Appreciate the shout outs and critiques (I take both in stride). And yes, I do contribute to high school football coverage or help out if something big rolls into town (like the PGA golf tourney or Iron Man Triathlon), but my focus is always UNCW. The business card says "UNCW beat writer." Unfortunately, in today's age you can't just do one thing at a newspaper. You've got to help out with a little bit of everything, which is why you see my byline on other stories. But once basketball season starts, it's all UNCW all the time.

Getting back to the Cacok stuff, I hope I didn't come off like I was disrespecting what he did last year. Quite the contrary - I thought his effort was amazing. I've been fortunate in my career to be around some really special sports moments, and Cacok's season one definitely one of them. What I was getting at was it's easier to shoot 80 percent when a majority of your shots come from a close range over shooting from distance. I doubt the day is coming when we'll see a 3-point shooter put up those type numbers. A lot of Devontae's attempts came at or within 3 feet of the rim last year. It's not easy to shoot above 45 percent in basketball from any spot on the floor, but it's easier if you are shooting "higher percentage shots." That said, I think his overall numbers offensively will be better this year. I think he'll average more points per game, more touches, etc., but it would be foolish to think he'll shoot for 80 percent, especially if he starts taking shots away from the rim, which I think he's going to do.

Also, I don't have any stock in what UNCW does in any sport. Win, lose or draw, it doesn't matter to me. That said, I've learned it's a while lot easier to cover a winning team than a losing one. Plus, activity on our stories, Facebook posts, Twitter updates, etc., are better when the team is winning, so their success helps us as a paper have success. Last year was certainly fun to cover, never boring and I'm hoping to have some great stuff to write about this year for you guys.

Thanks for reading/listening/following/liking and so forth!