Ok so if the start of the night is any indication on how the night would go we would be having some difficulties ...
First off the bus driver pulls into the student parking lot and has to do like an 11 point turn just to get out of the parking lot ... From there it was a smooth drive to London and Hwy 402 ... Ya that's right we went to the opposite side of London ... The directions that the bus driver was given were incorrect and we ended up in the middle of no where ... I know most of London but I had no idea where we were and how to get to Fanshawe from there ... So our bus driver pulled off to a gas station and got directions ... These directions take us through downtown London and lots of traffic and construction ... It is now 5:15 and the girls play at 6PM and we still have to get across the city ... We finally make it to Fanshawe and the girls have 20 minutes to change and warm up ... Let's just say the ladies didn't do so well I think they lost by 30 when it was all said and done ... They started off slow had some calls not go their way and just couldn't recover ... But they played ...
Ok on to the guys game ... We brought them in before the game started and talked about what we wanted from t hem ... Deny first pass what our rotation will be, to relax on offense and let it come to them and to play HARD!
So we say our starters and go out to warm up ... Looks like a good warm up but again they all try and dunk everything instead of working on things that they will use in the game like jumpers and such ...
We come out of the gates very rough ... No one is denying the ball or fronting the post ... Heck they couldn't even stay in front of their man ... Very rough to watch ... The offense oh the offense they again looked like chickens with their heads cut off running around not knowing what to do and then doing their own thing ... Which didn't work 90% of the time ... But those things we can correct from the sidelines. What we can't correct is the attitude that was on the floor, no hustle and everyone bitching and complaining with each other ... That is just no acceptable at all ... We burned 3 timeouts in the first half just trying to calm things down and make it to the half ... And when we subbed nothing changed ... Didn't matter who was on the floor it was the same result they didn't want to work as a team and didn't want to play hard ...
We were down 16 at the half ...
In the locker room with the team the first thing I asked for them was to spell the word TEAM and then asked if there was an I in it ... It's an old saying yes but it is a true saying no one person can win a championship it takes 5 individuals playing as 1 to win a championship and that is what we are trying to accomplish with this team ... We than went over the offense and what we need to do and the defense and what needs to be done.
So we start the second half in RED one made baskets and YELLOW on everything else ... We come out a bit harder then the first half and score two quick buckets to cut the lead to 12 after that not sure what happened we went back to the first half play and they blew the lead up to 22 ...From there we started subbing players to see who wanted to play ... Norm played a great second half he worked hard on both the O and the D and helped us chip the lead down to 15 with 7 minutes left in the game ... We made a couple more subs and added some of our bench players to give our on court line up a rest and the bench guys played so well that we kept them in the game ... Curtis and Mo played great during the time that they were in and cut the lead to 9 with 2 minutes left and we just couldn't get over that hump as they were able to maintain that little cushion.
The final score was Fanshawe 80 Seneca 71 ...
Players of the game in my opinion were:
Norm
Jemix
Mo
Curtis
Yitz
Felix
Players that are coming along:
James - starting to pick things up just needs to play HARD all the time he is on the court
Boyce - had moments of what we wanted but not enough
Players that should have but didn't:
Vadim - Not sure where he was tonight
Devone
After the game we talked to the guys in the locker room and asked them if the offense was to hard ... I asked them and they told me that it's not hard just confusing at times and that we don't talk on the O ... So I asked them how can I help them understand it better and they said we just need to talk and LISTEN to each other for it to work ... I agree ...
Practice tomorrow 7:30PM ... Wonder what we will be working on ... I know D will be high on the list and maybe some exercises on teamwork ...
Until then ...
Coach Hopps
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