We typically open the season on the road, traveling to some tournament or tip-off event. This year, for whatever reason, I scheduled this game with Andrews University (USCAA) to occur the week before our tip-off event at Moody. After watching us struggle a great deal in the first half, I remember why I like these games on the road :) We lost Saturday night 61-40 after trailing 33-16 at the half.
The truth is we have only had five full practices before Saturday night, and only 20 minutes of actual scrimmage time. So in a lot of ways Saturday was an extension of our practice season. This is to take nothing away from Andrews, as they were clearly the better team that night. However I think we improved so much from the first half to the second, that there is reason for everyone to believe we will have some fun days ahead.
But lest I sugar-coat it: it was not pretty at times. Surprisingly, we only turned the ball over 17 times for the game. Also, we were aggressive with the basketball, getting to the line 37 times! That is unheard of. The down side is we shot so poorly from everywhere, including the free throw line, that it made little difference in the outcome. The good news is that I know we have some quality shooters on this team that had poor shooting nights, and we will defend and rebound better. That comes with practice and work. We're definitely committed to that.
As many of you know, eight of our 11 players were playing volleyball or soccer as recent as 2 weeks ago. So many of them haven't picked up a basketball in over 5 or 6 months. Despite that, the effort was there and that's what gives everyone promise!
K-Mo and I already love this team and the effort. I think there is a lot of upside, and we will continue to work hard!
Trust.
No comments:
Post a Comment