Hearts at Heights
It took about three minutes of preseason basketball to make me pine for the start of the regular season, when the games actually matter. My all acounts, both the teams I saw today are above-average squads, but there was no flow to the game, no urgency. I'm convinced that has to do with the fact that there is no real reward for success and no consequences for failure.
I guess I'd have to say Haddon Heights owned the first half, winning the first two quarters by about 10. I was very impressed with Samantha Carter, and Meredith Kennedy obviously has game, though she didn't press the subject so very much. That could be by design, with the coaches trying to spread the ball around and take a look at some different things ahead of the season. I have seen MK play spectacularly, as early as her freshman year.
The first half alerted me to how small SHeart is, and what an uphill battle rebounding is likely to be for that team. That's where they'll miss the transfers the most, I guess, particularly Teena Marsh. Any yet, they really got it together in the second half, clobbering Heights by 20. The Lions have some nice little guards. As there were no numbers and no rosters, I couldn't figure out who was who, but the backcourt players were quick and solid ball handlers, and after halftime they were able to nick a couple rebounds by going to open space. The freshman guard, Ashley I think is her name, is going to be a good player if she can stay out of foul trouble. She took a nice charge along the sideline in the fourth quarter that was called a block (it's preseason for the officials, too), she's got some handle and showed a nice touch a couple times. The forwards, undersized as they were, played much better and smarter in the second half.
Sacred Heart started to hit some shots late in the game, which brings me to the most frustrating thing for me, and I'm sure for the coaches: point-blank bricks. For a while, neither team could buy a layup to save its life. To be more precise, both teams got plenty of layups, but still couldn't buy a bucket. And this is something that should be completely unaffected by the lack of continuity that's inherent in preseason games. If these teams are going to get where they each want to go, the shots from three feet and closer are going to have to be up around 95 percent. Today, I'd have put that number at about 50.
Tomorrow I'm probably going to be at Cherry Hill West to check out Atlantic City's Tasha Cannon. After that, praise the lord, the next basketball game I'll watch will actually count for something.
I guess I'd have to say Haddon Heights owned the first half, winning the first two quarters by about 10. I was very impressed with Samantha Carter, and Meredith Kennedy obviously has game, though she didn't press the subject so very much. That could be by design, with the coaches trying to spread the ball around and take a look at some different things ahead of the season. I have seen MK play spectacularly, as early as her freshman year.
The first half alerted me to how small SHeart is, and what an uphill battle rebounding is likely to be for that team. That's where they'll miss the transfers the most, I guess, particularly Teena Marsh. Any yet, they really got it together in the second half, clobbering Heights by 20. The Lions have some nice little guards. As there were no numbers and no rosters, I couldn't figure out who was who, but the backcourt players were quick and solid ball handlers, and after halftime they were able to nick a couple rebounds by going to open space. The freshman guard, Ashley I think is her name, is going to be a good player if she can stay out of foul trouble. She took a nice charge along the sideline in the fourth quarter that was called a block (it's preseason for the officials, too), she's got some handle and showed a nice touch a couple times. The forwards, undersized as they were, played much better and smarter in the second half.
Sacred Heart started to hit some shots late in the game, which brings me to the most frustrating thing for me, and I'm sure for the coaches: point-blank bricks. For a while, neither team could buy a layup to save its life. To be more precise, both teams got plenty of layups, but still couldn't buy a bucket. And this is something that should be completely unaffected by the lack of continuity that's inherent in preseason games. If these teams are going to get where they each want to go, the shots from three feet and closer are going to have to be up around 95 percent. Today, I'd have put that number at about 50.
Tomorrow I'm probably going to be at Cherry Hill West to check out Atlantic City's Tasha Cannon. After that, praise the lord, the next basketball game I'll watch will actually count for something.
posted by SMc. @ 2:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home