Observations from another week of basketball and retirement…
Tempo- I said this early but it bears repeating. Watch a game and evaluate the “tempo” of the two teams. I am not saying the fast break of the two teams, just how they push the ball up the floor. Teams who push the ball may not get a fast break but they get the defense on their heels and get mismatches. And then in the half-court, the teams who cut with quickness and pass the ball with crispness are so much harder to guard.
Mercy Rule- In high school basketball as fans, we often like in a blow out if the team gets to 30 point lead and the fourth quarter flies by. As coaches, you irrationally often fear a team can come back, but you know know they can’t if you get running clock. My question would be- How many times would a coach have starting getting a few subs in with a 25 point lead in the third quarter but instead keeps starters in to get to 30 points? My point is that sometimes it seems like the rule promotes “running it up.”
March 10- Owners in the WNBA have given players a March 10 deadline, warning if there is not an agreement by then the start of the season in late April will have to be pushed back. This urgency by the owners follows them taking 3 weeks to counter the players latest offer.
April 9 is supposed to mark the start of free agency (all but 2 vets are free agents), and April 10 is the college draft.
Clocks Ticking- In Regional Championship game, UT boys were down 5 when they got the ball with 15 seconds to go. They went the length of the floor and got three with 8 seconds to go. UT was out of time outs. Normal let the ball go thru the net and roll. A Normal player did not pick up the ball until the clock was under 5 seconds, and just held it until the clock ran out. This is a reason in college they automatically stop the clock on makes under 1 minute.
Joe Thompson- Highly recommend Jay Redfern’s Podcast with Joe Thompson. Joe is retiring as basketball official after 50 years. Jay and Joe cover a lot of ground and a lot of history.
Four Classes- In Illinois right now there are 32 girls basketball teams left in the State Tourney. That is 8 teams in each of the four classes. How many of the 32 teams can you name? If you are a basketball fan, back when it was a two class system how many of each Elite 8 could you have named? Maybe it is just me but since they have gone to four classes it sure seems like interest level keeps getting less and less each year.
Shots- When you are watching high school and college teams, how many shots are the best players on each team getting?
Eggs- I’ll admit that I am not the best in the kitchen but I learned a life changer this week. Crack two large eggs into a small glass storage bowl, take a fork and gently pierce the yolk, cover it with paper towel, and put the eggs in the microwave for 60-90 seconds (or til done). Flip the bowl over so the eggs fall onto the plate. Absolutely delicious!! Quicker and less messy way to eat eggs!
Bosch and More- Bosch, Bosch Legacy, and Ballard are great series to watch on Prime. Very entertaining. Watch in the order that I have listed.
Nick Young- Hats off to Galesburg AD, Nick Young for holding a Girls IHSA Sectional and Boys IHSA Regional in the same week. He had it staffed well and organized. It was particularly impressive how he followed the IHSA rules about being neutral with things like starting lineups. The PA played the same background music for both teams.
And in the Washington-Galesburg game with a huge crowd they did not allow teams to go from one side to the other. Galesburg on one side, Washington on the other side.
Everything was well-done and classy!!! Of course we would expect nothing less from a Knox grad!!
No comments:
Post a Comment