9-3... any other year Dons fans would be ecstatic to have that record. So why not this year? Our expectations were sky high, especially mine. They are doing everything I thought they would do honestly: protecting the home court and winning road games. However, the struggles in Alaska could come back to haunt us a little bit. We lost to an excellent team in Murray State who is now ranked in the top 25 and a decent New Mexico State team. I am not disappointed in the way we are winning games, just because of the fact that these are the Dons, and we do not make things easy. looking ahead to tonight's game against Holy Cross, I really believe it serves as a barometer for this team's nonconference slate. Winning this game will give us an undefeated road record in the nonconference after failing to win one nonconference road game for two straight seasons. Looking at Holy Cross's roster you have a tiny roster: with three guys under 6'0 and no one over 6'9. (Although we actually don't have anyone over 6'9 either). Maybe those "scrimmages" against Pacific Union and Menlo College will serve some good after giving Perris and Justin a taste of being the tallest man on the floor. The Dons rebound as more of a collective effort while the Crusaders have R.J. Evans and Dave Dudzinski do most of the dirty work. Those two are among Holy Cross' best players along with leading scorer Devin Brown at 13.6 points per game. The keys to win every game for the Dons pretty much remain the same: make your free throws and limit turnovers. Rex often talks about how you can't really rely on field goal percentage and you can only do so much to keep the other team at a low percentage. One thing that doesn't matter when if you are playing a D1 team or not is free throw percentage. Don't take Perris Blackwell's 7-7 from the charity stripe with a grain of salt. Lately he has been stroking it a little better from the line and if he keeps making his free throws it will go a long way towards having a successful season. I hope you enjoyed reading and GO DONS!