On Sunday, we closed our run with the Dominican Republic National Team at the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship with a bronze medal, the first medal in international play in the country’s history. Let me preface this by saying that I couldn’t be more proud of the players.

Our goal was London and we fell short of that, but we were reaching for the stars and grabbed the moon. I’m disappointed for the players that they didn’t make the Olympics, but their effort, sometimes against insurmountable odds, was tremendous.  This team did more than it has ever done as a national program, and that’s what we were trying to do. We were trying to set the standard and let them know what is attainable if they do this together and they’re all committed. I think we’ve done that with a bronze medal.

This team has done things it has never done as a national program, and my hope is we’ve inspired a whole generation of young athletes in the Dominican Republic. I hope the performance of their countrymen lit a flame that was either blown out or was flickering. I hope this run brought great national pride to a group of people, and I want to thank everyone in the Dominican Republic for their support of this team and these players. You should be proud of what they accomplished.

Also, I want to thank Mitch Barnhart and the Kentucky administration for their support. Allowing me and my coaching staff to learn FIBA basketball and experience European-style coaching will make us better coaches for the University of Kentucky.

The games in Lexington and Louisville were a huge success. Inviting our alumni back to campus strengthened our relationships with the core of our program and allowed them to reconnect with our school. It also gave us a chance to honor a coaching legend in Joe B. Hall. It is my hope that we can use those exhibition games as a bridge to bring our alumni back and keep them a part of our tradition. Several of our former players have already expressed their desire to come back and finish their degrees.

Let me also thank the Big Blue Nation for trusting me and supporting this team. Whether it was the exhibition games in Kentucky or the support you gave these players, you showed once again why you’re the greatest fans in the country. I want everyone to know there wasn’t one day that went by where I wasn’t spending time working, making phone calls, Xing and Oing, and thinking about my team at the University of Kentucky.

Now, what will I be doing now that this over? For the next six or seven days, I will be in homes and in schools of the recruits we’re involved with. I’ll be in Lexington for one day this week but I’ll be back on the road recruiting that night.

Even though I’ve been in South America for the last few days during the contact period, I did three home visits from the speakerphone. Obviously, it’s not as effective as sitting face to face, but I wanted those young people to know that even though I was coaching a national team, they were on the forefront of my mind.

We will have individual skill instruction sessions Wednesday, which I’ve been thinking about for two weeks. I can’t wait to get back at it with this team that I’ll be coaching. I miss those guys, and they know that. I’ve texted and talked to them all.

I’m looking forward to having another experience with another brand new team and a group of young men that are committed to each other. As long as they’ll be their brother’s keeper, we’ll have a lot of fun again this year.