Hey Camron -

[Mark Padgett]

How was the 2A tournament? Time to share.

[Camron Rust]

It was a good time overall. I was more nervous there than for any game that I can ever remember. I don't really know why...I'd done bigger games, with bigger/faster players, in front of much bigger crowds. But whatever was making me nervous, it only had time to build. I was there for nearly 2 days before my first game (arrived Tues. PM, officials mtg. on Wed AM, my first game Thursday night). Overcompensating (not deliberately) for my nerves, I came out way too strong and took a long time to really settle down....which I eventually did. The nerves really detracted from my game....didn't mess up anything really bad...just didn't look good. Made a couple boneheaded errors that, while they had no impact on the game whatsoever, hurt my ratings relative to the others.

My games were a boys quarterfinal, a girls semi-final, and the girls 4th place game.

The boys game was an upset with the favored team shooting poorly. (34% overall, 18% from 3....4 of 22, and 54% from the line). It was a fairly unbalanced and somewhat ugly game with the fouls ending up 27-16 total...exxaggerated some with the losing team purposely fouling near the end. Was a pretty ugly game...was forced to take over the game as the that was down was bordering on not playing basketball.

In the girls semi-final was expected to be the "championship" game with the winner of it expected to win the final. It turned in to a blow-out....48-29...with the winning teams star putting up 27 points despite us letting the losing team play really physical and aggressive on defense. The losing team couldn't buy a basket...even from the line...26% overall, 14% from 3, 33% from the line....ouch. Hard to win with that kind of shooting.

Team A (losing team) as furious on a few occassions. With B's star player (B5) having 4 fouls, we had two chances to foul B5 out when both B5 and B1 made contact while doubling up on a drive. In the first one (with 2:18 left in the game and ~15+ point lead), B5 created some minor body/body contact (a LOT less than we had let A get by with on her) as A1 was pulling up for the shot while, at the same time, B1 slapped the shooter across the arm....taking a way the strength of the shot. I "could" have called either one but it didn't feel consistent to call the foul on B5 to put her out of the game on less contact than she endured most of the game particularly when B1's contact was more impactful. On the 2nd occassion, two players sandwiched a shooter. I called it on B4 which team A was incredulous that it was not on B5....they really wanted her out. Could have called it on either one.

Then, to cap it all off, the winning team (that was expected to walk through the championship game) lost to a well crafted game plan....coming in 2nd.

My last game was very evenly matched. The teams traded leads 11 times, tied 6 times...going down to the last few seconds of the game. Fouls were 12-15 for the whole game. While the shooting percentages were low by both teams, the game had flow, and was fun to work. The team that lost can ultimately point to two things.... First....a turnover with about 30 seconds to go where a defender cut off a pass across the top for a fast break to the other end...drawing a foul. Second....FT %: losing team was 5-18 while the winning teams was 12-15.

[Mark Padgett]

Great narrative, Camron. Thanks.

Just curious - in the boys game, when one team was "purposely fouling near the end" did you call any intentionals? Also, how were the coaches? Any problems?