Joe Powers' Hoops Diary
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March 24, 2008 - Entry 11
Hey
guys what's up? Sorry about the lateness. I was really disappointed with how
our season ended and my computer has been down for a while as well. Well, I
ended my high school career in the first round of the playoffs to Battle
Creek Central. They were a real good team and Jason Washburn just killed us
the whole game, he must have had like 20 blocks ha. So, yeah I was really
disappointed. I had big expectations and I really thought that we could have
made it to the Breslin but some things just don't turn out the way you hope.
It's alright though, we had a good season all around and it was fun with all
of the guys, so I definitely can't be mad. Next year people are going to
think that Holt will be down again, but they will be real good and I know
they will do big things in years to come. Since my last game I just took a
couple weeks off but now I'm back to working out and shooting around
basically everyday to keep my game up, and to get in shape for Spring break
(Going to Cancun, can't wait). But next year I will be attending Lansing
Community College, and playing for Coach Ingram. I am very excited about
that and I cant wait to find out what will happen in the next couple years.
So yeah, that's about all that has been going on with me. I would like to
say thanks to God first and foremost, everyone that has helped me throughout
the years, all of my coaches, everyone that has believed in me, my
family/friends, HTE, and thank you Jared for letting me has this Diary I
really do appreciate it. So yeah, thank you all, shout-out to East Lansing
for making it to the Breslin and Lansing Catholic Central for winning the
class B championship, good work. Alright I will talk to you guys later,
don't give up on your dreams no matter what others say, and remember
Impossible Is Nothing
Joe
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Hey guys, what's goin' on?
Lately things haven't been going that great here. Last night we played a
very tough Jackson team who gave us their best shot and ended up beating us
to win the league. It was a hard loss but when I thought about it I couldn't
find myself to be that mad. I realized how hard we all played and how much
better we played against Jackson than against our previous two opponents,
Everett and GL. We left everything out there on the court and if a play or
two went in our favor we might have came out with a win, but instead Jackson
outplayed us and won. I'm disappointed that we couldn't fulfill our goal to
win the league but I'm still good because we have two regular season games
left, and then the playoffs. There are two seasons, the regular season and
the post-season, we wanted to be undefeated this year and hopefully that can
happen for us in the post-season. I still believe that we are one of the
best teams in the state and I know that if we play our hardest we will have
a good shot to win our next two games and go deep into the playoffs. We just
have to put the last three games behind us and get our confidence back. Were
really excited to play against Dewitt because they have been having a great
season this year and we are just ready to get back on the court to play our
game. Losing those games I think will bring us together to get stronger.
Right now we can only depend on the team that we practice with everyday;
everyone else will be doubting us. We all believe in each other and we're
ready to play. I can't wait to see how this year finishes out for us; I
still have high expectations. Alright, I will talk to you guys later. Happy
Valentines day to all as well.
Joe
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January 30, 2008 - Entry nine
I'm probably as happy as I have been all season to be able to come out with three wins over three of the top teams in our division, and it helps that we don't have school today.
Last Tuesday we had to play a really hot Grand Ledge team who just came off a win at the buzzer over East Lansing. Our defense was playing great all night, our perimeter defense was great and most of all our post defense was the best it has been all year. Those bigs for GL are really tough and our bigs were able to shut them down and not let them score like they have been all year. We played really good against them and were able to come out with a huge win. Then, on Friday, we played against the biggest rivalry in our conference versus Okemos. I knew this was going to be a close game because the records don't matter if each team is coming out and playing great basketball. That is what happened on Friday; it was close throughout the whole game, and actually we were down very late in that game. After a timeout we all huddled up and told each other that we were not going to lose this game, and that no one was going to come into our house and win. That is what happened we fought back and we ended up winning the game 51-50 in one of the best games I have ever played in.
Last night we had to avenge our only loss of the season against East Lansing. It was close the whole game and then after they missed five consecutive free throws we went on our run. It was sparked by Brendan Lierman hitting two 3-pointers and Rashawn Molden getting a crucial bucket. It was sort of sloppy all night but we ended up winning by eight points and staying in first place in our division. We have the future in our hands and we don't plan on letting up at all the rest of the season.
Next, we have Waverly at their place so that will be another tough game.
Alright, well I'll talk to you guys later. C-ya
Joe
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January 19, 2008 - Entry eight
A lot has happened since my last entry. Two weeks have gone by with no entries, I guess I'm slacking.
Anyways, last week we played Owosso on Tuesday and a very athletic Eastern at Eastern on Friday. Both games went our way and we were able to get two wins, even though Eastern outrebounded us pretty badly.
This week was pretty tough for me because I got sick on Monday and felt really bad on Tuesday at our game against JLC. It was alright though, because we won and everyone got in the game and played a decent amount.
This past Friday we had to play a very quick/fast Everett team. I was almost 100% for this game but some others were still feeling it; I think I may have given it to a couple of kids on the team. Again, all of us stepped up and we came out with another win and again everyone was able to play.
I love those games because it lets all of the kids who play their hardest everyday to help the team, get in and get their names in the paper or even on the news sometimes. Its a good feeling when they score. We have been on a roll lately and hopefully we can keep it up. This is the best our offense has been playing and our defense is still the backbone of this team. W
e have been playing really good and we will need to keep playing good to win our next couple games. On Tuesday we play Grand Ledge at home. They are a very surprising team that is playing really good right now. Then, we have Okemos on Friday, who can just shoot the ball anywhere on the court. If we can get two big wins this week we will be feeling very good; and maybe coach will bring donuts to open gym...haha.
We are now putting
all focus on Grand Ledge and I can't wait to play a great, physical
conference team like GL. That's how things have been going lately, and now
I'm heading out to my friend Coop's birthday party. Ill talk to you later.
C-ya
Joe
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January 6, 2008 - Entry seven
Lets start right with the week we had before playing LCC friday. We were very disappointed with our loss to East Lansing and practiced really hard on everything we needed to work on to get ready for the game. It was a little rough the first couple practices, then we started going really hard and the practice intensity was great.
We were ready to play LCC and couldn't wait to start the new year off right with a win. We knew LCC was a good team and studied them hard. It paid off because we were able to come out with a win, and a lot of confidence. Cole played really good, he had 18 points and 10 boards and a bang towards the end of the game.
Everyone as a team played good, we all played very hard team defense and our offense finally started rolling. Things are going smooth right now and I can't wait to see what is going to happen with the rest of the season.
This is our last night off from winter break; I wish we had another week off, but it was fun and we get to get back in our usual routine. This break I was able to get out and watch some movies, and if you haven't seen them already you should go see I am Legend, The Great Debaters, and Green Street Holligans (an old movie but it is one of the best).
Well, this week we have Owosso and Eastern. Owosso just beat a good Williamston team, and Eastern has been putting up a lot of buckets this season, so hopefully we can contain both and start of 3-0 in the 2008 year. Happy New Years to everyone, and ill talk to you guys later. C-ya.
Joe
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December 28, 2007 - Entry six
Hey, what's goin' on? A lot of things have happened since the last diary I wrote. The last week of basketball was a very tough week. We had to play Haslett and then East Lansing. Haslett was a very tough team who played hard every second of the game. We came out with a win barely at the end of the game. It was a close game all game. Tommy and Donlunto played really good this game, and we needed it. If not for them we might have lost. On Friday we played a CAAC rival in East Lansing. It was a very fun game because I got to play against Charlie Woods, Tommy Cawood, Eric Smith and Eric Smidt. These guys are buddies of mine and I knew that it was going to be a tough but fun game. We ended up losing. East Lansing is a hard place to win, and we haven't done it in the past two years. I'm not too worried about the loss, though; it is the beginning of the season, and we will get to play them again. Now, we will find out what type of character we have, and how we will respond after losing.
I had a very good Christmas this year. I went to Iowa to visit my mom's side of the family which is always fun. I just hung out and played cards most of the time I was there. It was a good relief to just leave and hang out with my family. Everyone there is fun to hang out with, and always there for you.
Now we will just have to come back and have a good week of practice and get ready to play LCC. They are a very good team and I can't wait to play them Friday. I need to get back to the MSU versus Boston College game. I will talk to you later..go BC!! Haha. No, I hope MSU gets the W.
Joe
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December 16, 2007 - Entry five
What's goin' on? This was a very good week for me. We had our Tuesday game off, so I went to LCC to watch Lansing Catholic versus Okemos which was a really good game that LCC pulled out in the end. All week we were preparing for Okemos, and all their great shooters. We worked hard all week on our close-outs, and our transition defense. Then, on Friday it was here and I could not wait for the game to start. It is a big game for me because my dad used to be a teacher at Okemos and was a coach there for a long time, so I know a lot of people from there.
This is how the game went: In the first half we came out and played tough defense, probably the toughest we have played all year but couldn't come up with the loose balls and ended up down 19-24 at the half. Then in the second half we continued with the hard D and our offense started to flow a little better and we ended up winning a very close and hard fought game, 51-47. It was a fun game playing against Travis Bader and Kai Goldynia who played with Camp Darryl.
Players that stepped up for us were Cole Darling, who came off the bench and gave us a boost on offense and defense. Cody Nash who sacrificed his body throughout the whole game, and came up with a lot of loose balls that we needed. Lunto Jackson played great. We didn't have our backup point guard because he was sick, so he had to play most of the game; it was amazing how he pushed the ball and still played hard defense. Finally, Rashawn Molden, who had to guard Erickson, a great player, held his own throughout the game. He is a true team player because he knew that guarding Erickson might hurt his offensive game, even though it didn't. He hit three 3-balls, but gave his all on defense knowing that containing Erickson was going to be huge if we were going to win. It was a huge rivalry game and I'm so happy we came out with a win. We are now focusing on Haslett and getting ready to play them on Tuesday. Then on Friday we are playing East Lansing, who has Charlie Woods, and Tommy Cawood, who were on my team this summer, so that will be really fun. Oh yeah, I wanted to say hey to those four Okemos fans who wanted a shout-out, and how about Miami? Coming on with their first win--I like it. But I will talk to you later, Bye
Joe
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December 9, 2007 - Entry four
What's goin' on?
Not much here, just taking a break from watching the Pats vs. Steelers game. I'm hoping that the Steelers will play better now that I'm not watching. But, this week was huge for us. On Tuesday we played Mason and play a very good first game, not having a lot of turnovers and playing good defense. They were a real tough team. Then on Friday we played Jackson who was supposed to win our league this year, so we were pumped to play them. We didn't have our big guy Holtz cause he had to go to Ball State to sign his official scholarship to play football there, so I was stuck guarding Stinson. He was an animal, one of the strongest players in his position. The game was pretty close in the first half and we ended up down by six at halftime after playing an OK first half. Then in the second half they came out hard and started to gain a bigger lead. Then we got into our 3/4 press and started pressuring their guards. We used our size on them and started to get easy buckets and the momentum started to shift our way. The game was still very close coming down to the middle of the second half then Lunto got an and-one and hit the free throw to get us up by three. Then we finished the game with free throws and won by seven. Our defense won us that game. We held them to around 30% shooting. We didn't shoot much better, I think like 35%, but I'm not too worried about it because I know we will hit the shots we take and when we do we will be that much better. Two players that stepped up for us were Lierman, he came off the bench and gave us a much needed boost, and Brandenburg who just dominated the blocks against the best bigs in the league. It was a huge win for us, and now we have a lot of confidence going in to the rest of our league games. It was a nice night as well for Camp Darryl players: Sean Romsek with 31 points, Charlie Woods with a triple-double, and Travis Bader with 27 points. This week will be different though for Travis because we play them and I think that I might have to guard him, so that will be fun. But that is how our week went and now I'm gonna get back to the game, hopefully Pittsburgh has came back.
Joe
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December 3, 2007 - Entry three
What's up?
Everything has been going pretty good here. On friday we had a scrimmage
at Fowlerville. It was fun to play with my guys Sean, Garrett, Joe and Ryan
from Fowlerville. At the scrimmage it was us, Fowlerville and Fenton. The
setup of the scrimmage was weird, though; we would play a 10 minute game
then sit. It was hard to get in any rhythm at all. We had a good practice
and we can't wait to finally play our first game. All of the extra workouts,
the hours in the gym after practice, the hard workouts with Camp Darryl. All
of it comes down to tommorrow and I can't wait to step onto the floor. We
have very high expectations this year, and so do I for myself and we can't
wait to show others what we can do as a team.
By the way, for any up-and-coming players, Camp Darryl is a great program to
play for. Not only do you develop as a player, you develop as a person.
Darryl never stops trying to help all of his players and would do anything
for them, and we would do anything for him. He always checks on me to see
how I'm doing and doesn't stop trying to help my recruitment. I can't give
enough thanks to him. You also build friendships there; I still talk to all
of the 17u players from last year. Best of all you go to top-notch
tournaments and play against the best players in the nation. It's a great
team to play for.
Anyways, like I said I can't wait for tomorrow and hopefully we can come out
with a win against a good bulldogs team.
I'll talk to you later.
Joe
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November 28, 2007 - Entry two
Hey what's up guys?
This week has been pretty busy with everything that has been
going on. To start of the week we had exams because we changed to a
trimester schedule, so practice slacked a little bit because people
were worrying about their exams. The good thing was that we only had
to go to school Monday and Tuesday and had the rest of the week off.
It was very nice. Then of course, Thanksgiving. It was fun, I just
hung out with the family and relaxed on our day off. Happy late
Thanksgiving to all of you as well. Then on Friday we had a
scrimmage at Aim High. It was a good learning experience for all of
us, and we found out that we definitely have things to work on.
Overall it was a good week, though. I found that I have a 'A' in all
of my classes and we had a good learning experience actually playing
games against other good teams (Haslett, Flushing and Lake Fenton).
Now we are just gearing up for Mason, our first game. This has come
so fast. It is true your senior year does fly by, as it has been for
the beginning of this year. I'll talk to you later, C-ya.
Joe
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November 17, 2007 - Entry one
Hey everyone! This is Joe Powers from Holt. You guys already know the background info on me, so I'll just tell you how things are going. We just started try-outs this Monday and everyone has been going hard all week. The football kids took the first day off because they were still sore from the end of the great football season. We just made final cuts on Friday and we ended up having 15 players--that's nuts. I think that it will be ok, and actually a good thing, because it will give a lot of the juniors on our team experience for next year. We have all been going real hard this week learning new plays and working on different things. We have a lot of goals that we want to achieve this year, and I believe each goal we set can be accomplished. I can't wait to see how this year turns out.