Friday, November 30, 2012

Beat #8 November Madness




It may not come with office pools, celebrity brackets, national media attention or a catchy theme song from CBS, but November Madness is underway at Brigham Young University Idaho.
It was 8 weeks go this Thursday that coaches held the draft for the school’s competitive basketball league.
All of those early morning practices, and hard fought games that players put their sweat blood and tears into have prepared them and their respective coaches for this moment.
The tournament actually began the week before Thanksgiving break and now only the final four teams remain.
The 88ers held their final practice before Friday night’s game earlier this week.
88ers Head Coach Steven Flanders decided to have his team scrimmage with the Titans for the majority of his team’s hour and a half practice.
After the scrimmage Coach Flanders huddled up his team and told them that they’d be having some fun before they’re final practice was over.
Everybody participated in a 3-point shootout.
There was clear no winner. A few players could make 50 percent of their shots, but it was clear to see that everybody was cold after a rigorous hour and twenty minutes of drills and scrimmaging.
The 88ers know that Friday night’s game will be a taught test they’ll need to pass in order to even have a shot at eternal glory.
Power forward Mitch Huntsman talked about what they’re doing to prepare.
“I think that the biggest thing to prepare for the tournament is that we just have to have fun. We’ve got a talented team; we’ve got a good coach, we’ve just got to put it all together that’s what our team’s all about.”
Coach Flanders reflected on what his team has been able to accomplish this past season, “We just had a lot of fun this season. We really hit our stride when we smoked the Spartans. Our team has transformed a lot since then playing together well.”
But for the 88ers it’s not all about physical preparation there’s also the spiritual aspect of playing basketball at BYU - Idaho.
Patrick Lunquist also known as "The White Mamba" has been the team’s designated “spiritual guide” this season.
He explained what that involves,
 “What I like about our team is we’re pretty good but we’re pretty spiritual, we know how to get up that way. We say our prayers before we come to practice, before a game so I think that really helps us out.”
Coach Flanders isn’t sure where the nickname came from, but mention that Lunquist has lead his teammates in group prayers this season.

Here’s a breakdown of the final four:

88ers will take on the Knights this Friday at 7:30 P.M. 

Titans will play the Hurricanes at 9:30 P.M. 

The championship game will be played this Saturday and that is scheduled to tip off at 4:30.
All three games will be played in the main gym of the Hart building. 


No comments:

Post a Comment