Castle Living, Back Frustration, and Fam Bam in Town - Blog #52 (Mar. 16 - 29)

Basketball Update:

I was unable to give it a go in our game at home against Lublin. They have struggled a lot this year after a runner-up finish last season. It was a must-win game for us coming off a couple of losses in a row. It was really unfortunate that I was unable to play in our first home game since I missed the game-winning FTs. I wanted to be able to play well again in front of our fans, but was hopeful to rest and be ready for the next game. It is extremely frustrating to have to keep dealing with the same injury year after year. But so it goes, can only control what I can control. We played pretty terribly, to be frank. We ended up making a couple of more plays down the stretch and squeezed out a win. It is a weird feeling knowing you did not play great and still getting the win, but we needed the win for the standings.

I was able to play against Torun for our next game despite not getting a ton of reps in practice. It was supposed to be a win for us because they are a few games below us in the standings, and the game was at home. We had an awesome crowd, especially considering it was at 12:30 and the day after daylight savings. We controlled the game for a lot of it and won the 1st, 3rd, and 4th quarters. Unfortunately, we lost the 2nd quarter badly which ended up costing us the game. We missed a shot for the win at the end and dropped one by two. It makes the next couple of games even more important for us!.

Leadership Lesson:

This time of the year is obviously huge for college basketball. I have been listening to several clips of Dan Hurley, Mike Izzo, and other coaches of the like. The thing that many of these coaches seem to have in common is something as simple as accountability. They have a standard and hold their players accountable to that standard. I am sure I have written about accountability before, but I think it is worth mentioning again. Accountability is one of those things that honestly sucks in the moment. It is human instinct to want to do the minimum and get by. Something, either internally or externally must be in play in order for someone to excel. A lot of the great coaches have been that missing piece and helped to create greatness from their players. My point with this is that great teams and great leaders have accountability. Whether from a collective or an individual, accountability is a prerequisite for success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TCx1Qb5BSI

Top 5 of the Week:

Favorite College Basketball Coaches

1. Niko Medved & Ali Farokhmanesh - Don't have to say anything here.

2. Dan Hurley - Say what you want about Dan Hurley, but you can't say he's not authentic. An amazing personality that is great for college basketball.

3. Tom Izzo - I really respect Izzo because he doesn't do transfers like everyone else does. He has a couple guys in and out every year, but he coaches hard and keeps guys around, which says a lot about the quality of coach he is. January. February. Izzo.

4. Ben Jacobson - Newly named head coach at Utah St. but former Northern Iowa coach. I was close to going to Northern Iowa when I was in the transfer portal, but really really like him. He was a very straight up person, and I could tell that he was a very normal, high integrity coach.

5. Shaka Smart - I respect him a lot for the same reasons of Izzo. He values relationships a ton and is still able to produce some great talent. They obviously had a down year, so I think his strategy with that might have to change a bit. I like his intensity and focus on relationships.

What Else Did I Do This Week?

Nikki and I had an absolutely amazing time during her week here after our Warsaw trip. We made some awesome dinners, including steak, ground chicken wraps, and meatball subs. After our Lublin win, Coach gave us two days off. Nikki and I originally had planned to go to a nearby big city like Szczecin or Gdansk, but we pivoted and decided to book a stay at a castle a couple of hours south of ZG in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. The drive there was not too bad until the last 30 minutes or so, which looked almost exactly like I remember West Virginia during my time at Hillsdale. Underdeveloped, hilly, awful roads, etc. We were starting to question whether the place we booked actually existed or not. Then, we pulled into the parking lot and were super pumped to see a huge, beautiful castle, surrounded by a moat with mountains in the background. It was a truly unique place, and Nikki and I had an amazing couple of days. The castle had a nice restaurant that we ate at a few times, and they also had a relaxing spa as well. The hot tub was outside, overlooking the estate and mountains. It also had a couple of saunas. It was nice to relax, and it was also good for my back rehab.

We did a fairly easy hike that was also a bit off the beaten path. We took an accidental wrong turn which set us on a weird detour. We walked through this massive quarry complex with big tractors flying by us. Nikki was freaking out a little bit, but we eventually ended up getting back on track. It was a cool area to be in. The mountains were not Rockies or Alps level, but they were still gorgeous. After the hike, we drove into a nearby town with a really cool city center. It was definitely a hidden gem with colorful buildings and some nice restaurants.

Nikki took a train to Poznan to fly out after saying a hard goodbye. It was a great week like I said.

I had a lot of family here to visit, more than I care to name. There were 13 people here. One squad is with my aunt, Sabina, and the other is with my cousin, Audra. It was pretty funny that they ended up coming at the same time, but twice the fun with everyone here. I took them to il Viccolo which they loved, and we also had a nice dinner at a new restaurant close to their hotel. We walked out and about in the city a bunch, and everyone really liked ZG. We grabbed pazcki and ice cream after the game. It was awesome having so many people in town, and I will see a lot of them again on Thursday, along with my parents!

Top Meal of the Week:

Meatball subs were the best dinner for the last two weeks for sure. I was randomly inspired to make them, so Nikki found an awesome recipe. They turned out amazing. We spread pesto on one side with parmesan cheese and had the meatballs with mozzarella on the other side. Molto bene!

Cultural Difference in Poland:

Maybe not as much of a cultural lesson but just something I could never see happening in the US.. Poland implemented a price ceiling for gas because of the prices of gasoline due to the war with Iran. It was pretty shocking to see this because I don't think the US would ever do anything like that. Prices now are lower than they were even before the war broke out, so there have been long lines at the pump the last couple of days. I am curious to see how long it lasts, but it is safe to say Poland isn't super happy with the US because of this. Thanks for reading!