We began the week by cracking the AP Top 25 for the first time since I have been at Northwestern. This was a pretty cool accomplishment, but based on this week's results, we aren't in it anymore. So pretty much all I can say is that it was kind of neat, but...our goals are not to just be in the top 25.

TRIP TO CHAMPAIGN

This week we played at Illinois and at home against Michigan State. On Monday, we had a good practice and then hopped on the bus to Champaign. It took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get there. Some of my favorite things to do on these bus rides are listen to music, take a nap, or just chill with my teammates. When we got to Champaign, we relaxed for a while at the hotel then went to shoot at Assembly Hall. We had another shoot around the morning of the game, and then it was game time.
We eventually lost in OT, so it was tough to swallow, but the game itself was what college basketball is all about. All the players were going all out, and the crowd was really into it. Assembly Hall is probably one of the most colorful places you could find because all the Illini fans wear their orange. It would have been great to get a win there, but road wins in the Big 10 are hard to come by. So one of our outlooks after the game was that if we won or we lost, we were going to play Michigan State at home on Saturday.

ROOMMATES

We are assigned random roommates on the road for away games, and this year my roommate is our center, Luka Mirkovic. Last year I was roommates with Jeremy Nash, and he was fantastic as a roommate. Luka is from Serbia, so he is a bit different. He likes to go to bed at around 9:30 or 10:00, and every single light in the room has to be off. Davide Curletti, one of my apartment roommates, roomed with Luka in the dorm last year, our freshman year, and he has some pretty hilarious stories about it. One time, Davide was charging his laptop so there was a tiny little light coming from the computer, and Luka got up and asked Davide to cover up that light. So that is an example of how Luka likes to operate. When we played at NC State, I asked Luka if I could stay on my laptop (at 9:30 ET, mind you) and study a little bit because finals were coming up, and he agreed. After about 5 minutes, Luka told me that the light in the dark would ruin my eyes so I should turn my computer off. Instead of arguing, I went into the bathroom and studied for a couple of hours. That hotel was amazing though, and there was a TV in the mirror in the bathroom, so I watched some Monday Night Football as well.

GOING TO THE MOVIES

After we got back from Illinois, our team dedicated the next two practices to getting ready for Michigan State. It didn't turn out too well, and we lost by over twenty points at home. It's very disappointing, so we have to get to work this week and really compete at practice.
Winter Break went by really fast. It was cool to just play basketball and then relax and do whatever for the rest of the day, but there weren't many people from Northwestern around during this time. Friday night I went to see the movie Avatar in 3-D, and it was incredible. It's funny because so many people told me that it was great, and I agree after seeing it, but one person in particular said he didn't enjoy it too much. That person was Davide, the movie man himself. I live with Davide and John, so I spent the most time over break with them. Davide loves action, sci-fi, and the "alien" movies, but somehow he didn't like Avatar. We were all surprised by this and continue to pester him about it.

DOING THE DISHES

John, Davide, and I have a great system for doing the dishes and taking out the garbage: video games, in particular FIFA soccer. We flip cards to see which two will play a game, and then the loser of the soccer match on XBox will have to do the dishes and/or take out the garbage. It's been pretty even since we moved into our apartment in September, but I still think I am the best video game player in our apartment, ha-ha.

Well, that's it for now. This week we play Texas Pan-Am at home and then at Michigan, so it's important for us to respond and bounce back. Thanks and see you next time!