Since my last post the Beavers have been crowned the IIAC champs for the second year in a row. We clinched sole possession with a victory of the University of Dubuque on Wednesday night and a loss by Loras. We heard after the game in the locker room that Loras had lost to Cornell. We just celebrated a little bit, and Coach made sure he told us how proud he was of us and that it was an accomplishment. However, this team has set higher goals. In order to reach those higher goals we needed to win the regular season conference championship. To keep reaching those goals we need to win the tournament championship and get into the National Tournament. Before the conference tournament we have one regular season game left against a rising opponent. Friday night we are heading to Decorah, Iowa. We play Saturday at 4 against the Luther Norse. Luther has been battling week in and week out for a final spot in the conference tournament. They beat a good Central team last Saturday and they need to win out to get the 6th and final spot. There defense is the best in the league and it will be a very good game.
I am going to talk about two more seniors today. The first is one of our guards Travis Person. Travis is a monster. He benches the most on the team, as he stands at 6,7” 230 lbs and is sold as a rock. He was a 4 man for us a couple seasons ago, but his ability to guard quicker opponents has improved and his ability to stroke it from downtown has been great consistently. My favorite story about Travis is a recent one. We were trailing to Wartburg in the second half a couple of weeks ago. Wartburg had beaten us at their place, and pretty much beat us in the first half at our place. In the second half we really moved the ball well on offense and worked for that good look against their zone. However, the ball never seemed to go any further than Travis Person. Travis was on fire, he had nine three pointers in the game. He pulled one from the IIAC symbol on our court which is about six feet behind the three point line. It was one of those nights where every time he touched it, without thinking it was going up, and it was going in. He finished the game 9 for 11 from the three point line, and had 27 points. With that game he earned Iowa Conference player of the week. Travis plans to do landscaping work for a cousin who owns a business in Des Moines. I guess he is going to continue to be a brut the rest of his life.
The other senior has been a teammate as well as a very good friend of mine for a long time. Kyle Stribe was a member of the Manning High School basketball team with me. We have been close for many years and it has been fun to watch him develop as a basketball player as well as a person. Off the court Kyle has come to be one of the funniest people of the team. At first you would think he was quiet and chill about everything, but once you get to know him he is a very funny person. He usually just sits on the back of the bus on road trips and throws his two cents in to the group of guys’ playing cards in front of him. His one line comments are some of the best. The best quality of Kyle on the court is that he doesn’t waste possessions. We always talk as a team on how important it is to not waste possessions. Kyle doesn’t turn the ball over. On top of that he doesn’t take bad shots. His three point percentage is amongst the highest in the league. He has improved his ball handling as well as passing over the years. My favorite basketball story about Kyle took place last season in a game against Benedictine College. Kyle scored 20 points including hitting 6 three pointers in the first 8 minutes of the game. It was truly one of the most amazing shooting displays I have ever witnessed. Kyle is currently student teaching at a school near Storm Lake. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be an outstanding teacher someday.
We are on the road Saturday at Luther and then home for the first round of the conference tournament next Thursday. We are focused on Luther right now as we know they are going to give us everything they have. They are well coached and very physical on both sides of the ball.