Q&A: Donley

Right around the time Donley posted about the lodging for PCTI 7, I contacted him for an extended Q&A session. (It's even extended from my original plans, as I realized posting it that I actually asked 16 questions, not 15.)

What follows is a nice preview of what to expect in Cincinnati as well as one of the better recaps of PCTI 6. 

Thanks in advance to Donley for all he's doing to get us set up for this year's trip. 

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1. So, Cincinnati...It's been a long time coming. Since you're the point man for PCTI VII, we're gonna make your Q&A a little extended. So before we get in to the hoops segment of things, lets talk about Cincy/The Nati/The Ambrose Asylum/The Queen City.

The city itself has seen a massive turnaround in the last 10-15 years. Most people probably don't know that the last time I really lived here, in High School, white dudes under the age of 18 had a curfew in the city. As in, I wasn't legally allowed in certain parts of town after like 7:00 I think. The city, like most, had some rough parts of town and one night in 2001 a young black, unarmed male was shot and killed by a white cop. Legit, actual riots ensued and the city probably hit it's rock bottom. Since then money has poured in to revamp the downtown area and they have done wonders - the banks is a cool spot on the river with massive restaurant/bars between the two stadiums, OTR is home to multiple breweries and some of the best food in the city as well as a high end hipster nightlife, there is a brand new casino, and then a lot of history thrown in. So, long story there but I'm loving getting to know my city again and can't wait to share it with the group.

2. Before we get down to the fun stuff, lets knock out the most important aspect: the gym. Anything you can reveal at this point?

I don't want to get into too much until it's actually locked down (hang-up is potential floor work being done), but if we can get the place I want it will be just about a mile from our house. No one will be disappointed I can guarantee it. Naturally the people running the thing are hilariously in love with PCTI, standard.

3. I should have said before the first question that most of us know by now that many of the PCTI plans come together in the final weeks. With that said, anything else about the basketball portion that you're looking forward to, struggling to get locked down, etc.?

Not really, the stats group from I and II are rolling up from Lexington which will be incredible. I am planning to have the games earlier in the day (10:30 tip) to allow for the afternoons to be fully open versus waiting around all morning to play in afternoon games...which I HATE. There are a few other odds and ends that have to be ironed out but nothing substantial. I'm just hoping like hell that this gym won't be scheduled for floor work those days because it will be incredible.

3. There's been a lot of chatter about the roommate draft. Obviously, that's contingent on having our lodging locked down. You've considered many options, where does that stand?

N/A at this point. I've actually, at different points in time, had 3 separate hotels booked for 4-5 rooms before committing to the house. And with the house and not really understanding the layout exactly, it's hard with any degree of certainty that you're knowing what you're getting into picking roommates, even though people will be sharing rooms.

4. For some people (Bruiser, Ratings Man Dan, Wes) food is the most important part of the weekend. Do you have any spots already in mind, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner?

I think food has occupied my mind more than anything else in planning the weekend. There is a nice brunch spot called Hangover Easy that's phenomenal, rooftop lunch spots will be regular, and Sat dinner will be fantastic. The good thing is that there are so many options for food down here that you really can't go wrong. I will warn folks about Cincinnati Chili though, it's not what you're used too and could potentially cause some on floor problems if consumed without respect to the chili.

5. Last question before we move on to the usual stuff: Any drinking spots/off-court activities you're eyeing?

Most definitely, there are pockets of awesomeness in different parts of the city. There are a few must-go spots, but I'm not trying to over plan the weekend so that everyone can go enjoy any spot they find some interest in checking out.

6. Alright, as the bridge to get us back to the on court stuff, tell us about what's going on with your life. You guys have moved around a bit and your boy is getting bigger. Will he make an appearance to watch dad hoop a la Mike Hite in PCTI II

The last 3mo have been crazy. I mentioned it in my previous post, but I took a job with Starbucks Corporate here in Cincy. If anyone is interested in what I do just ask me because it's not worth typing it here to bore everyone senseless, just know I'm important AF. Within about 5wks, I accepted the job, bought a house, sold a house and completely moved the whole family (relocation help, but still brutal). Needless to say, getting into planning for PCTI has been a nice reprieve from the regular stuff even though it can get tedious. Little Man G will definitely make an appearance as will my dad, who may be the biggest hit of the weekend for some folks. I've talked about this weekend too much over the years for the family's interest not to be peaked to the point where they have to check it out. But I've already told them expect to see me as much as if we were in Portland. And good thing Smo isn't coming because I wouldn't be able to bring my kid within 100ft, am I right?

7. Me and you may not be the first people that come to mind for some people when thinking about what went wrong for our squad last year, but if you were on our team you know just how much the two of us were struggling to find any sort of consistent rhythm for the entire series. I'm not sure there was a time in any of the five games where one if not both of us wasn't riding the struggle bus. What went wrong for you a year ago?

First off, our team had a lot of short-comings, but I felt we were right there in every game except game 1. Even though some of the others ended with a wider margin, each game felt like we were 5pts down with a cap and unable to get any closer. Our biggest problem was starting the offense and finding a good shot, which when I look back is no one's fault really it's just that between Beas, Spot, yourself, and me we all tried to do too much alone. I'll break it down a little further, I think Spot played really well both shooting and finishing when he got in the lane, but would get lost for long stretches and then when we got tired we saw more bad 3s early in our possessions. I thought Beas played harder than anyone all weekend, but when things went dry offensively he took it upon himself to score (probably the right call) and that kept us more teammate reliant players out of rhythm. You played really well on the glass, but like Beas would try to put it all on your shoulders at times on offense and got forced into some bad shots (see impact on teammate reliant players from earlier). To both your credit and Beas', you both carried us at times when we were on the brink of being blown out - which neither Spot nor I were able to do. I personally struggled game 1 with the shakes (which I get sometimes when I'm short on protein), but other than that was standard with a few streaks of good scoring but overall a poor shooting percentage and I couldn't figure out how best to play off everyone in that collection of players. Each year I have had a 'dud game', like an 0-9 or 1-10 type game that just jacks up my stats for the whole weekend -- I think it was game 4 last year and it always kills my team. And without fail, it will happen this year so just watch out. Then there was Wes and McKinney, who just weren't able to really add to the scoring needs whatsoever.

I'd like to go back and watch the games again because when we swung the ball to start a possession was the only time we got in a good rhythm. But overall, the chemistry was bad, the environment wasn't great within our team and we just didn't get it done. At one point Day 2 Beas had dropped like his 3rd dime to a cutting McKinney who promptly blew yet another reverse layup and as I ran down the court I remember seeing Beas' face - it looked like the Sandlot boys after Benny hit's Smalls that first pop fly, and inside Beas' head was a thousand voices saying "Beasy, he's a sqaure man. HE'S A SQUARE". The tough part was that Beas was fighting really hard to get us a win and his frustrations read on his face and body language, which seemed to put Wes and McKinney (two of the most easily derailed players when it comes to confidence) into even a more uncomfortable 'I can't screw this up" mentality - and an eventual brat-out all-timer from Beas. But Fuck it, we lost and I could have done more, no excuses.

8. How do you turn things around this year?

By getting out of the way of everyone else

9. How do you like your squad and where do you see yourself fitting in?

I love team Over the Hill. Sabes being back has infused some much needed energy into all things PCTI and I'm interested to see where his game is come the weekend, but he's too prideful to not show up as the best basketball player he can be at this point. Abe - GOAT, done. Joe might be the best teammate in PCTI, he does everything really well and can drive a team's energy which is something I thrive off of in-game. I think Spotlight will have some huge games just getting wide open looks on kickouts. Bruiser is such a wild card at this point, I really think the late round pick and the overall snubbing of his existence in PCTI will be taken out on somebody (word is he said TP will wish he'd never been born), I'm just glad he's on my side because he can average double digit boards if he wants to and rebounding is huge. I'll be the guy setting screens and just running around recklessly. Oh hey Wes.

10. When you look across the bow at the other team, what jumps out at you?

You do BC. I realized looking back that we've never played against each other and I don't plan on leaving your hip the whole fucking weekend. Go ahead and start calling me El Diablo because Cincy going to be your hell boy.

[Editor's note: I hadn't realized this, either. One of the keys to my success is that I'm never the focus of anyone's plan defensively and I'd appreciate it if it stayed that way.]

11. Has your squad started scheming on how you're going to go at us? What can you tell us about the game plan and if those conversations haven't happened yet, how would you go about playing against us?

NO

12. You're one of the great characters of PCTI and yet one of the few guys who when I try to think of who your allies and rivals are, no names immediately come to mind. So, who do you most like to compete against and who is your favorite teammate?

It's because in reality, I'm really not boys with anyone in this thing. Rarely have I seen anyone outside of this weekend since college and even more rarely do I talk to anyone. For the most part everyone has some connection of location, long-time friends, etc -- I'm a bit of a lone wolf on that front. So, in that case it's easy to just ride in the middle, but I do enjoy competing against Hops because I feel like there is a large part of him that just hates me on the court - and I can appreciate that.

13. Your versatility is often praised and your roll seems to often change from game to game, or even half to half within a game. With that said, what's the ideal role for you to play for yourself and your squad?

My ideal role is to be just that, flexible, because it means I get to a little of everything all the time. I think versatility is a bit overrated when it's really just being ok at a few things and not really good at any one thing. Best role for me on this squad is to find the gap in our team on O and D then fill it.

14. The most underrated player in PCTI is?

Right now, the Stick...big time

15. Finally, does the Zorro celebration come back back for VII or are you going to be too distracted with your hosting duties? That responsibility has effected people in the past.

I think it's time to let the sword fly once more and maybe a few new ones for some flavor. I implore everyone to get more in the camera during the games, it makes watching them so much more fun. I know that is probably making Sabin's skin crawl, but I want to watch videos and laugh instead of scrutinize all the bounce passes that are being made. As a matter of fact, I challenge all you turd fergs to get up in the cam day 1. And yeah I've heard the distraction/hosting theory, but it won't impact my effort. Beyond that, who knows.