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USF Player Blog - Dior Lowhorn, Senior Forward August 26, 2009
Dear USF Men's Basketball Family. "Phew" and "Wow" are the two adjectives that describe this time of the year. Wow because fall semester school is about to start and also I will be a senior this year. Phew is for how hard my teammates and I have worked this summer in terms of achieving our goal in quest for a 2009-2010 WCC Championship! My summer has been a packed summer, perhaps my busiest summer in terms of school and basketball. I took a summer class this summer that just ended. I think I did pretty well in it and my teammate Kwame Vaughn took the class with me so that was pretty cool. This summer I also got to train with Patty Mills of Saint Mary's and Demar Derozan of USC, both draft picks in this past NBA draft. Former assistant coach of USF Chris Farr conducted these workouts five days a week for four weeks leading up to the draft. In testing the waters this year for the NBA, I was able to workout for three NBA teams - the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors, and Portland Trailblazers. The workouts turned out very well for me and I got good feedback. The Portland Trailblazers even said that I am a second round draft prospect next year. Since that time in June until now I have been training with my old and newly arrived teammates in the weight room and in shooting workouts. I'm also doing extra conditioning and basketball workouts with other trainers in the Bay Area. The new guys since being here have been great we have gotten to bond the past couple of weeks since their arrival. Next year don't sleep on us. We now have the guards and bigs to contend with anyone in the WCC, and a newly remodeled War Memorial Gym to go with it. The last cherry on top of my career at USF would be to win 20 games and make the NCAA postseason tourney.
Go Dons!
Dior Lowhorn
Coach Walters Blog Domo earned Los Angeles City Player of the Year honors after leading Westchester Senior High School to the 2009 California State Division I Championship. He also captured the John Wooden High School Player of the Year award and was named State Player of the Year from Wave Newspaper. In addition, O'Connor earned first team all-state and all-city accolades. He is a true point guard. I love the way he pushes the ball up the floor. He's a really good passer, ball handler and will be able to create a lot of offense for us. We're very happy that Domo will be joining us on the Hilltop. Domo is not the only incoming student-athlete that has earned a number of accolades. Tomas Bruha (Prague, Czech Republic), a 7-0 international post player, Moustapha Diarra (Marseille, France), a 6-10 NJCAA All-American post player, Nikola Stojiljkovic (Paris, France/INSEP Academy), a 6-8 Wing, Michael Williams (Van Nuys, CA/Taft HS), a 6-0 All-State First Team combo guard and Perris Blackwell, an All Southern Section First Team member will be joining Domo next year as we rebuild the USF basketball program. Tomas has a chance to be a really good player. He has great size, can run the floor and I do not consider him to be a project. He has good hands and good touch. He will probably need to put on some weight, although he's got a good body to work with at 225. He is a guy who can be a difference maker for us and is exactly what we needed. I'm excited about him. This will be a guy that for four years can be a mainstay and a guy we can play around in the post. Moustapha is a skilled big man who can play a couple positions for us and had a very good year at Sheridan Junior College. I really enjoyed recruiting him and watching him play. He can score in the post, is very good running the floor and has a good feel for the game. He's someone who can come in and give us size, athleticism, experience and is a good defensive player as well. Nikola is the kind of kid I really like. He's a pass, handle, shoot kid. He has a really good stroke, but I think people will be surprised by how well he handles and passes the ball. He has great size for the position and can play multiple spots for us next year. He has shown toughness and competitiveness that I like and comes from a great family as well. He's another one that has a chance to be a good player in our program. Michael comes from a great program down in Southern California at Taft High School. He's very well coached. He can really shoot the basketball, but saying all that, he's not just a shooter. He is a basketball player. He can definitely put the ball on the floor, get in the paint and find teammates. He's very crafty and can really score. He will play a couple different positions for us. He's got size at the point guard and he will play there, but he can shoot the ball so well that he can play both positions for us. He's going to be a good player for us if he continues to work the way I think he will. We've covered a lot of areas with this class. We needed help inside and although Perris, Tomas and Moustapha are back to the basket players, we will have them do a lot of things to take advantage of their skill set. Although Nikola and Michael can shoot the basketball, they also can bounce it, get in the paint and I also was really happy with how well they passed the basketball and made their teammates better. This is a really good class that can lay the foundation for us to compete and win championships. As excited as we are about this class, recruiting never stops. While the 2009 class is completed, we are already looking ahead to 2010 and 2011 recruits. We are currently in a "dead period" meaning we are not allowed to actively recruit players. However we will get right back at it later this summer at tournaments around the country, evaluating players, and focusing in on guys we want. Things are looking up on the Hilltop. Coach Walters Coach Walters Blog It's been a busy spring on the Hilltop. Our Post-Season Individual Workouts ended this week, officially bringing the 2008-2009 season to a close. Over the past two months we have focused on the fundamentals: 1 on 1 and Team Defense, Ball Handling, and Shooting as we focused on More Efficient Footwork both Defensively and Offensively. We have also stressed the needed improvement in Strength, Conditioning, Explosiveness and Lateral Quickness. We made some progress but still have a long way to go to be the team I believe we can be. Teams are made in the Winter and Players are made in the Summer. It will be interesting to see what kind of strides our players make as they now have to work out without the Coaches on the floor with them. In April, our recruiting for the 2009 class brought in some very good Student-Athletes on National Signing Day. We signed five players which addressed some needs on our Roster. We are very excited about this class. For more information regarding the incoming class, please see our press release where I talk about each of the players. The link can be found here: http://www.usfdons.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041609aaa.html I would also like to personally thank Chuck White, Joanne Campbell, and the rest of the staff at the Koret Recreation Center here on the USF campus. As many of you know, War Memorial Gym is undergoing a face-lift right now, meaning we are not able to practice in the gym. So we relocated our practices to the Koret Center. Chuck and Joanne were very accommodating and helpful to us during this time, allowing us to use their courts so we could practice. Thanks again. Things are looking up here on the Hilltop. Recruiting never ends and I am hopeful that the development of our Returning and Incoming Players continues to grow....hint to all of our players (get in the gym, get your workouts in and find better players to play against!). Hope to see you on the Hilltop and Thanks for the support, Coach Walters Player,s Blog So what's next? Waking up at 6am for weights, and having individual workouts is a start. This is what we do four days out of the week. We, as a team, are confident that if we put the work in, the result will show all throughout next season. We have a great nucleus of players coming back for next year's push for a championship. With the addition of a few new players that will be Dons next year, the country better watch out. The Dons are on the rise! We know what we need to do to become not only a better basketball team, but better young men as well. Finishing the season the way we did made us hungry to be a force in the West Coast Conference. Now we have the experience we need from the players and the coaches. There will be little stopping us from reaching our goal, which is to put USF back on the map as a force to be reckoned with.
Coach Walters Blog The end of our First Season here on the Hilltop came against Pepperdine in the First Round of the West Coast Conference Tournament. The players gave a good effort, but we ran up against a hot shooting team and the Waves made more plays down the stretch. The Orleans Hotel and Arena were great hosts for the WCC Tournament and we look forward to hopefully going back to Las Vegas next year. The team really came together towards the end of the season, winning two of our last three regular season games. Our last home game of the season was a thrilling one point overtime victory over our rival, Santa Clara. We feel that we have a strong foundation in place, and are very excited about the future. With the continued development of the returning players along with the incoming players, we are already looking forward to next season. I'm very proud of the guys and the coaching staff. We experienced some bumps and heartbreaking losses along the way during our first season on the Hilltop, but the guys never gave up and played hard in every game. However there is definitely room for improvement. Most importantly, I will expect the guys to keep their grades up during the off-season. I will also expect them to practice, and to work out and get stronger and faster for next year. I will demand the same level of effort from my coaching staff. If everyone does what is expected of them, next season will be more successful, and we're going to surprise a lot of people. Thank you to everyone for your support throughout the year. We'll see you all in October when the 2009/2010 season starts. Go Dons!
Player Blog What am I looking forward to in Las Vegas? What WE are looking forward to is the chance to take a business trip to Las Vegas. GO DONS! Coach Walters Blog We have gone through some rough patches in the last few weeks. That being said, we have also had our share of positive and exciting moments on the Hilltop. Fielding a roster of eight players, we played some of our best basketball in the last few months. We gave the Portland Pilots all they could handle before time ran out on our visions of victory. Two nights later, a "Gold Out" swept over Memorial Gym as the Gonzaga Bulldogs brought their nationally-ranked team to the Hilltop. Dior Lowhorn's game tying three-pointer with nine minutes remaining brought the most noise and excitement to Memorial Gym since the day I arrived on campus. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs had too much fire power late and squeaked out a five point victory. There were many promising performances by the remaining squad that leaves me excited for the last three regular season games and the WCC Tournament. I hope to see all of you this weekend as Homecoming festivities will be held on campus and we prepare to beat the Santa Clara Broncos on Saturday night. Go Dons! Player Blog While we have struggled in Conference thus far, three of our five games have been on the road against the likes of Portland, Gonzaga and Bay Area rival Santa Clara. Our overall record is 8-12, our home record being 5-2, we still have many opportunities ahead of us. Once again this weekend we have a chance to further our home win record and improve as a team. Thursday we take on Pepperdine, a team that is also struggling. We defeated Pepperdine twice last season. We take on LMU Saturday, a team looking for their first conference win as well. Monday was our first day of practice this week as well as our first day of school. It was an excellent practice Monday and we will look to have carry over as well play Pepperdine and LMU. Today is our final day of preparation for this weekend and it will be good one. The Team and I hope to see all the students and USF supporters this weekend in War Memorial. Go Dons! Coach Walter's Blog It has been a difficult road for us so far in the WCC. In our first weekend, we played two tournament teams. San Diego, a well coached team that is 4-1 in the league right now and St. Mary's, 5-0 in the league, ranked 22 in the country. Next up we had Portland, 4-1 (the best start in their school history), Gonzaga, 4-0 and ranked 23rd in the country. We then dropped another at Santa Clara. All of these games have been great character builders for our young team. We continue to work to improve in the areas of toughness and togetherness to compete at a Higher Level. All of our opponents so far have had great venues to play in. All hostile student sections with great fan support. I am glad our players experienced this as the road only gets tougher in the upcoming month. I will continue to ask our players to be tougher mentality and physically. We must continue to be more together, playing harder and smarter, on top of getting paint touches after good ball and player movement. Our coaches have been on the road recruiting as well. After the Santa Clara game I was on a 6:00am flight to do some recruiting of my own. During the flight I broke down our game film like I always do, taking good clips along with clips of things that need to be done better, to educate the players. We will continue to work as hard as possible with these young men making them better on the court and preparing them for life. On Thursday, all of us took a CPR class so they are all certified in CPR now. This is a great certification they can have for their lives and growing as young men. With Pepperdine and LMU on the horizon this week, we will prepare to get our first conference win. I told the players after the Santa Clara game to keep their heads up. We have to continue to improve and not feel sorry for ourselves. I am happy to be their coach and appreciate their efforts. We all (coaches, support staff and players) grow from difficult times that help us improve as a program for a brighter future. Look forward to seeing you this week on the Hilltop when we play Pepperdine, Thursday evening at 7:00 PM. Coach Walters In Saturday's game against Cal State East Bay, our focus going in was to play our game. It was important that we played solid defense and get the shots we wanted. Various defensive keys included getting in the box to prevent getting split by giving good help defense. Offensively we wanted to get great ball movement and paint touches and by accomplishing these keys we got the shots we wanted. Overall we played well, accomplished these keys, and was able to finish the pre-season with a winning record. Before the game coach Walters gave us a quote: "Satisfaction is measured by effort not by attainment. Full effort means full victory." We gave full effort and as a result we attained full victory. We are going into the conference play with great experiences and together as a team. It will be an exciting season. Happy New Year!
December 26, 2008 Dear USF Don Fans, I want to wish all of you Happy Holidays from the USF Basketball Program. The support that we have received from you is very much appreciated. We have had some good wins and some very disappointing losses, but through it all the support has been great. This is the first year for this Basketball Coaching Staff and I promise you that we will work our tails off to everyday make this Basketball Program better. We have some areas of great strength and some areas where we need improvement, but our Student-Athletes are working very hard to reach our team's potential. Although we don't get a lot of time off for the Holidays (we are all actually meeting in Boston on Christmas Day), we are all truly blessed to be here on the Hilltop. The Holy Cross game will be a difficult one for us and then we will have a day to prepare for Boston College. Both games will be good challenges for us and I am looking forward to getting back on the court. Thank you again for all your support in 2008. It is my goal that 2009 is even better in the Classroom, on the Court and in the Community! Happy Holidays and I look forward to seeing you all at War Memorial on Game Night! Go Dons, December 8, 2008 Dear USF Basketball Fans and Supporters, The Non-Conference Season is already in full swing. We are currently 5-3 and are getting ready to take on Long Beach State this Saturday. A lot has happened in my short time here, but I figured that I would reach out and hopefully fill you in on what is going on with our Basketball Program. We will welcome any questions that you may have and I will do my best of getting back to every single one of them. Topic of the Day: We have not played the kind of Basketball that I believe we need to play. To be the team that we want to be we have to do the following: Defense:
Offense:
This is what I consider to be Good Basketball. At times this year we have done a decent job of this. It has not been as consistent as I would like and we have not done this for any where near a full game. We need to do this everyday in practice and have it carry over to the game. Good Shooting is obviously an important part of being a winning team. We are not going to always have Good Shooting Nights. However if we do the 8 things listed above, we have a chance of winning every game that we play. This is what we are looking for as a Coaching Staff. I hope this gives you some insight to what we are trying to convey to our Student-Athletes. When we as a team really understand this.....it is going to be a lot of fun. Look forward to hearing from you and more importantly come out to War Memorial Gym on Game Night! Go Dons, Rex Walters |
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