High School Basketball

Wednesday, I went to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 3A Boys and
Girls State Basketball Championships being played in the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. 

It’s the old fashioned type of tourney with 16 teams having qualified through various regionals in order to get to the State Tourney. 

The Tacoma Dome is a big building. They can play football there so they have two courts set up end-to-end with a curtain drawn to separate the courts. 

If you sit up in the stands a little bit, you can actually watch the two games at the same time. 

Eight games played in one day for both the Boys  and Girls, starting at 9 AM, with the last game scheduled to start at 8:30 PM, which of course never happens. More likely to get out of there around midnight.

I know I could have stayed home and watched a bunch of “better” games involving colleges in their respective conference tourneys, but I find high school basketball very entertaining. 

It’s a long day, but if you like basketball it can be quite the fix. Game after game, scheduled every hour and a half, with a 15 minute warm up before each game. 

I had no real personal interest, though Detlef Schrempf’s son Alex played for one of the teams (Bellevue), and I’ve known Alex since he was a baby, so I had somebody to cheer for in one of the games. 

There’s something special about these type of tournaments, having eight games in a day.  And, of course, this day was pretty unique with having two games going at once.

These games were like controlled mayhem.  A lot of energy and excitement.  The kids tried very hard.  Defense, due to  the intensity,  a little ahead of the offensive.  Plus, throw in the pressure and the kids pressing, the offenses usually struggled.

One interesting aspect between the boys and the girls is that the boys do not play with a shot clock while the girls play with a 30-second shot clock.  I’m not sure of the reasoning behind that. 

Go figure.  Actually, not having a shot clock did not make a difference, until the end of a couple of games.  Most of the time shots went up well before a shot clock would have expired. 

I will say that there was not a good return on the energy spent compared to the accomplishments achieved. They were  not very efficient.  It was kind of like the old “muscle cars” and their gas mileage: A lot of  energy gone amok.

Some observations:

Most players definitely favor their strong hand, especially the girls. 

Really, that’s not fair.  I saw very few boys who could use both hands.  It brought back the memory of our vaunted “push left” defense that we used with our AAU teams.

There was a lot of passing game with the boys’ team; not so much with the girls. 

Girls played a lot more zone.  Even in passing game, there were a lot of pick and rolls.  There are less and less players being able to beat people off the dribble,  one on one.

* You know a ref is bad when, as a spectator with no care who wins, thinks a team is getting hosed.

* If you see a player who is overweight, unless a post man, you can assume he or she can shoot; otherwise, why would the player be on the floor?

* Most players have a hard time finishing a play off a dribble, especially if they have to pull up.  This is especially true for the girls. 

Keeping that in mind, plus the tendency to favor one hand, I think, as a coach, that you would want to pressure defense with girls, not play zone.  Therefore, not sure why so many zones in girls basketball.

* With me trying to lose some weight, I was worried about finding some nutritional eats.  Thankfully, they had hot dogs, nachos, cotton candy and popcorn galore, so I didn’t have to get off my diet.

* If you are under 18 years old, you tend to wear shirts or hats that have logos from out- of- state colleges. 

If you are over 40, you tend to wear stuff with logos from in-state schools. 

If you are between 18 and 40, you weren’t at these games unless you were a college coach who was scouting.

* There were some fundamental mistakes made by players far too often that are supposed to be learned at a very early age, certainly long before high school. 

Seeing as how this is a teaching site, I have to mention some real unexcusable, fundamental errors. 

(1)  Too many times, on driving layups, players tried to lay the ball just over the rim instead of using the backboard.  

Use the backboard (or bankboard if you are from Indiana) when shooting a lay up (or lay in if you are from Washington).  How to shoot a lay up is one of the first fundamentals that should be taught. 

(2)  Do not save a ball under the opponent’s  basket.

I cannot believe how often you see a ball trying to be saved under the basket only to go to the other team for an easy score, on all levels, including the pros.  

(3) Do not fade back as a foul shot is attempted. 

Too many foul shots are missed because players do not finish the shot, but fade back as the shot is taken.  Again you see that at all levels. 

(4) Do not take the ball out from under the basket after a make. Another fundamental that I was taught at an early age. 

(5)  Finally, and maybe most importantly because of it happens so often, players need to learn how to stop under control, off the dribble. 

Too often players, both the boys and girls, travel, charge, lose their balance, or just generally get out of control when confronted by a help defense when dribbling, or especially, driving.  Doesn’t anybody teach the Wooden Drills anymore?

For coaches, a couple of things that have confused me for a long time.  These teams had 15 minutes to warm up before the game.  That  is not much time. 

Why do players have to spend some of that time stretching?  Couldn’t they stretch in the locker room before coming out on the floor?

And worst of all, I cannot believe how many teams do that foul-shooting thing where 14 players stand around the key watching as one player shoots. 

Maybe it is a bonding thing.  I saw one team actually do that for almost five minutes, in a 15 minute warm up session. 

Let the players get warmed up, and get as many shots up as possible.  Socialize after the team wins.

All in all, I had a great time.  I love the enthusiasm of the players and fans, and the emotions spent. 

It is basketball at its roots. 

Now it is back to the TV, and the conference tournaments.

The start of March Madness.  I think this is the best week of basketball all year.