4/21/10 @ Palomar Junior College

Comment: we were advised that this league is for varsity teams and we are the only entry that is not a varsity high school program. They strongly encouraged that we would be in way over our heads, especially since we are playing against high school teams that practice and run there systems all the time, and we merely had a few days here and there to prepare as a team. In addition, we only have two players that were really varsity caliber players last year, that being Casey and Davin (injured), the rest of our team comprises of JV players who did not have significant roles in their respective programs and then quite a few freshman. So, as explained we are playing teams that will be faster, stronger and more experienced. All that said, my main objective is to not use that as an excuse, our goal is to play with maximum effort as a team and to learn how to compete as a group. We will learn what our groups strengths are and try to maximize those while learning how to off set and improve our weaknesses. My only immediate concern is that in order to compete with those teams we must find time to work on team issues. Our normal scheduled days are primarily to work on individual skills and athletic development and we cannot continue to sacrifice that time to work on team or game development. These are separate priorities. we had two days of voluntary practices to work on team issues and the turnout was poor at best. We will have to address this promptly if we want to be competitive in our league.

Offense: (C-) first, I was very pleased with our movement in motion, especially in the first half. we moved very well without the ball and set numerous solid picks and were able to get some quality shots. as fatigue set in, we do not move as quickly. also, we set some picks to an area, as opposed to setting the pick on a body, we must head hunt when we go to set a pick. We had numerous times where the ball handler could have continued his dribble and gotten to the basket, or created a better passing lane to available options, but we picked our dribble up. shot selection was good, not great. Anthony launched a few poor shots and we had a player put up a floater from about 12 feet, and one of our big's took a poor baseline jumper. Also, as fatigue set in, we had only two or sometimes only one player attacking the offensive boards, we must always have three going to the glass. We must get more chances to score and we can only do that by getting offensive rebounds and steals. A few of you had the 'deer in the headlights' syndrome, and did not relax enough to be effective, that will come with time on the court. As originally explained I thought we had 3 sure starters but with Davin being injured we only had two available. Casey and Luke demonstrated why in different roles. Casey, had a very solid overall floor game, helped handle the ball, great position most of the time on defense and gave us some poise which cannot be understated. Luke, had probably his best game as a player that I have observed in the past year and a half, he did a lot of things to help the team, solid ball reversals, good solid defense, help defense, boxing out and actually pursuing a few rebounds, numerous solid screens and helping Illouise get the ball up the court by giving him back court screens, among other things. Kevin may have been able to help us on the offensive board, but he has not participated in the past two practices so he was not an option. all of you please remember our discussion on injured vs. hurt, if you are injured you must respect the injury, if you are just hurt then you have to toughen up and play through it, sometimes the perspective is some of you want to avoid hard work, never let that be the issue. As mentioned earlier this year our problem is we don't have a true big man and we don't have a true point guard, point guard being the most critical, and we have a ton of people that can play the three spot. As I said in our huddle after the game, much credit goes to Illouise for trying to be our point guard, it is a very difficult task, especially when we are playing up. he had a lot of unforced turnovers and we will work on those skills to help eliminate those. we will work on protecting the ball, using our body to change direction with the dribble as the cross over is too slow and can be taken away as we saw last night. Maybe Anil could have helped us, but I could not find it appropriate to play him when his attendance was so poor. I would have given Omar a shot, but he was a no show, and did not participate in our last practice. I then asked a few of you if you would like to give it a try, and all declined. I do appreciate your honesty. that said, if we cannot develop a true point guard, we can do it by committee with Illouise, anil and omar if they prove to be viable options or I have no objections to moving Casey to point and even Davin once he returns, they will have a mismatch as they won't have point guards contesting them, but small forwards. So, we can make some adjustments if needed. Again, I commend Illouise for trying so very hard. This brings to mind another issue, some of you are playing in leagues where you are playing down, meaning the competition is very poor and in some instances co ed. this does nothing to help you develop, the only thing you get is a false sense of security, you get away with poor ball handling because you are playing against poor competition, then when you compete against the average high school player, you struggle. Please get out of wasting your valuable time. Play up every chance you get, but never play down. we also said off motion, anytime Brandon and Devon thought they could post up, they could do that anytime the ball was strong side, we did not do that often enough, at least lets get a look and pass back out. Beautiful execution of box C, we got a great look at an open 3.

Defense: (B) I was more than pleased with our defensive effort the first 12-14 minutes, at least in regard to getting back and being in position to help. As time wore on, for some it was a matter of conditioning, for others you allowed bad habits to sneak in. we had a few instances where we did not all get back, and there for could not provide help. we talked a lot about stopping the ball in transition, we got lazy in that aspect and paid for it dearly. I even burned a time out to explain that we come up and stop the ball in transition, way b4 the ball gets to an attack zone, we play the ball aggressively until we are sure it is no longer a threat, and at the least foul the ball handler, so they have to inbound the ball, we never gave the foul, and I am sure we gave at least 10 points, when a simple aggressive foul stops the play. This issue, combined with our unforced turnovers, easily gave them 20 points. This is something we can control as a group, we get those 20 points off the board and we win the game. In addition, we at times rebounded poorly, especially as it relates to our big's Brandon and Devon. When they had their big kid in, you both had a speed advantage, he could not box either of you out if you moved and pursued rebounds, you allowed him to take space and did not try to get around him. then as a team there were several times where we did not pursue the ball. anybody can get a rebound that comes to them, we want players that will go and get it! So, three simple things that we discussed in advance, taking care of the ball or ball value, stopping the ball in transition and defensive rebounding and we win game one, in a league where aren't supposed to win a game? When they did decide to post their big guy, we did a poor job of fronting him, it should have been easy for our big's to race around him. Even then, when he caught the ball in the post, you both allowed him to go right handed, we discuss this in our post up drills all the time, take him away from his shooting hand and towards your help defense, so those are mental mistakes. Lastly, we said if he is posting, our person guarding the wing player must mirror the ball and deny the pass to the post, we redirect the ball where we want it to go, back to the top, it cannot hurt us there, especially with last night’s opponent. While on the topic of rebounding, we must have 5 that are trying to aid our team in getting a defensive rebound, we had occasions where several of you were just standing around or assuming Brandon and Devon were going to get the rebound, do not assume, and if you are going to assume, assume they will not get the rebound for whatever reason and go get it. it takes 5, not one. It's one of the reasons Kolby stuck out on a defensive rebound, he sprinted in there, jumped and secured a defensive rebound for us because of pure effort, and at the time he was the smallest guy on the court, great job. of course, then panic struck and he was very anxious to get rid of the ball, but he found Illa.!

Other: In my assessment, playing 20 minute running clock halves is pretty close to 12-13 minutes of true stopped time, so a half is just about equivalent to a quarter and half of a normal high school game. that said fatigue was an issue, especially for Luke, Casey and Illa (which I believe contributed to some turnovers). For Casey and Luke, I think this is the first illustration on the benefits of weight training has and will do for you in your future, you actually were both able to use your body's effectively due to your added strength. Up until the four minute mark we were still in contention to win the game. Casey's injury did not help us. My biggest disappointment is we used two time outs, one called by them and one by us to discuss one simple tactic. We had one team foul, (which is great as we played pretty good man to man defense without fouling), I asked that we get super aggressive on the ball and double team every chance we got and go for steals, if no steal then foul, so we can eventually put them on the line to shoot one and one's. In the four minute span we gave two fouls, that's TWO! Once I get a look at game film, I will have much more to share of course. Just remember, you are underdogs, the one thing we must excel at is EFFORT, nobody should work harder than you. the few times we relaxed, we got burned, you cannot let up for a minute. It's a luxury we don't have, do not rest on the court. Casey, good job letting me know you needed to come out for a blow.

Team/Bench: (B-) For the first game bench activity is acceptable. You must all be supportive all the time, acknowledge a good basketball play every time it occurs. When on the bench you are not a spectator, you are a teammate. If it's a hustle play than everyone of us should be proud. In the first half, our bench is always on our defensive side of the court, you should be talking and helping your team mates every possession, this also helps you stay in the game, so you will be ready to play when called upon. Anil, good job logging the playing time chart, ty. Casey thank your dad for the stat sheet. we will discuss warm ups, just remember it is a time to prepare your body/game and mind for the competition. We warm up with intensity/ cause/ purpose and fundamentals. These are just some of my observations that I recall. It is my objective to make all of you better players and better students of the game. Even though it requires more of my time, I will do my best to provide these notes after every game. Lastly, good job getting to the game and I was pleased to see some of your support groups in attendance. Please remember, if your parents have suggestions for you in regard to fundamentals about your game and they share them with you, run those by me for confirmation so I am sure it is the correct thing for you. More importantly, if there is a suggestion of what you should try to do during games, there should be a caution flag as they are not aware of what we are trying to do. So, if you get confused by too much input, run it by me. I want all of you to become comfortable in our objectives, so we can continue to grow as a group.

Overall: (C+), our effort was good, I saw more offensive movement out of you Vista kids than I have ever seen, still work in progress as we all know we must implement our plays and cuts. But, simply running the motion enabled us to function against a varsity team, so good job. I think you all have to be impressed by your defensive effort for about 3/4 of the game, it kept us in the game, just as we hoped. Just remember, defense when can control, effort we can control. putting the ball in the basket, not so much. but, we can always work to get a good shot for the team. It's only one game, but win or lose, we must learn from every game, and we must improve every game. I was more than happy with your effort.

ty, Coach Charlie

AS ALWAYS, PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR PARENTS!!!!