watching the Utah v. BYU game highlights on the news. I still have work to do, but decided to blog. We decided not to go to the Utah v. BYU game tonight at the Huntsman Center. No, we're not waining in our support for our dear, terrible Utes, but weeknights are hard and I chose to watch my brother play over watching the Utes lose. As much as I would never cheer against the Utes, I can predict a loss. Unfortunately, we were 0-4 on the basketball front tonight. Every team at Hunter (plus the Utes) lost. Willie played quite a bit of the 1st quarter of the varsity game, but then didn't get back in. I don't know why. He's no superstar, but he's a good solid player who hustles, works his butt off, and isn't afraid to fall on the floor. If I were the coach, I'd put him in for a couple of minutes every quarter. Let him bump someone around, get a few rebounds, then pull him back out. I guess I'm not the coach, though. But, if I were, let me tell you a few other things I'd do . . . .
Haley's guide to basketball
(or . . . things that Hunter does not do, but should)
* DEFENSE and REBOUNDS are how you win ballgames. Yes, you need to score, but if you focus on defense and rebounds, you will score plenty. Living by the 3-pointer means you will die by the 3-pointer.
* When playing against a zone, swing the ball back and forth, send cutters, move, and watch for the open man (don't resort to chucking up crapola at the backboard)
* Passing the ball breaks a press, NOT dribbling. Try a bounce pass. It might surprise you.
* If your players are giving little to no effort and are making stupid mistakes but still think they are really cool, PUT IN OTHER PLAYERS!
* When the other team has a 16-2 run, you probably should have called a time out.
* Make your hot shot sophomores earn their spots. They need to ride the bus to games, participate with the team, at least play a little JV, and pull them when they sucketh. A little humbling can go a long way to making a better team player.
* Keep your bigger guys near the key. Doing so allows them more likely opportunities to pull down rebounds and put the offensive ones back up. Having them set screens on the 3 point line does nothing. They end up out of position for the rebound or they end up with the ball, and to their credit, can't do anything with it or else they'd turn it over.
On a lighter note . . . .
Elliott drew me a picture during the awful JV game. He wanted to draw me
a picture of a "spern whale" because they are the biggest whale in the ocean. He broke his drawing concentration at one point, though, to ask me if I would "like the spern whale to echo-locate off it's baby." Huh? Are you almost 4 or almost 34? Goofy kid. Yes, I recognize that you don't know how to say "sperm" whale, but I am definitely impressed by your "echo-locating" skills. Oh, and the picture of the giant squid attacking the mother spern whale? . . . that was pretty scary.
I asked if I could keep the picture. I'll scan it and post it here, but not right now.
