Wow. Probably had nothing to do with coaching.
I poke fun but in all honesty, it is incredibly tough to coach an All-Star team of kids. One ball, too many kids that gots to get theirs. Down 19 at one point? Sandusky is good, they are not 19 points better than the Rams at any point. But they were.
Cardinal Stritch had TCC on the ropes until what? 2nd OT? The Irish seem to play to their competition.
And finally Start beats the NLL Champs by 20. In all honesty Start is the only big boy team in the area that resembles a TCL team from yesteryears. Sound on offense and play suffocating D. No real star either just a tough hard nosed brand brought to them by their coach.
By far the weakest I have EVER seen Toledo area basketball (especially DI/DII). By far.
IB,
I don't agree 100%
Start: it's the coach. He'd do that at any team in the league. It's not just rah-rah motivation. He knows the game, he can explain it, teach it and his kids want to do it. I don't know his entire history but do know at least in high school his coaches, were not all ball players. Those he assisted with when young were not all ball-players. Certainly not high level. He was a role player himself. Sometimes, it's the brains.
Rogers: I think what you wrote can come off like you're calling them selfish (All-Star) so I think it important to elaborate.
Firstly, I've not seen a lick of selfish. I imagine what you're sayin is that they are each used to having the role of the go-to when times get tough. None of them that I can see are used to being the one designated to run the show. They do not know how to work together. Thats a different thing. All-Stars can work together. These guys? They're tall.
Am I wrong, their individual mechanics are way off? Leaning, legs splayed jump shots. The back-step when they want to move forward. They're slow as 6'5"-6'7" kids tend to be when they're playing four inches taller than the other team. They have no PG. They spread the defense by standing around on their cell phones while one guy with the ball dribble-drives and on D they cannot follow a team that has as many ball handlers as Sandusky. Youve brought up this point, you'd like to see them attack more. When they do, it's invarialby from the top of the key with everyone else standing around.
Compare Sandusky. Every direction with at least one other player making the cut for the potential pass. Their big guy in the middle is a smooth dancing bear. We've had a few of those in the TCL. They're a blast to watch. Sandusky is not all about their star. Those kids know the game as Seniors should. And then, there's the Freshman. He's going to be a talent.
I did not see any loss of focus on that part of the Rogers players. I'm not sure they know consistently, what to focus on.
I said early in the year they may make it to states but it won't be because they out basketball anyone. They're not gelling. They didn't gell. You can't, not without a PG. I was waiting to see if they bit the bullet early and developed the PGs on the bench at the risk of losing some games. They didn't.
I think we might see more out of them come play-offs. At least on effort and a good shooting night they have a shot. But their mechanics, that you don't fake.