Game 9: West Vigo 54 Crestwood (Paris) 48

Against Otter Creek we closed out our "2nd quarter" of the season....We finished that portion with a 1-3 record and 1-7 on the season to that point. As I told you guys from day 1, I am not looking to put the emphasis on "wins and losses" with this group. I am more concerned with, "are we getting better....are we able to COMPETE" with our opponents. (we must learn to "compete" consistantly before we can begin to worry about "winning" consistantly) We have made progress in some aspects, and yet we still struggle with what I call, "fundamental basketball knowledge". We play hard for the most part and that is what I expect. What I want to see us do however is to develop a level of "basketball knowledge" that lines up with that effort.

We need to get to the point of making our philosophy, "work smarter, not harder". The best way to do this is to learn from "what we are doing wrong." (Right now we are working harder to "cover-up" our mistakes, rather than recognizing those mistakes and simply correcting them to begin with.)

Against the Woodrow Wilson, Honey Creek, Otter Creek and Sarah Scott teams, the passes that get "tipped" or "deflected" by Crestwood and Chauncey Rose, are easy steals and lay-ups. The silly, "not thinking" fouls we get called for against a Chauncey, become actual points...The indecision, the fear, the basic lack of execution, becomes not just points, but "game breaking" opportunities for the better teams. This is because they "know" what they are doing...They "know" what these opportunities mean...They "know" how to take advantage of these situations. This mindset of  "accepting" mediocre play as, "the best I can do" is UNACCEPTABLE! Case in point, I heard the comments, "we did better at the foul line..."  The reality of this statement is, "no, WE didn't....Brandon did!" (excluding the missed front end of 2, "1 and 1" opportunities in the 4th quarter...) WE still missed "13" free-throws! When you take away what Brandon contributed last night, (8 of 10) we were only, "5 of 18" as a team...On the season, our opponents have shot 45 of 80(56%) at the foul line. (It was 61% before last nights game, which is definitely nothing to be excited about.) We on the other hand have been to the foul line, (I had to double check this because it just floors me...) "134" times, and we have only converted on "52" of them! (A pitiful 39%.) That will not get it done and I will "never" accept that as o.k.! It would be one thing if we didn't shoot freethrows in practice that much. But we shoot a ton of them.

It' simply a lack of concentration...A lack of  "form and routine"....You can't step to the line thinking about how you "hope" your going to do it. It should be a matter of, "I know what I did when I made the last one and I am going to do the same thing and get it done!)

We failed to execute the "mental" side of the game all night long. I still don't know how a team at this age does not comprehend the basic things of recognizing when we are in the "bonus", that we will be in the bonus the rest of the half on every foul. Instead we, look around when a foul is called like a bunch of lost sheep not knowing what to do...waiting for someone to point us in a direction to go next. How we don't understand the concept of the "possession arrow", that when the arrow is pointed toward our goal that we are getting the ball out of bounds. (Yet once again, we stand around waiting for someone to tell us, "what do I do now?")Not to mention the fact that for some strange reason, when I put someone into the game, that between the time I tell you to "go in for, so and so..." (we continually), in that 10 seconds that it takes to go to the scorers table and out onto the floor, either forget who we're going in for, or just decide not to tell the person. Either way, these are so basic, so fundamental parts to the game, and we still can't do them.

I know you probably feel like, "dang coach, we won last night"....and my response is simply, "in spite of our best efforts to do otherwise..."  I don't like to keep on you guys like this anymore than I would hope that you like hearing/seeing it. WE just have to do a better job. I include myself in this as well guys. On more than 1 occasion last night I was slow in my substitutions to get the right person in for certain situations. That is unacceptable and I need to do a better job of game management, just so you know.

This is "a team" and it will take a "TEAM" effort to get to the next level of our execution on the floor. Nobody can take a "mental" break. We have to make sure that at the very least, we are mentally ready for situations to happen before they happen. That is why I put you guys into a "spread offense" last night rather than to keep the offense in a normal routine. We have to learn how to play with the lead. I know we don't have much experience at that right now, but if you plan to improve you have to plan for "where your going" not just where your at. We struggled with taking care of the ball...We struggle with getting the ball to the right person(s) and not getting "spooked" and just throwing it to the "first available"....We struggled with not recognizing our own individual "strengths and weaknesses..." (if you can't dribble very well in practice and nobody is around you, why would you think that during a "contested game" you would suddenly become a ball handler?) The answer is, you won't! In addition, you have to recognize that when the game is close and you are in the lead, the other team is going to be taking chances, doing more pushing, more shoving and the refs may not give you a call....You can't lose your "mental toughness" and fall into the trap of losing your composure. You have to "see" all of these situations before they happen....You have to anticipate them, not be surprised by them!

We will continue marching on....Lord willing, some of these things will start to "click". In the mean time, we just have to put forth our best effort each and every day in "PRACTICE"....so we can better execute in the game!   :)

Oh yeah, we finally had a little balance in our scoring as well...(which will come when we score more points than the average age of the players...) We had 2 in double figures and 2 more that were close. (1 had 9 and another had 8...) That' a good way to start this 3rd quarter of the season....Let' keep it up and work on "those little things" mentioned before that ALWAYS make a big difference in how the game goes... :)