Oakland playing good basketball at the right time...

So far in the month of February, Oakland Men's basketball team is undefeated. This past week they had two road games. Lately the guys have been struggling on the road, losing 4 straight on the road. However, Thursday my boys dominated Western Illinois University, then yesterday they had to travel to a small but hostel environment at IUPUI. Again, the guys pulled off the victory, after almost blowing the lead late in the game.

Oakland has been on a roll thanks to our bench. Earlier in the year, our bench was a non factor, especially on the road. However things are starting to change. Freshman Blake Cushingberry came off the bench to score a career high 24 points and hitting 4 threes. Blake has become a more consistent score for Oakland in the month of February. The best part about him, is that he plays solid defense, and he is only a freshman.

Drew Maynard is another freshman that is starting to pick up is pace again. Earlier in the year Maynard was playing very solid, averaging around 8 points a game. However in the month of January, it seemed like Maynard hit a brick wall and you could tell he lost his confidence. He started to pass up open shots, and when he would shoot, it seemed like it didn't really want too. However that changed against IPFW last week. He knocked down 3 threes, and played a very productive game. After that game Drew seems to have is swagger back, and its back to the Drew of old. Drew has not been lighting the world on fire, but he is being productive. If he can average around 7-11 points per game in the tournament, we will be tough to beat.

Over the past couple of years I have been very critical of Dan "the man" Waterstradt. Dan did get hurt against ORU the first go around. The injury seemed to be effecting him the next few games, he was very unproductive, and he couldn't do anything right. Now Dan seems like he is 100% and is playing much better basketball. I have to give Dan is credit. He is playing like he wants an NCAA Bid. He is playing much better defense, and is getting boards when earlier in the year he wouldn't be. He is also starting to produce on the offensive end. Thursday against WIU he scored 10 points. Dan is not much of a scorer, but if he cant get us around 5-6 points a game during the tournament, and play good defense, it will be a bonus.

I believe these 3 guys hold the keys for us in the NCAA tournament. If they can be productive in the conference tournament, and supplement Kangas, Jones, and Benson we wont be stopped. Likewise if these guys fail to show up, we wont make it far in the tournament. Oakland's faith lies with these guys.

One Hell of a week...

Sorry guys for the absence, I've been stressing out over school, test, projects, etc. I'll never take 5 classes again in a semester.

Yesterday Oakland hosted their biggest rival at the moment of Oral Roberts. Oakland had lost it previous two games out in the Dakota's road trip. They could of gone 2-0, for sure 1-1 but they blew the game against South Dakota State. It was huge to see my boys come out with a 81-69 victory over 2nd place Oral Roberts. This shows that Oakland is still alive, and they still have a lot to play for. Hopefully our team will start to click now, since the conference tournament is right down the road. Johnathon Jones might of played his best game ever as a golden grizzlies. He had 17 points, 13 assist and only 2 turnovers. Jones now lead the NCAA in total assist with 171. Kangas, was well Kangas, hitting 5 three's and leading the team with 21 points.

However, the main reason we won the game is due to our bench. The bench came alive tonight thanks to Blake Cushingberry and Dan "the Man" Waterstradt. Blake hit two clutch back to back three's late in the 2nd half when the game was still not decided. This is a huge confidence booster for Blake who has been struggling all year with his shot.

I have been very critical of Dan all year, in fact his whole Oakland career, but I have to give him is due today. He played great all around basketball last night. Hit a couple of three's, played tough hard nose defense, and came up with a couple of big blocks. He was a huge spark for the team last night off the bench. He might of played his best game ever. I really hope Dan can keep this up. If Dan can, we will be a very dangerous team come down the stretch.

Tomorrow Oakland Host Centenery College. This will be Oakland's first ever homecoming event. The game is at 6 PM. Hope you guys will be able to attend. ITS PAY BACK TIME!!

Quick thoughts

Pistons really need to get it together, REAL SOON. If they don't they will be risking a chance of missing the post-season. I don't think they will miss the post season, but with the way the Pistons are playing, I would not be surprised.

Is there a chance the Tigers will land Manny Ramirez? I've heard a couple times that Manny was actually in Detroit meeting with the Tigers. I do not know if this is true or not, but I would love to see Manny in Detroit. The guy can flat out hit. Bring him in, cut ties with Sheffield, that way Carlos Guillen can DH instead of playing out in left. I know Manny is a bad outfielder, but he is better than people think, he has a great arm and is very, very accurate. He would be better than Carlos Guillen.

Oakland loses a tough one.

Well my boys lost their first ever game to North Dakota State University, by the score 81-71. I really didn't expect Oakland to win, but when they were up at the half 44-40, I thought they had a real good chance of pulling off the upset. Now we have 4 losses in the Conference, so we can kiss the regular season title goodbye. Oakland can thank themselves for that, losing to teams like Southern Utah, and Centenary, when they have no business of losing too.

Oakland loss is simple, they didn't make shots down the stretch. Kangas hit a 3 to tie the game at 64, with a little over 6 minutes left, but NDSU went on a 13-0 run to seal the victory. Our boys need to regroup and think about tomorrows game at South Dakota State, because they really need that win to maintain their 3rd position in the standings.

Two things really bothered me about the loss, and they are strongly correlated. Lately our starters have been producing all the scoring. We really need our bench to step up and score some more points. If they can't score we wont go far in the Conference Tournament. So Dan "the man" needs to step up as well and Blake Cushingberry. Coach Kampe really needs to play more than 7 people in a game! What is up with that?! Why is Matt Samuels not playing?! Coach needs to give his start players some rest, and stop playing them 38-40 minutes a game! Again if that keeps up, we wont go far. I realize our injury situation, but still 7 players cannot cut it, Samuels needs to play at least 10 minutes in a game.

Alright, I am done complaining about our bench. However tomorrow is a much needed win for our boys! SDSU is a very streaky team, so hopefully we get them on an off night, and not take them lightly.