Story Time With Terry: Shot of a Lifetime

Welcome back to Story Time With Terry.

Sorry for the break in the action last week. Work got to me as I had a bunch of stuff to work on. But we're back this week, baby! I now submit probably one of the most exciting moments as a player that I can remember.

It was my senior year. We were just starting to get on a roll to start the second half of our schedule, beating conference foes Wisconsin Lutheran, Rockford and Marian.

Next up was Dominican. Now we have always had a funny dynamic against the Stars. In my first three years, we just never played good at their place. Two of the years we got blown out, while my sophomore year, we lost on a last second three-pointer on the worst last-second defense ever.

What it really came down to was a clash of styles. We were a little more methodical in our offensive attack and weren't as quick at some positions, where as Dominican liked to run and gun and out-athletic us at some of the positions on the floor. And their style always won at home.

So to say us seniors, especially those who started all four years (i.e. Cam, A.J.), we really wanted to pull out a win on the road. And more importantly to keep our momentum going into the second half of our conference schedule.

The game was during our annual Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday gauntlet. It was always our Tuesday game, as well.

So the game gets going and it's a typical run-and-gun pace. We are trading blows with them pretty good in the first half. We'd go on like a 5-0 run, they'd answer with a 6-0. No one could really grab a hold of the game.

Second half is much of the same way. Neither team had bigger than a four point lead down the stretch.

With about seven minutes left (key part of the story) I'm on the floor. A shot goes up on our end. There is a loose ball and in my infinite wisdom decided I would make a play on it. 

I go headfirst towards the ball and realize it's out of my reach by about two inches. There is a Dominican player coming from my left who got to the ball first. 

Problem is that I've already hit the deck. His weight collapses on to me smashing my head, which was already on the floor, even farther down.

The play heads to the other end and I can feel something is off when I stand up. I feel like there is a gap missing on my chin.

I immediately touch my hands to my chin, which by this time is just gushing blood. Dominican scores on the other end and I get taken out as soon as the whistle blows.

Our trainer Nick quickly takes me down to the end of the bench. Out comes the gauze nearly instantaneously. 

Now, I was a bit dazed and full of adrenaline. All I kept telling him was:

"Nick, get me back out there, man."

He'd always respond: "Relax, I got it."

I don't know how he did it. But he stopped the bleeding enough to get me back out on the court. Another shout out to Benedictine being a red and white school and us being on the road. I'm sure there were plenty of red blood cells on my jersey that couldn't be seen.

I got back on to the floor with about four minutes left to go and the game still going back and forth.

Fast-forward to about a minute and a half left. We're down by two and Dominican has the ball. Some how out of a sideline out of bounds, we manage a steal and it's me and Cam on a two-on-one down to the other end. At the last second, Cam dishes me the ball and I get hammered and go to the line.

Cam would later tell me there was no way in hell he was going to shoot those two free throws. I don't know if I was a much better option at that point considering I had a gaping wound in my chin that was pouring blood.

But I made both free throws to tie the game. Dominican came down to the other end. One of there guards drove pretty deep into our defense and in my infinite wisdom sunk way down on the opposite side from a guy that made three 3-pointers at that point. 

The guard kicked it out to Milos Mandic (greatest name ever). All I was thinking was running at him as fast as I could so he would have to pull up.

The plan worked. I closed out so hard and went by him, but he was forced to take a step back 3-pointer which he rattled in and out (Hey, I call that a success).

We grabbed the rebound and call timeout. Our setup for the game-winner, or so we hoped, was just to run Nate off a simple flat screen at the top of the key that we called "Flat." (Original, I know). There was about 20 seconds left on a shot clock and about 26 seconds left on the game clock, so the plan was to run the play as late as we could.

We got out there and this happened.


 

It was all kind of blur really but there are some parts I still remember, especially when I picked the ball up, which you don't see on the video.

This was really a thanks to two people. Well, four actually. Firstly, to Nate, who blatantly tripped Milos so that I could pick up the ball. Two, three and four goes to the officials, who had missed the foul on Nate's split of the screen and then didn't call the trip figuring the game was going to overtime.

The shot itself was one of those surreal, slow-motion deals. Like I can remember everything I was thinking when the ball was in the air.

My only thought was this has never happened to me in my basketball career. A game-winning buzzer beater. I figured as I let it go that this would be the time it would go in.

As it got closer, that feeling got a little stronger, and when it went in, pure elation.

As you can see our reaction was pretty killer. It took us a good deal to wind down from the game after that. Bunks took us to our after-Dominican game restaurant Portillos, (always stopped at the same one) then back to campus. 

However, my night wasn't done yet. Nick and I had a trip to the hospital in Naperville, where I had to get four or five stitches in my chin. If you ever see Nick at a BenU game, be sure to ask him about my chin. He's got a picture of it on his iPhone.

But it was all more than worth it for that shot.

***

Sorry once again for the break in the action. We will for sure be back next week. As always you can follow me along on Twitter at @turkdigg40 and if you have any stories and want to share it on the blog, let me know.

Story Time With Terry: Finding the Groove

Welcome back to Story Time With Terry.

We'll take you guys back to the good season. The best season. 2010-11. So many great game stories that year and we'll get to plenty of them during the series.

But I figured I keep the spotlight on me and my dad's basketball relationship. See, I might have made it sound like it was horrible when in fact he just wanted the best for me and when I finally understood that everything was kosher.

And we can sit and talk or watch basketball for hours. In fact, he stayed up the entire UConn-Syracuse 6OT Big East Championship game in 2009. I'll forever remember that game not only because it was awesome, but because I was watching and just talking basketball with my dad.

And Dad always knew what was wrong with my game, specifically my shot. He could dissect it better than anyone and would always tell me exactly what is wrong.

So this story comes from our Wisconsin Lutheran matchup my senior year that started the second half of our season. I was in one of the worst shooting slumps of my entire life. Like, I just couldn't figure it out.

I had three such slumps in my life. First, was my sophomore year of high school. Second, was my freshman year of college.

This was the third. And it probably cost me a starting spot after five games my senior season. I just couldn't find my shot no matter what I did.

And it really affected my whole game. Just wasn't the same player I was my junior year to this point.

Part of it was because I probably put too much pressure on myself to perform at a high level instead of just letting the game come to me.

But part of it was because I didn't have my dad at games on a consistent basis. My parents were unbelievable in that they traveled five hours from Cadott to Lisle and to most of the away games during the weekends my junior and senior seasons. And Dad and I would always talk about my game and what was wrong with it before, during and after those games.

But for a good portion of the 2010 part of our season, my parents couldn't make the games because Dad broke his ankle while climbing a tree for deer hunting season, thus rendering him unable to drive the five hours.

My game suffered because of it. I had no one to truly dissect my shot, talk about it and fix what was wrong.

So needless to say when January 8, 2011 hit, I couldn't have been more excited. My parents as well as some of my extended family on my mom's side was going to be there watching. Obviously, I was most excited for my dad because he could finally figure out what was wrong.

So we chatted while the girls game before us was finishing up. The conversation finally turned to my shot.

He already knew what was wrong with it. He told me to make sure to finish the shot up, not out and not to be too quick at the top.

So during our warmups I was shooting some 3-pointers and such and making more than I was missing. I was always looking up to my dad in the stands as we made last minute adjustments to my shot through hand gestures when I would return to the end of the warm up line.

Finally it was game time and I got in around the 14 minute mark. Just the second time down the court I got in position to shoot. It just came off the back of the rim. I looked at him and he said everything looked just fine.

A few minutes later the same type of shot came up for me. This time, nothing but the bottom of the cup.

The real fun was just beginning, though. After our normal subbing rotations, I was back in for the last three minutes of the half. Came down on the offensive side of the court. BANG. I tossed in near-flawless 3.

Next time down the court, I trailed Nate to right on the right wing. He kicked it back. BANG! Nothing but the bottom of the twine.

Next time down, just to see how hot I was, we ran my favorite play in the Benedictine playbook -- Fist Double Fade (let's just say this play will be coming up a lot in my senior year stories). I think the BU coaches would have my hide if I divulged exactly what the play is, even though they don't have anyone on their team who could run it like I could (humble brag). 

Let's just say, I came off a great screen and from about five feet beyond the line cashed in my fourth 3 of the half.

21 points and five 3-pointers later (I hit one more in the second half) I was back in my groove. I never shot terrible from the arc the rest of the season and shot 50 percent from deep during conference play.

And I can attribute most of that to that day and having my dad back in my corner again.

***

Thanks for joining me for another Story Time With Terry. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @turkdigg40 and we'll see you next week.

Story Time With Terry: The Marker Incident

Welcome back to Story Time With Terry.

Going to go back into the way back files with this one. This story comes from my eighth grade year of basketball. Hell, I'm surprised I remember back that far. But it's just one of those stories you don't easily forget.

Let me start it off by saying my dad has been my coach for a good portion of my life. He was my coach in fifth, sixth and eighth grade as well as an assistant coach my sophomore and junior years and head coach my senior year of high school.

To say that me and my dad had a rocky coach/player relationship to start out my childhood might be understated just a bit. My dad is an old school guy (62 going on 63 at the time of this blog post). As a high school coach when I was growing up in the early 90s, my dad was a yeller. He would get techs from time to time and got into his players a little bit.

And me growing up around the team, was also subject to that when it came to basketball. During my fifth and sixth grade years, timeout huddles would often turn into screaming matches between me and my dad. I felt he was always talking to me personally in those huddles (even though he was mad at the whole team) and I took offense to that at times.

Needless to say that it happened a ton of times between those two years to the point where my mom had enough. Always the voice of reason, she finally forced us to sit down and talk these things out before he coached me my eighth grade year. And we reconciled and had a healthy player/coach relationship after that.

That still didn't stop him from being a yeller as a coach. He expected us to play the best and the hardest we could and when he didn't see that on the floor he would tear into us a little bit.

Well this is a story of one of those said times that was frightening and yet quite funny at the same time.

We were playing a Saturday morning league in Gilman, Wisconsin in the tiniest of tiny middle school gyms. It was one of those three team deals where you would play two games against the teams that were scheduled to be at the gym that day.

Gilman's eighth grade team was a pretty good one (most of those guys went on to play in a state tournament game their senior year of high school). Us on the other hand, we were plenty raw outside of me and not incredibly talented.

So we took the floor and I get the ball, being one of the only ones in my grade who could handle the ball, brought it up the court.

What do I see? The defense that I love to hate that I love. A 1-3-1 defense.

As a pure basketball guy, if I had the horses, I would run the crap out of a 1-3-1 defense. The concept of it, if done right is just awesome.

Me growing up though? Being one of maybe two guys on the team that could actually handle it? I HATED facing a 1-3-1. Hated in eighth grade, hated it even in high school.

Well that's what I see when I bring the ball up the court. Dad tells us from the sideline to try and get into a 2-1-2 offense to break it.

Doesn't work out so well. I toss a terrible pass and it gets picked off for a layup on the other end.

This happened few times down the court. We were so discombobulated that we couldn't get into a 2-1-2. Dad calls time out. He tells us where we need to be calmly and we think we have it down.

Nope.

The same things continue to happen. I keep taking the ball down the middle against the defense (like an idiot) instead of off to one side.

Three more steals and layups later. Here comes another timeout. And you could feel Dad was probably going to go off. But no one on our team expected what happened next.

We gathered around and he dropped his clipboard on to the ground from a high height. It let out a loud crack that sounded our impending doom.

Dad ripped the cap off of his marker and as loud as he could:

"WE HAVE TO HAVE A GUY HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE AND HERE!!!!!!!!!!!"

With each "HERE" the marker was jammed into the spots on the board that indicated where we should be in the 2-1-2 with a stabbing motion, adding to the piercing sound of pop's voice.

I'm pretty sure if you walked out of that gym and down one of the hallways at Gilman, you still could have heard Dad.

My teammates and I all looked at each other like ghosts. I think we all crapped our pants when he said that.

If memory serves me correctly, nothing else was said during that time out. We just stood around as he looked at each one of us for about 15 seconds. Dad then picked up the clipboard and put it on the bench and we went out and started playing again.

The funniest part of the story was Dad breaking the marker, then calmly, as we head back out to play, looking back at my mom and asking for another marker. Mom just rolled her eyes and got out another one.

We ended up losing big but played better after that and actually broke the 1-3-1 a couple of times, thanks to being in those five spots of a 2-1-2.

I can now look back on that day and laugh about it, and me and my friends do quite often. It's just one of those memories that you can't delete. Thanks, Dad.

***

Thanks for joining me for another Story Time With Terry. You can always follow along on Twitter at @turkdigg40 and don't be shy about sending me your own stories. Be sure to tune in next week.

Story Time With Terry: My Hatred of A-town

Welcome back to our second Story Time with Terry.

This is another sophomore year story for me. But it also needs some background. See, those blue people from just a few towns over from Lisle still get me all riled up to this day.

That would be those people from Aurora University, our long and hated rivals.

The rivalry dates back plenty of years and always draws a lot of fans from both schools to watch the game.

And for me, the rivalry always felt better on the road at Thornton Gymnasium. The gym is an old school fieldhouse with wood bleachers to the ceilings and barely any room to breathe on the court thanks to the closeness of the spectators. 

And Aurora would fill the place up as well. Hundreds upon hundreds of fans between the two teams would pile into the gym. And they would always be whipped up into a frenzy.

Some examples, you might ask? Well I was told by Bridge that his freshman year, with our fans being right behind our bench, that during timeouts, our fans would act like they were in the huddle with the team, listening to Bunks.

Another example, comes from my freshman year. During halftime, some Aurora fans and Benedictine fans met at half court and the police had to intervene. It also required Bunks and coach Lancaster from Aurora to speak before the teams took the court again.

And you just don't realize the scope of the rivalry until you hit the floor for warmups. With hundreds of students already in the gym rocking the place, it's pretty easy to get another couple of inches on your vertical. And it's always fun during the game to talk a little smack to the Aurora crowd.

So back to the sophomore year part of the story. We entered the game with a 4-4 record in conference and were coming of a demoralizing loss to Dominican just a few nights before. The game was critical for both teams. With a win, we would give ourselves momentum heading into the second half of the season and keep ourselves in touch with the top of the conference. For Aurora, it was a chance to put a stranglehold on the top of the conference.

The game was played on a Thirsty Thursday, which meant both sides packed the joint and their may have been some students there under the influence (always makes for a better atmosphere though). 

Everyone on our team was jacked and ready to go. We came out firing and take a seven point lead. But Aurora slowly whittled that down to nothing and took their first lead with about six minutes left to go in the half.

Cam is playing not up to par to this point in the game. And with Fahey out with an illness, our 2s and 3s were short one in the rotation.

Bunks looks down at me and says, "Terry, go in for Cam."

Now I get up and take off my shooting shirt and head to the scorers table. And it probably looked it as much as I was feeling it -- I was scared as shit. Sure I had gotten real game playing time that season. Wasn't exactly a stranger to playing actual minutes. But this was a different beast. Replacing one of our best players in a fairly critical time of critical rivalry game was a 100x scarier than those other times.

But I got into the game anyways.

One of the things that made it scarier was that I was playing a guard spot. I was playing the 3, which meant me having to guard the other teams 3, which at the time was Shane Roland, a very capable scorer and probably infinitely more athletic than I was.

And being used to guarding guys in the post, this was a interesting change of pace to say the least. I've never been good laterally or keeping guys in front of me. My length helps close on shooters but even then I'm a sitting duck to the drive.

But I did okay against Roland, giving up only one bucket. And I get one on him as well, thanks to a backdoor pass from Nate. But I also screwed up and jacked up an awful, early shot clock 18-foot pull-up J. But I didn't get pulled because Bunks was sending his message to Cam.

Bunks sent his message some more after we finished the half down by 6, focusing some of it on Cam and a lot of it to just our team in general.

But the message was a good one and Cam and the rest of the team came out on fire in the second half. Killa hit two big 3s during our comeback and Jared took us home with a killer jab step 3 that put us up six late in the half.

And the atmosphere during the comeback couldn't have been more electric from our side. Now I'm an emotional guy on the bench, always up and cheering for our team. But I was going insane, jumping up and down like a maniac. I probably got as much cardio from cheering in that second half as I did playing in the first half.

The win was so big and we didn't have a game until next week Wednesday that I may have participated in some after-game activities that may have included me holding my hands in the air during a party for 20 straight minutes. But it was worth it because of our win.

That win was easily one of the most fun experiences I have ever been a part of as a basketball player, made all the better because of the rivalry. And don't worry Spartans fans, we'll experience that rivalry just a few more times. GO EAGLES!!!

***

Thanks for joining me again. As always, follow me on Twitter at @turkdigg40 and be sure to come back next week.

Story Time With Terry: An Intro/The First Point

Got to give the people... (Jalen Rose)

But what do we give them, Jalen? (David Jacoby)

Give the people what they want (Jalen)

Well, it's been five months away from the blog. In other words, FAR TO EFFING LONG. 

And yes, it was my fault. I was burnt out from work (lame excuse) and didn't write a blog post after my final one on February 16th.

During these past five months, I've gone back and forth on whether to keep the blog alive during the dead time before season. And I haven't found a good enough reason to until today.

See, when I started this thing up, it was not only my intention to give you peeps the DIII analysis you want, but also what it was like for me as a DIII player -- the stories, the interactions, the times that formed me into who I am today.

Me in our 2010 Dunk Contest

But I got too caught up in the reporter part of it -- the analyzing, the break downs. I didn't give enough of the storytelling, the reason why DIII basketball was so good to me.

So as I was trying to find away to tell my stories in a book, I stumbled back upon my blog and figured, "Might as well give the people what they want."

So, I'm going to take Jalen Rose's grantland.com shtick (minus the bat, which terrifies me for some reason), and do a weekly Story Time with Terry. I'm going to give a basketball related story each week, mostly from my college playing days but also from my high school and younger days as well. All will be basketball-related, mostly on-the-court, but some off-the-court as well (although those will be far fewer because I'd like to keep it PG).

I will also encourage other DIII players, coaches, spectators, announcers, whoever, who would like to share their interesting, funny, uplifting or awesome basketball story from their time in the sport. You can DM me at my Twitter @turkdigg40 or email me it at terrylicht40@yahoo.com. 

The series will run every Tuesday (including this Tuesday, see the story below) from here until basketball season, into basketball season and beyond.

It's time we share those wonderful stories we have and show to others what DIII basketball can truly offer.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone remembers their first significant playing time at any level. Not those garbage minutes where the coach looks down at the end of the bench and just throws in any available body. I'm taking about when the game is still in the balance.

Me, I don't really remember those times as a fifth-grader or even in high school really, because I started and never had to work for the playing time I got.

That changed when I got to Benedictine University. I found myself on the bench for my freshman year as a reserve, playing just a couple of minutes here or there at the end of games.

I vowed for that to be different my sophomore year in 2008. Problem was we were a deep team. We had 9 guys returning who got pretty significant playing time the year before, plus a freshman (Nate), who was for sure going to play. I was number 11/12 on the depth chart, but was improving and playing like a rotation guy in practice.

But it just so happened that Genslinger went down after A.J. (accidentally) caved in the left side of his face with an elbow on a layup during 3-on-3 get back drill in the first weeks of practice that left him out the first month or so of games.

The spot opened up a bit for me. We were a guy short on our normally 10-man rotation. That tenth spot got filled for the time being by Kas, who was a senior and a guy that could fill that spot.

So I was still stuck in a gray-area for the first three games of the season. I was close but didn't really get the opportunity I was looking for. I had scored my first career points in the first game of the season against Lake Forest, but it wasn't that cool to me because it was a blowout.

After our first two games, we headed down to Illinois College's Bill Merris tournament. Our first game we beat Eureka by finally going on a second-half run after letting an inferior team hang around. 

That set us up in the championship game of the tournament against the host Blueboys. I have no doubt in my mind if we would've played them at the end of this season, we would've blown them out by 20. But we weren't the same team then and we were on the road.

The game was back and forth from the get go. And our 4s and 5s are collecting fouls by the boat load. A.J. was the first, getting his merely four minutes into the game. But as the half wore on Cam, Bridge and Klec each had two fouls. When Bridge got his second, Kas was next up to get in. But when Klec got his with just over a minute left in the half, it was my turn.

I knew that I was likely to go in and it was only for a minute, but that still didn't stop me from getting a shot of adrenaline as Bunks called my name.

I took off our shooting shirt and went to the scorers table, getting the requisite "Let's go, Terry" and "Come on," from those on the bench.

I finally got on the court for Klecan, which was during a free throw. My heart was just a racing on the line. You could probably feel it 15 rows up on both sides of the gym.

Anyway, the guy made the free throw. Since I was the bigger of the two posts on the floor, I went down to the other end, while Kas tossed the ball in to Noonan. 

Noonan brought the ball up and initiated one of our secondary break plays that we ran every day in practice during the first four weeks. It was the high ball screen action.

Noonan brought it down the left side, then started dribbling towards the right. Kas set the screen right on the three-point line then rolled to the right block.

My action is to fill Kas spot on the left elbow above the three-point line, which I did. Kas' screen was a solid one, enough to where Noonan was able to turn the corner a bit and draw some defense to him.

It drew my guy, who was way down in the middle of the lane, a lot. Way too much. I'm pretty sure if I did that, Bunks would've had my hide.

Noonan stopped his drive and I drifted towards the top of the key to give him a shorter pass and make myself more available. 

Noonan put a picture-perfect pass right into my shooting pocket. Couldn't have placed it any better. And being a shooter, I did what any shooter does when given a mile to release the shot with no contest and a perfect, in-rhythm pass. I shot it.

The shot was probably one of the top-5 most pure shots I've ever released (we'll talk about my top one in a later STWT). There was no thinking involved, no pressure. It was straight up and down and nothing but the bottom of the net.

I can still picture the ball in slow motion to this day. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. I was coming in cold for the last minute of the half, the shot came early as hell in the shot clock and I really wasn't in there to do anything but not screw up completely.

But it was almost like a weight came off my shoulders out there. I finally felt like I belonged on the college court, as compared to where I felt almost unworthy my entire freshman year. That shot was my baby step into bigger and better things.

Even though my shot was good, we ended up losing by 4 to Illinois College. But I scored my first real college points and my parents, bless them, traveled seven hours to Jacksonville, Ill., and actually got to see it.

***

Thanks for joining me for the first edition of Story Time with Terry. Be sure to check it out next week and you can always follow me on Twitter at @turkdigg40.

Live Blog: Benedictine vs. Aurora

Well it's NAC tournament time and I figured what better way than to live blog the rivalry matchup between Aurora and Benedictine.

Be sure to follow along throughout the game for my comments and the like. Join in if you'd like to as well.

Before game: This is the third meeting between the two conference rivals this year, with Aurora taking both contests by double digits.

However, this is a completely different Benedictine team from the last time they played, which was over two weeks ago. They seem to have found their stride late, winning their last four games to sneak into the NAC tournament as the seven seed.

They have been getting solid play out of their two big posts in Tim McGinty and Luke Johnson. Michael Woolf has also stepped up his game as well to take more control of the BenU offense.

Aurora, meanwhile, has been rolling through conference, falling only twice, once to Marian in January and then to Lakeland in Lakeland the first game of Februrary.

They have multiple weapons, led by Marious Lobdell. Mike Bumber is also one of those guys and as a transfer from BenU and a senior, I'm sure he's not going to want to lose to the team he played for.

Game is being played at Thornton Gymnasium. Oh how I miss playing in that gym. Rivalry always seemed more real on the road for me because the Aurora fans usually packed it and there was nothing better than interacting with them after a big shot.

Two keys that I outlined in my uber-blog: Pace and bench play. Benedictine has to take care of the ball to slow down Aurora's transition and they must be able to shutdown their penetration. If Aurora can do both those things, its going to be a blowout.

Aurora also has a more potent bench then Benedictine does, so it's important for the Eagles bench to match at least their energy and shut them down a bit, otherwise Aurora is going to run away.

Eight minutes until the starting lineups are announced. I'm getting way too excited. Probably just the competitive juices.

Three minutes to starting lineups and I nearly lost the rest of my Chipotle burrito bowl. Good thing though, I saved it.

My pick for this game is Aurora. My heart wants BenU to pull it off but Aurora is too deep for the Eagles and win in a lot of different ways. But the game will be close.

20:00 First half: And away we go.

16:42 First half: Pace is to Aurora's liking, have already been able to get up and down the court a couple of times at the speed they want to.

14:00 First half: Tough for Benedictine's two big guys when one of them has to guard a smaller, quicker guy...might have to adjust if you are the Eagles.

13:30 First half: Former Eagle Bumber with a dunk. Not good giving that guy confidence if you are Benedictine.

11:20 First half: Aurora is really leaking a guard out on every Benedictine shot. Like the guy is just releasing. Spartans have burned Eagles a few times with that guy.

10:00 First half: Aurora is really playing tough defense. They are making Benedictine shoot over them and not allowing them any easy looks on penetration at the rim.

8:30 First half: Aurora now hitting their midrangers thanks to the built-up confidence from going to the rim. They are up 11.

7:15 First half: Our first timeout, to Benedictine because they can't get the ball in. Aurora is really taking it to them on both ends of the court. Need a run to the end of the half if you are the Eagles.

6:34 First half: Spartans just hit a 3-pointer. Bunks has seen enough and calls a timeout. Danger time if you are BenU. Have to cut it to 8 before half. That has to happen or their is no shot.

5:00 First half: Everything on the offensive end coming too easy for the Spartans. BenU not playing much defense at all.

2:30 First half: BenU trying to come back, but they are ice cold right now from anywhere except at the rim when they get there, which isn't very much. Not a good recipe.

Halftime: Eagles put on a little spurt at the end, but I'm not sure it's going to be enough. Aurora is up 44-31 heading to the break.

Couple of observations. Benedictine, when they get to the paint are a lot better in this game. The offense picked up at the end of the second half and the were able to get some kick outs and hit some shots.

Problem was they couldn't stop anybody. Aurora is murdering them and BenU's penetration defense is awful. No help and everyone is out of position on the closeout, allowing the Spartans to take it right to the rack.

Aurora is also hitting their shots, too. Especially Bumber, who has 11 points to lead the Spartans. He is on a mission.

Some eye-popping stats. Benedictine is shooting just 30 percent from the field and less than 20 from beyond the arc. Aurora didn't turn the ball over in the half.

Also of note (and if anyone knows why it would be appreciated), Marious Lobdell not in the lineup for the Spartans. Not sure why that is because he was in the last game against Dominican.

For the Eagles, you have to be a little happy with where you are at. You played a terrible half and are only down 13. Could've been a lot worse.

If your Aurora you just have to keep doing what you are doing. You are getting everything at will on the offensive end and defensively your are causing enough havoc.

Also of note, both students sections today are shells of what they used to be for games like this. I'm a little disappointed and can't understand why.

Almost time to start the second half. Keep following along.

20:00 Second half: It's Spartans ball to start the second stanza.

17:30 Second half: Benedictine just fouled a 3-point jump shooter. Can't be doing that when you are trying to comeback.

16:30 Second half: McGinty is playing big for BenU, trying to keep them close. Thing is, whenever you think the Eagles are making a run, they give up an easy shot to the Spartans. Poor defense continues.

14:40 Second half: BenU makes a three-pointer to cut it to 12, but then gives up two layups in scramble situations. Just no consistency, which isn't going to get you back into the game if you are the Eagles.

13:03 Second half: BenU cuts it to 11. Aurora with at timeout with Eagles going to the line to make it a single digit game. BenU has been playing better defense in the stretch.

11:30 Second half: It's a 10-point Spartan. Aurora has stopped the bleeding a bit and has been trading baskets. Critical time here if BenU can extend the run a little further.

10:00 Second half: Aurora has extended the lead out to 13 points. Kind of getting away from BenU right now.

8:40 Second half: Shot selection has become new problem for BenU. Kind of just jacking it. Aurora is up 16 right now. Danger time for Eagles.

7:40 Second half: Huge three from Bumber by Aurora makes it a 19 point lead for Spartans.

6:20 Second half: Aurora calls timeout, they are up 71-56. BenU trying to make one last push here but I think the damage has been done.

3:30 Second half: A short 5-0 run by Aurora extend their lead out to 79-63. That is too much to overcome for the Eagles.

0:00 Second half: Aurora win this one and moves on to the semifinal round.

In the end that first half killed Benedictine. They weren't able to recover. Too many poor defensive stretches from the Eagles that really hurt them.

But they will bounce back next year. They are a young team and lose only two seniors this year. Thinks are looking up for Benedictine.

As for Aurora, they imposed their will on yet another team and established themselves as a favorite to win the NAC tournament title. If they can keep the pace of play up, I'm sure that they will find themselves with a dang good shot to do it.

Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check out my other blog posts and stay on the look out for new material.

Terry's First Uber-blog

Well, work had me in a vice this week, so I couldn't space out the few blogs I wanted to do this week.

So I'm going to combine them all into my first ever Uber-blog. This blog is going to fill you in on everything that is going to be important this weekend.

So here we go. Get ready for the information overload.

1. The seeding in the NAC tournament has left me speechless

The NAC tournament is almost a travesty because of the seeding process this year. With no conference crossover games, the tournament seeding has been left in shambles.

No. 1 on my list of travesties is the fact that Dominican, with a 7-9 record in a weak South division this year, received the No. 3 seed in the tournament thanks to a head-to-head win over Concordia-Wisconsin, who finished with a 12-4 record in a much harder North.

Now I know that those detractors will say CUW should have just beat Dominican and there wouldn't have been a problem.

But as we all know, basketball is a sport where you can have a bad game and lose. Is that game it really indicative of the season you had? No.

The fact that the conference, who voted on it this way for this year, rewards a 7-9 team with the No. 3 seed over a 12-4 team, almost makes me sick. It shouldn't be like that.

Marian also has a gripe in this department, getting the 8-seed, despite having a better record then Benedictine, all because of a H2H win.

Another gripe is that Aurora got the No. 2 seed despite having a better record than Lakeland, who beat them in the H2H. Although not as bad as the other two, if if were to come down to those two teams in the conference tournament title game, Aurora will have to go all the way up to Lakeland, which is tough.

These problems would've all been solved if they would have just had the conference crossover game like in years past. Those teams in question would've had a shot to rectify their situations with wins over those teams and it would've been a much more fair process.

Thank goodness this won't happen anymore with Maranatha leaving after this year.

2. The only WIAC tiebreaker you need to worry about

That would be UW-Stout, UW-Platteville and UW-La Crosse for the third, fourth and fifth seeds.

Currently: UW-Stout is in third with a 10-5 record. UW-Platteville is in fourth with a 10-6. UW-La Crosse is in fifth with a 9-6 record.

Ahead: UW-Stout hosts UW-Oshkosh, Platteville is on the bye and La Crosse hosts UW-Superior

Scenarios

UW-Stout win, UW-La Crosse win: Stout gets the No. 3 seed and La Crosse, by virtue of a better record against Stout than Platteville, gets the No. 4 seed

UW-Stout loss, UW-La Crosse win: Three-way tie goes to cumulative W-L record between the teams. Stout would get the No. 3 seed with a 3-1 record against those teams. UW-La Crosse gets the No. 4 seed with a 2-2 record and Platteville is the No. 5 with a 1-3 record.

UW-Stout loss, UW-La Crosse loss: Stout holds H2H tiebreaker over Platteville and gets the No. 3 seed. Platteville is the No. 4 and La Crosse is the No. 5.

3. Worth the Price of Admission #1

NAC tournament, Benedictine at Aurora, 2 p.m. Price I would pay: $10. Pick to Click: Luke Johnson, Benedictine

I may be a bit biased, but this rivalry game is always a good one. And now that it is in the tournament, it makes it even better.

If I was Aurora I would be more than a little scared. First, it's a rivalry game and anything goes in rivalry games.

Secondly, Benedictine is a completely different teams than it was a few games ago when they last played. The Eagles have one four straight to sneak their way into the tournament and have looked really good in those games, especially against the solid Marian just a weekend ago.

Their new pieces are fitting in nicely and they are one of the scarier No. 7 seeds in recent memory.

Aurora has been good after falling to Lakeland a couple of weeks ago and enter with some confidence, too.

Two keys to this game: Pace and depth. If Benedictine wants to win, they are going to have to be smart with the ball and slow down Aurora's penetration and transition game.

The depth may be a bigger problem for the Eagles. Aurora has bona fide weapons coming off the bench, and more than one. The Eagles may be a bit thinner in that department, but have gotten better as of late, and they will need to match the Spartans bench energy and production if the Eagles want to win.

This should be an exciting one and I will be live blogging it, so stay tuned for that.

4. The only MWC tiebreaker you need to worry about

That would be St. Norbert and Grinnell for the No. 1 seed.

Currently: Both are tied atop the standings at 14-3, but the Pioneers hold the tiebreaker thanks to H2H.

Ahead: Grinnell travels to Lawrence, St. Norbert is at Illinois College.

Scenarios

Grinnell win, St. Norbert win OR Grinnell loss, St. Norbert loss: Grinnell gets the No. 1 seed either way.

Grinnell loss, St. Norbert win: St. Norbert gets the No. 1 seed thanks to a better record.

5. WIAC Performer of the Week

Cory Nickel, UW-Oshkosh (against UW-River Falls)

Nickel was instrumental in the Titans two overtime win over the Falcons last Saturday, scoring 26 points in the win. He hit five 3-pointers and went 9-of-17 overall from the field for UW-Oshkosh.

6. Worth the Price of Admission #2

NAC tournament, MSOE at Concordia-Wisconsin, 2 p.m. Price I would pay: $8. Pick to Click: Mark Pace, Concordia-Wisconsin.

This is a match up of two good teams going at it. Both enter the tournament with wins.

But the bigger fact is that MSOE beat CUW not too long ago. Granted that matchup was at MSOE but it still fresh enough in everyone's minds.

Concordia-Wisconsin will need to use their post to collect victory. That's what got them the victory in the first matchup between the teams and that's what will get it done again.

For MSOE, their ground-and-pound game will have to be good and they will have to get big shots from their guards, especially Austin Stueck, and limit the Falcons' posts to have a shot.

It should be a good one, even though this should've been a semifinal matchup at the very least.

7. Quick NAC tournament preview

The seeds: No. 1 Lakeland, No. 2 Aurora, No. 3 Dominican, No. 4 Concordia-Wisconsin, No. 5 MSOE, No. 6 Rockford, No. 7 Benedictine, No. 8 Marian.

The Favorites: Lakeland, Aurora.

Pretty much a no-brainer. These teams have been the best two teams in conference all year and have figured things out as of late and go into the tournament with win streaks.

Both teams have high powered offensive attacks and can go off on any given night.

The key for these two teams is how well they play defense when they need the stops. In which case, I give Aurora the slight edge because of their length across the board.

The Dark Horses: Benedictine, Concordia-Wisconsin.

I picked Concordia-Wisconsin because they are solid enough of a team to win three games in a row. They have a nice inside game and solid contributors of the bench.

What it may come down to with the Falcons is what kind of guard play they get on the offensive end. Their guards aren't top-notch scorers like their three posts are but if they get a little hot they could easily take this tourney.

I went a little with my heart with Benedictine. But it's hard to argue the roll that they are on. They won their last four games to get into the tournament and are playing as well as anyone right now. Their new guys are figuring it out and are starting to mesh with the guard that is already there.

Another key to the run is that they get Aurora in the first round. If they can beat Aurora, a huge rival, on their home court, it could give them a huge confidence boost they need to go on a run.

The Winner: Lakeland

Ultimately, it's going to be the Muskies. It's probably going to be Aurora and Lakeland in the championship and that home court advantage is just too much to over look.

8. MWC Pool C chances

Non-existent. And here is why.

St. Norbert had the the best shot thanks to being regionally ranked. But they probably would've had to have won out to the conference tournament title game and lost to Grinnell to have had a shot.

But they blew that and even though they are still regionally ranked, they have a lot of people to leapfrog to even get a seat at the Pool C table.

And who's to say if they get there that their resume is better than anyone else's. Because their SOS isn't great and they only have one signature win in UW-Whitewater.

Grinnell's shot is even worse thanks to their SOS and the fact that they didn't (rather couldn't) play anyone in the non-conference part of their schedule.

It's a tough thing to say as both teams have had solid seasons, but I just don't see it happening unless a miracle occurs.

9. Worth the Price of Admission #3

MWC, Grinnell at Lawrence,  3 p.m. Price I would pay: $6. Pick to Click: Griffin Lentsch, Grinnell.

The No. 1 seed is in the sights of the Pioneers. All it takes is a win over the Viking at Lawrence.

Grinnell has been playing solidly lately and would like nothing better than to bring Carroll, Ripon and St. Norbert to Iowa for the conference tournament, where they have a decided advantage.

But for Lawrence, who is now out of the tournament, I'm sure that they would like nothing better than to spoil the Pioneers plans and keep the conference tournament in Wisconsin.

As always the keys are beating Grinnell's press and limiting their 3-pointers. Lawrence has the team that can beat Grinnell, it's just a matter of getting those two things done.

10. MWC Performer of the Week

Luke Yeager, Grinnell (against St. Norbert)

I'm normally hesitant to give this award to a Grinnell player because of inflated numbers (so sue me). But Yeager's performance was too impressive to not give it to him, as he scored 31 points and hit two big threes in overtime to lift Grinnell to victory. He hit 6-of-10 from deep in the win for the Pioneers.

11. UW-Stout's Pool C chances

Everyone thinks to seem that they are solid. But I'm a little hesitant about the Blue Devils' resume.

It is good. SOS is there and they play in one of the toughest conferences in America in DIII hoops.

But two glaring things stand out to me. One, the lack of a signature win. They had four chances in conference, twice against UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point and couldn't capitalize.

Secondly, the horrendous loss to Loras in non-conference. It's the kind of loss that just stands out on a resume.

There is no doubt in my mind that they will get a seat at the Pool C table at some point in the selection process. But how much will those two things standout when they are up there against everyone else? That's what scares me about UW-Stout.

12. Worth the Price of Admission #4

MWC, St. Norbert at Illinois College, 3 p.m. Price I would pay: $5. Pick to Click: Brandon Gries, St. Norbert.

This is the game the Green Knights need to have if they want any chance at the MWC No. 1 seed.

St. Norbert's only hiccup this past half of the season in conference was to Grinnell, but it was enough to put them in this spot. Other than that, the Green Knights have been playing stellar, balanced basketball all season and have been one of the top teams in the conference all season.

But this is a long road trip to a team that plays pretty well at home and a team with nothing to lose, and probably wanting to play spoiler.

It all comes down to how invested the Green Knights are in this game. They need to come out and establish themselves early and take away any hope the Blueboys have. If they don't it could be a long trip back up to Green Bay.

13. NAC Performer of the Week

Khirey Floyd, Concordia-Chicago (against Wisconsin Lutheran)

Floyd was absolutely brilliant for the Cougars in the victory, scoring 29 points and helping my Eagles make the tournament. Floyd was 10-of-16 from the field, including 4-of-5 from deep and had five steals for CUC.

14. Worth the Price of Admission #5

WIAC, UW-Oshkosh at UW-Stout, 4 p.m. Price I would pay: $4. Pick to Click: Erik Olson, UW-Stout.

This is just one of those games that kind of standouts out for no particular reason.

Stout SHOULD win this game. They are at home and are playing for everything. Which is why it should also be so scary for the Blue Devils.

Oshkosh really can just go out and play with a reckless abandon against Stout and if the Blue Devils are any kind of tight and are missing shots and Oshkosh gets hot, who knows.

And if Stout were to lose this game, you can kiss those Pool C chances down the drain. I don't think there would be any recovering from that.

Thanks for tuning in and I hope that it was pretty informative going into an exciting weekend of hoops. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @turkdigg40.

Hope you enjoy the games.