Our Season

Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls from all across the world, and thank you to tuning into another fun and informative blog on Life of a Student Athlete, written by the one and only, Austin Hopcia.  In today's blog we are going to talk about some High School Basketball, possibly some college basketball, and we will talk about my up and rising biggest fan that has recently appeared into my life. So the winter season is upon us which means another fun filled basketball season. The Alden Varsity Basketball season is underway and the team had a hot start to begin the season. They started the season with a huge win over Class A opponent West Seneca East. My friend plays on this team and as you know there was a lot of trash talking going on, on twitter the night before the big game. Obviously we prevailed big time in arguably the best game played in Alden History.  That weekend we played in the annual Tip-Off Tournament coming off that big tune up win.  Last year the JV Basketball team won the tournament starting their success after finishing with a 14 and 4 record.  Most of the guys from that team are now up on varsity, hoping to translate that success to this year.  The Varsity team last year finished in third after losing in the first round to Iroquois, the eventual winner of the tournament.  This year it would be different.  We started off playing Orchard Park, who joined the tournament for the first time, replacing Maritime Charter School.  We started pretty slow, but in the second half we played phenomenal.  Moving on to the Championship for the first time in a while for a varsity Bulldogs team here in the Tip-Off Tournament.  Coming into this game, we didn't know which team would show up for us.  Let me explain it to you like this, Alden basketball isn't that good.  Sure we have our moments, but think of it like this.  We're like the Buffalo Bills in a sense.  Probably the most inconsistent team ever.  And it's always been like that.  I remember when I was in 8th grade.  We played a great game against Lackawanna at home and beat them, and on the bench after the game I was talking with some of the guys, and we were all saying how we couldn't wait to get a chance at Cleve-Hill again, the team we had lost to earlier in the year.  A team that we've never beat.  We had them the following Friday, but first we had to play Lackawanna again the next Monday at their place.  And we got killed.  It was shocking.  Like after what we did just three days before, and then that, I don't think I'll ever forget that.  We also ended up getting killed by Cleve-Hill again later that week.  Anyways, we had this big game plan prepared for them and their two big stars.  We were going to run a triangle and two on them, and we only had one day to learn it and get ready for the next day.  So the game went just as we hoped, I think.  We stopped their fast break that they loved to do.  And we were only down by two going into the half.  We came out in the third quarter on fire and firing on all cylinders, dominating that quarter and maybe even putting the game away.  We did end up winning the tournament, and off to a hot 3 and 0 start, which a lot people wouldn't have expected.  The next week meant the start of league play, which is more important than any tournament championship.  And it has been rough since that tournament.  It's like we are having a championship hangover, but I don't know why because we haven't done anything.  We have now dropped 4 in a row.  And every single one has been a blowout.  Once one mistake happened it's like the bottom just falls out.  And the turnovers, oh my goodness, the turnovers.  We have to be averaging over 20 a game these last four.  Like what is going on.  And it is so frustrating, getting blown out every game.  Especially when we lost to Holland, it was just utter disappointment.  Currently this season has been just utter disappointment.  At least the good thing is, is that it is a long, long season.  And we do have a lot of time to work it out, as long as we don't panic and throw it all away.  We just got to keep working hard, and we have one more preparation non-league game before the league starts again.  We play Roy-Hart on December 28th a team both JV and Varsity beat last year.  Now that biggest fan I was talking about was Austin Palizay.  He is a die-hard Austin Hopcia fan.  He even has a t-shirt with my face on it, with my number on it, and most of all, with my signature on it.  He's crazy and has so much spirit, passion, and love for me and it is awesome.  Who thought you could have a biggest fan that wasn't your family member at 16.  Never thought I'd have t-shirts with my face on it either, or signing autographs.  It's like I'm a celebrity, no big deal.  And that's my favorite part about basketball season, the fact that the fans are so close and they can get really involved and you can hear everything they say and do.  Hopefully their energy will also bring us back up to speed with our play in the near future to get us going again.

College Basketball

Hello ladies and gentleman, boys and girls of all ages.  Thank you for tuning in and reading my latest blog on 'Life of a Student Athlete,' by your own, Austin Hopcia.  Today will will spend most of the time on College Basketball and maybe take a look into some High School hoops if we have time.  College Basketball is probably my most favorite sport to watch.  I just love the passion and love for the game that these kids have.  The joy on their faces when they win, and the disappointment when they lose.  It is just so exciting to watch and I just love College Gameday Saturday's.  I could probably watch a College Basketball game every night, especially if it has good teams.  All the upsets that go down is pretty cool to see too.  All the Cinderella tournament teams making runs, it's awesome.  Last year there were three teams with double-digit seeding that made it to the Sweet 16.  And for the first time ever there were two Number 2 teams get knocked out in the first round of the tournament.  Lehigh, a program that hasn't really received much publicity ever, sure got it last year.  They beat the Duke Blue Devils in a game where they had control for most of it.  Duke mad a run in the end but it wasn't enough as they lost 75 to 70.  Unfortunately Lehigh would lose their next game.  The other 15 seeded team to move on came from Norfolk State.  Norfolk State is located out in Virginia, a small school in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, or the MEAC.  The Spartans beat the Missouri Tigers, a team who a lot of people, like myself, thought could possibly make a run to the National Championship.  They lost 86 to 84, very disappointing.  I was shocked and a little angry not gonna lie.  They ruined my brackets, but good for Norfolk State.  Last year Kentucky was the National Champion, and almost the entire roster on that team went to the NBA.  This year there was a new team and new faces, but they were looking for the same success.  John Calipari had a good grip he felt on his team and thought they had a quality chance at repeating.  The once ranked #3 team in the Preseason polls has struggled mightily early.  They've lost 3 games already, and only one was a good loss, which was to a hot Duke team.  But they've lost by double digits to Baylor and Notre Dame.  They also barely beat unranked Maryland in their opener.  The seasons young, but they've dropped out of the polls; it should be interesting to see if they can make a comeback.  My team in College Basketball is Syracuse.  I've been an Orange fan for a little while now, I'm not really sure how long.  But, I am like a die-hard Syracuse fan.  They're probably the team that if they lose I freak out.  I get mad when the Bills, Sabres, Yankees, Heat and Miami Hurricanes lose, but it is nothing compared to Syracuse basketball.  And the last two years I must say they've been really good.  Every game day they have, I have to wear something of theirs.  Whether it is a T-Shirt, sweatshirt, pajama pants, or a pair of shorts for basketball that don't even fit anymore.  I even have tie that I'll wear on game days for me if I have to.  Yesterday they had a game against Long Beach State, and unfortunately I wasn't notified until it was too late, but luckily they still won the game in blowout fashion.  Last year they lost in the Elite 8 to Ohio State 77-70.  The last time they won the title was back in 2003 with Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara.  I didn't really know that much about them then and don't really remember that.  I'm just waiting for the day I can see them bring one home, hopefully it could be this year.  We've lost a lot of key guys to the NBA draft, but we're still full with talent and ranked 4th in the country with a 7 and 0 record early.  We have a lot of young guys but a couple returning guys that could do big things this year.  Brandon Triche, C.J. Fair are my main boys on this team.  Michael-Carter Williams, a guard who didn't even play in a lot of the games, but leads the nation in assists and is on early Naismith Player of the Year Watch.  So far they're off to a hot start and hopefully they will be able to keep it going and have a similar record to last year except with a different result.  Last year it was 33 and 1, this year, I want a better ending though.  Less than a month remains until Conference play begins.  Teams are still out preparing and getting their teams ready for their big games.  Duke is the best team I've seen personally, although they aren't ranked number one, Indiana is, they are hot and have beat some really good teams.  They've already beat three Top-5 teams in Kentucky, Louisville, and Ohio State.  I think they are poised to make a run, until they face Syracuse of course.  Thank you all for joining me today, I hope you have a good weekend and I also hope that you guys will join me for next time.