I'm alive!

First off, it was very sweet of those of you who noticed I was gone.

I don't mean it in any way to sound egotistical, but it is very cool to know that people read you enough to know when you're missing. I truly appreciate the readers we have at the Herald, and I want you all to know that, whatever you think of us professionally, we take the privilege that is your readership and trust very seriously and bust our backsides to get you every bit of info we can.

Just to touch base... no, I didn't make the trip to PA. Usually the way it works is, reporters like myself or Tom Yantz will either ride down with other media, or for a day trip by ourselves. But for actual road trips, where it requires being away for more than 1 day (going to Pittsburgh to New Britain then back to Pittsburgh isn't practical), it's harder to get away. For me, I have other duties in the office on certain days, so I can't always get away for three or four days straight. I think the team left Tuesday (I could be wrong on that) and got home sometime early Sunday. That's a lot of time to be away from my desk for my other duties.

The other thing, to be honest, is that scheduling quirk like that allow for breaks. I wouldn't trade the "job" of getting paid to cover basketball for anything, but when you work at a job that keeps you out until midnight and requires your week to be based around a team's schedule (meaning it's very rarely a routine) it's very easy to lose touch with your friends. I've been incredibly fortunate to see some of my friends this week, and have a couple of more I need to see soon for my own sanity (I'm not even done exchanging Christmas presents yet to give you an idea of how hectic things get.)

Believe me, I know how lucky I am to do what I do, but it's very therapeutic to get away for a couple days. By the way, stop what you're doing right now and go see "The Bucket List". A big thank you to a particular dear friend who got me to go to it this week.

Anyway, this blog is supposed to be about CCSU, so let's talk some hoops.

I saw the game on Fox Sports something or other on Saturday afternoon, so we'll start there. Ah, the ups and downs of youth. In the end it's a bad loss, it's hard to call it anything else, especially when there were so many good signs. Marcus Palmer is finally asserting himself, and Shemik is finding his place. He's not shy about making a play late, but he's not someone who feels the need to be the hero all the time. That's a heck of a combination. And, as I've said all year, if Marcus decides to become a rebounder and boxes out, watch out.

But still, blowing a double-digit lead to a team near the bottom of the standings is bad. SFPA is starting to roll, and when you play a team is often as important as where, but man a split in PA would have been nice. The defense hasn't been good enough at times, and it has helped waste two good shooting efforts. If CCSU's offense is starting to click as it appears to be, however, that will help. Assuming this defensive slide is a hiccup and not a trend, I still think the Blue Devils will be fine. I still like them somewhere around five or six in the league by March.

The good news is that the coveted four-spot isn't out the window yet, and that CCSU still plays the teams it will have to catch. This weekend was a huge downer. Now it's time to come home and have some more ups. It's also time to make a statement. Want to be considered among the best teams in the league? Beat them. Simple as that. Wagner, QU and RMU are all on the schedule. Now is your chance.

I'll give them a couple days to get home and settled, then I'll see if I can find out anything about Tamir's status as well as just get you some general insight into the mood of the Devils and the stretch ahead. By the way, this is the time for the fans to step up, too. Huge home games coming, time to put some butts in seats.

So thanks for letting me vent and as always for the chance to work for you guys. Fire me off some questions and I can check up on things that you're interested in this week, as they don't have many games coming up for awhile in DevilLand.