 The games before counted, but now they count just a little bit more. The BSU basketball teams begin conference play tomorrow against Minnesota Crookston after they each played four non-conference game schedule. After beginning their season with two wins, the women's team has faltered a little bit of late, including a loss Monday to Division 3 UW Superior. The majority of the team are underclassmen, so it could take some time for things to come together. I learned that we can be really quick. We can play really well together, but at the same time we're young and since we've had a lot of injuries, we haven't been able to play all with each other for as long as we've wanted to. We had a couple disappointing games, especially the last one where we have a lot to refocus on and really just a coming to Jesus kind of focus for our kids because the way we play it is unacceptable basketball. The Benz team enters tomorrow. They have three and one with their only loss coming on a buzzer beater that probably shouldn't have counted because of the travel. The big focus tomorrow is shutting down Crookston's Harrison Cleary, led the conference with over 24 points per game last year, and head coach Mike Boshi says they'll try a variety of strategies to shut him down. If he's scoring efficiently, you've got to do something to try to limit him a little bit more. If he's not scoring quite as efficiently, then maybe he can let him isolate a little bit and try to take care of everybody else. Locking up on him is going to be huge. We just got to play as a team. It's going to be a good test of what we've done so far, you know, to see where we're at to start the season. I'm excited. I think that all the guys are excited. They're ready to start this thing. I'll get into the conference split. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.