Post Season Reflections

It has now been a week since we were eliminated in the Area round of the state of the tournament. I haven't exactly strayed away from basketball though. I have gone to our boys team playoff game and have been the administrator in charge of another playoff game at our gym. And each time, I get to experience again vicariosly both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat that is known as the high school basketball playoffs.

Though I may have been watching playoff games, I have been purposefully trying not to think too much towards next season. Not yet anyway. That time will come soon enough. I believe that for my own sanity, I should give myself until after spring break before I allow my mind to delve into the planning and the dreaming of next year's basketball season. I still have too much processing to do about this past season.

In many ways it was a very successful season. But it more ways it was a war. And I am not talking about between my team and our opponents. It was a war between me, the coach, and them, the players. When I look back to where we were in October and November, I am still not sure how we not only survived as a team, but actually turned into more or less a cohesive unit.

First, there was the system and style of play that so many of the players were so against. They wanted the full court pressing, up and down the court, fast-breaking style they had always run before. But I came in with the idea we were going to lock it up defensively and execute offenses in the half court. They weren't used to it and they didn't understand it. It was literally like teaching varsity players the things I would expect to be taught in the 8th or 9th grade. I remember one time, the day before our first game, when we were reviewing our offenses. One girl said, "Coach, we have too many plays. Its confusing." I stopped and said, "We have two man to man plays, two zone plays, and two out of bounds plays. That is not too much." She responded, "But, Coach, that is five more than we had last year."

But the thing that weighed on me the most this year, that could have been our complete undoing as a team, was the attitude exhibited by so many of the players. They were so used to doing whatever they wanted and being told how good they were (even though they had a losing record last year) that they could not stand the thought of being told what to do or being held accountable to playing the way I wanted them to play. Oh how many times did I want to kick some people completely out of the program. But through patience and continual work, I would say 90% of the team bought into the program (and that last 10% is trying, but its a real struggle for her) and as they did, our execution began to pay off for us in games.

I don't think we ever completely got it all together this season, but I can honestly say that we did change the culture of the program. A year ago, the biggest thing that could be said about this team was they had the worst attitudes of any team around. Technicals were a daily occurance on game days and the team had become a bunch of selfish individuals. This year, that changed completely. There was only one player technical all season and the team play began to come together. Everyone that followed our program could tell the difference and they appreciated it.

And of course, there was the very respectful district record of 8-3 and then the playoff win to validate the season. I know I am losing 6 very valuable seniors, and I know we are going to be young next year, but I also know that we have turned the corner and brought respectability back to the program. Though I am not going to focus or plan or dream about the future right now, I will say that I believe the future is very bright.