Wow...what a ride to end our season!!  After winning three straight regular season games to close out conference play, we geared up for three games in three days in Macon, Georgia for our tournament.

Seeded 6th, we opened with inter-city rival, #3 seeded Jacksonville University, whom we had lost to by one point in OT and two points at the buzzer during the regular season.  This game would be no different, and fortunately for us, we pulled out the win, 68-64.

Next up, the #2 Seed, East Tennessee State Bucs.  This was a team with senior leadership, and had finished 16-4 in conference play.  UNF had never beaten ETSU in the history of the program...until the Semi's!!  Our guys played as a unit and we got the win, 59-55.

In the Championship, on ESPN2, we would face #1 seed Belmont.  All year long, Belmont had been the team to beat in our league, finishing a staggering 19-1 in conference play.  They punched us in the mouth early, and we never recovered...Belmont went on to represent our league well, but ultimately fell to Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament.

Although the final game never goes the way you want (unless you win the NCAA Tournament, NIT Tournament, CBI, or CIT), we now can reflect on a successful season. Getting to the conference championship games was one of many firsts for our program, who tied the school record for wins, and won another exempt tournament event (Cancun Challenge).

Like everyone, we will incorporate time off, lifting, and individual development into our off-season plans.  With four solid weeks of lifting, and two weeks of individuals, we hope that we set the tone for a productive summer.  A couple other things we will do for our guys as they depart for home:

-Personal DVD...this DVD will include each of our player's individual clips from the season, broken up by missed 2pt, made 2pt, missed 3pt, made 3pt, assists, turnovers, and FTs.  By watching each category in succession, coaches and players can pick up on good and bad habits that need to be addressed in order to improve in the offseason.

-Individual Development Packet/DVD...a combination of ALL of our individual workout drills, drawn up with diagrams, and also on video format as well.  We picked out the best clips of our guys doing these drills properly in order to get the best footage (note to Championship Videos!!)

-Written Evaluation/Stats...a summary of Coach Driscoll's end of the year meeting with each player as well as every stat you can think of for our team.  Cumulative stats, conference stats, home games stats, away games stats, stats win we win vs lose, etc.  Hopefully the guys can see how their impact has a direct effect on our team's production.

-Nutrition/Workout plan...for the 60 or so days that they are at home, a detailed diet and exercise plan (with weights as well) in order for our guys to continue to grow with us not around

Hopefully, with all of these items, we can come back ready and loaded for the 2011-12 season.  With all but one of our top 10 players returning, as well as the addition of three talented newcomers, we will look to continue our upward climb to the Atlantic Sun Title.  Hopefully, our August foreign tour to Canada will be a great springboard for things to come!!

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