Basketball Offense Has Changed Dramatically

Player and ball movement has given way to dribbling and banging. Ohio State men's basketball team is a prime example. Give the ball to a quick penetrating guard, step back out of his way, let the post player pop out or slash across the lane. If you cannot get the ball to the big man, penetrate and either bang into a defender (hoping to draw a foul as you shoot) or kick the ball to a wing for a three-point jumper. The other three players beside the guard and post just make themselves available for a pass and shoot if open or pass out to the top of the key to begin again. If that does not work, start over with another guard.

Coaches believe this offense produces wins rather than the talent-offense interaction, and they adopt it for college and high school. (Tommy Amaker lost his job at UM because he could not recruit the talent required for this offence and did not recognize he lacked the talent necessary to run such an offense and did not install another offence more suited to his players.) With talent it will work. Of course, with enough talent any offense will work; and if you have enough talent to win, design any offense and you will be copied and called an offensive genius.

Another factor in accepting the new offense is the way the game is officiated. Offensive players who cause contact are rewarded by foul calls against the defensive player. As such, it is more important to dribble-drive to penetrate and make contact than to pass and move. In my humble estimation only about 10% of charging fouls are actually called--a great reward to the dribbler-driver who initiates contact. Much the same can be said for post players and their moves to bump a defender off their defensive position to gain advantage either in position or to clear out to attempt a shot. Not many great passing big men any more, are there?

And that's the way it is.

One of these days I may embrace it.

State Class A and Class B Semifinals

were held at the Breslin Center on MSU campus in E Lansing on Friday.

A former student of mine had an extra tickets for the four games, called me earlier in the week and offered them to me, and I went. Second year going with Bill and his son Matt and a few of Bill's friends from his church connections.

We had breakfast at a family restaurant at 17 Mile and Mound, just down the road from Bill's house, then packed six of us into his van for the ride to the Breslin (last year I drove). Lots of high school sports talk so I catch up on Utica Schools sports gossip, especially Stevenson High School.

Four very good games, two each in Class A and Class B. Most impressive was Saginaw High School with its great team speed and outside shooting.

Also Class A Warren De LaSalle, from Macomb County, gave Redford HS all it could handle in the other semifinal game. Up by five at the half, they finally succumbed to the game-long full court pressure losing by 6. Manny Harris of Redford was announced as Mr. Basketball earlier in the week but De LaSalle kept him in check most of the game holding him to about 15 points, nearly half his season average and well below his previous game's 42 points.

In Class B we saw Detroit Country Day win over previously undefeated Stevensville-Lakehore. DCD has Joe Dumar's son, Jordan, a 6-5 215 sophomore coming off the bench. I'll keep an eye on him over the next couple years.

I see many friends there who are also hs bball fans--some former and current coaches, some retired teachers, and some people who worked on education projects with me.

Many consider this day better than the day of finals since we see two Class A games and two Class B games, usually eight of the top teams in the state and some of the best players. I also enjoy the day of finals and recall fondly taking James and Todd to Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor several times for them.

A fun day if you are like me and really enjoy high school basketball. I look forward to next year.

A Great High School Basketball Game

between our local Romeo High School Bulldogs and the Pontiac Northern Huskies Wednesday night. The best high school games I have seen in a very long time though we lost by a point in overtime.

Romeo jumped out to a seven point lead after the first quarter but Pontiac Northern cut into the lead in small chunks until the third quarter when PN jumped to a five point lead I attribute mainly to the PN press against a team having little game experience against their quickness. But to the amazement of most fans, the Bulldogs catch them. Seesaw through the fourth quarter and we are tied at the end of regulation. In overtime the teams play very close until eventually PN makes a two-pointer to take a one-point lead with 11.9 seconds on the clock. A Romeo timeout produces a play that gets a running one-hander from about 8 feet--too high off the backboard it bounces off the front of the rim and the Dawgs lose by one point.

A 22-1 season earns this team a spot in RHS record book with the most wins by a boys basketball team.

More impressive is the way the players conducted themselves all season, a team humble in victory and gracious in defeat (at a time when players, coaches, and fans that want to not just win games but to humiliate opponents).

This team returns their most versatile and talented player Blake Cushingberry next season and a group of juniors who got prime time playing time throughout the season.

We will follow them again next year.

GO DAWGS!

Romeo Bulldogs boys basketball team

won their state high school tournament district championship today. They defeated Rochester Stony Creek HS, Troy High, and Troy Athens HS by a combined margin of about 70 points.

We were concerned for Blake Cushingberry when he rolled his ankle on Tuesday night and missed the fourth quarter. However he did play (very well I might add) on Thursday and Saturday.

A good test for this team is Wednesday in a regional semifinal game against Pontiac Northern HS. PN has won a couple state Class A championships in the last ten years and always has a very good team. The other game in the region being played at Troy HS has Orchard Lake St. Mary against Canton HS and should be fun to watch also.

Kids in the Dawg Pound are having fun bantering with other schools' student cheering section, reminding players that they missed the rim on a shot (Airrr ball) or committed a violation like double-dribble (You can't do that!), and cluing the driver to "warm up the bus" because the game is over. I look forward to seeing them at regional games.

Go Dawgs!

Capital Punishment

should be used on the most evil among us. And we seem to have one here in Washington Township.

Stephen Grant.

Enough said.

The Voyage of Discovery

facinates me. I just finished Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, a biography of Meriwether Lewis with focus on the Lewis and Clark search for a water route to the Pacific.

Explorers and their feats have intrigued me since I was very young. Columbus, of course. Vasco Da Gama, Scott, Shakleton to name a few. Alan Sheperd and Neil Armstrong during my lifetime. The dangers. The beauty. The risk. The reward.

I wonder who the explorers of the future will be and what they will explore.