Bad shots are all to common and almost expected now instead of an excuse. Coach Henley is even pulling guys now for bad decisions when shooting the ball now it has become so common. I seen Pittman get pulled at one point this game because of a bad 3-point attemt.

 

Foul trouble occurs in basketball, is Holmes deep enough to deal with it? Obviously not if we are making excuses and that could haunt them in March if it is the truth. JJ and Rico missed time in the second, the end of the 3rd and the first 4 minutes of the 4th. However the end of the 3rd and start of the 4th is when Holmes began to pull away so I can't use that as an excuse.

 

At halftime it became clear that this would be a lot closer than people expected, and regardless of the final score it really was. If Holmes can play 32 complete minutes they would be scary but they still seem to lose focus at times, play a little lazy, or get out of control and turn the ball over and/or committ silly fouls which they can't afford.

 

Still a W however so you can be happy that the win was preserved, however the style in which it came in can and should be questioned IMO.

Easy guys and gals. These are still 15 to 18 year old kids and not an NBA team. Losing focus is not the problem but rather they are going to get everyone's best shot night in and night out as the Holmes game is every other teams Super Bowl. Coach H knows this and is going to let the kids figure it out and have them ready in March. There are going to be more games like this.

No excuses, just stating facts. I don't expect any of my ball players to be lazy, commit stupid fouls, or make bad shots. I don't think any coach expects that. :eyeonyou:

 

You don't expect them to be lazy but you deal with that at practice when you see it. You don't expect silly fouls, but you deal with it when they occur, and there are coaches that know in advance he has players that will take some bad shots here and there, that just high school basketball. You address it when it occurs as Henley did tonight.

Easy guys and gals. These are still 15 to 18 year old kids and not an NBA team. Losing focus is not the problem but rather they are going to get everyone's best shot night in and night out as the Holmes game is every other teams Super Bowl. Coach H knows this and is going to let the kids figure it out and have them ready in March. There are going to be more games like this.

 

I agree, and I understand that. Nobody is going to be perfect and I expect them to struggle at times. But you can't walk out of every game and say everything was great. You have to find the weakness and coach to those points which I am sure Henley will do. That was just some of the things I think he could coach too.

BTW, who is #31 from Ryle? He did A LOT of complaining tonight during the game and seemed to get very frustrated with Pittman's defense.. He kept trying to take the ball in and lower his shoulder in to Pittman, only to have him stand still with his hands straight up and block several of his shots. I was surprised he didn't get t'd up toward the end when he started yelling at the ref. Even his teammates were pushing him and telling him to calm down.

 

I don't like to get on high school kids but I thought #31 was just taking cheap shots, almost trying to get retaliation. I'm not a "true" fan of either team but Holmes was playing pretty good "in your face defense" and Ryle was throwing elbows, pushing etc.. The refs had to talk to several kids about this issue and could have easily been called for technicals. I also agree way too many walks called in this game.

#31 is Bobby Stauffer a sophomore. He was doing his fair share of talking but most of it was only in response to Pittman. Pay close attention and Pittman is talking almost the entire game in somebody's ear. He is very good at "keeping the pot stirred" in a very discreet way.

 

I too thought the referee's did a nice job. Why is it being said to many travels were called? If it is a travel then it needs to be called does it not? People complain that the refs were horrible but then anything that was called shouldn't have been or was ticky tack. Ryle is always very physical so I thought the ref's did a nice job of managing the game to keep it under control. Props to the Holmes defense. The do a great job on blocked shots of staying straight up and not committing the foul. I think that is what was really frustrating Ryle down low!

Edited January 27, 200917 yr by atm10
spelling

#31 is Bobby Stauffer a sophomore. He was doing his fair share of talking but most of it was only in response to Pittman. Pay close attention and Pittman is talking almost the entire game in somebody's ear. He is very good at "keeping the pot stirred" in a very discreet way.

 

Agreed, and I love that about him honestly lol. Talking isn't against the rules, if you can legally get in your opponets head, by all means talk it up. But make sure you can back it up and this kid can. When Stauffer got frustrated :madman: and the game got stopped for a bit so the refs and his teammates could calm him down, if you paid attention a ref also spoke with Pittman. Once everything was calm Pittman was right back over in his ear talking again under the watchful eye of the officials :eyeonyou: and no whistle was blown so it couldn't have been that bad. I like his style, he confident, cocky, lets his opponent know about it, and backs it all up. I love it. :ylsuper:

Holmes just keeps on rolling.

Have to agree with both of you on all parts.

 

Ryle is one solid PG away from being a VERY GOOD team. Not having a PG that can take over a game hurts them at times.

 

Teams with a PG that can take over a game is a rarity. Ryle's PG played a solid game in my opinion. Didn't take too many bad shots (maybe one or two), didn't turn the ball over a bunch, protected the ball against good defensive pressure and was able to get them into their offense most of the time. If I can get that from a PG each night, then I'm happy.

I chuckled at Henley's "they like to play football we like to play basketball" comment.

I don't like to get on high school kids but I thought #31 was just taking cheap shots, almost trying to get retaliation. I'm not a "true" fan of either team but Holmes was playing pretty good "in your face defense" and Ryle was throwing elbows, pushing etc.. The refs had to talk to several kids about this issue and could have easily been called for technicals. I also agree way too many walks called in this game.

 

#31 is Bobby Stauffer a sophomore. He was doing his fair share of talking but most of it was only in response to Pittman. Pay close attention and Pittman is talking almost the entire game in somebody's ear. He is very good at "keeping the pot stirred" in a very discreet way.

 

Pittman ALWAYS talks in games, but at the same time he backs it up and always shows respect toward his opponent. He fouled a player last night, laughed and then gave them a smack on the butt as the kid walked to the foul line.

 

Apparently Stauffer started getting frustrated and took cheap shots at both Pittman and JJ. JJ is one of the most quiet kids on the court. Anytime Stauffer would get the ball down low, he'd lower his shoulder and lunge in to Pittman, only to have him not move anywhere because he was honestly too big and strong. Then when any player ran his way he was throwing elbows at them to push them out of his way. That's what caused the stoppage in play.

I chuckled at Henley's "they like to play football we like to play basketball" comment.

 

"This was probably the first game we've played all year that's been like a football game," Henley said. "Their style is to play a football game, and we like to play basketball." :lol:

 

His comment after that one though is the one that stood out most to me:

 

"If you're going to win championships, you've got to play teams that play different styles," Henley said. "You have to adjust. Our kids showed they can be tough. We've now played teams that have ran it at us. We've played teams that held the ball. And we've played a team that tries to slug it out."

Pittman's dunk and highlights from last night's game:

 

 

http://wlwt.highschoolplaybook.com/media/ShowMedia.do?mid=7f5d87994a33c75496df4f334150ce92

Not surprised by the score, if you think back, Holmes has never played very good at Ryle, they have never won a regional in that gym, two of the three refs are top rated in the region and didnt do a bad job, the one foul on Riley getting the rebound was probably the only really bad call of the night.

Pittman ALWAYS talks in games, but at the same time he backs it up and always shows respect toward his opponent. He fouled a player last night, laughed and then gave them a smack on the butt as the kid walked to the foul line.

 

Apparently Stauffer started getting frustrated and took cheap shots at both Pittman and JJ. JJ is one of the most quiet kids on the court. Anytime Stauffer would get the ball down low, he'd lower his shoulder and lunge in to Pittman, only to have him not move anywhere because he was honestly too big and strong. Then when any player ran his way he was throwing elbows at them to push them out of his way. That's what caused the stoppage in play.

 

Not disagreeing with anything you've said. :thumb:

Not disagreeing with anything you've said. :thumb:

 

I know...I was actually agreeing with you in my initial post. :thumb: