Grady Gallagher | Blogger

Gotta start this week’s edition by congratulating the Beaver Bowl 2k14 Champions and BVU intermural flag football champions, the All-Madden Bruhs! Way to go! This title was, without a doubt, earned and not given. A valiant effort was put up by the other team (I was scolded for displaying their inappropriate team name), and that’s why you play the game. Vegas was slightly off with their 29 point favoring as the final only ended up with 14 points separating the two squads. I have to say, of all the flag football games I’ve been a part of (this number is greater than 50), the Beaver Bowl 2k14 was the most fun. By far. Sean, Nick, Paul, Bob, Juhl, Sam, Kevin, and Cole, it was an honor lining up with you on the gridiron. We are the champions.

Speaking of rolling, is there anyone hotter than Bobby Brown and the BVU football team right now? Word on the street is Bob attended Jeff Garcia’s Quarterback Camp Tho this past summer. Bob, is this true? Is that really a thing? And why didn’t JaMarcus Russell attend this? He did? Either way, I’m excited to watch the team take on Luther at JLR Stadium Saturday.

So if you didn’t know, or you live under a rock, or you never watch America’s Got Talent, DIII COLLEGE BASKETBALL PRACTICE STARTED YESTERDAY!!!!! It seems like I’m always bombarded by other people to get the scoop on college practices. How’s college practice different than high school practice, G? Are college practices hard? How many sprints do you guys run? Does VH yell a lot? Do you ever get water breaks?

As I’m tired of answering these questions from several different individuals, here is my exact diary entry documenting our first practice, which was on Wednesday night.

5:30– Meeting with all players before practice- VH goes over basic offensive and defensive strategy for practice. He communicates expectations of the practice to the young guys and discusses the attitude and effort he wants to see from us today. He also uses Cole’s name in three examples. I’m not sure if he just thought Cole was the best example for each example, or he just forgot everyone else’s name.

6:00– Beginning of practice- Basic stretching begins practice. We do all the stretches together while walking to half court during the process. The new trainer this year also had us do some of her “best fit for basketball” stretches right before we begin drills. The problem was, this year we have to stand up to do these stretches, while last year we did these stretches on the floor and shared the gossip of the day. Even after only one day of these new stretches, they simply have to go.

6:07– First drill- The first drill is a split up of guards and posts on opposite ends. Guards work on ball handling and shooting off cuts. After four years, I still cannot figure out what the post are supposed to be doing on the other end. I always glance over to find the most random things happening, like all of our post players forming a human pyramid, or a heated game of left-hand only dodgeball, or (my personal favorite thus far) three-legged races.

6:20– Close-outs- An area of much needed improvement for our team this year is our defensive close-outs. Our team broke into two groups and we spent some time working our footwork and hand movement while closing out.

6:40– 5 on 0- At this point, we went full court, 5 on zero to work on our secondary break. Obviously, older guys lead the way while other, younger, groups watch and wait their turn after the older groups complete a trip down and back. You always know who was paying attention to the group before them or not when each group has to replicate who goes before them and somebody screws up. It seemed like coach liked our offensive efficiency in this drill. Other than Kennedy’s missed dunk, the offense got everything they wanted.

6:55– Motion offense- Lot’s of hectic running, screening, and passing. Everyone’s just so excited to be done with sleds and actually playing basketball.

7:30– Free throws- It’s pretty standard for us to spread across the baskets for free throw shooting about half way through practice. My group (since last year) is Kennedy, Paul, and I. Nick thinks he is part of the group, but really it just means less free throws for everyone. Kennedy, Paul and I always jokingly bet a burrito that goes to best free throw shooter of the day. I say “jokingly” because, if I didn’t say that, we’d be breaking NCAA rules.

7:40– 5 on 5 on 5- Three equal teams make up this drill: Blue, white, and skins (Minus Kirk Cousins). One squad at midcourt goes one way trying to score with another squad on D while the third squad is waiting on the opposite end. I’m not gonna take the time to explain this drill. This is my diary and I can do what I want. It’s a good drill. I like it.

8:00– 5 on 4 and ½- This drill uses the same teams as the drill before, but gets us running. Coach passes the ball to the point guard under the hoop on the baseline. His team is trying to run from baseline to the other side of the floor and score. The defense starts on the free throw line and one name is called when the ball is given to the point guard. The offensive team take off with the defense trying to sprint back while the person whose name is called sprints to the baseline and back on D. Hence the drill name 5 on 4 and ½.

8:10– Arizona- Two of the three teams circle the free throw line while Jayson Van Haaften throws up a brick. Once the ball is rebounded, it is live for a down and back trip with each team getting one offensive and defensive possession. I’m still trying to figure out where this drill gets its name.

8:20– The Pit- A randomly selected group of players must get three defensive stops in order to get out of this drill. In this drill, Adam Juhl hit two threes so, for 15 or so minutes last night, Juhl was public enemy #1. After two teams got 3 three stops, practice ended.

And there it is, a college basketball practice. Not what you thought? Not enough sprints? Just to inform you, my legs were definitely tired afterwards.

Thanks for reading. Good luck with Midterms. And happy fall break!