11-20 scrimmage; Our first time playing together against a fairly fast and aggressive 8th grade travel team. I thought each of you made some adjustments in the second half to improve but we were not quite ready for a team this organized. If we were to play them in the middle of the season, I think the outcome would be much different. Steve probably had the best game and seemed to have no problem with the speed of the game. Phil did a nice job rebounding against a strong aggressive team. Our guards struggled to against the press and lost confidence early on.
11-22 scrimmage vs MMR; This team is in our division. We'll see them several times this year. I think we handled them well. We dominated the rebounding. We were faster and stronger. We were a little bit sloppy and we must learn how to make good decisions that protect the ball and give us shot opportunities. Too many turnovers. I felt Gavin, Vincent, Nick and Lucas looked much more comfortable against this team and that is because these guards were a little smaller but mostly the game speed was slower. Phil and Steve dominated the boards. Everyone contributed.
11-24 scrimmage vs Doylestown travel team. I think we are clearly at a different level than this team. Despite that, we turned the ball over far too many times. We made a lot of bad decisions. I'd say about 50%. We need to get our good decisions up around 85% and that will happen as we play together more and learn to see the floor and play smarter. For the first time, Frank, Lucas and Nate felt how I REALLY expect them to play defense. Vincent and Lucas had a strong aggressive game. Kyle in his first game back picked up where he left off last year. Clark Kent turned into Superman. Welcome back but don't get a big head just yet. Kyle, Phil and Matt dominated the boards again in this game. Steve sat out with an injury. It will be interesting to see us play when we have our entire team at one time.
11-28 Ambler Catholic Tournament- MMR We managed to win this game but the game was way too close. They are a good shooting team and if they made a few more shots they could have stole the game. We missed far too many close shots and we didn't take care of the ball very good at all. Still a win is a win and a good all around effort by all.
11-28 LaSalle Tournament- St Joe-St. Robert. Despite warnings, we seemed intimidated by their size and immediately began to play scared. Once we realised we could play with them, we played them even the rest of the way. Our intensity level was up our turnovers were down a little bit. We continue to miss shots in close but that's something we can work on.
11-30 Ambler Catholic Semi-Finals- Win A very nice comeback. It's rare that you control most of a game, lose the lead late and then come back and win it. That's what you did. That's excellent determination and effort despite far too many turnovers and missed shots in close. We also didn't make our share of foul shots and it came close to costing us the game. At the end, when finally taking the lead, we made to critical mistakes. We fouled which stopped the clock and allowed them to shoot foul shots since we were in 1 and 1. Then we beat the press and tried for a layup instead of pulling back and running the clock down. You work too hard all game long to want to lose a game on a mental error. Think about the importance of playing smart at the end of each game. Get together and talk to each other after a foul. Steve and Phil led the team with 25 of the 37 points. This was mostly from offensive rebounds and press brake baskets.
11-30 Ambler Catholic Finals- Loss. After being down 11-1, we played much better the rest of the game. We can't get caught not being ready for the start of games. It's a tough climb back and this team was too good to complete the comeback. We did a much better job of beating the press in the 2nd half. Gavin got hot and made some 3's and more importantly, turned up the defense and caused some turnovers to keep us in the game. Steve, continued to play at a high level by never being a spectator and always seeming to be around the ball. Matt Phil and Steve also continued to work hard for rebounds. We had a lot of over the back fouling that wasn't being called. We'll work on how to get that call in the future. We started to make more close range shots but i think 7 players can all count one basket they thought they should have made. Those would have given us a 7 or 8 point win. Regardless of the loss, you played even with one of the top three teams in region 17. This weekend of tournaments shows me with some improvement, we can play with anyone in our Region. We've never beat CC or OLMC in the Southern Division. We've rarely beat Jude, SASH or MMR. St Rose, OLG and Stans are traditionally a coin flip. This year we have a chance to beat any of these teams and change the long standing perception that SMG is a 'B' team.
12-6 Jude Maroon- Win 37-36 This was a real close game the entire way. We weren't matching the energy level of our opponent despite being faster stronger and better. So they felt they could win the game. We didn't shoot very well. We missed a bunch of layups but as the game progressed, everyone started playing more aggressively and it started to show as the other team began making many mistakes and turnovers. We turned those turnovers into just enough points to win. Good job. Kyle carried us with 18 points (1/2 of our points!) Nick had 7. Vince hit a big 3 pointer late in the game. We need at least one more player willing to step up and help with the scoring. Steve was absent from the game but we still need one more scorer if we want to put away teams like this early in the game.
12-7 OLG - Win 45-12 This team was very weak but managed to be leading at the end of the 1st quarter 9-8. So how do we beat them 45-12? I think you know the answer. Everyone contributed and played well after the 1st quarter. Nice Job. Also nice job of slowing the game down toward the end and showing some character and sportsmanship by not running up the score in the 4th quarter. I know the temptation is there individually to build your stats but that's not what CYO is about. Matt, Lucas, Gavin and Phil all stepped their game up. Why, because you could all clearly see how much better you were than your opponent. You need that same mentality at THE BEGINNING OF EVERY GAME. Don't wait to find out your better. Play your best right up front and you will find out when the game is over!
12-12 Isadore Win 44-21 Despite a slow start being down 8-11 after the 1st quarter, everyone got it together and we outscored them 36-11. Our defense forced a lot of turnovers. Our scoring was pretty balanced; Kyle 14, Steve 10, Gavin 6, Lucas and Vince 4 Frank 2. As rough a game that was, we only had 8 team fouls. Nobody had more than 2 fouls! That means we can defend tougher. Overall though our best team effort.
12-13 Corpus Loss 30-32 A frustrating loss in a game that we clearly dominated from the 2nd quarter on. Our defense was excellent. To hold a good team to 32 points is great. Foul shooting: SMG 5-17 CC 10-18. You think we could have used 3 more foul shots? Several of their points were from offensive rebounds. We need to get tougher underneath and BOX OUT on every shot. Now can you understand the importance of practice? A little better foul shooting. Another in-bounds play for the end of the game? A little bit of a quicker start? It's a long season that is just getting started. Let's remember this loss and use it to be better prepared for another close game like this.
12-19 MMR A- Loss 34-40 Another high quality game that we controlled for the first 3 quarters. We kind of fell apart at the end. When we get in that position, next time somebody has to step up and make something happen to put the game out of reach. We slowed the offense down too much and forgot to look for quality opportunities to score. Even without the win, you guys are playing at a high level. A level I haven't seen at SMG for a long time if ever. The win would have been nice but we are gaining respect around the league. Any your efforts reach far beyond just the basketball court. You are helping improve your SMG community spirit and this season may still be a special one to remember.
12-20 St. Rose - Win 33-20. Not your sharpest game but I know you sensed a lower level team and maybe played down to their level a little bit. Phil had a season high 11 points. Nate got his 1st 3 pointer. Everyone got to play a lot in this game and it was a good team effort. We still rush against full court pressure. Try and remember to stay calm and in control. Use the backup technique to see the court better.
** You want proof that practice makes perfect?
Take a look at these videos.
12-27 Ambler Catholic- Win 45-14. I hope you realise that when you have nothing to fear, you play at a much higher level. We didn't need one outside shot in that game. We had all the layups we wanted. Even our smaller guards felt it. Lucas, Frank and Nate....nice job! Use this as a guide for future play. Everyone: Fear can hurt you in so many ways. Play without fear and with confidence and you will feel great about yourself regardless of the outcome....but the outcome will always be better than the results of letting fear win. At the end of the game, do you say 'I shoulda, I coulda, I woulda'? Or do you say I did everything I could. I expect nothing but your best effort, intensity, energy, concentration and emotion. You should expect the same of yourself. Your team mates feed of these attributes and you need to notice your team mates doing the same and use that for yourself. That's what makes a REAL team. We're getting there.
12-29 Corpus Red Win 52-27 Nice job by everyone. You guys made it look easy. Now if you can play a good team home and away successfully, I'll be impressed. MMR today and MMR on Friday again at their place.
12-30 MMR purple Win 36-30 Nice job by everyone again. The first half was a little bit rough. They were very aggressive offensively and we were spread out way too wide making it hard to help each other. However, in the 2nd half they literally could not score on us. The score looked close at the end but I left 4 guards in the game for the last 3 or 4 minutes. We were up by more than 15 and could have extended that lead if I matched our players to theirs. Tighten up the defense on Friday. Don't let the big guy catch the ball down low so easy and see the court and you will do fine on Friday.
01-02 Loss MMR purple I warned that it is very difficult to beat the same team twice in a row. It sounds like we didn't take this game as seriously as we should. It takes an entire team to win against good opponents. We need to work on our shooting.
01-03 Win vs St. Stans Our first upper division win this year! Our defense has really become stingy. I like that nobody can score on us. That is going to be big as we enter the last third of the season and the playoffs. This is the time we need to really get serious about our games individually and recognize how important it is to play as a team. I think friendships and bonds are forming and in turn you are starting to get comfortable with each others games.
01-10 SMG can send two 8th graders to this tryout. Of 22 players from around the region, 2 are sent to the District All Star game to represent Region 20. I would like to send Kyle and Phil. SMG has only ever had one player picked to represent Region 20 and he was not known by any of the other coaches but the night of the tryout, he played great and none of the coaches could ignore his play. So Kyle and Phil, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by making yourself noticable in the game. Good Luck!
01-10 Jude Win
01-11 OLG Win One thing that is extremely noticable. We are making our foul shots! A little bit of concentration and practice and our confidence is now high and everyone is seeing everyone else make shots. Now we need to do the same with our shots around the basket. We missed way too many 5 foot shots and layups. It's no different than foul shots. We need to practice them and get confidence. Practice is another important issue. These last two weeks of practice are very important. If you want to play, you need to be at practice as we learn new plays for the playoffs. You will need to make some tough decisions but get use to it. You will need to make a lot of difficult decisions in your life and you need to think about the plus's and minus's and you will make the correct decisions.
01-17 Jude-upper Win Obviously our best win of the season. Strong effort from everyone especially when we didn't get a chance to prepare properly by practicing together, we were missing players and we didn't have a particularly good shooting game. This is a great game to build on but NOT time to get cocky. We need to continue to improve and work hard to get ready for the playoffs.
01-18 Isidore Win After winning a very big game the day before, it is always difficult to follow up with a good game verse a 'supposed' weak team. This weak team played extremely well and wanted that game bad. We didn't have a good game defensively like we usually do, but we did manage to keep control of the game and not panic when they hung around and the calls weren't going our way. Overall a very nice weekend that gives us a great chance to make the upper Southern division playoffs and a great chance to succeed in the playoffs.
All successful teams get better at the end of the season. The build on momentum and capture an edge that other teams don't. We just completed a very nice weekend of basketball that appears to be the start of something very special. But the way to build on this is to play and improve as a team 'everyone together'. I'm proud that you made your school teams but you need to realise the importance of honoring commitments. We all committed to this team on November 1st and we all need to finish your committment. Your new coaches should understand this. When you miss a practice and you sit for a quarter or more, you need to look at what that means. If you are thinking it is a punishment to you, it's not really. It's moreso a hardship for the team. You are letting your team down when you must sit. So please forward your schedules to me immediately. I want to minimize any conflicts with your school teams but there will probably be a few conflicts. You need to appeal to your new coaches as soon as we finalize the schedule. We have a HUGE game this weekend against MMR purple. This is the team we beat in the Christmas tournament but lost in the regular season game. A loss could negate that huge upper A division win Saturday. This is a very important game!
01-25 FREE THROW CHAMPIONSHIP The Knights of Columbus Pius IX Council 4396 is sponsoring a Basketball Free Throw Championship to be held at St. Maria Goretti Parish School in Drexel Hall. It is scheduled to be held on Sunday evening January 25, 2009, starting at 7:00 PM sharp and is open to all boys and girls 10 to 14 years of age to participate. All of you have improved your foul shooting quite a bit. You should participate.
01-24 Win MMR purple- Nice win! We didn't play our best game. We didn't shoot foul shots especially well. We had a lot of turnovers. We seemed confused on in bounds at times and we didn't handle their press very well. We weren't mentally ready prior to the game. Anybody remember the pregame 'meeting'? All that and we get a win. Why? Because the individual efforts of an entire team of talented players. Every week it's not just one player that helps us win games. It's any of 3, 4 and 5 players on the floor that contribute. Firstly, our defense is starting to be downright annoying to any team. No matter which 5 players I put out there, it's a struggle for the other team. Secondly, offensively the other team can't key on our best player because we have 5 players that can score. Early, Nick hit two 3's and Steve was big on the boards keeping the game close while everything was going MMR's way. Later, Gavin and Lucas made huge 3 pointers when we needed them bad. Late in the game, Phil scored 3 times to keep the game in our control. And each game it's different players that are stepping up and helping. So talent wise, we have plenty. The issue is we need to play together as a team better to win at the next level. I had to cancel weds practice because of catholic schools week. So that makes tonight's practice, Thursday AFTERNOON's practice and Friday Night's Souderton game ALL MANDATORY practices. Having another practice or game is NOT an excuse. If we win both games this weekend, we are in great shape to get a middle seed in the upper division of the playoffs and a second chance at Corpus and/or MMR. Let's get it done.
02-01 loss to Sash- 43-37 This was a pretty nice effort for most of the game but we just didn't play strong enough to get past this team. Saturday will be a different story.
02-04 Mt Carmel Loss 42-39 This was an excellent overall effort by the entire team. We cut down on our turnovers, made shots when we needed to but most of all played very good defense in the final quarter. Steve played his most aggressive game of the year controlling the offense against the man press. Kyle struggled for a while and then made some key scores and played excellent defense late. Gavin came off the bench and was like possessed. He made some key defensive plays that he directly or indirectly turned into points. Phil was a beast boxing the big guy out and then getting several offensive rebounds. Vincent and Frank each hit important shots. I really can't be too upset by the loss. We dominated the 2nd half of the game. We needed one more shot to go in, one call from the ref, one break. We didn't get it. The good news is that the game didn't mean anything. We know we can beat anybody and we'll get another chance to show that Saturday.
02-05 Bux-Mount practice- This is our last official practice before our Saturday playoff game. It's in a beautiful new gym. Make sure you are on time and make sure you come ready to practice. DIRECTIONS: from SMG take Cowpath East to Unionville Pike, Make left on Unionville. Go about 1.5 miles and make a right on Penn Road. Gym is on Right I believe. http://www.bucksmontisc.com/Directions_61.aspx
02-07 Sash Loss 38-51 Obviously a disappointing end to the season. But don't forget that only one team each season doesn't have to feel like we did last night. Overall it was an incredibly good season. For the first time in all the years of coaching CYO, we competed and could win any game on any night. You worked hard to improve as the season progressed. We came in 2nd in The Ambler Catholic tournament. We won our Christmas Tournament. We upset the best team in the league. We were 11-1 in our division. We were 18-8 overall. But more importantly I hope you will remember the season because of the friends you have and friends you made during the season. I know you learned more about the importance of following through on your committment to play for SMG. You all showed a great sense of dedication to finish something you started even though it's not easy. That will be something very valuable as you become men. I enjoyed coaching all of you. To the 8th graders, good luck in high school and remember to try to be your best at whatever you do and you will be successfull.