A Venting about unsportsmanlike behavior

[Hawks Coach]

I was going to say the same thing about the quality of practice you get for your press against a weak team. If you press a decidely inferior team, you are liable to get into habits that will come back to bite you when you play a team that handles the pressure better. And you will learn little of what will help press a good team, because the weak areas in your press won't be exploited.

It's always best to find some things you aren't so good at to practice in blow out games (one of the few values I ever get out of a blow out. Try a new defense, a half-court offense that you stuggle with, try getting the ball to some of your players that don't normally score so much and give them a chance to get the feel for scoring in game situations, etc.

[Mark Padgett]

Last night, I went to watch my son do a JV girls game. The home team was vastly superior to the visitors, and it wound up being a 50 point game. The home team pressed until it got up 20, then took it off. I thought that was about right, since at the beginning of the game, you're still "feeling each other out." The winners exhibited pretty good sportsmanship toward the other team the entire game, which was nice to see.

During the game, there was a collision between two players and they both went down on the floor. Both coaches immediately ran onto the floor. I didn't really have a problem with that, since the collision was somewhat severe and it appeared each girl might really have been hurt. Not only that, the ref can always beckon "after the fact" so you don't penalize a coach for being genuinely concerned for his player. It's different if he comes out without being beckoned just to yell at you.

Anyway, where Josh blew it was letting the injured home team player stay in the game to shoot her free throws (the visiting player left the court). I stood up so he could see me and pointed to the player, and then to her bench. Josh looked at me and realized what I was trying to convey. I felt I could do this for two reasons. First, there was hardly anyone in the gym so I wasn't usurping his authority, and second, he's my son

He smacked his forehead and nodded to me to indicate he knew what happened, but by that time, the girl had already taken her shots.

After the game, in the parking lot, before I could say anything he said, "I know, I know, I know." I just smiled and walked with him to his car.

It didn't surprise me that his partner didn't catch it either. I have worked with her before - and I really don't want to say any more on that subject.

I also told him that he announced a 5 second inbound violation as a 5 second "boundary" violation. He said, "nobody's perfect - oh wait - you are, just ask you."

That's when I told him his mother and I found him in a dumpster.

Last comment - his partner called a T on a visiting player for reaching across the boundary and smacking the ball while it was still in the inbounders hands. The coach replaced her and as she went to the bench, I heard her say, "She's a f-ing b-tch." The coach told her to shut up. Neither official was anywhere near her, or I'm sure she would have been tossed, plus an indirect on the coach. I told Josh's partner after the game what I heard and she said not only would she have tossed her, but would have recommended a suspension.

Me too.

[TXMATTHEW05]

Not sure the quality of that kind of practice. I never played basketball at a significant level, but did play baseball. When we have a game in control (like the 20+ leads we had on several occassions) we "practiced" doing specific things when at bat. You know; switch hitting, putting certain pitches in play in a specific area (the HIT portion of the hit and run), etc.. Not sure how much of that can be done in basketball but there are ways to keep the score down to a certain extent. If nothing else, work on passing.

Team Z would never see a game called closer on them.

I hate coaches like that.

I see you're point. But all the same, it WAS practice for us. Pressing is just as bad as passing the ball around to each other in the front court, leading the other team around like dogs. I mean, don't get me wrong, we let them get down the court often, but we also didn't stop pressing all together. It was nothing more than a scrimage game to us. AND, the next time we played them, a conference game, we beat them slights, some 62 - 58. NEVER underestimate a team. It was just a practice for us, nothing more. It wasn't an ego thing.

[TXMATTHEW05]

We put in our second string for that game, so yes, it was practice for them.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
Last night, I went to watch my son do a JV girls game. The home team was vastly superior to the visitors, and it wound up being a 50 point game. The home team pressed until it got up 20, then took it off.

It didn't surprise me that his partner didn't catch it either. I have worked with her before - and I really don't want to say any more on that subject.

Folks -- it wasn't me. I'm not good enough yet to work with Josh

Mark-- e-mail me juicy details -- names, serial numbers, etc.