It is hard to belive but it is that time of the year, MARCH MADNESS. What a great time for the basketball fan, all the games and tournaments. Then after all of that there will be the selections . After the selections are finalized and the 65 teams are announced, the arguments begin. Who should be in the tournament and who should not be in the tournament. There are always good arguments on both sides. All of this before the tourney begins. San Antonio is a great city to host the event. The weather is super and the Riverwalk will be full of life. The coaches can get outside after being in the gym all season. I will miss my annual trip to the Final Four. I also miss all of the coaches and friends that Ihave made over the years.

     The Wizards have had a tough stretch since I have last written. Orlando came into our building and gave us a good beating. They played with more energy than us. Dwight Howard is becoming more and more like Superman all of the time. He just keeps on getting better and better each year. It is scary. The rest of the league will need Kryptonite to stop him. Then we  went north of the border and beat Toronto in OT. It was a huge win for us. It is always nice to go up to Toronto and see everyone in the organization. They all treated me like family. On this trip I got to see Doreen, she is the secretary and was so helpful to me last season. Thank you Doreen for everything. It is good to see TJ back playing after his injury. I wish him and his family the best. TJ is a great kid who is also very funny, but more importantly he is a generous and thoughtful person. After the OT win we headed to the airport and had to go through customs before boarding the plane and then we had to de-ice as it was snowing hard. I arrived home at my place a little before 3:oo am. After getting back from Toronto we played Charlotte at home. Charlotte came out on fire and scored 35 in the first quarter. That is too many points to give up in any quarter and we never could recover. The guys put up a heck of  a fight but we fell short. Back to backs are tough on us because our roster is so thin. The starters are playing alot of minutes and the rookies are getting their share too. A day off will do everyone a world of good.

    The word is that Caron will return to practice this week. Having him back will be great, now we can rest Wes. Wes has been logging heavy minutes in practice. Another body in practice is going to help out everyone and adding Caron back in the mix will make practices more competitive. We need him for our last twenty games. No word on Gil’s return or Etan’s. It is hard to belive that there are only 20 more games left in this season. The older you get the faster time goes by.

    Milwaukee comes into town for tomorrow’s game and my good friend Jim Todd (a.k.a. JT). I have known him for years and he is a great guy. I miss him as we have shared alot of good times in the past with this great game of basketball. We have had alot of laughs both on and off the court. JT is back in Milwaukee for his third stint. That says something about him.

    My daughter has gone up to Maine with our nanny Jessica until Friday. McKenna is spending time with her grandparents. My wife and I miss her so much. On Friday McKenna and Jessica will come home along with McKenna’s grandmother and aunt Kathy. It is awfully quite around here without McKenna.

    Thanks for reading and keep rooting for the Wizards. Until the next blog.

 Coach Hopla