Submitted by VHS Boys Basketball Coach
Coach’s Journal: Eielson
This weekend we had our sights on more conference games, this time against the Eielson Ravens. We had the chance to see them play in the Dean Cummings tournament a few weeks ago in Delta, so were able to prepare some things accordingly, feeling pretty confident with our chances. One of my favorite quotes comes from the late Kobe Bryant: “confidence comes from preparation.”
Another one of my favorite quotes goes like this: “stay ready so you don’t gotta get ready.” I couldn’t tell you where I heard that or who it came from but it has always stuck with me, and it really came into play for us before we even left Valdez as three of our starters, and more or less our three top scorers, were out with illness all week and were not able to travel with us!
A new challenge.
We have a lot of young guys on our squad that have not had the chance to see real minutes where they have to contribute in a meaningful way. Lots of time swinging with the JV team, or the usual end of game situation where the game has always been decided. What will happen when they have these expectations thrust upon them?
The other question we had; who is going to score for us? Losing Tino, Jarrett and Owen for the week left a bit of a void in the shots category. Looking to Nick, Grayson, Barrett, Jace and Brody and then the freshman squad: Who will take those shots at an efficient level now? Which of our guys were staying ready so they don’t have to get ready?
I think these guys have been great all year at almost all of the things we emphasize in practice: defensive rotations, closeouts, offensive patience and all that encapsulates our half-court trap (just to name a few.)
I was excited to see who would step up and fill the role of scorer for us, something these guys haven’t really had do to as a number one, two or three option on offense.
So as the game starts, we had nearly three new starters: Jace, Zach and Barrett (who has been in and out of the starting lineup due to matchups this season), along with Nick and Grayson to round our our five.
Eielson started in a man to man defense. We were moving the ball around patiently and hit Zach for a three. Nothing but net. Zach got the ball on the next two possessions and hit two more mid range J’s. 7 straight points to Eielson’s 0. More ball movement, patient drive and kicks: Grayson hits a three, then Jace, then Grayson again. Nick chipped in a couple buckets along the way. Before we knew it the quarter was over and we were leading 26-11. That is a great scoring quarter for any team, and especially a team facing the challenges we were. I think our questions were answered. Who was going to step into that scoring role? Everyone.
From that point on we really just held control of the game. Running our “42” half court press really disrupted Eielson’s flow, and eventually they got tired of us scoring against their man defense so they switched to a zone themselves. Nothing really slowed down our offensive production and we ended up winning 65-41. Grayson, Zach and Jace all chipped in career-high points with 20, 14 and 11 respectively. Nick also scored 12.
Coming into game two we still had questions and challenges. What would the game look like if we were’t having such a hot shooting night? How would we react to players getting into foul trouble with an already depleted bench?
Eielson started off in their 2-3 zone defense and in the first quarter we soon found out the answer to the first question. I think some of the confidence from Friday’s shooting night carried over into Saturday, but unfortunately the shots weren’t dropping like they were in the previous contest.
The youth and inexperience of much of the team showed through the gaps from time to time. Impatience on offense resulting in poor shot selection, unforced turnovers, and some early fouls plagued the quarter and much of the first half.
Those are all the types of mistakes that young teams go through while they’re learning, and is to be expected when thrown into those real rotation minutes. I think it was really good for those guys to experience that in meaningful game time. Those are the types of situations you can’t replicate in practice where the real growth and understanding can occur.
Fortunately for us, we have great leadership from our seniors Nick, Grayson and Barrett. (Owen too, but again he didn’t make the trip due to illness). So they were able to show some great examples of poise and keep the team afloat when things were seeming like they could spiral.
Another lesson we teach about the difference between great teams and poorer teams is how they handle adversity. When things start to spiral, can we regroup and refocus and plug the hole? Great teams can. And we did.
There was some drama in the first quarter too. About halfway through the period an Eielson player fouled one of our guys and then said something the officials didn’t like and they subsequently gave him a technical. As Grayson was shooting his free throws, the player went and sat on the bench before his substitution came in to relieve him, which is not allowed, so he got a second technical and was ejected from the game.
Despite all of this, we managed to hold a lead after one quarter, and for the rest of the game we hovered around a 10-12 point lead. Eielson went on a couple scoring runs, and we would always answer and extend the lead just a little bit more. Our threes weren’t falling like they had in the previous game, but that refocus and leadership by our older guys helped us work the ball inside and generate some great shots at the rim.
Towards the end a few of our guys got into foul trouble but it didn’t really become a problem for us by that time, and we wound up with the win.
Like I mentioned above, these types of games and scenarios are things that are very difficult to replicate in practice. The crowd, the intensity, the atmosphere, all put together. We really missed Owen, Jarrett and Tino this weekend but I think it was a highly productive time for all those guys at the other end of the bench that don’t get to see that action. It’s where the real growth can happen, and hopefully will give them some confidence as they grow as players and young adults. Once the game starts ‘slowing down’ for them I think we can really go far.
Nick and Grayson lead our scoring with 19 and 10. This coming weekend (starting Thursday) is our home Elks Tournament. Lots of great teams are coming to town and we have the potential to have a couple good rematches against Seward and Nome if all three of our teams win! Come show support and BE LOUD! Go Bucs!