One more week for the Winter basketball, no matter what!
February 29th is the championship "Classic" weekend for all age divisions in our league, so next weekend will be the final formal rant for the blog.
Grown-Up Stuff: Somehow a league Board of Directors meeting was scheduled during my team practice. I covered a scouting reports on both teams we might play, and gave my assistant a few simple drills to run as I dashed into a meeting room in the same grade school.
As board meetings go, it was the most congenial I've had since I was formally invited back in August. A few expenses for the championship weekend, repairs to a portable scoreboard, and some clarification for the apparent scoreboard errors. Upon further explanation, the big scoreboard errors were a misinterpretation by parents, although I've seen clueless adults be more attentive and accurate with 8am scoreboards than I've seen with some of these trained, paid kid officials.
In a similar, our Referee Liason is taking a job at, of all things, Referee Magazine in Wisconsin, so he'll resigning sometime after the end of the season. He's been an active part of the league since he was a junior ref over a decade ago, and although we haven't always seen eye-to-eye, I've respected his opinions on all matters. Hopefully we have his replacement reigned in, and that will alleviate other issues we've had throughout the season.
Hazleton leagues were an after-thought as the girls prepped for win-or-go-home games in their respective local divisions. Millie did play an early Hazleton game on Friday, hitting a couple beautiful free throws and playing lights out defense.
Maja started the morning with the first of two win or go home games. The team tossed up a bunch of bricks against the Celtics, but the Celtics were even worse, so once the shots started hitting and the press affected the Celtics, they pulled away to an 18-6 win
After the first semi-final game, the Bulls were in the championship game and the big spoiler Lakers for a rematch with the Bucks. There was no underestimating the Lakers this time, with the a physical game, including a technical foul, but in the the Bucks proved victorious 18-13 and will play the Bulls next weekend.
Maja was exactly the solid player the team need, doling out a few points (including a halftime buzzer beater in the Lakers games). 9 points, a dozen rebounds, 6 assists, 10 rebounds, and a couple steals in two games with a total of 36 points shouldn't be sneezed at for a non-starter.
A quick trip to victory ice cream, and a quicker trip back home to let the dogs out, and it was back to the school for Millie's games.
Millie had better possibilities for her evening. Win the first against the much vaunted Sixers, and they were in the Championship. Lose, and they were force to play to aggressive Warriors for the other spot.
Despite the scouting report, a few plays, the girls were flat... horribly flat. First, falling behind 8-0 in the first half, they falling even worse to 18-1 at the half. They simply could hold their end of the bargin against the Sixers' center, and their twin guards.
The second half was a respectable loss, 14-7, with me resting Millie and our center for the second game.
In our game against the Warriors that we lost, I chalked it up to a lack of aggressiveness on our part, overwhelming aggressiveness on the Warriors, and a disappearance of any fouls or travels called by the refs.
With better refs, and enough calls to keep both teams honest, we held the edge for most of the game.
Fun facts:
February 29th is the championship "Classic" weekend for all age divisions in our league, so next weekend will be the final formal rant for the blog.
Grown-Up Stuff: Somehow a league Board of Directors meeting was scheduled during my team practice. I covered a scouting reports on both teams we might play, and gave my assistant a few simple drills to run as I dashed into a meeting room in the same grade school.
As board meetings go, it was the most congenial I've had since I was formally invited back in August. A few expenses for the championship weekend, repairs to a portable scoreboard, and some clarification for the apparent scoreboard errors. Upon further explanation, the big scoreboard errors were a misinterpretation by parents, although I've seen clueless adults be more attentive and accurate with 8am scoreboards than I've seen with some of these trained, paid kid officials.
In a similar, our Referee Liason is taking a job at, of all things, Referee Magazine in Wisconsin, so he'll resigning sometime after the end of the season. He's been an active part of the league since he was a junior ref over a decade ago, and although we haven't always seen eye-to-eye, I've respected his opinions on all matters. Hopefully we have his replacement reigned in, and that will alleviate other issues we've had throughout the season.
Hazleton leagues were an after-thought as the girls prepped for win-or-go-home games in their respective local divisions. Millie did play an early Hazleton game on Friday, hitting a couple beautiful free throws and playing lights out defense.
Maja started the morning with the first of two win or go home games. The team tossed up a bunch of bricks against the Celtics, but the Celtics were even worse, so once the shots started hitting and the press affected the Celtics, they pulled away to an 18-6 win
After the first semi-final game, the Bulls were in the championship game and the big spoiler Lakers for a rematch with the Bucks. There was no underestimating the Lakers this time, with the a physical game, including a technical foul, but in the the Bucks proved victorious 18-13 and will play the Bulls next weekend.
Maja was exactly the solid player the team need, doling out a few points (including a halftime buzzer beater in the Lakers games). 9 points, a dozen rebounds, 6 assists, 10 rebounds, and a couple steals in two games with a total of 36 points shouldn't be sneezed at for a non-starter.
Millie had better possibilities for her evening. Win the first against the much vaunted Sixers, and they were in the Championship. Lose, and they were force to play to aggressive Warriors for the other spot.
Despite the scouting report, a few plays, the girls were flat... horribly flat. First, falling behind 8-0 in the first half, they falling even worse to 18-1 at the half. They simply could hold their end of the bargin against the Sixers' center, and their twin guards.
The second half was a respectable loss, 14-7, with me resting Millie and our center for the second game.
In our game against the Warriors that we lost, I chalked it up to a lack of aggressiveness on our part, overwhelming aggressiveness on the Warriors, and a disappearance of any fouls or travels called by the refs.
With better refs, and enough calls to keep both teams honest, we held the edge for most of the game.
Spurs defeat the Warriors 18-12, and we advance to the championship were we will play.... the Sixers.
Regardless of what happens next weekend, I still see myself retiring as a coach. In between Millie's games, Maja's coach tried to provide some words of wisdom and possibly a play to run. I was completely appreciative, and while Millie took him up on her part of the play, the girls looked like stunned deer in the headlights when they were out of the court. It's probably not all me, but these girls will need a coach with some player and coaching experience to get them further.
Fun facts:
- Second lane violation in as many weeks in a game.
- My final player without a basket made one!
- Holy crap am I making them run on Thursday.
- Each one of my girls played two games, each played against a pair of twins, and each played the sister of a player in the other's division.
In two other bits of non-winter league news, Millie and Maja got picked for their AAU team... BOTH on the 5th grade team. Big props for Millie (there was a 4th grade team she could make), but upon seeing the ultra-compact travel schedule, it looks like my planned Birthday Celebration at Mepacon this year is going to be spent... in Delaware at the Sixers facility.
So yeah, my Mepacon is cancelled, but their schedule is so tight, the season ends before our cruise in mid-May.
In other sports-related news, I discovered the my high school cross-country team will be award a special place on the high school "Wall of Fame" for their 27-0 season my Senior year. I was not one of the seven core runners on the team (I was a mope training for the Indoor Track hurdling season.) and I feel a twinge of old age coming on, as well as the sense of pride to be part of something that great.
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