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. 
This semester finished up well. I was a little worried about it, because I was enrolled in a couple of business classes. I am about as experienced in business courses, as Shaq is in making free-throws. Not very good to say the least, but I managed to walk away with an A and a -A in them. I think the entire team did pretty well for the most part too.
After the loss in Pittsburgh, we went to the Gentry Center at Tennessee State and got a really good win. We played really well and probably caught TSU on an off night. Dotson was on fire that night! He shot some of the toughest 3's that you would never think would go in, but they did. The Preacher can stroke it! It was a really good win for our team especially because they are just down the road from us.
After the TSU game, we had a disappointing loss in Jacksonville. JU is a good team and played great in the second half, but we should have won seeing that we had a 19 point lead at half-time. It was really a step backwards for us. We were clearly a first half team in the beginning of the year. We did the same thing with Austin Peay at home earlier in year by blowing a 12 point lead at half. Coach Byrd was livid. We were all livid. We had a team meeting that night and talked about the potential this team had, and that we needed to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we could finish games. So we came out against North Florida two days later and played well in the first half and even better in the second. It seems that every team, even if it has a lot of upperclassmen, must make their own mistakes and learn that a successful season is a work in progress. Every week we have to improve in one area from the week before. The Jacksonville trip was definitely a trip where we learned a lot about ourselves and got refocused. We had a long week of finals and practice after that weekend and then had three tough games in six days. We started it off with Middle Tennessee State at home. This was a great win for us. We have battled it out with MTSU in the past three or four years and they have a really good team this year.
Alex Renfroe played awesome with 25 points. He is either getting an assist, a lay-up, or two free-throws when he gets the ball in the open court. I got to give him a shout out for getting Player of the Week in the Atlantic Sun! Yeaaa Swoll!! Coach Byrd was really proud of how aggressive we came out in the second half. That carried over into the UT game on Saturday where we out scored UT in the second half but came up short by two points. I was really disappointed in my play against UT. I ended up with big fat goose egg in points. I missed some shots that I normally would make. I know that playing good basketball is not just about scoring points, but if I would have hit just one three we would have won the game. Nothing I can do about it now though. Just get more shots up after practice. It was fun seeing Michael Hubert (Bubbie) who is a walk-on for UT and played high school ball with me at Hendersonville High.
I started the Austin Peay game last night 0-6 from the three point line. I thought we were going to be in trouble when at half-time we were 3-23 from trey land. And Dotson hit all 3 of the one's we made. But luckily the Gov's were 'stuggling' as much as we were and it was tied at half-time. We came out strong in the second half and proved to ourselves that we are not just a first half team. Thankfully I hit a couple of threes to start the second half and Alex was again unstoppable. Everyone played well. Our coaches did a great job on scouting and telling us to play behind Austin Peay's stud, Reed. Our post guys did a great job on defending him.
So now we have about three days off to enjoy Christmas and our families. We then go to San Jose, where Santa Clara is hosting a tournament including us, UTEP, and James Madison. It should be good competition and a fun trip. It's never bad when you get to go to California to play some basketball. My parents, a couple of their friends, and my aunt Carin are going out there a couple days before the tourney to enjoy the nice weather and scenery. I want to say thanks to aunt Carin and her friend Ann for coming to watch me play every year. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Stay Healthy, Happy, and Kind to All (from Opa). As always Go Bruins!
