Gary Smith- The Defensive Coach w/ 132.4 Points

Top Scoring Teams

132.4  Redlands, 2004-5

126.5  Denver Nuggets, 1981-2

126.2  Grinnell, 2003-4

122.4  Loyola Marymount, 1989-90

Something I have always enjoyed in coaching was the opportunity to “network” with other coaches. I have enjoyed the relationships with other coaches, I guess it is sometimes a form of group therapy for us.

Motivation

“Playing for championships or titles is very overrated. It always stuns me when someone outside our team fabric comes up before a critical game and assumes that the team’s going to be motivated because of the event. In my experience, teams aren’t motivated for a championship game; they’re motivated for each other.”                     
Anson Dorrance, N.Carolina Women’s Soccer

(North Carolina has won 20 of 22 ACC titles, and 20 of 28 NCAA titles under Dorrance.)

Mark Massey & Bill Walton

Mark Massey with Bill Walton

Happy birthday to brother Mark. His birthday is November 30. He is very age sensitive. When the team went to Clinton, Jessica Howard (with some guidance) asked my brother if he was my father. His reaction was priceless! Let's just say that brother Mark was born a little before one of the presidential assassinations- you guess which one!

Megan Young Interview

My first awareness of Megan Young was when my Assistant Coach Steve Peachey had watched Megan play on a travel team. He told me,”You are really going to like Megan Young, she plays so hard.” When she was playing on the freshmen team, it was obvious she was the most intense player in our entire program. Megan is just non-stop.

Tim Engebretson-The Leader

If you are a parent, this about a coach you would want your son or daughter to have. If you are a player, this is about the kind of coach you would like to play for. And for us coaches, this is the kind of coach we would aspire to be like.

Tom Loewy and I had an interesting relationship as writer and coach. I think I interviewed him more than he interviewed me. I enjoyed Tom covering my teams because after we got done talking about the game, we then just talked about sports and politics. The general theme of our conversations about sports was always about what each of us thought made for successful teams, programs, and coaches. The name that kept coming up in Tom's conversation was Tim Engebretson, the football coach at Monmouth Warren at the time. So that is how Coach Engebretson become my choice for an interview.

First I asked Jay Redfern for information on Coach Engebretson. Jay's reply---

“Here are a few things I dug up on Tim Engebretson, who I consider one of the best coaches around, and a really nice guy. He has guided the United Red Storm/Warren Warriors to the playoffs in 17 of his 18 seasons at the helm. Tim Engebretson has a (147-53) record as head coach at United and the former Monmouth Warren (now a part of United). He led the Red Storm to a Class 1A state championship in 2004, the first year of the school's existence.”

Streaks at Tennessee

Streaks this summer at University of Tennessee Camp with Coach Jason Shay. 

Execution

Bob Knight is not a "system coach" but his perspectives on coaching often apply to lots of different coaching situations. When your team loses, Coach Knight says that all too often the coach's and fan's reaction is that they need to change their style of play, their set plays, or the defensive schemes. So the coach who plays Bob Knight style mm defense, panics and puts in a zone defense. The coach who has been a motion offense coach, watches some ESPN games and puts in some new set plays.

In the mid-'80's, I had some teams that struggled to win (but they played hard). As a result, it seemed like everyone we played would slap a full court press on us. And we struggled vs. pressure. So every Sunday I would call coaching friends and ask them about pressbreaks. We kept putting in pressbreak after pressbreak looking for the "magic pressbreak." One summer Dan Sullivan took me to Milwaukee to work a basketball camp. Don Casey, a pro assistant was at the camp and spent each evening diagraming x/o's for us. After 2-3 hours one night going thru pressbreak after pressbreak, Don Casey made the important comment, "Coach, if your kids can't handle the ball and executre, it really doesn't matter what pressbreak you run."

Sometimes when we struggle it is easy and convenient for me to blame it on the "system." The reality is some of our best teams in the '90's were "system-like." Our '96 team pressed all over, looked to fastbreak, and played 10 players regularly. Last summer I watched some of the old tapes, our '96 team averaged a shot within 12 seconds of getting the ball.  So yes, the system can work on a high school level, we have already proven that. It is not the "system", it is the execution of the "system". There is no short-cut to success, success is the result of repetition until execution is automatic.

Howard Goes Over 1,000

Jessica Howard scored 17 points tonight to become the 13th players in GHS girls basketball to go over 1,000 points for her career. She presently rests with 1,006 points. She has been on the varsity all 4 years of her career at Galesburg. All-time career points at GHS are:
1- Sarah Larson       1,906
2- Tiffany Sibley     1,806
3- Megan Pacheco   1,445
4- Molly Watson      1,430
5- Brenna Saline      1,414
6- Sarah Pacheco     1,260
7- Stefanie Mitchell  1,135
8- Debbie Roberts    1,090
9- Ann Henderson    1,080
10- Taylor Young     1,014
11- Shannon Johnson 1,012
12- LaToya Wright    1,010
13- Jessica Howard   1,006


Jessica has certainly had an outstanding career at GHS. We have had many girls at GHS who worked hard and were committed to the basketball program. Jessica is one of the hardest workers and most committed players we have had. I am confident with the amount of time she has invested shooting in the off-season that no one has shot more in Thiel Gym. Her success is no accident, she has spent hours working to become a great basketball player. Congratulations to Jessica. The good news is that she still has a lot of games left to play for the Streaks!!

Jessica is certainly a great representative of Galesburg as an athlete, student, and citizen. We really have a very good group this year that is lead by an outstanding group of seniors.

Video of Jessica's 1,000th point can be seen by going to the home page of   www.ihssn.net

Introduction

Welcome to Massey Basketball blog. I don't know alot about blogging, tweeting, or websites. As a coach, I wanted a way to share information about my basketball interests. After some reserach, I felt that a blog might be the simplest and most effective way for me to share information.

Forgive the title of the blog, "Massey Basketball." Using my name perhaps comes across as arrogant. The reason for choosing the name "Massey Basketball", is to make sure people understand this is not an "official blog" of Galesburg Hiigh School, District #205, or Streaks basketball. It is my hope to have this blog deal with a variety of topics. Obviously Streaks basketball is one of my interests and I hope to have information for fans of Streaks basketball. But it is my hope to include information about a variety of topics including:
* Camp information for the Massey-Purlee Shooting Camps
* Referral to information for coaches regarding "The System" style of basketball.
* Information regarding books, clinics, and tapes for coaches.
* Interviews with successful coaches.
* Interviews with GHS alums.

I don't know what I am getting into, but for now I plan to keep it simple. I hope there are somethings that you will find that will help you enjoy the sport of basketball. Thanks.