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Friday, December 31, 2010

Steve & Jeannine- Part II


Massey- Any unusual or funny stories to share about the Streaks when you have followed them?

Jeannine- The first year we went to Wisconsin, we stayed at a motel that could be a dead ringer for the Bates Hotel from the movie "Psycho".   Steve and Evan went to the local store for milk, OJ, donuts, and we had a breakfast on the picnic tables.   We have not stayed there again.........but it was a good time.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Moline Ready for "Sigh of Relief"

Moline defeated Washington 41-30 to advance to the consolation championship game at the Manual Tourney. This raised Moline to 10-9 on the year. They play a tourney before and after Christmas. The Sterling tourney before Christmas was loaded with Montini and Richwoods.

In the article about their win over Washington, the following comment was made by the Moline coach, ""I'm sure the girls are going to want to take a sigh of relief after this" five-week start to the season. 

It should be noted that Moline plays Galesburg on Thursday, January 6. Read the article, not sure if the implication is that after the Manual Tourney that Moline will be through with the tough part of their schedule?

Pictures from Championship

2010 Charleston Tourney Champions!

The Scariest Team in Illinois

This from Doug Green's blog--


Green blog: The scariest team in Illinois


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I know it's the holiday time, but I want to talk about the scariest team in basketball.
Boys, girls, metro or area, the scariest team in the state of Illinois just might be the Galesburg girls.
That Grinnell style that they play is just mind-boggling. The only state record that the Streaks don't own (yet) is most consecutive games with a 3-pointer. That number by the way is 232 set by Rockton Honenegah from Dec. 2002-10.

Compliments on the Girls

After the championship game, it was very satisfying to have fans from T-town come up to me to compliment our girls on how they played. Some of the compliments they passed out about our girls....

"Hated to lose, but it is fun to watch your girls  because they just play so hard."

Great Atmosphere at EIU

The championship game vs. T-town was one of the neatest environments a Galesburg girls team has played in. It would be the largest crowd we have played in front of since our Sectional Championship game vs. Morton at Thiel a few years ago. But in this case it was definitely a T-town crowd. Even though it was a hostile crowd, it is a special experience to play in front a crowd like T-town.

All-Tourney Team

We had 3 players voted to the all-tourney team. With 15 of our players all contributing to the championship, if you knew 3 players would be all-tourney, you could successfully argue that several of our other players would be equally deserving. It was definitely a "team championship."

Tai Peachey, Jamie Johnson, and Jessica Howard were all selected all-tourney. And Jessica was selected as the tourney MVP. As coaches and as teammates, we were all happy to see these three recognized as individuals.

Champions!!!!

The girls got the job done vs. a tough Teutopolis team. T-town came in with an 8 game winning streak. It might have been a different story if it was the first game of the tourney but it being the 3rd day and 4th game, our depth was the factor. Our ability to have played 15 players on the day before made the difference.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Cheering on Boys vs. Rantoul

Girls excited about their day and enjoying being fans for awhile.

Still Raining Threes- Another State Record

After hitting 21 threes this morning vs. Paris, the Streaks came back to again get 21 threes vs. Rantoul. This was a game in which we went with a fifteen player rotation from the start of the game. We pressed the first quarter, then played half court defense the last three quarters. We quit rotating the fifteen players after three quarters. In the fourth quarter we went with Klinck, Boyer, Mangieri, both Diggins, Junk, and Anderson.

State Record- 21 Threes

It was "raining threes."
In Galesburg's 88-57 win over Paris, Galesburg established a new state record for made threes in a game with 21 threes. It broke the record of 20 which Galesburg and two other schools had hit before.

We rotated all fifteen players into the game in three separate units. We jumped to a 41-30 lead at half, then 67-44 lead after three. Paris did cut the lead to 3 in the middle of the third quarter but we got off to a huge run with a made three by Allison Mangieri.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Party

The girls have a drawing and exchange gifts the first night at the tourney. After opening their gifts, it was time for a Wie dance off. Here in this picture are two of the expert dancers. Sadly, against my better judgement, I earlier had tried to outdance Rainee. Hard to imagine that she would have better dance moves than me, but she did beat me. I think my one hip came dislocated.

One of the neat gifts was when Megan gave Jamie a picture frame with some pictures from their grade school travel teams.

Slow Start But Beat Effingham

Streaks had trailed only two other times at half this year- vs. Springfield and UTHS. Today we were down 30-27 at half to Effingham. We seemed to come out flat defensively as Effingham got most of the 50/50 loose balls and rebounds. And being a little flat footed got us in foul trouble as both Jessica Howard and Tai Peachey picked up three fouls in the first half.

Key for us was balanced scoring at we had seven players score between 8 to 10 points- Jessica Lieber, Sadee Hamilton, Jessica Howard, Jamie Johnson, Myra Diggins, Paige Klinck, and Mickey Rodriguez. Lieber, Klinck, and Rodriguez all caught fire and hit some big threes down the stretch for us. We hit 17 of 20 free throws, including 10 of 11 in the fourth quarter with Sadee Hamilton hitting 5 of 6.

Headed to Charleston


Stopping for something to eat at Avanti's in Bloomington.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Steve & Jeannine- Part I

Steve and Jeannine Bryant have followed the Streaks girls basketball team for years. It doesn't matter if it is in the winter or in the summer, they are there. They are not following the Streaks to see them win, they just seem to enjoy watching them compete. They never seem upset after tough games, they always seem to be able to find the positives. They really care about the girls. They are not big on second guessing the coaches or the players- they are supportive fans.


Being Too Prideful

"If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you. You haven't done much today."
Duke coach, Mike Krzyzewski

"My boy, one small breeze doesn't make a wind storm."
NY Giants manager, John McGraw

Lombardi Rules- Part II

Taken from The Lombardi Rules by Vince Lombardi Jr.

7- Work harder than everybody-
"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."

8- Be prepared to sacrifice-
"I think you've got to pay a price for anything that's worthwhile, and success is paying the price. You've got to pay the price to win, you've got to pay the price to stay on top, and you've got to play the price to get there."

Saturday, December 25, 2010

"Just Give It One More Week"

Coming back from an ACL is a challenge. First for a young player to hear they have to have surgery when they are young and healthy is a shock. Then going through the rehab where you have to work harder than ever just to do things you have always taken for granted. Then there is the doubt-- can I ever be as good.

We have unfortunately had several girls through the years have to deal with ACL injuries. Sarah Pacheco, Michelle Flaar, Amanda Gunther, Jenny Zolper, Kristy McGunnigal, and recently Megan Young to name a few. For a variety of reasons, females are more prone to ACL injuries. Often the battle is to get back to start the basketball season the year after their injury. It takes a toughness in battling back.

Holiday Tourneys

The following is an overview of girls tourneys at Dixon, Manual, Bloomington, and Charleston done by Jane Miller of the Journal Star.
http://www.pjstar.com/preps/x1682034549/Journal-Star-area-large-school-girls-basketball-holiday-tournaments

Dixon Tourney
Dixon Tourney is made up of 10 class 1A/2A schools and then six schools 3/4A. Teams on our schedule or in our Regional who will be there include- Geneseo, UTHS, Dunlap, and Dixon. It would appear UT, Dunlap, and Oregon would be the favorites.
http://teachers.dixonschools.org/kbailey/bracket.html

Friday, December 24, 2010

Commitment & Service

"Commitment to the team- there is no such thing as in-between, you are either in or out."
Pat Riley

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but this I know: The only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve."
Albert Schweitzer

Don Meyer Making A Point

In the book How Lucky You Can Be, Buster Olney describes a practice of Meyer's at David Lipscomb University in 1989. Coach Meyer was upset and started practice by having the players running sprints. Meyer yelled reminders about his expectations of them as individuals and as team members. They ran and ran. After running sprints for 45 minutes, Meyer told the players that one of their teammates had skipped an English class. "A selfish decision by one of them, he said, reflected on all of them. They needed to believe in the concept of serving others." 

The Lombardi Rules- Part I

This is taken from The Lombardi Rules by Vince Lombardi Jr. He writes about 26 lessons on leadership from his father and legendary coach.

1- Ask yourself tough questions-
"I'm not better nor less than the next man. But the thing about me is that I always knew what my acts would mean. I was lucky... I found a singleness of purpose early on."

John Wooden- Staying On Top

"I have always felt, in spite of what seems to be the general feeling, it's easier to stay on top than it is to get there. I think it's far more difficult to get there. Once you're there you have learned so much along the way that it puts you in a much better state of mind to stay at or near the top than it is to get there in the first place."

"Perhaps it's about trying too hard. When you want something so much, I think the tendency is that you try a little too hard. You've got to learn just to make your best effort, day to day. Never think about overcoming someone else. It goes back to something my father tried to get across to me and my brothers when we were in grade school. You should never try to be better than someone else, but you should never cease to try to be the best you that you can be."

The First System Team in the Midwest

No, it was not Grinnell College that first brought the System to the Midwest. And no, it was not me that was the first to bring the System to Galesburg. The real System pioneer was Brett Wolfe. He along with Jay Redfern coached the first System team in the Midwest and the first in Galesburg.

                                                 1988-89 GYBA- Galesburg's First System Team

Front row, from left: Devin Gunderson, Brian Peterson, Jason Price, Justin Ford, John Kimbell, Mike O'Dean and Jeremy Parcell.
Back row, from left: Coach Jay Redfern, Todd Fox, Jason Uhlmann, Brian Fulton, Jeremy Howard, Benji Henson, Troy Rosenberg, Wes Corzette and Coach Brett "Westhead" Wolfe.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Doug Porter- Why the System Works

Doug Porter is the women's coach at Olivet Nazarene University. He believes that the System works because of three factors-
1- Depth trumps talent.
2- Threes trump twos.
3- FGA's trump FG%

Perfecting Situations

The perception of many would be that Grinnell is just helter skelter and total freelance. The reality is that Grinnell is very regimented in what they want to do in specific situations. In practice they are going to set up the following offensive situations-
1. Offense after a steal.
2. Offense after the opponent scores.
3. Offense after a defensive rebound.
4. Offense on dead balls when the ref handles the ball.
5. Offense after an offensive rebound.

Criticism

"Never worry about criticism from the misinformed."
Adolf Rupp

Beau Shay- Leader in ACC

Most of us when we were young had our pretend games in the driveway. We shot and pretended we were playing for UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, etc. When we were ten years old, we were sure it was a dream that would come true.

"All dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."  Walt Disney

For most of us reality sets in at some point, and we begin to realize we aren't quite tall enough, we aren't quite quick enough, or we just don't shoot well enough to live the dream of playing big time college basketball.

"I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true."  Debi Thomas

Jane Miller's Take on Threes

The following was written by Jane Miller in the Journal Star after our Washington game--


GIVING TIME: How do you make a run at the state 3-point record?
Practice, practice, practice.
Galesburg senior Jessica Howard hit 11 3s Tuesday night at Washington — one short of the state record — and scored 37 points. But the preparation for all that started in June.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Pat Riley- "Diesease of Me"

Great quote but I still hate the Heat!
From the Register-Mail today-  “Breaking these individual records is really nice,” Howard said. “But really it’s the team records that we can break that are even better. We are really playing together right now and it’s a lot of fun to see what this team can do.”

Pat Riley said the following- "Most people are generally selfish, and they're afraid. It's called the diesease of "me." Most people go into everything looking out for their own ass. They're looking out for themselves. They are taking care of number one. There's nothing wrong with that but you'll never be part of something truly significant if that's going to be your attitude. You have to change."

Pat Riley would like Jessica's attitude. And Pat Riley would be the first to point out why we are having not only a good season in terms of wins and losses but having a GREAT season in terms of team chemistry.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Vince Lombardi Quotes

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victory.

If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?

Beau Shay- Chasing Two Dreams

This story appeared in the Greenville News (Greenville, SC) on February 23, 2004. It was written as a tribute to one of two seniors on the Clemson basketball team before Clemson's last home game that year. It is the story of a high school player who had two dreams growing up- to play basketball in the ACC and to become a doctor.
When Beau Shay left Galesburg HS to be an unrecruited walk-on at Clemson, many envisioned either he would not make it on the team or that he would just be a glorified manager. As you read this article, you realize that Beau went from walk-on to senior leader who was willing to step up and take charge of his team.
I will have a Q & A with Beau coming up later- read this first to understand how impressive Beau is. 

Monday, December 20, 2010

#1 Streaks Fan in Carolina

Blog written by the #1 Streaks basketball fan in Carolina! Blog with stories about Run and Gun Basketball throughout the world. Check it out!!


http://kp2world.blogspot.com


Hopefully we will someday get back to Carolina Basketball Camp so he can actually watch us play.

Parenting

"The person you are is the person your children become."  (John Wooden)

1995 Camp Notebook

We had experienced great success in Streaks basketball from 1988 thru 1995. We had been rated in the top 20 each year and we had won 20 games. In 1995 we had our best team ever, we made it to the Sweet Sixteen. We won the Sectional at a packed Thiel Gym. It was a dream season. We lost some of our best players. Our expectations for 1995-6 were lower. People on the outside did not have high dreams for the team- but the players had very high dreams. The 1995-6 team surprised everyone but themselves. Sound familiar???

Streaks Basketball Alums

I am not on facebook- illegal for someone my age I have been told. If you are a former player and I don't have your email or if you think I have lost your email. Please send me your email to emass70@yahoo.com

2010-11 NBA Shot Analysis

The following is analysis of shots by location for the current NBA season:
http://hoopdata.com/shotstats.aspx

At Rim= 63%,  Less than 10 feet= 44%,  10-15 feet= 38%,  15-23 feet= 39%,  3's= 53 eFG%

Again this year, clearly the three places to shoot are free throws, layups, and 3's.

Joshua Wooden (Coach's Father)

I am not what I ought to be, not what I want to be, not what I am going to be, but I am thankful that I am better than I used to be.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

What I Look for in a Player- Pete Carril

Pete Carril became famous as the Princeton basketball coach in the 1990's. He is the originator of the famous "Princeton offense" that drove other teams nuts with all of its backdoor cuts. In his book The Smart Take From the Strong, Carril looks at what he thinks is important in evaluating a player.

Big Win at Maine South (Updated)

Streaks upset Maine South 67-60 on Saturday. Maine South had an 8 game winning streak going into this game, including wins over highly rated New Trier and Niles West. They are the #4 seed in the Bloomington Tourney.

Fun Day in Chicago

Varsity relieving pregame tension with serious word game.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Saturday- Full Day

We are leaving this morning at 7:15am for Chicago. The plan is to stop at O'Hare Oasis for brunch/lunch, and get to Maine South at Park Ridge about 11:30am. The girls will have a chance to shoot around and get their legs under them. Sophs play at 1:00pm and varsity follows at 2:30pm. The Maine South team will be hosting us for pizza after the game. Then we are going to down to the United Center to watch the Bulls vs. the Clippers. And back to Galesburg about 1:00am.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Alicia Brannon- Start of 20 Wins

We went 35-14 my first two seasons at Galesburg. Then over the next six seasons, we had one winning year and were a combined 65-85. We definitely were headed for mediocracy. Why weren't we winning?  Maybe part of the problem was the school district eliminating junior high sports. Maybe part of the problem was an inexperienced coach. Then in 1988, we won 20 games (20-8), and we continued to win 20 games for the next 21 years. What turned things around? I think it was simple, we got some good players who were great people.

Ex-Basketball Player by John Updike

Jim Wyman sent me John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player." This is a downer right at Christmas season, but would be thought provoking for some of today's high school athletes.  Hopefully there aren't a lot of Flick's playing high school ball today.

Championship Teams

"The final test of a championship team is how strongly the players believe in each other."
Chuck Daly- coach of Detroit Pistons and of USA Olympic Dream Team

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Team Chemistry

Two of John Wooden's star players!
I have had lots of good groups. I am not talking about basketball ability but talking about teenagers who were willing to put others ahead of themselves. The best people to work with are people who are unselfish and considerate of others. The following quote captures the spirit of our team right now--

"It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit."- John Wooden!

Moline Dispatch- Cheeseburgers in Paradise

This is the Dispatch's version of the game. It is interesting in the season preview in their paper they pretty much dismissed us with a comment something like, if they hit some threes they will be in games.

http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=523050

Great Night- Great Win

Streaks beat Alleman 68-38 tonight. This ended a 5 game losing streak to Alleman. It seems like it is feast or famine vs. Alleman. We have been 1-11 vs. Alleman since 2005. Before that we had won 25 straight games vs. Alleman dating back to 1992.

All-Fundamentals Team

Chicago Bear long snapper, Patrick Mannelly was named to the NFL All-Fundamentals Team. Comments about him and comments by him are interesting.

“It’s unbelievable,” his special team's coach said. “He’s so humble. He’s the machine that makes the whole thing work for us; the field-goal operation and the punt operation.”