A month or so ago, one of those friends that I try to play with weekly, offered to set up a game of 1-on-1 with someone he knew that had played college ball very recently.

That person was 6’3″, 24 year old, Scott Spencer.  Scott played shooting guard at Concordia University of Ann Arbor, which is a Division II school.

This past Sunday, Scott and I played two games of 1-0n-1 to 15 points (win by 2), with three pointers counting as 2 points and everything else as 1 point.

Me vs. Scott Spencer – Former Shooting Guard at Concordia University (Division II) – Video

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWjcdZM8FQo

[If you are reading this via email or RSS, the video may not show up, so click here to watch video.]

Game Results

Game 1 began with a little back and forth before Scott took control with a series of turn around jumpers and won it handedly 15-6.  Basketball comes down to who makes the shots, and I definitely didn’t do much of that in Game 1.

In game 2 I got off to a much better start.  I found my shot for a minute and hit a series of jumpers to get up 14-9, before I lost it again.  Scott took advantage and pulled the game to 14 all tie.  A hustle play and another attacking the basket drive and I pulled out the 16-14 win.

Overall, Scott is very strong which made it more difficult to drive.  I’d estimate that he’s got 20-25 pounds on me, which makes a difference for sure, but is great preparation for me, as most everyone will big bigger than I am.  On the offensive end, he can really shoot the ball from any place on the court, so it kept me honest on defense.

Luckily for me, Scott now lives in the area so it will be nice to continue to play and get better and better.

What I Learned

• I’m getting better.  Not necessarily from a performance standpoint yet, but mentally I’m going into games feeling I should win.  It may take some time to get everything back from a skill standpoint, but I’m getting closer and having a blast!
• My shot is MIA.  For most of my life, all I’ve done is shoot the basketball well.  I’ve taken more of an attacking the basket approach lately, mostly for conditioning, but the strong suit is struggling.  After my performance on Sunday (I should have put together a video of all of the misses), I know I need to get some of my focus back on my shooting form.  My shot is as bad as it has ever been, but I know how to fix it.

While the games didn’t go exactly as I would have liked, I am very thankful for the experience.  The more people I play, the better I feel I am getting.  That is exciting!

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*If you’d like to help me prepare for my match-up with Michael Jordan and play me 1-on-1, go here and sign up!

**To see who else I’ve played, click here!

Special thanks to Shane Turk for setting the game up. Also big thanks to Scott for agreeing to play. Lastly, thanks to my bro for the great video!