You'd be hard pressed to find a game where Kunkel and McNeil were locked down.

 

HC played about 2.75 quarters of the game they wanted to play, that is, deliberate.

 

When Cooper really turned up the pressure defense with Hendrix, C. McNeil and Kunkel at the top of that aggressive press, the Tribe really had no answer.

 

You can place blame wherever you choose, but Cooper was opportunistic on both ends and HC couldn't make them pay for their mistakes at a high enough frequency.

 

I've been a fan of S. McNeill since he was in the 8th grade. My point was HC doesn't play good D because the head coach doesn't make it a priority.

Some people like to think they are a better coach than the head coach and have all the answers.

 

I'm guilty of that. I think he's a horrible head coach, always have because he's never proven me wrong.

I've been a fan of S. McNeill since he was in the 8th grade. My point was HC doesn't play good D because the head coach doesn't make it a priority.

 

Held Cooper, who approaches 70 PPG

to 54. I'm an offensive-minded person naturally, but defense wasn't really on my radar in terms of deciding factors. HC's defense anyway.

 

Cooper is athletic and disruptive. There were three stretches (end 2Q, Kunkel's return from injury- hope he's ok, and mid-4Q) where Cooper was lights out defensively with their press and forced all sorts of turnovers and uncharacteristic shots. Those three stretches and not recognizing advantageous matchups did HC in from where I sat.

I'm guilty of that. I think he's a horrible head coach, always have because he's never proven me wrong.

 

Back-to-back region appearances out of a traditionally strong district support the opposite. Down years for those four programs don't mean bad teams.

Closer than I thought it would have been but Congrats to The Jags!!! Hoping for a Coop / Cov Cath rematch very soon.... Go Jags

I've never said HC was a bad team. I think they were under served by their head coach. Last years team won in spite of the coach. Tyler Bezold has such a high bball IQ it was like having a coach on the floor, the defacto team leader.

Edited March 3, 20179 yr by lamontab
correction

Definitely not one of Cooper's best showings, but give a lot of credit to HC. They came out and didn't back down even though no one gave them a chance to win. It's nice to see Cooper get tested and hopefully this will help them the rest of the way. Survive and advance is the name of the game, and I would much rather win ugly rather than lose pretty this time of year. I'll take Cooper "winning ugly" all the way to a state title ha ha. Congrats Jags! And also to HC for playing their tails off

I have to hand it to the Cross for playing their hearts out and keeping within reach most of the game, and I really think that if towards the end of the 3rd quarter and all throughout the 4th if they had tried to attack the basket and draw fouls they would've given themselves a great chance to keep this game even closer, and in doing so perhaps even pull off the upset.

 

I sincerely believe that it could've been possible if the game plan towards the last period would have been to take it to them instead of settling for the luck or not of perimeter shots dropping.

 

A few things kept running though my head that puzzled me.

 

1. Why doesn't Barnes look to score? You'd think that he could muscle his way around the basket and draw fouls.

 

2. Why wasn't Meinze used more because whenever he got in the game he made instant impact, and his size seemed to be wasted on the bench?

 

3. Why wasn't Zimmerman used more?...he too seemed to make impact.

 

Those are questions that anyone that knows the game would ask as well and we all would like to know the answer!

Congrats to the Jags for overcoming a stout test from HC. Game was about as how I expected it to be with HC battling hard.

 

Still not sure why people continue to ? coach Schrands coaching capabilities. The coach got his team to the regionals despite some critics bashing him all year and criticizing his sons abilty and him playing daddy ball. I'll say it as I have said it before, the man is developing his program and he's got it in the right direction. Could he have done things differently? Maybe, but I would say his season worked out ok when it certainly didn't look as though they would make it this far. Congrats to HC on a good season and congrats to Cooper on finding a way to win which is all that matters this time of year, it doesn't have to be pretty, just effective.

Held Cooper, who approaches 70 PPG

to 54. I'm an offensive-minded person naturally, but defense wasn't really on my radar in terms of deciding factors. HC's defense anyway.

 

Cooper is athletic and disruptive. There were three stretches (end 2Q, Kunkel's return from injury- hope he's ok, and mid-4Q) where Cooper was lights out defensively with their press and forced all sorts of turnovers and uncharacteristic shots. Those three stretches and not recognizing advantageous matchups did HC in from where I sat.

 

HC did keep Cooper about 10 points below their average, I'm not sure I would say it was because of their defense though.

 

IMO, I would attribute it to the slower pace of the game and a sluggish start by the Jags, I believe they only had 7 points after the first quarter. I think the patience of HC on the offensive end kept Cooper from playing at their preferred pace for a big portion of this one.

HC did keep Cooper about 10 points below their average, I'm not sure I would say it was because of their defense though.

 

IMO, I would attribute it to the slower pace of the game and a sluggish start by the Jags, I believe they only had 7 points after the first quarter. I think the patience of HC on the offensive end kept Cooper from playing at their preferred pace for a big portion of this one.

 

Then this happened:

 

When Cooper turned up the pressure defense with Hendrix, C. McNeil and Kunkel at the top of that aggressive press, the Tribe really had no answer.

I'm guilty of that. I think he's a horrible head coach, always have because he's never proven me wrong.

 

Comical....he hangs with the #8 team in the state with a very average team and he is a horrible coach. You should take the job next year lamontab. I will wait and see how many district titles you win the next 5 years...good luck!

Those are questions that anyone that knows the game would ask as well and we all would like to know the answer!

All year long Barnes has been told to post up and stay on the block, he isn't comfortable doing that and has little offensive skills, as far as drawing fouls, he has actually asked to come out of games this year due to the fear of shooting free throws, Meinze had little to no impact last night , missed point blank lay ups which happened often this year when he got his chance, had 2 quick turnovers and struggled defensively, Zimmerman dribbles in circles and then forces a 3, I'm confused that nobody has mentioned Williams 10+ turnovers last night, I'm sure Cooper will send him a gift basket today, he also gave away several games this year but some are too busy blaming the Schrand kid, good luck to HC moving forward, for all the AAU stars that didn't play for HC this year please post your schedules so we can all see what we missed out on all year, can't wait to critique your coaching staff

I'm guilty of that. I think he's a horrible head coach, always have because he's never proven me wrong.

I think him getting Coach of the Year last year proved you wrong

Congratulations to Holy Cross for doing exactly what they needed to do to pull off an upset. They were extremely deliberate on offense slowing the pace of the game down dramatically. Cooper didn't help themselves by shooting a very low FG % thus disallowing a press to be applied. Had the Jags been able to hit a few more shots and set up their press this could have gotten away from HC. Great effort by the Indians. Congratulations to Cooper. You don't win any tournament worth its weight in salt if you don't have a game or two where you have to battle it out and as stated earlier "win ugly" sometimes.