Calling basketball for the first time... not once, but twice!!

Hello everybody and welcome back to my blog!! It's great to have you here!!

Last week, I had a chance to start something new in calling sports for Lawrence Tech University and that sport in basketball. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in America and when it comes to the college level, players have the opportunity to impress themselves if they want to get into the big leagues (NBA/WNBA).

Before I called basketball, I have enough time to prepare which spotting board should I use, the fundamentals, vocabularies of basketball sayings and much more. If you haven't noticed about one of my recent blogs about learning a new sport, check out the blog and you'll do the same thing I did and you will be comfortable calling a new sport. Now back to basketball, I have to watch some basketball highlights, mostly NBA, to hear what the announcers are saying and saying the players names correctly before the big thing (and I also practice too to make sure I get it done).

The first game I called was a women's basketball game between Lawrence Tech and Madonna (no, I'm not talking about the singer) and it was a good one. Before the game, I have everything ready to go including my spotting boards, basketball vocabularies, my computer, water bottle, etc. My athletic communications director, Ryan Ilardi, and I looked over the roster to see who's not playing, otherwise injured and highlight the players who are in the starting lineup, also known as "Starting 5". Finally, I pulled up my script for the opening, watched over the players, prayed to God for a few minutes, listen to the National Anthem, and waiting for the people behind the scenes to get ready for my call.

In the first quarter, Dominique Evans puts in the put back layup for the first two points of the game, Kendall Fisher triple starts a 9-0 run for the Blue Devils in over 90 seconds, but Madonna is playing their game throughout the first quarter with Claire Leroux hitting the triple to give the Crusaders a 7-4 advantage, including a 8-2 run to tie the game at 17 and Megan Aho's jumper at the buzzer to give Madonna the lead after the first ten minutes. In the second quarter, Madonna continues to roll on as the three-pointer was made from Sarah Tanderys, Megan Aho's six unanswered points gives Madonna an 11-point lead, but the freebies from Fisher and Evans cut the Blue Devils' deficit to three and the layup from Kristen Lunniss ends the half as Madonna leads Lawrence Tech 35-26 after 20 minutes of play.

In the second half, it's the Blue Devils turn to play their own game. Kylee Batey hitting the layup to open the scoring in the third quarter and more layups by Jade Faris and Julia Huey to bring Lawrence Tech closer and closer to a three-point deficit, Maddie Long hitting the trey bomb and Kendall Fisher give the Blue Devils the first lead of the second half. On an 8-3 run by Madonna, Sarah Tanderys hitting back-to-back threes to give the Crusaders a 48-44 lead. After that, Melissa Long hits her second three of the quarter to cut the deficit to three as the Crusaders leads 50-47 after the third quarter. The fourth quarter gets as much dramatic moments as it seems as Melissa Long makes her third three to end the two-minute scoreless streak to start the fourth quarter, but the turning point of the game was Addie Nagel getting a layup and the foul to give the Blue Devils a 56-54 lead with under 5 minutes to play and Kendall Fisher ices the game with back-to-back threes before Kirstyn Lunniss finish the game with a layup as the Blue Devils gets the win by a final score of 68-56 to pick up their 8th win of the season and 5th in WHAC Conference play.

After the game is finished, I have to soak in the moment that I called my first ever basketball game and let just letting you know the basketball is definitely my secondary sport to call behind soccer.

A couple of days after the WBB game, the men took over and yes, it's Lawrence Tech and Madonna. At first, I was going to be an analyst for that game, but unfortunately someone who was going to do play-by-play was sick, so it's all me to call MBB (Men's Basketball) for the first time, second in basketball. Same preparation, same scenario with the rosters and same pre-game routine. When the game begin, the Blue Devils are definitely rocking and rolling.

Gunnar Gustafson leading things off for the Blue Devils with an easy layup and back-to-back buckets from Alex Ivanovic gave LTU an 11-6 lead. With 15:10 left in the first half, the Blue Devils went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead. The Blue Devils lead 25-10 midway through the first half after back-to-back triples from Carter Frantz and Blake Lund. After the Madonna timeout, Alex Ivanovic hitting a three-pointer and a layup from Gustafson gives LTU a commanding 16-point lead, but the Crusaders came back down to hit consecutive baskets from Ethan Emerzian, cutting the lead back to 12. With 2:46 to go, Isaiah Cumberland secured two straight baskets to bring LTU a 46-25 lead and Carter Frantz ends the half with another three to give the team 49-33 heading to the locker room.

In the opening minutes of the second half, LTU got off to a slow start when the Crusaders cut the deficit to 14 points before the timeout. Both teams continued to trade baskets out of the timeout for the next couple of possessions, but with 10:54 left to go in the game, Brandon Beavers finds Gunnar Gustafson slashing to the rim for the slam dunk and Andrew Ring answered back with another bucket before Beavers made a layup to make it 71-53. Jordan Graham of Madonna got it going late to bring the Crusaders back to 13 points with 7:10 to play. Three minutes later, Gustafson slammed another dunk from the assist of Andrew Rinn. The Blue Devils were able to sink their free throws in crunch time to secure the victory. With his four steals, Brandon Beavers surpassed the 100-career steals in his collegiate career.

NOTES FROM BOTH GAMES:

There's some notes from Ryan Ilardi after both of my games that could help me improve better for my next basketball broadcast:

For the LTU WBB game against Madonna:

• In my open, I said "Lady Blue Devils", but actually just straight "Blue Devils".

• I understand it was hard to tell what was going on when the basketball was being switched out, it had blood on it as well. Now obviously there was no way for me to know that but as the home broadcast I have to be careful not to criticize our home event staff for making sure the basketballs are properly inflated. That's a situation where you can just say your not sure what the delay in the action is or have some dead air for a couple seconds, or talked about some game stats to fill the time.

• Not a big one but I think I jumped the gun on if free throws were coming and had to correct myself. Take that extra second or so and you'll be able to see if the foul was called on the floor or was a shooting foul.

• Going to back to the home broadcast point, a couple of times I got really excited for Madonna baskets. I know that I've been going through his with soccer as well but remember as the LTU home broadcaster, I can definitely compliment Madonna and speak positively about what they're doing but be neutral voice and energy-wise.

For the LTU MBB against Madonna:

• Pronunciations including Ivanonic, at the end you were saying "Vich" when it should be Vick, Sanna Sisawo is pronounced "Sauna Sis-uh-woo", and finally "Gus-stuff-sin", but I was saying "Gus-star-uh-sin".

Overall, I did a good job calling basketball and very impressed of what I've done calling basketball even though this isn't my primary sport to call, but I'll make college basketball my secondary sport to call, but the next time I called basketball, it will be a different approach that I will work on pronunciations before the game. My next game won't be until February, so that gives me so much time to look at more basketball highlights, bring in new vocabularies of basketball terms, and practice pronunciations.

Moreover, I am hoping to call more college basketball in future and have no plans to call NBA/WNBA games (no disrespect) during my soccer offseason, because college is definitely more exciting, because of the passion, loyalty, tradition, rivalries, the fans, and more importantly, MARCH MADNESS!!!

Well that's it for this blog! I hope you that basketball is one of the best sports that anyone can call. Before you go, I want you to check out the two games that I called and let me know what you think about it. Feedback are appreciated.