Coaches Corner - Herrion's Take on the 2017-18 Basketball Team

Head coach Bill Herrion is writing a blog daily while the men's basketball team spends seven days in Montreal during preseason. Check back daily for updates.

2017 Montreal Trip- Final Recap

Well, we're finally on the bus heading home to Durham. We're expected to arrive back on campus around 2:45am. We finished our five game trip on a real positive note, beating Concordia 94-81, to finish the trip 3-2. I'll get back to the game in a bit.

I cannot begin to tell all of you what a great, great trip we had the last six days up in Canada. From the organization and planning of the trip by John Deangelas, to our host on the trip, Guiness Rider, to the unbelievable sight seeing and cultural experience and to the ultra competitive five games of basketball, it gave our basketball team everything and more than we could have asked for. From Old Montreal, to Old Quebec, to the nations Capitol in Ottawa, to our unreal Jet Boating experience, to the front steps of Parliament, to the amazing St. Joseph's Oratory and today to the Olympic village which hosted the 1976 summer Olympics, you cannot put a price tag on the last six days. Thank you to our alums, Friends Club members, fans , our administration, for allowing our program to enjoy the great experience of the past six days!!!

When the thought of taking this trip started back in late March, early April, I thought the timing was perfect for this team to go up to Montreal. With a veteran front court coming back, but a young, inexperienced back court, I thought the timing was perfect. As I said in previous posts, we wanted to use the 10 practices the NCAA allows you to have and the five games we played up in Montreal to start laying the foundation and the groundwork for our team this coming season. Again, we wanted to use the practices and games as an evaluation tool, both individually and from a team stand point. As a staff, we felt that we had a lot of unknowns, as many college teams do in August, and we wanted to try and get some answers from a team and personnel stand point earlier as opposed to waiting until late October, early November to get those answers. This trip was exactly what the doctor ordered from that stand point.

After losing two games in a row to Ottawa and Carleton, we had a really good bounce back win against UQAM, and we challenged our guys to try and finish the trip on a positive note before we went home against Concordia. Again, what was so impressive to me as a coach with these teams up here in Canada was: 1) How well coached and organized these teams are. They were playing and executing like it was the middle of the season! 2) All five of the teams we played competed as hard as any teams I have coached against. All five games had a feel and a competitiveness to the games as if it were conference play in January/February! We found out a lot about our guys from a toughness and competitive standpoint. The lesson that I hope we come home with, is an understanding of how hard you have to play and compete at this level on every possession! 3) The offensive execution of the teams in Canada. I really believe so much of that has to do with the 24 second clock. They run their offense so fast and efficient, great ball screen action from a lot of different angles on the floor which gave our ball screen defense a lot of trouble, terrific spacing on the floor, which really extends your help defense. You cannot waste any time on offense with the 24 second clock. I thought our guys handled that well, but just the precision on offense was really impressive. I think in the states, with the 30 second clock, we don't run our offense as hard and fast as they do in Canada.

We struggled and got exposed on a lot of areas defensively, which was good, because we now have an enormous amount of work to do on the defensive end of the floor the next two months if we want any chance of competing for a championship. I know I've repeated this many times in my 13 years here at UNH, we really hang our hat on the defensive end of the floor and ultimately, we think that's what wins championships! Some areas of concern defensively 1) We had a lot of trouble containing and playing the dribble. Our guards got beat off the dribble a lot in the five games up here. The problem with not containing the ball, once the defender gets beat, now our other four defenders have to start helping and getting out of position and that's where you get in big trouble. So, playing and guarding the ball is an area that we have to get back into the gym and clean up. 2) Ball Screen Defense- the game of basketball at every level has turned into spread the floor out and set a lot of ball screens. If you watch any international basketball, or when he Olympics are being played, the spacing and ball screen action on offense is unreal, and that's how these teams up here in Canada play on offense. We came up to Montreal with one, maybe two different ball screen coverages, we're coming home and as a staff, we're going to have to change and add to our ball screen defensive package going into this season. I'm so glad as a coach we're seeing this now in August and like I said many times earlier, not seeing this in November in the closed scrimmages and not having enough time to fix it. 3) One area offensively that was really concerning we're our turn overs. A concern that we have moving forward into this season is our point guard play. As of right now getting off the bus this morning at about 2:30am, we have three point guards we're looking at. Jordan Reed, who is more of a combo guard, Darryl Stewart, who is more of a two guard, and freshman Elijah Jordan, who is a true point, but just a true freshman. We averaged close to 20 turnovers a game in the five games, a lot of that had to do with how incredibly hard and physical the Canadian teams played. As you all well know, if we turn the ball over at that rate during the season, we're going to be in trouble. I think with the 24 second clock, there were so many more possessions and we played so much faster on offense, I think that was an issue. No matter, we have to really pay attention to that when we get back in the gym.

We beat a really hard playing, tough, physical Concordia team in our last game last night 94-81. A positive area on the trip offensively was, we scored. We averaged about 75 points a game, so I think we have a lot of versatility on offense and we can score a lot of different ways. The strength of this team offensively is going to be our ability to get the ball inside. Tanner had a terrific trip, averaging around 20 ppg, Jacoby really settled in the last couple of games and played really well, Iba got the rust off after being away all summer and finished the trip strong, last night David Watkins came off the bench in a tight game in the second half and gave us a great lift offensively with a couple of threes and finished with 15 points. It was a very hard fought game that we pulled away in the second half and left Canada with a real good win and the team feeling good.

We're going to have a lot of work to do in the backcourt when we get back into the gym after Labor Day. What I really like about this group, we have a lot of versatility and a lot of different pieces that we can move around. We have a quick, athletic perimeter that I think, if they buy in, can be a terrific defensive group. We have a lot of bodies and depth on this team, so once the season comes around, as a coach my job's going to get tough figuring out lineups and combinations. But, we still have a few months to figure that out.

I'm a little tired from a grinding week, but a tremendous cultural and basketball experience. So, I hope that the blogs made sense and I just wanted to give everybody a feel of how things were going while we were up in Montreal. I'm really proud of the guys for how well they acted, their behavior on the trip and representing our basketball program and the University of New Hampshire in a first class manner! As you all know, as a staff, we would expect nothing different. Also, thanks to our two UNH fans that we had on the trip cheering loud. Tanner's mom and dad made the five game trip all the way from San Antonio to cheer the Cats on! We want to let them know our thoughts and prayers are with them as they fly back to Texas today, their relatives and all the families of our Texas players as the Hurricane moves toward their state. Please be safe!!!

Well, back to school Monday as classes start and another academic year is upon us and another basketball season is right around the corner! Man, does time fly! No idea where this summer went! Our game plan as a team, the guys will not have any mandatory basketball workouts until after Labor Day, but we will get in the weight room next week 3 or 4 days and get back working on our bodies. I like the potential of this team physically in a lot of different areas!

So, it's great to be home, unbelievable trip, and the marathon and journey to March is right around the corner. I am going to continue to blog to keep everybody up to date on how the Cats are doing. Again, thanks to everybody that helped make this wonderful trip possible. We could not have done it without you!!! Go Cats!

2017 Montreal Trip- Day 3 Recap vs. UQAM - August 24

Again, sorry for being late with the blog on the UQAM game last night. These have turned into long days and nights and my apologies for not getting this game recap out last night. We have had an unbelievable five days of touring and sight seeing up here in this beautiful city of Montreal. We have been treated in a first class manner and this trip has been even more than expected. Not only has the basketball competition been exactly what we needed, but the sight seeing and cultural experience has been unreal. Yesterday we took the the team down to the harbor and we all went on a Jet Boating rapids trip on the St. Lawrence River. It was unbelievable and I think it was the highlight of the trip. Hopefully Iba, who filmed the whole rapids trip will be able to get some video out on line to show you what a great and fun experience it was. I thought it was a great team bonding opportunity.

When we were preparing for last night's game against UQAM, we tried to compare the importance of the game to how it's going to be during the season for us. We had lost our previous two games against Ottawa and at Carleton and as a team, we really needed to get a win last night against UQAM. After falling behind early 9-4, our players responded with a 15-6 run to finish the first quarter and lead 19-10. We got great production early from Tanner, Kijana Love and Jacoby Armstrong to finish the quarter strong.

As I've said in previous posts, we think a strength of our basketball team this year should be our veteran, experienced inside game. UQAM was an undersized team in the front court and our guys did a great job up front of taking advantage of our size and physical strength in the paint. We went into the locker room at half time with a 43-22 lead. I thought we played with great energy and played very hard on the defensive end of the floor. We held UQAM to 22 points and 25.5% FG shooting from the floor. You're probably going to look at those numbers as a fan and think the defense is fine. We did play well defensively last night but we have ALOT of work to do when we get back in the gym at UNH! Our big three dominated the game offensively from the floor last night: Tanner had 25 points and was 11-12 from the floor, Jacoby finished with 15 points and was 6-7 from the floor, and Iba, who is still getting his basketball legs and conditioning back after being home all summer finished with 11 points, was 4-5 from the floor and had eight rebounds. So our front court was a combined 21-24 from the floor with 51 points! It was great to see Kijana Love get extended minutes last night. Kijana took advantage of his minutes and finished with 10 points.

It was a much needed 80-59 win and that puts our record on this trip at 2-2.

We have our last game tonight at Concordia at 7 PM. It would be great to get a win and get on the bus and head back to Durham 3-2. As I said earlier, from a basketball stand point this trip has been exactly what the doctor ordered. Very good competition, really well coached basketball teams, teams that really competed and played hard. We have a lot of things that we are going to come home with that we are going to need to work on to become a better basketball team. You should be proud of our players. Their attitude and behavior and just the way they represented UNH and our basketball program in public has been terrific. As I've said many times, we have really good kids representing our great University.

So, it's one last one against Concordia tonight and then we get on the bus and head back to Durham. It would be great to finish the trip on a positive basketball note with a "W". Have a great day and I'll definitely have time to blog tonight's game on the bus ride home. Have a great day. Go Cats!!!

2017 Montreal Trip- Day 3 Recap vs. Carleton University - August 23
The one thing that this trip has really given us is a great preparation tool for playing on the road during the season. We took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride Sunday to Quebec City to play Laval, and yesterday we took a two hour bus ride to Ottawa to play against a terrific Carleton team. It's great for our younger players to experience how travel is during the America East conference season. Get on a bus, travel to where we're playing, get off the bus and get yourself ready to play a game. Unfortunately, we never got off the bus yesterday in the first quarter and we got a huge slice of humble pie!!

Carleton has won 13 of the last 15 National Championships in Canada and through the years has beat many mid to high major college teams from the states.

I compared this game last night to playing the best team in your conference in a championship game and obviously we did not answer the bell. Personally from my standpoint as the head coach, the way we played in the first quarter was very, very disappointing. We keep talking about trying to win a championship in our program and taking the next step. Right now on August 23rd, we're not close to being able to do that. I firmly believe that you win championships with tough, older, veteran, experienced players. We started three seniors in last nights game against Carleton with the hopes that they would set the tone, lead the way for the younger guys, and do what seniors are supposed to do. Carleton came out from the opening tip with much more energy, purpose and way more enthusiasm and passion for the game than our team did. At the end of the first quarter we were down 31-8. When you're in a situation like this in a game, the worry that you have as a coach is, are your kids going to quit? We are really battling right now to find vocal, enthusiastic, passionate leadership on this team. So many times, it seems like a lot of that is coming from the coaches! If we don't fix that quickly, we're going to have some problems this year.

The positive was that we went to the bench to try to get any kind of energy going and the young guys that we put on the floor did a great job in the second quarter and finally found a combination that played well together. We had a lineup of Elijah Jordan, John Ogwuche, Josh Hopkins, Chris Lester and Jacoby Armstrong that group did a great job of competing and not get totally blown out of the gym. In games like last night, early there was not a lot of positive things to take, but the last three quarters the guys really competed hard and hung in there. That was very encouraging. After the first quarter we got out scored 56-52, and in the 2nd half we out scored Carleton 36-33. Obviously, we are not a program that is into moral victories, but there were a lot of positives with our younger players the last three quarters. I was really proud of the team's effort the last 30 minutes of the game after a really tough start.

When you look at statistics that are important to us, Carleton shot 70% from the floor in the first quarter and scored 31 points. Those are very high numbers for our team that tries to pride ourselves on our defense. The last three quarters Carleton shot 30% from the floor and scored 56 points. Much better effort!! We got out rebounded 42-37, but beat them on the offensive glass 13-11. We got to the FT line 37 times, which is a real positive for us.

So, we're 1-2 on the trip so far, but have played three really good basketball teams. This trip from a basketball stand point has been exactly what the doctor ordered. I really think we're finding out an awful lot about our team and individual players much earlier then waiting until November. We are going to come home Thursday night and get back to Durham with an awful lot of things we need to get better at to make us a better basketball team!! So, tonight is Game four against the University of Quebec at Montreal which is right downtown about 10-15 minutes from the hotel. The challenge that we have as a team, and this will happen during the season, so we can learn an early lesson in August, we need to find a way tonight to win a basketball game and avoid a longer losing streak. We will start Jordan Reed, Kijana Love, Josh Hopkins, Tanner Leissner and Chris Lester. We need to be ready to play right away and get off to a quick start. The last two games we have started slow and have dug holes early. The key word that we've been using on this trip is OPPORTUNITY. We have a lot of depth and competition on this team, so when guys step on the floor, they have to be prepared and ready to take advantage of the opportunity that's given to them. I'll be back tonight after the UQAM game with a recap. Let's get a win! Go Cats!!!

2017 Montreal Trip- Day 3 Preview vs. Carleton University - August 22

We just got on the bus and we're heading west to Ottawa to play Carleton University tonight at 7 PM. Carleton has won 13 out of the last 15 National Championships in Canada, so for sure this is going to be a big time challenge for the Cats! Very well coached team, they play very physical, really shoot the ball. I have been very impressed with the physicality of the teams we have played on the trip so far. Sorry for no Box Score of last night's game against Ottawa. The computers crashed, no stats, and we only got the 2nd half of the game on tape.

We're having a lot of trouble through the first two games defensively in a couple of different areas. The game is different in Canada compared to the college game in the states with the 24 second clock and how hard teams run their offense. As I said earlier, the first two teams we've played have run great action on offense that has put our defense in really tough situations. The great evaluation tool from this trip, after the first two games, I already have a check list of about five or six areas of our man to man defense that we really have to fix and get better at when we get back to Durham and start our pre-season workouts. Again, one of the primary reasons behind this trip is to get early answers with our team both individually and from a team stand point in August and not wait until the closed scrimmages in early November when we don't have a lot of time to fix it. So, from a coaching stand point, we're going to be coming home with a good list of areas we really need to address if we want to be a good basketball team in 2017-18!

We're having a lot of trouble with our ball screen defense the first two games. These teams run a lot of European action with their ball screens and change the angles on you a lot and are set form different spots on the floor. We're not prepared enough right now to make quick adjustments live, our defense is getting really spread out because of the wider foul lane and it's making our rotations with our help really tough. The positive out of this, I was talking with my staff this morning at breakfast and I told them that we are going to have to change how we defend ball screens when we get back to Durham. That's only going to help our defense get better down the road. The game of basketball at every level has turned into small ball. Spread the floor out, random ball screens from a lot of different angles, and in today's game if you can't defend ball screens as a team, your defense is going to be in trouble. So, last night against Ottawa, that action really hurt us and we're going to see a lot more of it tonight against Carleton!

Thru our first two games I've been impressed with our front court play. Tanner was terrific the first game against Laval, last night he only played maybe 20 minutes, Iba just got back to the states last Thursday, so he has to get his legs under him and get in basketball shape. Jacoby has to get the rust off after not being in a "real" game in about a year and a half, Luke Rosinski played very well in 16 minutes against Laval, minutes were limited last night against Ottawa. Chris Lester has played limited minutes the first two games, coming off a knee injury last year, but has good basketball IQ. Smart player. This is a big year for David Watkins. He has to prove to our staff, to get more minutes, can he defend better and can he consistently rebound the ball. But again, we're going to get some of those questions answered this week.

I think we're going to have a deeper basketball team than we've had in the past. So, it's Day four of the trip. It has been great up to this point both on and off the court, but we have a really hard, tough game tonight against a very talented, good basketball team, so we're going to have to be ready to play. We're going to start Elijah Jordan, Jordan Reed, Jacoby Armstrong, Tanner Leissner and Iba Camara. One of the combinations we want to look at with this year's team, can we play a big lineup??? At some point during the year, we're going to have to get Tanner, Jacoby and Iba on the floor together. Game time is 7 PM tonight, just wanted to throw some random thoughts at you as we're riding the bus, and we'll be back to recap the game tonight on the bus ride back to Montreal. Have a great day. Go Cats!!!!

2017 Montreal Trip- Day 3 Recap and Day 4 Preview vs. Carleton - August 22

First off, my apologies for the lateness of today's blog. We had a very long day today with a great day of sight seeing and then our game tonight against Ottawa. Again, just amazed at how impressive the sights are up here in Montreal. We stayed local today and visited Mont Royal, which is a huge park with a great viewing area at the top of the small mountain that overlooked the whole city and sky line of the city. Then we went to St. Joseph's Oratory, which is one the most famous Basilica's in North America. Awesome architecture and just so impressed with the sights in Montreal. Great city!!!

Lost a tough one last night against the University of Ottawa 71-65. One thing that is very obvious after the first two games, these teams are very well coached and play very hard. It's almost like their in mid-season form. As I said in a couple of earlier posts, the main reason we decided to take this trip this summer was to get some answers to our basketball team earlier, and not wait until November. We are really using this trip as an evaluation tool with our team and our personnel.

Tonight we changed the lineup and started Elijah Jordan, Kijana Love, Keon Burns, David Watkins and Luke Rosinski. We got off to a very slow start and Ottawa jumped us right away and got up 9-0. Again, we always talk to our players about being ready from the opening tip and trying to win the first five minutes of the game. We did that Sunday at Laval, tonight I'm not sure we were ready to play at the beginning. We settled in pretty well and cut the lead to 23-18 at the end of the 1st Quarter. We had a good group in in the 2nd quarter and played well. Elijah Jordan made a pull up jump shot at the half time buzzer to cut the lead to two. As we've said, one of the main concerns going into this season is figuring out our point guard situation. We recruited Elijah out of Orlando, Fla as a true point guard. So far after the first two games, we're very impressed with his play. Great feel for the game and a pass first point guard.

What has been really concerning the first two games are our turnovers. We've had 40 turnovers the first two games and that's a bit of an issue. A lot of theturnovers are coming from our guards!! A lot of our turnovers last night against Ottawa led to transition baskets, so they are really hurting our transition defense. We try to build our program on our man to man defense and our ability to defend and stop people. Our man to man defense always starts with how we play and guard the ball. We did a really poor job last night playing and containing the ball defensively. Way too much dribble penetration and our defense was getting out of position with our help and we got really hurt with poor rotations. As I've said, the great thing about this trip, as we evaluate our team, we'll be able to get back to Durham, get back in the gym and get better. The two teams we've played so far have run very good offense and has put our defense in tough situations. As a team, we rely so much on our scouting reports and our game preparation during the season. We really pride ourselves defensively on being well prepared and taking offensive things away from our opponents. We are not game prepping for any of these games and we're trying to see if the players can figure things out on their own. Again, this is all a part of the evaluation process of our team.

We hung around last night, but eventually lost to Ottawa 71-65. I have been really impressed with the first two games with how physical and tough both teams have been. The coaching at this level has been very impressive. Both Laval and Ottawa have run really good offense. Ottawa was the fifth ranked team in the country in Canada last year and they played that way.

We are really trying to split up the minutes and give everybody a fair opportunity to get playing time so we can evaluate every player. But, when players step on the floor, they have a job to do. What was disappointing last night against Ottawa: 1) I did not think our energy level is where it needs to be. That has to start with our older players, our leaders. 2) The turnovers have been a real issue through the first two games. Very hard to win games at the college level with 21 and 19 turnovers. 3) Transition defense was very undisciplined last night. Turnovers will really hurt your floor balance and your transition defense. Especially live turnovers that lead directly to points! 4) As I said earlier, our man to man defense starts with how we guard, pressure and contain the ball. We had a lot of trouble last night against Ottawa keeping the ball in front of us. I can promise you, that is at the top of the check list when we get back to Durham and get back in the gym!! 5) Not sure where our overall toughness was last night against Ottawa. I thought we got physically pushed around a little bit last night. But, this is all part of the process and the REASON we made this trip. The first two games have felt like conference games in January/February. Very tough, hard played, physical games. Exactly what we need to evaluate our team. At the beginning of the trip I said, the five games we play up here are not going to define our season, but this is going to lay the foundation and ground work for our 2017-18 team. So far, we're getting a lot of answers to a lot of the questions that we have with this team. That's good!!!

The trip so far has been great both on and off the floor. The guys are staying very busy. We are not practicing while we are up here. No walk throughs to prepare for games. We want to see which players can figure things out on there own. It's Tuesday morning, we just finished breakfast and we'll get on the bus at 12:30 to head over to Ottawa, the nation's Capitol. It's about a two hour bus ride and things tonight are not going to get any easier. We are playing against Carleton University who has won 13 out of the last 15 National Championships in Canada. This summer they have already beat Alabama and Vanderbilt twice. Last year they hosted Wichita State up here in the summer. So, the evaluation process will continue tonight and hopefully our guys will be ready to play hard, compete hard and play a full 40 minutes. Sorry for the delay with the blog, long day yesterday. We'll get back to you later in the day and on the bus ride back after the game with a recap. Have a great day. Go Cats!!!!

2017 Montreal Trip- Day 2 vs. Universite Laval (Game Recap) - August 20: BOX SCORE

We're on the bus heading back to Montreal after a really solid, hard fought 79-61 win against Laval. I'll get back to the game in a bit. We've been in Canada a little over 24 hours and all I can say is what a beautiful country it is. We spent some time last night in Old Town Montreal and today we had a great pre game meal at Spag & Tini's and then a quick tour of Old Quebec City. Even though I've never spent a lot of time in Europe, you get a real European feel in Old Quebec. Cobble stone streets, little shops and great restaraunts all over the place. The whole team walked up the streets to the Chateau Frontenac, which our host Guinness told us is the most famous photographed hotel in the world! Unbelievable views of a big time city. I hope our players really understand the culture of other countries and really appreciate the experience outside of basketball.

Well, it felt like an America East Conference game in January/February, only it was August 20th!! A very hard fought tough game that we really had to work hard to win. Our starting lineup today was Jordan Reed, Darryl Stewart, John Ogwuche, Tanner Leissner, and Jacoby Armstrong. As I said in the earlier blogs, nobody needs to read into lineups and minutes played. We're going to change the starting lineup every game and our substitutions will be different every game. We are trying to really use this trip as an evaluation tool of where our team and players are at at this point.

We always stress in the locker room before every game getting off to good, quick starts, be ready to play offensively and defensively, and win the first five minutes of the game. Very proud that our starting five was really ready to play right from the opening tip. We set the tone right away and got off to a 12-2 start. We were really good both offensively and defensively. Jordan Reed made a couple of threes early and got us going. In Canada they play four ten minute quarters. We played great the first 14/15 minutes of the game, got the lead up to 22, then we really struggled the last five minutes of the first half, especially offensively. We really started to get sloppy and turned the ball over the last five minutes and Laval cut the halftime score to 38-29. We try to pride ourselves on being disciplined and to take care of the basketball, very disappointing stat was we finished with 21 turn overs and our guards combined for 10 of the 21. Laval had a lot to do with the turnovers. They were a very physical, aggressive defensive team that gave us trouble.

Coming out of the locker room to start the 2nd half, it was our ball and we talked about getting off to a quick start the first five minutes. We weren't ready to play to start the half and turned the ball over on four of our first five possessions. In any sport, turnovers are killers and leads to points. Laval made a great run at us and took a one-point lead with about five minutes left in the 3rd quarter. One of the real positives that came out of today's game, I think we have a lot of depth on this team. When we got down, we went to the bench and the combination of Elijah Jordan, Mark Carbone, Keon Burns, Tanner Leissner and Luke Rosinski saved us. When we got down one, Mark Carbone hit a big three to get the lead back and we really controlled the last five minutes of the third quarter and got the lead back to 59-46 at the end of the third. Tanner was terrific during that stretch. He's had a great summer, he's in great shape and has worked really hard on his body. I said earlier, he's in the best physical condition of his career.

We played really solid in the 4th quarter and held on to win the game 79-61. Some real key stats that we always pay attention to as a team: 1) We held Laval to 61 points 2) We held Laval to 33.9 percent field goal shooting for the game 3) We out rebounded a really physical basketball team 40-32 on the glass, 13-7 on the offensive glass 4) We had 19 assists on 26 made field goals 5) We were 19-23 from the free-throw line and made our last 13 in a row down the stretch. The most glaring disappointment were the 21 turnovers, which we are going to have to clean up. But like I said in an earlier post, one of the big question marks with this team is the youth and inexperience in the back court. That's why a trip like this in August can only help us in that area as we move forward.

So, great road win for us. A beautiful new arena, and a really good loud crowd for an August game. I really thought for game one our guys really responded well. It has been a long 24+ hours. A lot of time on the bus, but a chance to sleep in tomorrow morning. Game two is tomorrow night at 6:30 PM against the University of Ottawa at Jean Brebeuf School. Have a good night and we'll be back with you tomorrow on Day three. Go Cats!!!!

-Bill Herrion

2017 Montreal Trip- Day 2 vs. Universite Laval (Preview) - August 20

Well, it's game day today. We had a 7:45am wake up call this morning and we're on the bus heading over to Quebec City to play Laval University at 3 PM. It's about a two and a half hour bus ride over to QC. We'll arrive around 11 AM and head right to our pre-game meal (believe me, these guys love to eat). After pre game our host Guinness will take us on some sight seeing in the city before we head over to Laval. As much as this is a basketball trip for us, we want the players to have a great cultural experience in Canada. For most of our guys it's the first time visiting Canada.

There's a couple of things we're really looking to get out of these games. We're going to change the starting lineup every game and we're going to give everybody an opportunity to play. First, this is the beginning of us laying the foundation and ground work for what type of team we're going to have this coming season. These five games this week by no means are going to define our season, but are going to really start the process of what type of team we're going to have in 2017-18. Don't get me wrong, any time we put UNH on our chests and play another team, we're trying to play as well as we can and we're playing to win the game. I'm am very anxious to see how hard we play and how we compete. Those are two non-negotiables that we have in our program.

Secondly, these five games are going to give us a great evaluation of all of our players. We will move players around this week, experiment with different lineups and am really excited to see how our young back court responds to live game situations.

So, it's off to Quebec City for game one. We'll be back with you after the game and we'll give you a recap of how we played. Have a great day back in the states and we'll talk later. Go Cats!!!

- Bill Herrion

2017 Montreal Trip- Day 1 (Travel Day) - August 19

Well, we're finally on the bus and heading up 89 North to Montreal.
We just finished five days of practice yesterday and the guys are excited about getting up to Montreal and start playing games.

As a staff we decided and started to plan this trip right after our season ended last year in late March/mid April. We felt the timing was right with our team to make this trip. We have an older, veteran front court returning, but a young, inexperienced, untested perimeter coming back.

Here are some of the things as a team and staff that we're looking to get out of this trip:

1) It gives us a great opportunity to get our team together earlier and start evaluating and laying the foundation for the 2017-18 season. The NCAA allows you to have 10 practices before you go on a summer trip. We had 5 practices during our summer school session, which ran from mid-June to mid-July, the players then got home for about two and a half weeks, and then we can back to campus last Sunday and practiced five straight days, Monday-Friday.

2) It gives us a great opportunity to get an early evaluation of our basketball team and get some questions that we have with this group answered a little earlier. A couple of concerns that we have as a staff going into the 2017-18 season, we have a young, inexperienced back court coming back. We really like our perimeter players, but besides Jordan Reed, they don't have a lot of game experience. We lost a tremendous leader last year in Jaleen Smith, who has signed a contract in the Pro A league in Germany, and left last week to head over to Germany and begin his professional career. We have to find some leadership early on the perimeter with the group we have coming back. Jordan Reed, who finished last season on a really positive note, has done a great job this summer filling that void and has shown some great leadership qualities. He's a rock-solid player, continues to improve his 3-point shooting, is a tough hard-nosed defender, and a great team guy that you can really trust. Keon Burns has been a solid contributor for us the past couple of season's and a high IQ guy that can play different positions. Keon just began his MBA program in the Paul Business School. We need Kijana Love and John Ogwuche to take the next steps with their games. They are both sophomore's that played spot minutes last year as freshmen, but are both talented and are going to be given a great opportunity to step up this year. Josh Hopkins is a 6-4 freshman out of Greensboro, NC, who we feel has a lot of ability for a young player. He's long, a really good athlete, and can shoot the three. Mark Carbone is a 6-2 transfer guard from the University of San Diego. We recruited Mark heavily out of East Catholic Highschool in Hartford, Conn. A few years ago, went to San Diego this past year but decided to transfer back closer to home. Per NCAA rules, Mark will have to sit out this year, then have three years of eligibility to play. He is allowed to play in the games this week up in Montreal.

3) We have to figure out the point guard position going into this season. Losing Jaleen, a player who did a little bit of everything and contributed in so many areas, we have to see who emerges at the point. We really like our freshman point guard Elijah Jordan, out of Orlando, Fla. He is a true PG and we've been very impressed with during summer school and the past five days of practice. We will get a great chance to evaluate him and see how he reacts in the five games in Montreal. We're going to have to look at two or three players at the point this week in our games up in Canada. We feel that Jordan Reed and Darryl Stewart are more combo, 2-guards, but are going to have to play the point at times this season. So, the point guard evaluation is going to be important this week.

4) We have to get the "rust" off of Jacoby Armstrong and Darryl Stewart. Both players sat out the entire season last year and haven't played a competitive college game with uniforms and referee's in about a year and a half. Darryl is an athletic, dynamic scoring guard who scores a lot of different ways. He can shoot the three, play off the dribble, and has great quickness. Jacoby is a proven player in the America East. We're talking about a former All-Rookie Team player and sophomore year was a Third Team All-Conference player. He's a proven player at our level that will give us great experience and depth in the front court.

5) We feel that the strength of our basketball team is in the front court. With three seniors and proven players in our league, Tanner Leissner, Iba Camara, and Jacoby Armstrong, they are the veteran back bones of this team. Tanner is in the best physical shape and condition that he's been in in his four years here at UNH. He's done a lot of great things in a UNH uniform, Rookie of the Year, First Team All-Conference sophomore and junior seasons, and is motivated to have a great senior year. Thankfully, Iba just returned to Durham this past Thursday after being in Senegal the past two months. With a lot of tireless work from many people at UNH, we finally get Iba back in time to go on the trip to Montreal. This is a big year for Iba. He has established himself as a terrific, relentless rebounder in our league. Iba led the conference in rebounding as a junior last year, has been nationally ranked in rebounds per game, and with a great senior year, has a chance to become the all-time leading rebounder in UNH history. We need Iba this year as a senior to emerge and become a much more consistent, impactful offensive player. He's made great strides his first 3 years, but as his coach, I think there's still a lot more room to improve his offensive game. So, when you add Jacoby back into the mix with Tanner and Iba, you can see why we're really excited about our front court!

6) Really anxious to evaluate David Watkins, Luke Rosinski, and Chris Lester. Both David and Luke did some good things for us last year as young players. They both now need to take the next step with their games as well. David has proven and helped win us a couple of games last year, that he can shoot the three and stretch the defense. We need him to become a more consistent rebounder and defender. We'd love to see Luke build on his semifinal performance at Vermont and become more of a physical factor for us in the paint. Chris Lester is coming off a season ending knee injury last year, so we are anxious to see how he responds to live game situations. Unfortunately, Kenny Uhlar was diagnosed with mono last week and will not make the trip. We wish him a speedy recovery and we'll see him when we get back.

Well, this might be the longest blog post in history. I just wanted to give all of you an update on how the summer went, how our practices went in preparation for the trip, and what we're looking for from our players this week in Montreal and in preparing for the 2017-18 season.

It's amazing how quickly this summer has gone, but really excited to get on the floor this week and get the juices flowing again. We're about 40 minutes to the hotel in Montreal, will take the team out to dinner tonight, get some rest and we have a long first day tomorrow. Game time at Laval is 3 PM. Looking forward to spending time in Quebec City. I'll be back tomorrow before and after the game to give you a recap. Go Cats!

- Bill Herrion

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