First loss of the year!!
About a week ago the middle school basketball team that I coach played its final game of the season. I'm pretty sure that I've talked before about how talented these kids are. I coached them in football, and they beat everyone handily. I coached them in basketball and up until this game we beat everyone handily. But there is always something different about playing in front of a big crowd for a championship game. Then all of a sudden there is a new aspect brought to the equation.....PRESSURE.
Throughout the year we often times played like we had an on-off switch that we could turn on and off whenever we felt like it. We'd cruise for 3 or 4 minutes then blow a team out. We'd coast and not play our hardest, and then all of sudden put on a show that made us look like a good high school team. Plain and simple...we were cocky, talented, and unbeatable....until the last game. The first half I thought it looked like we were still on coast mode. We'd play well for a few possessions, and then the other team would have a scoring run. The lead constantly changed and it still kind of felt like we were in control of the game.
There was one aspect that hindered our confidence a little bit going in to halftime though; we had 4 players that had 3 fouls. For those of you not understanding why this is a big deal, that means that the players each had only 2 more individual fouls to give before they would be forced out of the game. Our players still seemed too comfortable as if not to take their opponent seriously. This proved to be costly in the end. With the majority of our team in foul trouble, we got destroyed on the glass. Plus, they controlled the tempo of the entire game. We did have some late minute heroics by our top scorer to send the game in to two overtimes, but in the end we ran out of steam. We would end up fouling out 6 players, including four of our starters.
It was disappointing needless to say. We would have been the first school to win titles in both football and basketball since the early 90's. On the flip side, it's been quite a while since I have been in a game as exciting as the one we played in. The basketball court was packed with fans, and the game lived up to the hype of being for the city championship. Now while there is always going to be some complaining when a loss occurs, for the most part I was extremely proud of the way our guys handled themselves. They shook the other team's hands and even the head coach and myself went in to the other team's locker room to personally congratulate the guys on a job well done. The next day at school everyone at school was talking about how great the game was. Oh well...I guess it's on to the next sport.
Throughout the year we often times played like we had an on-off switch that we could turn on and off whenever we felt like it. We'd cruise for 3 or 4 minutes then blow a team out. We'd coast and not play our hardest, and then all of sudden put on a show that made us look like a good high school team. Plain and simple...we were cocky, talented, and unbeatable....until the last game. The first half I thought it looked like we were still on coast mode. We'd play well for a few possessions, and then the other team would have a scoring run. The lead constantly changed and it still kind of felt like we were in control of the game.
There was one aspect that hindered our confidence a little bit going in to halftime though; we had 4 players that had 3 fouls. For those of you not understanding why this is a big deal, that means that the players each had only 2 more individual fouls to give before they would be forced out of the game. Our players still seemed too comfortable as if not to take their opponent seriously. This proved to be costly in the end. With the majority of our team in foul trouble, we got destroyed on the glass. Plus, they controlled the tempo of the entire game. We did have some late minute heroics by our top scorer to send the game in to two overtimes, but in the end we ran out of steam. We would end up fouling out 6 players, including four of our starters.
It was disappointing needless to say. We would have been the first school to win titles in both football and basketball since the early 90's. On the flip side, it's been quite a while since I have been in a game as exciting as the one we played in. The basketball court was packed with fans, and the game lived up to the hype of being for the city championship. Now while there is always going to be some complaining when a loss occurs, for the most part I was extremely proud of the way our guys handled themselves. They shook the other team's hands and even the head coach and myself went in to the other team's locker room to personally congratulate the guys on a job well done. The next day at school everyone at school was talking about how great the game was. Oh well...I guess it's on to the next sport.
posted by UTOM at 7:48 PM
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