Competition Great At Mickey Place… Next Up Is CBU Fall Classic

The competition that we faced at our own Mickey Place Tournament this past weekend will most certainly help us get better in the long run! As I said prior to the tournament, I think that we are a bit behind both DAL and Concordia in terms of preparation at this point. They have both played a few more games than us, and are veteran led teams. We have a few newcomers that we are trying to fit into key roles, and we are looking at a number of possible combinations. We played as many as twelve or thirteen players throughout the weekend, and I think it will help us settle on a regular rotation going forward. Both the losses against DAL and Concordia were fairly tight throughout. I did not think we played particularly well at either end, and our execution as a group was not as good as either of those teams. I do believe that our ceiling is high however, and I expect us to be much better come February and March. I think that a small sample of what we can become was evident in the second half of our win against a tough UMFK squad. Our defensive intensity and discipline was solid, and our ball movement and transition offense started to look familiar! We put up 56 points in the second half, and won the battle of the boards by 13. These kinds of tournament games are crucial to our development as a team, and we certainly expect to improve as the preseason progresses.

We head off to Cape Breton later this week to compete in the CBU Fall Classic. We very much like this tournament, partly because all games are played at Center 200. The arena setting is great for us, because it gives us a taste of playing in a similar atmosphere/arena where our playoffs are held. This tournament also provides us with three more very competitive games! Our first tilt is scheduled for Thursday at 3:00pm, we will tip-off against league rival SMU. As always, the Huskies are a very formidable team, and I believe that they are currently undefeated in preseason play. The rest of the schedule in terms of opponent and game times depends on whether you win or lose. Aside from the Huskies, the other two teams on our side of the draw include the Acadia Axemen and Holland College Hurricanes. The other teams in this event are the host Capers, Thetford Prep, UMFK, and X. We are currently 3-2 in exhibition play, and hope to improve in every game this weekend!

Due to our travel and playing schedule, I will not be posting a Blog this Thursday. Please join me back here a week from today!

GO PANTHERS GO!