November = Shockers Basketball!

It’s November. You know what that means right?

Tomorrow is National Deviled Egg Day! So I urge you all to whip up some of your favorite Deviled Eggs recipe and snack on them all day. There are some places in Wichita that sell deviled eggs like Dillons and Wal-Mart. I’ve been to Redrock Canyon Grill in Wichita and noticed they have deviled eggs on their menu but have never had them? I wonder if they are any good.

More importantly, November means basketball season. With the NBA lockout taking place (which I’m probably one of a handful of people in Wichita that care), that puts more emphasis on College Basketball. And there’s only one college basketball team that matters to me: Wichita State.

As a season ticket holder with a couple of my friends, we’re all really excited for what the season holds. After last season’s struggles which ended with an NIT Championship, it’ll be interesting to see how the team fares with the losses of Graham Hatch, Aaron Ellis, Gabe Blair, JT Durley and even Derek Brown. I had a chance to stop by Midnight Madness last week to watch the team scrimmage for a bit and saw some good, some bad. It’s hard to gauge how a team will fare based on a 40 minute scrimmage where they are playing each other. Many guys had flashes where you ooh’ed and ah’ed. For those of you who don’t know, the first exhibition game is Tuesday, November 8th. Aka, next week. So get your tickets and the following Sunday, the 13th is our first regular season game against Charleston Southern.

Is it sad I’m actually getting goosebumps writing this?

Then it gets even better. 16 days from now, the true test comes. The Puerto Rico Tip-Off Challenge takes place in, you guessed it, Puerto Rico. Five of my buddies and I will be headed down there to root the Shox on to victory. Who knows, maybe I’ll stay there if I like it. PuertoRicoByEB.com is still available to purchase through GoDaddy.

I have high expectations for this upcoming season but some hesitations too. It’ll be hard to replace our frontcourt. Garrett Stutz won’t be able to do it alone. Carl Hall has the potential to be a monster but James Anacreon, Jake White, and Ehimen Orukpe are going to need to put in some quality minutes to make it work. Joe Ragland needs to go to class. Hopefully Toure Murry’s ribs heal properly.

And my only prediction I’ve been making. When Ron Baker starts getting playing time, he will be a fan favorite. People will love him.

Creighton looks tough to beat with everybody returning. They are the obvious favorite coming out of the MVC. Do I think we stand a chance? Of course. And for once, I want to end my St. Louis trip with a win. It sucks driving home after a loss. And the drive home is looooonnnnnngggggggg!

So with that said, Go Shox! I’m not big on sports blogs or writing them. I think the best sports discussions and gathering viewpoints are over a few beers at a bar.

Still taking suggestions on Letter P. There looks to be a lot of places that start with P that I’ve never heard of or never been to.