February 27, 2011

Thank you, Badgers Seniors!

Sunday, February 27th, 2011.
Time:  5 PM
Location:  Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin
Event:  Senior Night

Who:
Wquinton Smith
Brett Valentyn
Tim Jarmusz
Jon Leuer
JP Gavinski
Keaton Nankivil

Wquinton Smith had a dream come true.  He started as a student at Wisconsin and actually had the opportunity to fill a roster spot after an open try out.  No lie, a campus call email for a tryout and this kid makes the team as a freshman.  He battled, dove for loose balls, shattered guard lifting records and went from open call walk-on to earning a start as a senior.  Unbelievable story. 
I actually thought and hoped he'd get a bit more time down the stretch run of the season to take some pressure and minutes off Jordan Taylor, and in a few games he's been big.  Purdue is a good match-up for him with Lewis Jackson.. Senior Night should be with Michael Thompson.  He can guard Hulls from Indiana, so he should get some minutes late and into the Big Ten Tournament to keep JT fresh for March Madness and Smith, by all accounts, is up to the task. 

Brett Valentyn is another Wisconsin walk-on story.  Not Jimmy Leonhard like, but a local kid (Verona) that came to Wisconsin for an education and all the right reasons.  An apparently very smart kid, Valentyn has made his way into 13 games this year (thus far), a career high.  He also happens to love the 3-point shot, taking 17 of them.. otherwise known as 100% of his shot attempts on the year!  Brett has made 6, for you math majors, giving him 18 points going into the game against Northwestern. 
Valentyn was never really an "on floor factor" for UW but by all accounts is a great teammate and a very well liked player that worked his butt off in practice.  Valentyn will hit at least a 3 on Sunday, you can take that to the bank.  We could see Mr. Valentyn during the tournament for a zone buster if the Badgers need a 3 and some energy off the bench. 

JP Gavinski is a tall, big, Wisconsin product that came to UW with some hype.  He was named 2nd team all-state as a senior and averaged over 20 points, 9 boards and an incredible 7 blocks a game.  There were questions about his competition and footwork or polish that needed to be answered.  Unfortunately, they were answered in the amount of time JP has seen the floor these last few years, which wasn't much.  Now, I know I said the other guys were good teammates, but I've heard some incredible stories about Gavinski's sense of humor and ability to get even the "Grinch," Bo Ryan to crack a smile here and there.  Hustle, a great work ethic and big practice body along with that sense of humor have helped the Badgers squad the last few years.
My Sunday Gavinski projection:  1st and last career start, a board and an awkward looking missed shot.

Tim Jarmusz is the 4th member of the class to be from.. Wisconsin.  Jarmusz is a much maligned Badger that doesn't appear to excel at anything but he's not glaringly inefficient at anything either.  He is what he is (I hate that saying), and that is hard working, smart, and full of effort.  He doesn't make mistakes, but he doesn't make plays.  He's a proverbial glue guy that does the little things and that you can get by with as long as he makes a few open shots or the 4th guy (outside the Big 3) is hitting. 
Jarmusz is hitting around 36% of his 3's this year, a solid number for his career but he doesn't do a ton else stats wise.  I like him because he's been a bit more aggressive on offense this year and will battle on defense despite some physical limitations.  Bo clearly trusts him on the floor.. and if Bo trust you, I trust you.
To end Tim's career, I think he's going to hit one big last shot.. whether at Ohio State (I wish), the Big Ten tournament or in an NCAA game that will catapult the team to victory. 

Keaton Nankivil is the final member of the class.. from Wisconsin.  Out of this year's 6 seniors, 5 hail from the state and Keaton hails from the capitol city itself.  Nank is a guy I've waited to bust out offensively nearly every year in the program and this year, he's taken a step forward.  His shot is easily the best on the team, doesn't matter where it's from: a 12 foot j, a free throw, or the 3 point line.  I LOVE his shot and I wish he'd shoot it more.. a lot more.  To me, 10 shots isn't enough for Keaton.. I want 12, at least. 
He's been very aggressive on offense this year and holds his own on defense having to guard players that are constantly bigger than he is at 6-8.  Keaton never really developed an offensive post game, but he can jump and hammers down a thunder dunk (or misses a thunder dunk) from time to time.  He's good at coming over from the weak side and blocking shot because he's quick off his feet and has long arms for his size.
Nank has been an outstanding Badger and one that I'll be sad to see go when the season is done.

Jon Leuer is the final Badger senior and the most well known nationally.  Everybody knows he's a Minnesota kid that grew like a beanstalk during high school shooting up like 4 feet to being this 6'10 kid with guard skills.  There isn't much I can say about Leuer that hasn't been said.  He's taken a leadership role on the team and embraced it; the Badgers wouldn't be 20+ game winners without him.  He scores like a consistent machine and has gotten better rebounding in his time at Wisconsin.  He's around 7+ a game right now.  He's gotten better defensively; he can come over and block shots or move his feet enough to alter them. 
He's a weird player in the swing.. sometimes I think he forces too many shots, other times, the nature of the offense seems to leave him with no touches when he has a a hot hand.  All I know is that I love his desire to win and his attitude that he wants to score.  At the same time, I've watched a lot of Badgers games and I know his moves fairly well around the block (not that I'm going to stop him) but bigger, stronger players have picked up on it as well. 
Leuer is the next shot at being a Badger in the pros since Harris has never gotten on track and Tucker is in Russia.  I hope he finds a few minutes on a roster next year.. but he's not done in Madison yet!  He's got a final 4 to add to the list! 

Overview:  Continuing Ryan's tradition these guys win at home and finish higher than expectations.  Another Badgers team will finish in the top 3 in the conference after being projected anywhere from 6-8th in the conference.  A win Sunday will give them an undefeated year at home including top 10 wins over Purdue and Ohio State and an always enjoyable beatdown of Michigan State. 
They'll win some games they maybe shouldn't (Purdue/Ohio State) and lose winnable games you don't think they will (Notre Dame/Penn State) and people will argue they are too slow, too conservative, not athletic and can't score. 

This was a great group of seniors that had an all time scorer (Leuer), an incredible walk-on story (Smith) a gritty state kid (Jarmusz), 2 walk ons from Wisconsin (Gavinski, Valentyn) and a hometown kid that developed a pure stroke and became a huge 3rd scorer (Nankivil).  The best part is, this regular season isn't done.. the Big Ten Tournament isn't done.. and March Madness hasn't started.  This squad can cement itself in Badgers history; there is still time to get it done! 

February 26, 2011

Finally.. Double Digits

After lying to myself over.. and over.. and over.. like a broken record I finally managed to hit double digit miles today on a run.  Last year I got into a habit of meeting a wonderful group of people for Saturday morning runs (despite the:  temperature, time, time and time).  Most of the runs leave between 7-8 AM and are in different parts of town, which I enjoy more than my out and back solo trek that I normally take. 

I finally got myself put back onto the email list and since Kayla is training to run the Lincoln Half I got her to join in today!  I told her a lot of things that apparently weren't true (my memory must be fading).. Apparently, we DON'T stop for water breaks every 2 miles.  I guess the pace isn't THAAAAT slow.  I was, however, right that the people were friendly and that the running dogs would be there. 

It was supposed to be 8-10 miles, but rumors quickly spread that we got over 11 in, which was a pleasant surprise.  I didn't take my Garmin today, and Kayla rolled her eyes when I told her my reason.. I honestly didn't want to skew my numbers/pace!  So, I just took my old watch instead with the timer on it.  I believe it was 1:27, which isn't bad.. I woulda finished somewhere around my 1st marathon time if I ran on my own the last 2 miles.  I wasn't worried about that today though; I just wanted to get some good miles in!

My favorite part about the run though was the temp, hovering around 30 degrees.  That, of course, means.. COLDGEAR!  Only the top 1 best running invention ever.. I'd maybe even consider it the top 1 all time clothing invention.  Yes, that includes Reebok Pumps and anything from this commercial.  I mix and match all my running stuff too, so I just ball out in it!  Black coldgear covered with a gray longsleeve loose UA shirt.  Black coldgear tights and red/white shorts and then the kicker.. brownish/red SNOWBOARDING socks pulled up to my knees and my blue/white Brooks Adrenaline shoes.  Oh, and my red Stock Lumber winter hat and black/red gloves from when I was in middle school.  No lie.  Needless to say, I'm glad I'm "old" and don't care how I look anymore! 

Of course, when we finished I was warm as ever and simply still amazed with how awesome Underarmour ColdGear is.  (They aren't even paying me to advertise, hard to believe with my 3 page views a day). 

February 23, 2011

Reflection on My Season

My 7th grade season came to a crashing end as I've already discussed, but we had a solid season.  3rd place in our season opening tournament and county tournament.  We won our regional and section (which were the 1st we've won with me coaching) and we had a state appearance.  Short lived, however. 

Either way, our season is finished.. which means a time for reflection.  What did we do well?  Where did we struggle?  What can we change to improve our players?  It's a little bit more difficult for me to do this because I don't get these same kids again.  I will be able to assist them, but they won't be my team, which stinks.  It's not like I'm a varsity coach and can have the freshman, jv and my own soph/jr varsity players to work with.  Instead, I have to my reflect myself to see what drills worked and hammer away again even though my team might have a completely different feel to it. 

The first thing we did well surprised me; we boxed out very well.  We were slightly undersized and had moments where we got pushed under the hoop, but size factor included:  we were solid.  We did FT box-outs, 3, 4 and 5 man shell box-outs and a "game" called 4 corner box out.  2 guys to the elbows, 2 to lane/baseline to form a square.  The guys inside the square had to boxout the guy outside the square for 3 seconds; if no "offensive" player touched the ball then great.  If one did, whoever allowed him to touch it had to do 10 victory push-ups.  There was also one key rule:  no ticky-tack fouls. 

I think that really improved our boxing out and making contact.  I also think it helped our toughness because earlier in the year we whined.  A LOT.  We got a lot better in drills and games as the year went along; we weren't constantly looking for a whistle and hesitating.  We got a board and went back up, and back up and back up until we finished or they got the board.  No arms out looking for a call.

We were also very good at getting to the lane.  We worked a lot on individual drills, at least 5 minutes daily doing commandos.  We also added in 10+ minutes of positional split each day.  A lot of our guys got better at dropping the shoulder and getting to the lane where we worked on passing, floaters and other ways to shoot/finish.  We were really good at shooting the floater, okay at making them but brutal at jump stops in the lane where so many good things can happen.  The guards also improved at shooting off the dribble, including pull-ups which we hit a few pull up 3's in the playoffs.

We also ran some set plays very well, and I put in motion for the 1st time.  We kept ball handlers in front of us and got better with our weak side D (but a loooooooooong ways to go).  We also added in blitzing ball screens for the first time and that is something we will surely keep in our program.  That being said there are plenty of areas where I need to improve our team for 7th and 8th grade and into high school.  I'll be able to assist the guys I had this year and hopefully get them ready for high school.. and my new crop of 7th graders?  Back to square 1.  Here are some things I need to focus on getting better with:

1.  Break after makes/misses.  We always stress it early in the year, and then I get away from it when we get into games against teams that we see every year.  I want to force the tempo, and I need to get that into the team from Day 1.  It starts with the first drill and ends with the last drill.  I have to remember to build it into drills; it can even be in our 3 on 3 shell drills! 

2.  Shooting form, plays for shooters and shooting off screens:  Form is hit or miss, but we don't spend a lot of time on it because we don't have a ton of time!  We have to work on getting elbows tight and shooting in their range instead of hip bombing from 3, which makes me sick.  I also have to get better at finding plays for our shooters and making sure they can stroke it coming off a screen.

3.  Using their body on offense/defense.  Beating the offensive player to a spot and being physical.  There are certain plays we have that focus on patterns and movement, and it drives me insane when somebody is near where our offensive guy needs to be and he avoids the spot or goes elsewhere.  I cannot stand it; kids are afraid of contact.  We have to get them better at using their body to get that position on both ends of the floor.

4.  Utilize backdoor cuts.  I love them; we don't use them.  There is a reason I want to study some of the Princeton offense this summer!

5.  Post Work:  Offensively, we need more than a drop step to score.  Have to have a counter move.. at least one, preferably more.  Defensively, work on keeping the offense off the block and then full, 3/4 front with weakside help.  Our playoff game we got ate up playing behind and couldn't get around to front (didn't practice it).  That won't happen again.

6.  Recover off blitz and rotate:  I already said that we're going to stay with the blitz, so we have to get better at rotating out and finding somebody to defend.  The weakside guy has to get over and take away the cutter.

Princeton, "50" and "41" motion offense.  Such a thing of beauty.

8.  Rotate our defenses to slow hot teams.  Man, 1-3-1 in quarter or half.  1-2-1-1 in the full court.

9.  An effective sideline OOB play for the bucket

February 15, 2011

Season: Over.

Like "March Madness" only one team ends their season with a "W".  Well, this is a little different because the 3rd place game also finishes with a win, but only one team wins with the Aaron Rodgers championship belt.  Sadly, our 7th graders made it to the dance only to leave empty handed.  That game is difficult for me to recall being blasted 27-49 isn't a great feeling.  Crazy, huh? 

Our 8th graders also just made it to state and played last Saturday.  The game, we were told, was one that we didn't stand a chance in.  Little PPMS from the west side of Springfield played the "city boys" from East St. Louis; a classic match-up.  Our staff was nervous about their size and speed; they had a great full court pressure defense, the ol' diamond and 1.  Plus, their players, across the board were bigger than ours.. including the 6'5 kid in the middle of their zone and the 6'1, 185lb middle linebacker with a gotee.  No lie, his face was like Jared Sullinger's... before he got spit on, ALLEGEDLY.  Either way, they were big and fast.  Funny little secret though, we were probably a more athletic team across the board than they were.  We have some kids that can run and jump; and a flat out thief at PG.  He had them rattled into switching PG's possession after possession. 

When all was said and done, size at the 8th grade level makes a huge difference.  We were intimidated and missed too many lay-ups, floaters and shots in the lane because we didn't want to get blocked.  They crushed us on the boards and two defensive miscues on back to back possessions were the difference.  Down 11 going into the 4th, our kids fought back with a determination the staff didn't see all season long.  It was great being a part of a team that cut a 22-33 difference to 33-34 with 56 seconds left!  After all was said and done, however, they hit a few FT's got a big steal and outlet after a miss and that was the game.  36-40. 

After the game we talked about how great is was to see the kids not quit, to play through their fear, to play intimidated and then to see their confidence soar when they realized they could play with anybody.  This team has the POTENTIAL to be very, very scary.  As I mentioned a PG that is a thief and solid ball handler, an undersized SG that doesn't think twice to take it to the lane against bigger players, a developing wing, the most athletic 8th grader we saw all year that can run and sky and a few members of the bench with very solid potential.  Of course, it comes down to what it always does.. hard work and determination.  A lot of the kids play baseball all summer long and the question remains:  "How much basketball will they play?"  If they develop skills, with their athletic ability it will be a force in central Illinois small school basketball.

February 8, 2011

A New Snack

I eat in streaks; I get hooked on something and I can't get it out of my mind.  Usually, it's something "weird."  For awhile it was Trader Joe's Seaweed (which I still eat on occasion).  Then I was obsessed with drinking warm veggie broth and now... now it's toast, earth balance spread and.... NOOCH!  Apparently, nutritional yeast is the correct term and nooch is what the online community calls this deliciousness. 

To be honest, I don't even remember how this obsession all got started; we sprinkled it on one of our dishes and I was in love.  I'm sure I'll be reminded what it was when Kayla reads this blog, but until then it's a mystery to me.  Either way, I then fell in love with it and started putting it on tons of stuff:  salads, pastas and then one night hungry for a snack I wanted toast and Peanut Butter.  Except, I didn't grab the peanut butter, I wanted the nooch deliciousness and that's what I grabbed.  I powdered it on the toast and my current favorite snack was born.  It's good for you (b12, fiber, blah blah blah) but it's not exactly all cheese like the link says.  It has a bit of salt to it and probably why I love it so much! 

Double dog dare you to get some next time you're at the store and give it a shot!

February 6, 2011

Well... we made it to State

Middle school sports in Illinois are actually.. impressive.  I'm an Illinois basher, living here and being from Wisconsin with deep Packers, Brewers and Badgers ties certainly isn't easy.  But, middle school sports do have a leg up in this state for one simple reason.. state playoffs.  Most or all (??) middle school sports have state competition and basketball has the whole she-bang:  regionals, sectionals and state games. 

The middle school I coach at has put together a recent string of state teams in girl's basketball.  In the late 1990's the middle school boys team made it a few times followed up with 2000 and 2002 high school (IHSA) championships.  The current sophomores in high school won the 7th grade boys 3A state title.  The current freshman made a state appearance last year, and now, you can add this year's 7th graders to the list. 

Sadly, when we got there things didn't go well.  Our opponent was dare I say... en fuego.  It didn't help that we couldn't hit sand if we fell off a camel.  When the first half was over we had mustered 10 points and they only had... 28.  We MADE 2 field goal attempts, thankfully nobody charted how many we missed.  We also managed 6 free throws, not bad... until you consider we shot 17 of them!  We had multiple, MULTIPLE misses from inside 3 feet.  Frustrating.  The 2nd half didn't get much better as we'd manage a little run to get it down to 12ish points and then have a weak foul against an AND 1 play, or we'd leave a shooter open and they'd hit a 3 ball.

It was a frustrating game, and one thing that was hard for me the previous years and early this season was to not get sarcastic during the games.  At times, I'd get so frustrated with them when they'd baffle me with their decisions.  Yesterday, I could see it wasn't because of a lack of effort.. they were just nervous, rattled and up against a buzzsaw.  The effort was intense, and I made sure all 14 kids got to be a part of that game for several minutes.  (It helps when the game is decided early)  I continued to coach through the mistakes and through all of our frustrations reminding them of the little things.. jump stops in the lane, a pass fake, or to be aggressive and take a shot when you're 1 foot from the hoop. 

Despite getting run up by 22 (27-49) I was proud of my kids.  The thing that sticks out into my mind the most.. is that we're down 22 points with 8 seconds left, a shot goes up and the rebound bumbles off some hands to go out of bounds; one of my players dove full extension into the wall to try to save the ball.  That honestly, blew my mind.  I was in awe and admiration of that player's effort and intensity.  I always tried to coach them in practice and games to play hard, regardless of score... winning or losing.  I wouldn't have traded that 2 seconds for a win (hmmm... really??).  That play meant a lot to me, more than the kids know.

I could see some of them really get better as the season went along.  I reminded them in the locker room, after the game, that this is just 7th grade.  It's great to have their name on our middle school gym's wall, it's great to experience that level of competition and to enjoy that stage, but what about the taste of defeat?  What about being crushed by 22?  Were they happy just to be there one time?  Are they going to work hard this summer to get a return trip and a win?  What about going into high school?  I challenged them to challenge each other; I hope they push each other to be a great team and to not slack off.  I brought up names familiar to them.. and to me during my little pep talk, so called "jerks" but winners like Kobe, Jordan and Bird.  I told them stories I'd heard about the 3 of them, and how they challenged themselves to work harder than anybody else.. and when they had teammates that didn't work that hard, how they'd challenge their teammates.  Sometimes, it's okay to be a "jerk" and to challenge your teammates.  Push yourself then push others.  That's how we'll get back to state next year.

February 3, 2011

Snow Day Part III

Well, in case you didn't know this has been my work schedule this week:
Monday:  8-1:30
Tuesday: Snow Day
Wednesday: Snow Day
Thursday: Snow Day

You can't make this stuff up.  I already covered part of the Storm of the Century and that got us out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Oh, and part of the reason we were out today.  You see, I'm under the impression that the area of Illinois that I live in is... inefficient plowing.  I think that's putting it politely since there was no reason not to go today, but many of the country roads still weren't plowed.  I'm not complaining; I just think that parts of Wisconsin would have had it plowed by today.. I also think that what was plowed would be the entire roads.. not just random lanes.  For instance, one of the bigger intersections in town that normally has 2 left turn lanes, 2 straight lanes and a right turn lane had:  2 left turn lanes and 1 straight/right turn lane.  You can't make this stuff up.  I'm hoping that they were doing this to save money? 

The last few days were boring.. yesterday, we couldn't leave our house because our street didn't get plowed (shocking).  The only time we were outside was to shovel until our backs hurt, awesome.  Then, last night we played Cribbage and King's Corner (some game Kayla invented and made rules up for as we went).  After her made up game, I quit playing and slammed my cards down because I lost.  Twice.  In a row.  I had enough of that! 

Today, however, we were able to get out of the house and we went to Cardinal Fitness.  I'm still strongly considering (haven't officially signed up yet) running the Illinois Marathon at the end of April.  I've been inconsistent with training because I'm lazy, it's cold and we're at the tail end of our basketball season, but today I decided I was going to just run for awhile.  Kayla had 2 miles and weights, so I said I'd just run that time.  Well, 2 miles and weights turned into 2 miles, weights and talking to a friend for a good 25 minutes.  It's a good thing for me that after the first 5 steps I gotta feeling, "This is going to be a good run!" and I kept hammering away.  Before you know it, I eclipsed 8 miles in 56:15.  My knee didn't twinge, my IT bands didn't get super sore, I had a nice stride, I didn't get too hot.  I just had a great run and that really picked my confidence back up.  Of course, tomorrow and Saturday I may have basketball games.. so that means I probably have to get up EARLY both days to run.  Will the streak continue?  Don't hold your breath!

February 2, 2011

A cruel, cruel joke?

I love mother nature; I love nearly everything about her.  I love the rain, I love thunderstorms.. and I used to love snow.  That's all changing, at the moment.  The "Storm of the Century" just swept through the midwest depositing around 11 or more inches of snow in the 217.  I didn't mind that, I didn't mind the drifts of 2+ feet that piled up on my patio or in my driveway.  In fact, I enjoyed being outside today and cleaning off the driveway.. since we haven't gotten many good snows down here like we're used to in Wisconsin.  That snow and my aching back weren't a problem... until now.

My basketball team is why it's a problem.  Last week Thursday we won our 7th grade regional game.  I had them practice Friday and gave them off Saturday.  Apparently that was a huge mistake and it gets worse.  Monday we got out of school early so no practice.  Tuesday?  No school = No practice.  Game was scheduled to be Wednesday.  Well... guess what?  No school = no game.  Of course, now we have to push the game back to Thursday.  EXCEPT WE ARE NOW OFF THURSDAY ALSO!  No school = no game.  There are snow drifts in the country and frigid temperatures tomorrow; with how sue happy people are today that's a recipe for failure for a school district.  That means our game gets pushed back to Friday.

This is where it gets even crazier.. since state starts on Saturday if our game doesn't get played Friday, how do they decide who goes?  Easy answer according to the IESA?  A coin flip.  No head to head, no common opponents, no overall record, nothing like that.  A coin flip.  Unreal.  I'm still in shock.  They can't even let the team captains rock, paper, and scissors their way to state?  A free throw contest?  Put a number behind your back?  I'm still in shock.  I really am.

Lets pray that Friday doesn't become a snow day.  The kids deserve to play the game for their chance to make it to state and if they don't because of a coin flip, I don't know what to tell them.  What would you say?  Sorry, but even though we beat this team by 20 earlier this year.. I called tails and it landed heads?  I just can't fathom having to do that.  NO SNOW DAY FRIDAY!  NO SNOW DAY FRIDAY!

Why, hello there.

So, I've blogged a bit before.. mainly about sports and running on a few other sites.  Sadly, I didn't like the layout, the login process and all that jazz so I decided that I should switch blogs.. again.  Plus, Kayla uses blogger and it looks pretty simple and has more options that the previous sites I used. 

What do I plan blogging about?  Oh, just everything.  Sports, running, eating, shoveling snow, eating "nooch", talking about my weird cravings to drink veggie or seitan broth or how I'm currently addicted to salt.  Then, on top of that, I coach basketball, try to work at camps, hope to teach history and have a little gangster puppy. 

You can see there will be a lot to follow.  Do you have to pay attention to all of this?  Of course not, but it doesn't hurt to try!