Inter-Valley Conference 2011-12

• Mr. 300

  

  I didn't say they were THE worst, I said ONE of the worst. Aside from Hiland and Garaway, this league is really mediocre to below average year in and year out. I understand it's mostly DIII and DIV, but wow, are their some extremely weak teams in their year in and year out. An occasional team may have a decent year, but never a consistant run.
  
  Wooster's the real deal in my opinion. The OCC is gonna be an extremely tough league to win this year.
• Pariah

  Well, after this Thursday and next Tuesday, I think we will know exactly what Wooster is or isn't.
  
  The bottom of our league is pretty bad. Last year Newcomers had an 18 win season but it was due to a little collection of talent that got it together for one year and then their coach bolted. TCC gets decent every few years. Malvern is trying, but there's lots to overcome there. They have a girl coming next year who will be outstanding. I've never seen Sandy Valley put a competitive team on the floor.
  
  There's lots that goes into it, but if you just have biddy ball and developmental programs, camps, traveling teams, etc. you will get kids coming in to your jr hi program that have some skill and understanding of the game. It's amazing to me how many schools have the situation where the first time a girl gets any coaching is when she shows up for the 7th grade basketball team. When you see Hiland or Garaway 7th and 8th grade girls winning by 60, 70, 80 those are the schools who aren't working with these kids when they are younger and they just get destroyed. My daughter won a game in the 7th grade 53-0. Ugh. I just don't get why the varsity coaches don't at least have a way to get these kids ready to play. Laziness?
• Mr. 300

  

  It's not laziness, it's lack of organization and a desire to build a program. Many people have to be involved, especially at the lower levels. Just like LL baseball, you must have coaches willing to organize the leagues/teams for the kids to play in.
• Pariah

  Yeah, but what are these coaches thinking? Surely they don't like getting their brains beat out year after year. Do they think players just miraculously appear in programs like Hiland and WH? They are made, for the most part, not born. They are made because the coaches at the successful programs are intentional about making them. You recruit the best people available to coach at each level, you make a few calls and get things scheduled for the young ones, and voila, you will have some kids who can actually dribble, pass, and shoot when they get to the 7th grade. Why you wouldn't do that is beyond me.
  
  Oh, and I'll beat you to it. If you can't make enough, or enough aren't born... you recruit them!
• Pariah

  Sat RW beat Garaway 31-25.
  
  Hiland plays at Strasburg Wed. Strasburg must win to have a chance at the IVC championship.
• tigerfan82

  Do the Lady Tigers have a chance against the basketball machine that is the Hiland girls......Mr. Pariah????
• Pariah

  tigerfan82;1046626 wrote:Do the Lady Tigers have a chance against the basketball machine that is the Hiland girls......Mr. Pariah????

  Do fat babies fart? Of course they have a chance. A good one! They are at home and the IVC is on the line.
  
  Do I think if both teams play their best that Strasburg will win? No. Hiland has a Massey Power Rating of 5 in DIV and Strasburg's is 61. But Hiland has not played their best all year.
  
  If Strasburg can just avoid pooping Columbo out and make some shots, they most certainly can win. I hope it's a good'un.
  
  McKenzie Miller has been playing like McKenzie Miller. The Hawks have had less than 10 to's their last few games. Regina Hochstetler will hopefully be back after a concussion. Meg Hall hit 7 of 11 3 pointers in her last game. Jasmine Goings has been a consistent scorer in the post lately. Hiland's defense has been really, really good. I sense that the Lady Hawks are ready to play their best games of the season this week/weekend, but we'll see.
• Pariah

  On second thought... LOL.
  
  OK. Well, quite a game. As a Hiland fan it was tough to watch, but as a basketball fan, I couldn’t help but get a smile on my face for what Coach B did with his girls. He needed a supreme effort from his kids, he needed to get Hiland off their game, he needed his kids to make shots, and he needed them to not get worn out. Check, check, check, check. Still, there were some things that were out of his control. He couldn’t control if Hiland was highly motivated and playing at a high level - they weren’t, particularly in the first half. And then he probably needed something like having McKenzie Miller foul out of the game - which he got. Perfect storm, but Coach B created most of it and he and those kids earned that win and deserve all the credit. Great job.
  
  At half broadcaster Mark Longsinger said, “That is the worst half of Lady Hawk basketball I believe I have ever seen.” Well, he’s seen a ton. I’m not sure though. They played some real stinkers last year. That first half looked a lot like what I saw last year.
  
  This is just a problem between the ears - a mindset issue. The focus wasn’t there resulting in defensive lapses, terrible ball handling and passing, and missed lay ups. These kids seem to tighten up and shrink at times when they face a quality opponent. Don’t know why. It’s unexplainable. The biggest issue last night just had to do with intensity. Normally, they are the more intense and aggressive team, but last night it was the Lady Tigers who were that in spades. Strasburg was playing like they were trying to win an IVC championship and we were playing like we weren’t all that interested. In basketball, assuming that there isn’t a huge talent discrepancy, the more intense and aggressive team will get the upper hand. The Lady Tigers got it, and the 9 point lead they had at half did not reflect how they had out-played Hiland in the first half.
  
  Hiland got the intensity part corrected in the second half, and that let them get in position to win it. I think they had a 4 point lead with less than 2 min left. All they needed to do was take care of the ball, work for an excellent shot, and/or knock down some FT’s - have a high basketball IQ. Instead, we had girls jacking up difficult shots without running clock, and that gave Strasburg the opportunity to get the game to OT. You have to play smart with the ball, especially in crunch time and we didn’t do that. Heck, we didn’t do that the whole game. There were upteen traveling violations and throw aways, bad passes getting deflected, shaky dribbling, timid moves, etc. Those things should not be happening, especially with plenty of seniors on the floor. It’s a head-scratcher.
  
  Strasburg had all the intensity to open up OT, and that got them to a 6 point lead, and that was essentially the ball game. I think the thing I was most impressed with was their resilience. They had the lead, lost it, got the thing tied, and then won it. They out hustled and out-played us. They just wanted it more.
  
  Well, the IVC is very interesting now. Garaway and RW will have a big say in what happens. Strasburg needs to just keep replicating what they did last night. Hiland needs to find it, and soon, because they are just starting the difficult part of their schedule.
• Flash

  

  Looking ahead with the CIC coming up? I'm sure the coaches said not to, but its hard to focus.
• Pariah

  No, I don't think so. They knew going in that if they won, it would essentially settle the IVC. It was like all the issues they have struggled with at various points decided to show up at the same time. And that's taking nothing away from Strasburg. They were great. There are two sides of the equation of a basketball game, and the Hiland side of it was really, really poor.
  
  I think the CitC games become uber important for this Hiland team. If they win 2, then Strasburg was a bad dream, you go on and at least tie for the IVC championship, and then you go into the tourny with a lot of confidence. Lose 2 and this team could conceivably lose 8 games. I don't know what happens with a split. The pressure just got ratcheted up on this team in a huge, huge way. It's time for some kids to grow up and some leaders to lead.
• ricola

  

  was listening to part of that game, and indeed it sounded like Hiland played terribly--esp 1st half. Sounds like the eye witnesses confirmed it,.
• tigerfan82

  c'mon ric.......give those Lady Tigers a little credit.......
• Pariah

  Dang! I thought I did give them a ton of credit!
  
  Looking at the stats, the Lady Hawks won most of the major ones, but not the most important ones: scoreboard and "want to". The Lady Tigers made a couple crucial shots, and most importantly, they wanted it more - which is quite disturbing, but nevertheless true. Great job orange and black.
• tigerfan82

  hahaha..........read it again pariah......old tiger never questioned you....just a little jab on ricola.......no harm intended
• ricola

  

  didn't mean to slight the Tigers at all!
  
  Not a big follower of girls b-ball in general--I watch a few of the Hiland girls games a year, and aside from most of the games at the CitC, see hardly any other hs girls teams play at all. (to me high quality girls games are at best interesting/somewhat exciting to watch; low quality girls games are nearly unwatchable...).
  So I don't know where Strasburg fits in there, but if they beat hiland, regardless of how well/poor hiland played, that's something to be proud of. If I heard right, it's been 19 years since a non-Garaway IVC team beat the Hawks, so they should be quite proud of themselves! Congrats to them--in all sincerity.
  I saw hiland play for the first time this year Sat night at CitC. Very impressed with the defensive effort, and effort overall, considerably less impressed with the offensive prowess--or lack thereof. If/when they can consistently put the ball in the basket (including 3's, jumpers, foul shots and --especially--layups) they will be a very tough out for anybody anywhere. Unsure how representative that game was of the season, but apparently not that out of the ordinary. That game, with a hot shooting hand to go with it (and they are capable of it apparently) and they could beat nearly anyone. have no idea how that game compares to the game they played against Strasburg. If it was comparable, then Strasburg should feel quite good about themselves!
• Pariah

  This is not the most talented squad Hiland has ever fielded, and their overall basketball IQ is pretty low. McKenzie Miller is a really fine player. Jasmine Goings has impressed. The rest of them are either not great talents or haven't been consistent enough.
  
  You can look at it the glass half-full or half-empty approach. On the plus side they have lost 3 games by 4-5 points each. They are a couple of plays away from winning all those games and then there is a completely different vibe with them. But the other view would say that they have lost 3 straight times when they have had the lead or were within striking range in the last minutes. So, they are not that far off, but too far off to win those. What I see them lacking is a player, or couple of players, who will not allow them to lose and have the talent and toughness to impose their will on the game. We haven't had that type of player(s) the last two years and you lose close ones when you don't.
  
  But when the Lady Hawks take care of the ball, they are really hard to beat because of their defense. Still, they don't have the parts to be a dominant team because they don't execute on offense really well. I think they need to keep losing until they get tired of it, and someone emerges who will step up and pull them to victory. If no one emerges, they won't make it out of the district or (gasp) maybe even the sectional! If they do get that player to step up, they could be a 13-7 or 12-8 team with a shot at going to Columbus because the team that comes out of Gnaden will, I believe, be the strongest team at the Perry regional.
• Pariah

  Garaway did Hiland a huge favor last night by knocking off the Tigers 30-25.
• Pariah

  Garaway beat Malvern soundly last night. They have the Hawks coming to Sugarcreek Sat night.
  
  Hiland beat RW by 14 - but it wasn't easy. It was a 2 pt game at the end of 3. Hiland's seniors totaled 8 points and McKenzie Miller had 7 of those! Jenica Schrock had the game of her life with 23 pts on 8/8 shooting (7 3's) and Regina Hochstetler got on track with 14. Emily Yoder had 9 and played a really nice floor game. RW only brings 1 or 2 kids off their bench, but their coach does the same thing every game - presses the first half. In the 3rd or 4th, his team is worn out and they lose every time. What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Tedrick and Miller are really, really good players for them.
  
  In a big surprise, NCT almost knocked off Strasburg. According to biased NCT Fan , NCT had a 1 point lead with 5 sec left. Refs called a questionable foul. Lady Tiger made 1-2 to put the game to OT. In the OT, NCT's top 3 players fouled out and the Lady Tigers cruised to an 11 point win. I do see a pattern with the other team's best players fouling out when they go to Strasvegas. I'm gonna have to talk to Lucky Leroy about that. Lady Tigers knocked off Hiland and seemed to lose their edge. They need to find it or they will not finish strong.
• ricola

  

  will be an interesting last couple weeks...
• Pariah

  Actually, the conference essentially comes down to Hiland at Garaway Saturday night. Hawks win, they probably win the IVC outright with one loss. If they lose, they probably share with Strasburg with 2 losses. Hiland has NCT at home and SV on the road. SV isn't beating Hiland on their best day. Given that the first NCT-Hiland game was 70-32, I'm not feeling an upset in that one either, but I guess stranger things have happened.
  
  Very important for Hiland to win the IVC so that they have the best case for the #1 seed at the sectional over Strasburg and Garaway. Also, just for the sake of maintaining tradition and having some confidence.
• tigerfan82

  Thats it Pariah.......we don't recruit but we pay the refs well.........I mean there is no way Strasburg would have won that many games this year......we might even take them on the road with us for tournaments............
• Pariah

  Well maybe we need to try that. The wheels have fallen off the wagon over here. It's not a good situation.
• tigerfan82

  hahahahaha.................not falling for that one............
• ricola

  

  Have only been following the Hiland girls from somewhat of a distance, so all I really know is the record, and the fact that things have kind of gone south the last few weeks. Can you put your finger on the problem? Not a coach-basher in any way, but seems maybe Coach doesn't quite know how to relate to the girls the last couple years...i.e. they maybe don't have that "throat slasher" "basketball is everything" mentality... and that ticks him off. Could be completely wrong, but could it be that for many of these girls they may want to enjoy other things about high school besides basketball, and therefore thev'e come back to the pack a bit. looking at the last few years when you had Hillary, Noel, the Stuckeys, the hochstetlers, etc etc...they lived, breathed, slept, ate, basketball 24/7/365. Seems this crew is a little more involved in other stuff? Don't really know the girls that well, so could be way off base. But if that's the case, coach seems like he doesn't have the same enjoyment coaching these girls? Like i said, could be all wet. In any event, hopefully they can get it turned around.
• Pariah

  I have my opinions - which I certainly will not post here! I'll try to send you (Ricola) a PM in the next few days. I can say that you are sniffing around the right rocks.
  
  Look folks, this is HS basketball. It's important in the moment. In a few months, certainly in a few years, who will care? I won't. My obsession right now is getting grandchildren, and if I don't get them soon, I am going to give step by step instructions and draw diagrams.