Hoopstars

Make slips me- thought a starter was out against north. Simmons?

Is Collins back to full strength?

Kudos to both coaches for getting the kids to stay engaged and continue to compete despite tough seasons. The coaches who win are always recognized the most as being “the best” but they usually have the talent. Doing what these coaches do is much much more challenging and has potential to have a longer impact to players for the lessons they can teach, IMO.

Love to know more about Frederick Douglas. Couple good wins. One elite win over GRC. Coupe double digit loses to good teams. Other than that seems like an average schedule but they are the team I am least familiar with in top 20.

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Surprised Amburgey didn’t make it. Scores. Rebounds. And must have set some sort of record for most charges taken in a season.

Neither team plays much d. Be surprised for low scoring…

Yes

FYI- think south is missing a starter for this game due to injury and he has a huge game last time they played

Two kids went to Collins. Two other kids are at south and don’t play anymore. IMO both the kids at south could have been good role players- both extremely athletic, tough minded kids that can defend and rebound really well. None of the 4 are three point shooters so don’t really fit the system and probably felt they wouldn’t play much

South is playing well right now including a couple nice wins down the stretch mixed in with blowouts of bad teams. OC is more athletic and has the best player and has played a much harder schedule. On paper I just don’t see OC losing and think they win relatively easily. That being said I was wrong about south- I thought they would struggle more than they have. Had they had kept some of the kids who left the program I think they could have been a threat in the region.

Has to be in running for coach of the year. Amazing work…

Correct. I think the second grant game he played limited minutes. Not the entire game like usual.

Fwiw he didn’t play against Oldham and played on a limited basis against grant- I think.

I know Carroll isn’t very good. I guess they just chose to play a bunch of Carrolls this year….fun…

1-9 when giving up 55 plus. Yikes! Unrelated but does anyone run up the score like south oldham? Three 50 point wins. And 4 more 35 plus. That’s almost half of their seasons wins by over 35. Seems likes a lot… That being said- playing some good ball!

AAU lacks the physicality, the emphasis of defense and the consistent full speed effort demanded of a state semi and final IMO.

All good points. To me I don’t begrudge a parent for starting a kid late or holding a kid back. I do feel like there is a “stigma” to hold backs vs late starters which I don’t totally get. Let’s face it- biology is the gigantic/overwhelming factor for kids who have great success middle school to early high school. No one can control how fast they grow/develop. You can be in the same grade as another kid and be 10 months younger and 2 years less physically developed. It’s usually, not always, not an advantage when you hold back- it just gets you to equal…the late starter kid- if they also develop early can be 2-3 years or more ahead of their classmates for years on end. Incredible difference!

Good recap- sitting harbin comment reminded me of the OC Collins game 3 years ago- covid year. OC beat them at collins and one of their two stars (not McKnight) had foul trouble and sat a bunch. Collins lost and it never felt like gaither was pulling out all the stops to win- similar to last night. And then Collins beat OC to win the region a few weeks later….

Interesting- my experience is the opposite- more- in fact many many boys start schooling later- enter kindergarten when 6 and repeats occur less often.

Collins was shot handed- could explain their offensive challenges. Rematch very possible down the road.

Props to Collins for incredible patience. Down 5 with 4 minutes left and ran 30 plus seconds off the clock repeatedly possession after possession with zero sense of urgency and zero results. Inexplicable

Right. The question I was asking is how much did guys like that benefit from being a hold back (if they were- which I don’t know) vs the benefit a kid who repeats, 8th grade for example, gets. I think the kids who are hold backs at a young age have a cascading long term advantage that far aways the kid who repeats at a much later time. If you are bigger and stronger and faster and more mature than nearly everyone else in grades 2-8 you are gonna experience great success and build tremendous confidence. That doesn’t happen repeating when you are already done with middle school…

Definitely hurts the attendance for the girls game. Mass exodus without a doubt. And makes it way easier to get a seat for boys game!

It would be interesting to compare long term success of repeat a grade vs start a kid late- basically the identical end game. Some kids you mentioned are “old” for their grade because they started school late, as opposed to repeating. Leads to dominating at a very early age- playing on better aau teams, getting big minutes in middle school and playing varsity early- ahead of kids in same grade. Big benefit- extreme confidence is built from early success and confidence goes a very very long way in basketball. Repeats don’t actually get that same long term benefit as the hold backs…