA tournament again.  I thought about all the practices, running, weights, the nights I would talk with my roommate Keaton about how awesome it would be to win four straight A-Sun tourney titles.  It was sad that we didn't accomplish our goal.  I was mad that we didn't win, mad that someone else was going to take what we thought was ours.  I felt like I let my team, our coaches, and our fans down.  That's the funny thing about sports, the highs are so high, and lows are so low.  But as the days past, and I had time to cope with it, things got better.  I had a more positive outlook on what had happened the past four years.  As the news arrived that we had a really good chance of playing in another tournament, I wasn't sure what to think.  I had just gotten done with coming to grips that it was all over.  But I started to think about the fact that it would be one more opportunity for out team to be together.  I thought about how this tournament was never apart of our goals or expectations.  About how basketball isn't really about achieving goals or meeting certain expectations.  There is so much more to it.  The camaraderie that is developed between a team.  The support of one another and brotherhood that is established.  Going through tough times together, working hard and making sacrifices together, and sharing victories and accomplishments as well.  The laughs and jokes shared in the locker room.  Learning and growing together.  I am certain that I could call any one of these guys at any time, and they would be there for me.  And I would do the same for them.  That's what is important to me, that is the significance of sports in my life.  The relationships I have in my life are the most precious things this world can offer me.  I cherish them with all I have.  Let's go beat the Purple Aces!  As always Go Bruins!th

So I am sitting on the bus on the way back to Belmont.  We just lost to Mercer.  We could have just lost the regular season championship today.  We played hard and fairly well, just not well enough at the end.  Coach was pretty upset and thought Mercer played with more heart and 'want to.'  I finally had a decent shooting game, and so did Shane.  Dotson and Keaton couldn't buy one though, and Alex pitched in another great game.  But we seniors made some bad plays at the end that didn't help our comeback efforts.  I made a stupid foul 45 feet away from the basket trying to get a steal, and put them on the line.  Alex had done the same thing a couple of possessions earlier and one of Henry's passes got deflected and picked off a couple of plays later.  I though I played well offensively, but failed to do my job on the defensive end.  James Florence is a great offensive player, but I let him have his birthday on us.  I told myself coming into the game that if I out-played him, than we would win.  Well I didn't, and we lost.  But regardless of how today turned out, we still have two games left. 

            We are at home for our last two conference games and need two solid performances to give us some momentum going into the tournament.  I am really excited about this week and the opportunities that we have ahead of us.  I have been thinking lately about all the years that I have been playing basketball.  All the church league games I played on Saturday mornings in church gyms with carpet flooring, the Saturday morning city league games in elementary schools with linoleum tile flooring and dust about a quarter of an inch thick on top.  The hours I spent in the backyard schooling my brother and pops in horse... at least that one time.  Or the times when my parents would go out with their friends and my brother and I would do dribbling drills in the garage around our trash cans.  All the weeknights spent in high school gyms on the other side of town for AAU practice.  Not to mention the weekends sacrificed for the AAU tournaments.  Middle school practices and games, high school practices and games, and all the pick-up games can't be forgotten either.  My point is that all of the time I haven't spent in my life practice basketball really comes down to these last three or so weeks.  All the time that I told myself my hard work would pay off, now has a chance to.   But it's more than just me; it's just as much my parent's sacrifice as anyone's.  I greatly appreciate all they did for me, and probably won't truly appreciate it until I am doing it for my children one day.  Regardless, I am grateful enough to have the insight to understand the magnitude of time and effort that has been focused on basketball in my behalf.  I only have about three or four weeks of basketball left.  I have practiced all my life to be successful in these last three or four weeks.  After this season, my skills are useless except for my own enjoyment in the local YMCA leagues.  Thinking about it like that really gives me some confidence.  I have spent so much time at it, I shouldn't worry about whether or not I can or can't make shots or passes or play defense.  I know I can, I just have to go out there and do it.   So I am excited about the few games I have left to showcase all the hard work that has been accumulated.

             I have the privilege to speak at Ellis Middle School's athletic banquet on Thursday morning.  Ellis Middle School is where the boys and I posted the only undefeated season of my life and school history, a solid 15-0 in Sumner County play.  We beat Cory Brewer and the Portland Panthers in the semis and then beat Maurice Staten and the Rucker Stewart Rams in overtime in the championship.  All the kids would meet at the Burger King after the games.  Life didn't get much better than that.  But now I have a chance to go and hopefully give back to my alma mater with some advice and words of encouragement.  I have been thinking about what I am going to say, and there is a lot.  Those of you who know me, know that I don't have a problem saying what's on my mind or just talking in general.  But I think I am going to talk about the significance of team, character, and sportsmanship.  I took a sociology class at Belmont a couple of semesters ago, and my teacher told us that there are two things that every human yearns for.  The first is to be loved.  The second is to be apart of something bigger than one's self.  I believe the greatest thing we can learn from Jesus is to treat each other the way we would want to be treated.  Ultimately, this is loving others.  Sportsmanship and character both fall under this great advice given to us.  Being apart of something bigger than yourself is the definition of team to me.  It is making an individual sacrifice and with the help of others, to accomplish a greater goal.  It may not be that interesting, but I believe it is good for these young kids to hear.  I know this advice has helped me in my life.  Maybe I'll think of a good story to tell about when I was there to add a little spice to my talk.  Stay with us Bruin fans; we need you now more than ever.  Let's get things going this week with two good home wins and then take care of the Atlantic Sun Tournament for a fourth year in a row!      May God bless you and as always Go Bruins!

Good morning Bruin Nation. Just wanted to say a few short words about the last game (Campbell game) and tonight's game against LIpscomb.  (This isn't a special edition blog, i am sorry... i mean i can't just keep putting out special edition blogs every time you know?.. they are  called special edition for a reason). So anyways, we had a great win the other night in Buise Creek, N.C.  i wish you could have been there Coach Kirchman.  It was the first and last time i would ever play in their brand new facility.  it is really nice by the way and they should be proud to have a nice arena like that.  But when Coach Byrd got a technical right before the 4 minute media timeout, i thought we were in serious trouble. i hadn't lost hope, but just new the mountain was getting steeper.  So, Campbell comes out and misses both free-throws on the technical and  so after that we were in the 4 minute media timeout with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the game we were down 18. after that i don't really remember much.. haha. All i really remember was Jon House having some incredible tip-ins, Shane getting an unbelievable rebound, Henry scoring an and-1, Alex hitting lay-ups, and Dotson's three from the corner.  i only remember 5 or 6 plays in the last 3 1/2 minutes. it was wild.  we scored 30 points in that time.  i can't remember having that much fun in game.  we were so hyped in the locker room.  let's hope that fun and confidence carries over tonight in the Lipscomb game.  

Well I must start off today's blog addressing an incident that happened earlier today at practice. We had an early practice because we were flying out in the afternoon to play Campbell tomorrow night.  Because of the early practice, classes had to be missed.  The guys at practice were just the ones traveling.  With only about 15 min. left in practice, I was about to get into an aggressive defensive stance when I noticed coach Alexander (our head assistant) laughing about something behind me in the distance.  I looked back and saw Scott Saunders, whom you will hear about later, starring at our trainer, Paul Malloy. He was in his practice gear in the corner of gym fresh out of class, wearing no socks and holding his shoes in his hands.  He had this look on his face that screamed, 'Paul what's going on?  I have been in the training room for about 20 min lubing up my feet waiting on you to show up and tape my ankles.'  Needless to say, it was quite a funny nonverbal stare down between the feisty Pittsburgh native (Paul) and the towering 6'10" 250 lbs. redshirt (Scott).  I could tell that it wasn't going to be a good day for Scott if he was going to try and catch the last 20 min of practice.  Scott was ready just in time for us to work on our half court offense.  Because Scott is a redshirt, he plays a lot of scout defense, hence the title of the last blog.  After catching some flack about potentially taking German National's girl, Scott was about to make a bad decision.  I knew things were going to get ugly when I looked into my roommate's eyes and saw nothing but Larry Bird-esque determination.  Keaton caught the ball in the left corner, and proceeded to blow by a quick-footed Matthew Dotson on the baseline.  Just as I thought to go and deter his penetration, Scott beat me to it.  Keaton never thought twice about what he was about to do.  As Scott left the ground to the contest the jam, he soon saw nothing but armpit sweat.  Keeping both hands on the ball, the tall lanky Belcher kid from Pendleton County saw nothing but rim the whole time.  As the ball went through the net with great force, the hooting and hollering had already begun.  Practice ended two plays later.  I told Keaton that that was the best dunk I had ever seen him flush.  He disagreed and quickly reminded me of the slams he had in pick up earlier in the year.  I'm not sure if we will ever know.

 

We are now on the bus to the hotel here in Raleigh, North Carolina.  We play the Campbell Fighting Camels tomorrow night in the Atlantic Sun Game of the Week on CSS.  It should be fun.  They have a new arena this year and I hear it is really nice.  I am so glad too, because they used to play in a gym that was about the size of a high school auxiliary gym.  It was such a huge advantage to them.  They played so well in that gym.  I have only beaten them once there.  It was my freshman year and we managed to get the win in overtime.  They have been playing so well lately and I know they will want to keep their two game home win streak on us alive.  I am excited and think the team is ready to play hard though.  I can't wait!! Playing college basketball is awesome.  I know I am going to miss it the day it ends. 

 

I also want to say how honored I am on becoming a finalist in the Lowe's Senior Class Award.  It is such a great privilege.  I am very fortunate to have had great parents, a great brother, a wonderful fiancé Emily and her terrific parents, friends, coaches, and role models in my life that have all helped me become who I am.  They all have a part in this recognition.  If you have some time, check it out and vote for your favorite finalist (wink wink).  Thanks to all you who read this and support Belmont Basketball.  We appreciate you more than you know.

 

This blog is dedicated to a unique group of individuals.  It is a Special Edition Blog, featuring the one and only, Gold Nuggets.  This name is bestowed upon the group of guys who day in and day out, lay it all out there in practice to better the team.  They get no game minutes.  They get no recognition.  They get no glory, yet are just as important as anyone involved in this program.  The starting line up consists of:  Adam Barnes, David Stanley, Brandon Baker, and Scott Saunders.  Keaton Belcher will be assisting me on a comprehensive bio on each of these players.

 

Adam Barnes #24:  Guard 6'2" 175 lbs.  Clarksville, TN

Adam is a young vibrant outgoing soul with a smile that will light up a room.  He loves girls.  In fact the first day of school in the fall I saw Adam three different times throughout the day and each time he was talking to a different female.  Adam loves barbeque sauce, tenacious defense, Will Smith, Jason Statham, smiling, girls, and telling jokes.  He is deadly off the dribble and from trey land. 

 

David Stanley #11:  Guard 6'2" 175 lbs. Louisville, KY

David is actually related to me, kinda.  My first cousin, Jimmy Stanley, is also first cousins with David.  Neat fact.  David is a cool customer around campus.  He loves wearing his Ballard High School travel pants to class and acting like he didn't hear the coaches when he messes up a play.  He also loves Alabama football and Kentucky basketball.  With one of the purest strokes this side of the Mississippi, he is lethal from deep.  He has a wonderful girlfriend named Jill whom we all like very much.  Dave will be moving into my apt next year.  He has worked really hard in the weight room and is recipient of the 'Hard Body' Award for this season.  My hat is off to you Dave.

 

Brandon Baker #45:  Forward 6'7" 210 lbs.  Milford, OH

Baker and I took Mass Media and Society this past summer semester.  He wore basketball shoes to class everyday and forgot his homework often.  He loves Jack Johnson, the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals, Mountain Dew, laughing, raining threes on the first team, ping pong, and NBA 2k9.  He once gambled away his roommate's microwave and believes that having weights in prisons creates 'super criminals.' With an uncanny ability to make plays on both sides of the ball, he has a promising future in a Bruin's uniform. 'Say my name.'

 

Scott Saunders  #23:  Center 6'10"  250 lbs.  New Orleans, LA 

Scott loves steak, dunking, sighing, disagreeing with whatever you say, the training room, large cookies, wearing thermal underwear under his jeans, playing guitar, driving his Magnum, and the Saints.  He is a lot smarter than most people think and is really good at sweating.  He is strong and wears a mouthpiece during practice.  He loves getting into discussions with our trainer, Paul, about what is better: taping your ankles or wearing ankle braces.  Scott is very fundamentally sound and has good hands for a big man.  He will add a lot to next year's team.  He spent his first year at Rice University and was a high recruit coming out of high school.  He spends at least 10 minutes after every practice and works on dunking and ridiculous shots, then heads to the training room for another 30 min of who knows what.

 

This concludes the Gold Nuggets.  I hope that you enjoyed this blog and may God bless you.  As always, Go Bruins!!

Even though I have scored on Scott Saunders countless times this year in practice, I must give him some credit on yesterday's practice.  Scott came up big when he drove the lane at his intimidating 6'10" frame, to find a meager 6'2" Andy Wicke standing just above the block.  As I tried to draw a charge (which is usually pretty easy against a post player that has a hard time controlling  his gangly limbs), Scott decides to yell, "Give me that!" as he floats to the side of me and hits a running floater.  Way to go Scott, on scoring on me for the first time.  I told him I would congratulate him on my blog, seeing that it doesn't happen very much.  It is hard for Scott though, cause myself and others included usually rain threes on him all practice long.  As for another person that needs to be congratulated, Adam Barnes.  Good job on blocking my shot today in practice.  You are a worthy defender and I commend you on your tenacity.  Scott could learn something from you.  

So I am sitting here with my roommate, Keaton Belcher, watching a dvd called, 'The History of the University of Kentucky Basketball.'  KB is a blue-and-blue through-and-through.  Since both of my parents went to Kentucky, I also claim the cats.  So this is our little tradition (started by J Hare and yours truly last season).  We watch some sort of basketball video before every home game.  On Saturday we put the Magic Johnson video in.  It served us well, as we got a solid win against the Fighting Camels of Campbell.  We had to bust out the Kentucky video for the Battle of the Boulevard.  Fort those of you who don't know, the Battle of the Boulevard is the rivalry game between Belmont and Lipscomb.  Both schools are on the same street about two miles apart from each other.  The street's name is Belmont Boulevard by the way.  That's neither here nor there, because every year it really is a battle.  I can remember that when I was senior in high school the rivalry started back again.  When Belmont had made the jump to division one, the rivalry took about a 7 or 8 year rest.  It started back in 03-04 i believe.  It was crazy, something like 4 out of the first 6 games since the rivalry started back, went into overtime.  I can remember my high school coach, Kerry West, who played for Belmont back in the mid 90's, played in a Battle of the Boulevard that took place in Memorial Gym (Vandy's home court) and it was sold out.  The attendance was something like 15,000.  It is always a good game regardless of how good each team is.  And tonight is the big battle.  It is at Belmont too, and being a senior I can't lose this one.  

Well, I am sorry it has taken me so long to write.  A lot has happened since my last blog, I guess it has been almost a month since I posted one.  First off, I have some things to celebrate about.  The first is that my fiance found a job!  That'a girl Em.  I should be getting lots of presents this year!!  Just kidding, "We are saving all of our money."  I am very honored to be nominated for the Lowe's Senior Class Award as well.  Thank you to Greg Sage and all of you who have helped in that process.  It is a great honor to represent Belmont in this way and to be nominated with so many other great student-athletes. The third is that I was accepted into the Louisville School of Dentistry and the University of Tennessee Dental School.  I am very fortunate and blessed to be accepted into two great programs.  The tough part is now deciding which one to attend.  Emily, my fiance, and I have had many discussions about this.  There is a lot more that goes into a decision like this than I thought.  We know that wherever we end up for the next four years, things will be great as long as we keep God, family, and friends first in our lives.  

We start the season off 1-1, winning our home opener against Samford then turning around and losing a heartbreaker to Austin Peay with 0.2 seconds left. Over 3,000 fans showed up at the Curb Event Center to cheer us on against the Bulldogs in the first game. Our student section was the biggest I've seen in my four years at Belmont.  The large support of the students, backed by the Greek life, brought excitement to the game. It was good to see a lot of alumni and former players. Many people have been asking us if the new three point line would affect our shooting, but after hitting 13 threes against Samford I think we'll be just fine. I was really proud of our team, we did a good job of executing our game plan, and got solid play from everyone that stepped onto the court (Congratulations to my roommate, Keaton Belcher for being a co-recipient of the Baskin Game Ball). We thought that the momentum from the Samford game would carry over against Austin Peay, but it only lasted the first half. We jumped out early on them and things were looking good. Jon House played really well and was hard for them to guard. I think he ended up with 18 points, which is a career high for him. I'm glad he is on our team, eh? By the way, he has really stepped up his travel attire with a brand new sports coat that is black velvet with a checker pattern. Looking good Jon. Unfortunately the second half didn't turn out as well as Jon's new sports coat. We were a little sluggish to start the second half and made some bad turnovers. Austin Peay did a good job of executing their offense and knocking down shots. With 10 seconds left we were down 3 points, and Alex Renfroe had a great offensive rebound and put-back. He might be one of the best offensive rebounders I've ever seen. On the put-back he got fouled and knocked down his free throw to tie the game up. Austin Peay called timeout and set up a play for a last shot. They missed the shot but Drake Reed was fouled in his attempt to get the rebound with 0.2 seconds left. He hit both free throws. With the clock being under 0.5 seconds, we had to throw it the length of the court and tip it in to tie. If the clock were over 0.5 seconds we would have been able to attempt a shot (at least I think thats the rule), but unfortunately that was not the case. It was a tough loss, but we get a chance to play them again here in the next couple weeks. We also lost Shane Dansby for a week or two due to a high ankle sprain during the first two minutes of the game against Austin Peay.

            After a day off, we started a long week of practice preparing for Pittsburgh. On Thursday, Alex and I collided in practice and I ended up spraining my MCL.  I sat out Friday's and Saturday's practices.  We also have some guys that are sounding sick.  Injury and illness can really throw kinks in a team.  I hope it is something that doesn't affect us too much this year. 

            I'm actually sitting on the plane to Pittsburgh right now. I made sure I sat next to the only English major on the team, Brandon Baker. He is a red-shirt freshman and will be looking good in his business casual attire tomorrow night on the bench. If there are any grammatical errors, be sure to send him an email about it. This is a great opportunity for our team and our program to have a good showing.  Pittsburgh is a great team and they are ranked 6^th in the country for a reason. But all we can worry about is controlling what we can control. We have to know our scouting report, we have to be confident and aggressive, and we have to play hard every possession. If we do those things, win or lose, it will be a step forward for our team. Being a senior I understand how much fun these trips and games can be when you come ready to play.  I am also really looking forward to seeing my brother.  He doesn't get to see me play but 2 or 3 times a season.  He is making the trip up with Ralph and Pops.  It is also a special trip for Paul our athletic trainer, as he is a Pittsburgh native.  We have heard all week how great the city of Pittsburgh is while we were getting our ankles taped.

 Now we need to give a shout out to Thanksgiving, Belmont's Volleyball team, and coach Josh McMillan on becoming a father. I'm so proud of our Volleyball team  for winning the A-Sun Championship and especially the seniors, Cat and Emily.  Good job and good luck!  I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and safe travels.  I just ran into a diehard Pittsburgh fan in the airport, and she was giving me a scouting report of the team.  Thanks Emma.  As always, Go Bruins!

It's hard to believe this is the first week of basketball season.  It seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were playing Duke in the first round of the tournament.  It is even harder for me to believe that this is my senior year!  I am so excited about it though.  We have a lot to be excited about with five seniors who have a lot of experience and great underclassmen working hard everyday in practice.  We open up this Friday the 14th with Samford at home and then Austin Peay on Monday.  Everyone is excited about it and it will be a tough test as Samford has a great program.  It is great to have the opening game at home.  We haven't had a home opener since my freshman year against Wright State.  I'll never forget that game because it was my first collegiate basketball game and my roommate Justin Hare scored 31 points and went a perfect 10-10 from the field.  It was a great opener to say the least.  We are missing three guys from last years team, Justin Hare, Will Peeples, and Andrew House.  They all brought great attributes to the team.  Hopefully the young guys will help us five seniors fill their voids and have another successful year.  Coach Byrd told the team at the beginning of the year that he has had teams in the past that were senior strong and underachieved.  I don't think that he was trying to intimidate us or put extra pressure on us, but rather trying to motivate us.  Being the captain, I am really excited about the leadership that all the seniors take on.  It is easy to be a captain when you have a team full of great leaders.  We have had one exhibition game and a scrimmage thus far, and we have to get better in a lot of areas but have shown a lot of potential.

Off the court, my week has gone fairly well.  I had a test in Portfolio Investment Management last Thursday, a test in Botany on Monday, and a test in Business Finance on Tuesday.  It is nice to get them out of the way and focus just on our games this weekend.  I am also really excited about Friday because I have a lot of family and friends coming.  Not only will my grandparents and aunts and uncles be at the game, but so will my fiance's.  I need the pass list to be about 20 deep!  It should be a lot of fun and I just hope we play well. I can't wait for college basketball to start!  Check out our team and other information at our website: Bruin Basketball. Good luck to our men's soccer team in the A-Sun tourney this week.  I also want to tell our women's soccer team good luck as they face Auburn in the first round of the NCAA tournament in their first appearance ever!  Hope you like the picture Mr. Adams!  As always, GO BRUINS!!