Saturday, March 13, 2010
The 2009-2010 season has been an interesting journey for the men's basketball team at USF. We have had a few entertaining games in the past couple weeks. To begin, we were up against UConn on senior night. The seniors were very hyped up for the game because it was the last game we would be playing at the Sun Dome. Also, we were playing against UConn, one of the most storied schools in all of the NCAA. They have won NCAA championships, have had dozens of players in the NBA and have a Hall of Fame coach in Jim Calhoun.
Before the game all of the seniors were introduced prior to the game and were applauded and recognized for their hard work and dedication to the team. In the stands some of the fans created blow up pictures of the seniors and it seemed that everyone got a kick out of them. They were about five feet by four feet. Not only do the students come an hour before the game to cheer us on in warm ups but to create these blow-ups shows how supportive the students and fans are.
My family was at the game against UConn and my mom took the blow up of me back to her home in Broward County. She told me she placed it on one of the chairs at the dining room table. Then she said that she had dinner with me for the last three nights.
The win against the Huskies really topped off the night for us. Both teams were on the tournament bubble at the time, meaning they had a chance to play in March Madness. To finish the regular season with a 9-9 record in the BIG EAST and a 19-11 record overall was quite an accomplishment for a team who finished close to last in the league last year. After the game I kind of thought of the game as another win until Chris Howard made the comment, "we just beat UCONN, who would have thought as kids growing up we would get a chance to even play UConn, yet beat them as well." It really sunk in to me then.
After the enjoyment of the winning on our senior night, our next task was to play in the BIG EAST tournament and do some damage so we could play in the NCAA tournament. We played against DePaul in our first game and were able to get the win. In our second game we matched up against Georgetown who is another storied program. We didn't play our best against them and it seemed as if they were hitting on all cylinders.
Nonetheless we all had a blast in New York. Playing in Madison Square Garden is the greatest experience you can have as a basketball player and thankfully all the players got to experience that for our team. The NCAA tournament and NIT brackets will be announced tomorrow night. It is highly unlikely that we will be receiving an NCAA bid, but we will probably be one of the higher seeds in the NIT. The season does not have too many games remaining and has been memorable thus far; but to perform well in a postseason tournament would make the season complete.
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010
Recently, we have lost a few games that would have helped us in terms of our NCAA tournament bid that we are looking for. But, we have a few games coming up that can put us right back into the mix. We play Villanova today who has been ranked in the top 10 for the entire season. They have extremely good guards, Scottie Reynolds being one of them who is up for Big East player of the year, along with Syracuse's Wesley Johnson and Dominique Jones. Reynolds is an NBA prospect who decided to come back for his senior year and try and win an NCAA championship.
Even though Nova has a bunch of talented guards I think our duo in Chris Howard and Dominique Jones ranks among the best in the country. They have been consistent for us throughout the season and can play with anyone. We had a good shoot around today at Villanova's arena on campus where we will be playing our game. (Sometimes they play at the Philadelphia 76ers stadium) The arena is not like most in the Big East; it is extremely small and contains mostly bleachers. It kind of reminds me of a high school gym to be honest. The arena is very condensed so I am anticipating it to be very loud. There is a lot going into this game tonight and I am expecting a tough fight from both teams. We are fighting for an NCAA tournament bid and beating Villanova on the road would really improve our resume. For Nova, it is senior night, meaning this is the last game that Scottie Reynolds and the rest of the seniors will ever play at Villanova. It should be a good one.
While in Philadelphia I figured that it would only be right to try a world famous Philly cheese steak. For lunch, most of the players ate cheese steaks. I heard a lot of hype about these Philly cheese steaks and people always saying "it's not a real cheese steak until you go to Philadelphia and eat one." Yeah, yeah yeah, is what I always thought. I always assumed that a person in Florida could make a cheese steak just like a person in Philadelphia. Right? But no, my assumption was wrong. That cheese steak was so dang good I almost ate my fingers off when eating it.
So a recent discussion we have been having amongst the players and the athletic trainers is how sugary the Powerade should be for the games. The athletic trainers make the Powerade for the games and control how sweet or watered down the Powerade will be. Many of the players complain that the Powerade is too watery. Most of us players prefer sugar with a little water mixed in. The other day I walked into the training room to get my ankles taped and the trainers were making the Powerade. The athletic trainers: Keith, Donnie and Matt always read my blog and talk about it with me in the training room. They said "RyDolla, (some people call me this nickname) what color Powerade do you want today? Blue or Yellow? I said blue, but more importantly I was surprised they were asking me which type I wanted. Some people might have thought I was being serious on my last couple blog entries when I said the walk on doesn't get any respect. Not only did I choose the Powerade flavor for the team but honey buns and gushers have been purchased on all the recent trips. To top it off, when they were passing out the cheese steaks today there were four 16inch subs that had Kardok on it. Now that's what you call respect. They called it a miscommunication but I am not sure that was the case.
Every game now is crucial. Beating a team like Villanova on the road could really give us a lot of confidence. Hopefully everyone will check us out tonight!Monday, Feb. 15, 2010
We are approaching the end of the season and every game is crucial. We have a few home games coming up which would be helpful to win when it comes to us getting an NCAA bid. Our last game against Marquette was a tough game; we didn't play that well as a team. That being said, Marquette had a beautiful facility. One of the best players in the NBA, Dwayne Wade, played for them and has donated a lot of money to the school. They have a men's practice facility as well a women's practice facility, which is very rare. All the true basketball fans would appreciate the facility. Even though they have a gymnasium at their school, they play some of their home games at the Milwaukee Bucks Arena because there is more seating there. I always get excited when we play in NBA arenas. This is the third NBA arena that I have played in and am thankful every time I get the opportunity to.
The Life of a Walk On
Outsiders might see all the gear, per diem (money for meals), shoes and experience we get as walk ons, but I am not sure if they understand there are some consequences to being a walk on as well. For example, every time we travel they make the walk on grab an extra bag to bring on the plane. Come on now, I am a senior. Shouldn't the freshmen be the ones taking the extra bags? Next, I always sit towards the front of the bus when we travel so you would think when they are handing out waters that I would be the first to get one. Nope that's not the case. Walk right by the walk on to distribute drinks to the other players. If some of them are real thirsty they can have two and the walk on, well he doesn't get one this time. We were getting onto a Southwest Airlines flight last week and on Southwest you can sit wherever you want. We got on the plane a little late and most of the aisles and windows were filled up. You know how we basketball players are tall, so an aisle is preferred. As I am walking with one of my teammates behind me I locate an aisle seat in the back of the plane. My eyes got wide as I approached the seat. But, suddenly I felt a hand grab my shoulder and say, "hey RyDok (that's what some of the guys call me) I am going to have to take that aisle seat." Me being the nice guy I am, and a walk on, I sacrificed and took a middle seat sitting bunched up for the three-hour trip.
A lot of times in practice they will ask us to play defense against the starting team. Sometimes we play defense for nearly an hour straight to help the starters get better. So, Dominique Jones may be up for the Big East Player of the Year, but if you ask me Ryan Kardok should be up for Big East Walk on of the Year.
Another thing that I have become infatuated with is playing as myself in NCAA Basketball 2010. Surprisingly they have me ranked pretty well in the Xbox game. Not that I don't think I am deserving of the rating, but normally they rank walk ons lower than most scholarship players. (We all now know how they treat those walk ons). It is a good feeling to play as yourself in a videogame (without having to create your own player of course)
BTW, after the Notre Dame game I was standing on the court speaking with my dad. He came to the game because he is a Notre Dame graduate. But as I was talking to him after the game, Luke Harongody walked on the floor and he introduced himself and talked to me for a minute. I was anticipating that he was going to mention something about the previous blog entry that I mentioned him in. That didn't happen. But it did cross my mind to ask for his autograph.
Finally, a lot of people have been saying that my games shoes are not up to par. They tell me that I need to wear some newer shoes. Well those are the first game shoes we were given this year and I am a loyal individual. I am going to wear them until they fall apart, no matter what the haters say (but I think they are on the last leg anyway so you will probably see me wearing new ones soon.)
We hope to have a great turnout for the Cincinnati game, come cheer on your Bulls!
Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 | USF at Georgetown
So it has been a little while since I have checked in with everybody but I am sure everyone will be delighted to know how well USF basketball is doing if they haven't been keeping up with us.
Our excitement started about a week back against Providence. It was an extremely high scoring game with both teams reaching the century mark. Providence was leading for the majority of the game and was leading by nine points with almost a minute to go. Somehow we turned up the heat on defense as us players call it and pulled out the win in overtime.
We have a saying among the team when we aren't playing as hard as we need too. The saying is "500 degrees." It means it is time to turn up the heat and play harder.
I'm telling you the locker room after that Providence game was wild, young men jumping and screaming like kids on Christmas morning.
After the dramatic finish at Providence we played Seton Hall in another thrilling finish. The Seton Hall game went into overtime as well and we pulled it out at the end with some clutch play from senior Chris Howard and junior Dominique Jones.
After that we proceeded to play #17 Pittsburgh. It seemed to be as if we were in control of the game from the beginning and set the tone right away. We led with our defense against Pitt. Sophomore Anthony Crater set the tone at the point guard position and a bunch of other players turned up the heat as well.
This three game win streak has been a huge boost for our program. We players have gained a lot of confidence but are hungry for more. Dominique Jones (JonesBoyENT as I know him) has lost his mind and I am not sure he is going to find it anytime soon. He is averaging a ridiculous 37 points a game in our three game winning streak. His 46 points in one game against Providence are more points than I have for the entire year. (Yeah I said it)
This season has been great but I am a little disappointed that we are going to miss the super bowl this year. We have a game against Notre Dame that day and we are going to miss the majority of the game. Not that I am a huge fan of either team but the Super Bowl is a great event in America and I enjoy it every year. Even though I am going to miss the Super Bowl at least I was able to catch the finale of Jersey Shore. (I feel that there is not one person from the age of 18 to 25 that does not watch that show.)
We are currently in Washington D.C. and I just had a conversation with one of the managers of our team. Shout out to all of them by the way; Jared, Cody, Chris, Jason and Danny. Anyway, they do a great job at pretty much everything, but the snacks they purchase can clearly be approved upon. Every road trip they knock on our hotel doors and offer us NutriGrain and granola bars and every time it is the same old story; all the NutriGrain and granola bars are not eaten. So I mentioned to them that they should think about getting something more intriguing. The snacks that I recommended were some honey buns and gushers. They listened to my recommendation and there were about 3 packages of gushers in their room. As the players saw the gushers it was a rush to them. There would be no leftovers this time.
I also want to give a shout out to Under Armour for supplying us with all of our gear and shoes. I promise our locker room looks like a shoe store with each player having about five or six pairs of shoes.
Georgetown is No. 8 in the country and is a storied program. I know I used to watch NBA stars like Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, and Alonzo Mourning play at Georgetown. We are all extremely excited for the game and hope you all will check us out tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010 | USF at Providence
We have played two games since I have last updated the illustrious blog. Well, it may not be illustrious just yet, but hopefully one day it will be. We won a tough game against a feisty Rutgers team and then lost to Cincinnati on ESPN Wednesday night. We have struggled somewhat in Big East play but our leading scorer Dominique Jones has put on quite a display lately scoring at least 20 points in five straight games.
For those who don't know, Dominique is a traveling comedian as well. Dominique aka "JonesBoyEnt" keeps us loose and constantly laughing. He is always blasting music in the locker room and before games. As a matter of fact I am not sure I have ever seen him without his Dr. Dre headphones. Dr. Dre headphones are a new style of headphones that play music extremely loud. To be honest I'm not sure if there is a funnier team around the country. It seems like everyone on the team has jokes in their pockets at all times.
Another interesting part about our team is it seems as if we have our own language. I feel as if we have a few dozen slang words that we use that very few people would understand. A few worth mentioning would be "tight and preesh" Whenever someone is upset about something that is not to serious players will say that he is "tight." "Tight" meaning uptight or agitated. The word "preesh" is used constantly. "Preesh" is a slang word for thank you. Instead of someone saying I appreciate it, they supplement it with "preeshhh." It took me sometime to adapt to the language but now it is natural to me. Sometimes I find myself using it with friends and family and find them occasionally looking at me with a bewildered face wondering what I am talking about.
Something else that I have thought about lately is that I get the privilege to watch so many great players while sitting courtside at the games (on the bench if you will). In a few games this season I played some valuable minutes but for the majority of them I have been watching. Some of my friends say, "do you ever ask the opponent's players for their autograph?'' I never really thought of it because I have played with so many good players in my career but they bring up a valid point. I could end up with a lot of impressive autographs with all the outstanding players in the Big East. But, I don't think it is ever going to happen. Can you imagine me approaching Luke Harangody after a game saying," Listen, Luke, my friends really want your autograph so let me run to the locker room and get a ball so you can sign it." That would be a little ridiculous.
I'm in Providence right now and I am trying to get out of here ASAP. It's been windy and cold, and I feel like I put far too many layers of clothing on when I walk outside. I would really like to be in my basketball shorts and slippers. We play the Providence Friars tonight and then back to Tampa Sunday. Check out the game on ESPNU or listen live on GoUSFBulls.com.
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 | USF vs. Rutgers
Hello everyone, we had a good practice today and are prepared to get this W against Rutgers tommorrow at 7 p.m.
Both teams have struggled so far in Big East play and both teams are looking for their first win. I felt as if we just had a real tough stretch of games to start conference play; Syracuse and West Virginia both being ranked in the top 10. But, many teams in recent history have suffered losses in the beginning of conference play and have gone on to make the NCAA tournament. For the seniors on the team, this is our last oppurtunity to make it to the NCAA Tournament. Anyone who has ever played or coached in it will tell you what an experience it is. We started off the season strong and have recently went into a little slump, but I dont see why we cant get back to playing like we were in the beginning of the season. I think tommorrow should be the first game of our winning streak! We can't play the games we lost over again, there are no mulligans. So we shall forget about the losses and focus on what we control.
The players started classes this week and we are all dedicated to achieve good grades and eventually graduate. Our lives become more complicated when classes start, but that just means we have got to practice our time management skills. It is tough to schedule practice around everyone's classes but the coaches manage to get it done. I talk to many students and friends that work many hours a week and take 12 credits as well. Those people deserve a lot of credit, many trying to support their families while going to school.
Anyway, back to Rutgers, I hope there will be a large crowd tommorrow night and we put on a show for our fans. I hope you come check us out...Remember, this could be the start of our winning streak!
Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010 | USF at Syracuse
My name is Ryan Kardok and I am a member of the University of South Florida Men's Basketball team. I joined the team as a walk on last season after playing two seasons at Broward Community College. Anyone who has played or plays basketball knows how much of an honor it is to play in the Big East Conference. I was very thankful that Coach Heath gave me that great opportunity. There are so many legendary arenas in the Big East, and dozens of NBA greats have played in the Big East as well. The students and fans at USF have showed me a lot of love regardless of the fact that I do not get much playing time.
Yesterday morning we all got up far earlier then we would have liked to on a Saturday, somewhere around 7 a.m. for most of us players. We practiced at the USF Sun Dome in the morning and headed directly to the airport after practice. We then proceeded to fly to Charlotte, N.C. We had a layover for about an hour and a half, then boarded another plane which departed for Syracuse, N.Y. When we arrived at Syracuse we headed directly to the Carrier Dome. We wanted to get a feel for the court and get some shots up.
The Carrier Dome is like nothing I have ever seen. There has been a lot of history made there. Carmelo Anthony and company won the 2003 National Championship for Syracuse University. The gym is so unique because it is actually a football stadium. They lay the floor down and bring the basketball hoops in for the basketball games. The place is gigantic holding about 40,000 people.
I hope all of our fans will check me out consistently on this blog.
Well, it's time to prepare our minds for the No. 7 team in the country! Check us out at 2 p.m. today (Sunday, Jan. 10) against Syracuse.
