Team Hustle,
I want to express my sincere gratitude to the parents and players for making the remarkable 4-hour journey to the basketball tournament. Your dedication to the team and problem-solving skills between games were truly exceptional, and your support during & after our games was invaluable. Thank you!
If you read nothing else in this recap, I hope you read this: To all of you, thank you for choosing to be on Team Hustle! This is OUR team. There is no HUSTLE without "US".
FIRST GAME RECAP
Defense Grade A
Our first game showcased our new high-pressure press & helped us gain confidence as a team within its framework. The strength of the press comes from its flexibility, as it encourages the girls to make decisions to attack the other team’s reactions. Because of the flexibility, it can be a challenging press to implement, but combining our girls’ basketball IQ and pure athleticism, this high-pressure press is the right choice for this team!
Offense Grade C+
Our offense in the first game was not as effective as expected. The thought on that is a combination of nerves and the increased pace our high pressure press put on the game. A challenge for us moving forward will be to melt our high pressure press into either quick transition or controlled pacing half court offense. This will come with time and in-game experience.
Transition Grade B-
We created a lot of transition opportunities, but were unable to convert the transition into points. This again is unusual for the team, however our tenacity to continue to play regardless of the missed opportunities is what gave us the victory.
LASER TAG RECAP
Defense Grade ... jk haha
Parent's Grade A+
A 5 Hour Gap between games could have been an issue, but in true Hustle mentality, as a collective unit, Parents, Coaches and Team, we turned a negative into a positive and got a chance to team bond thru Laser Tag! Wish everyone could've seen Brent (aka Ken) slicing and dicing his way...Big Tymer Dave sniping, Tim the Grim-reaper with his 2000 round laser gun, and Andrew the Tactician....and the girls!!! WOW - they would SWARM throughout the event...super fun, a bit chaotic, and over all a very positive addition to our Iowa adventure!
SECOND GAME RECAP
The second game saw us face a tough opponent. I made 2 primary errors as coach in this game, and I apologized to the team for both of them. I'll first recap the game and after the recap share with you the errors. It almost felt like two separate games, with our first half being ineffective and the second half seeing us adapt and become very effective.
Defense First Half B-, Second Half A+
Our pack-line defense implemented and coached up by Coach Dave throughout last winter, spring and fall was VERY effective against this team. It took the girls about 10 minutes to pick up on their half-court offense, (basically dribble drive kick). But once they saw it, we shut them down. In the second half our girls allowed only 8 points vs the first half where we allowed 17 points. Another adjustment we made on defense was to put heavy pressure on their primary offensive threat, #24. We rotated Celia, Leilani and Lucia on her at all times, denying passes and applying heavy pressure outside of the pack-line. This was needed as they were trying to stall the game by kicking the ball way outside our pack-line and waiting for the defense.
Offense First Half C+, Second Half B+
Defense creates offense and our offense ALWAYS has potential to be lethal. This is because we don't rely on a single player to initiate our attack and all players have the opportunity to attack and make decisions. However, for it to be most effective ALL 5 need to be working together and in-sync. We saw it spark to life in the second half of that game (and continue into our 3rd game!)...additionally in the second half we out-rebounded them on the offensive side.
Note: If you haven't talked with your athlete about our offense and how it provides all opportunities, by using shared language like "decision maker", please do so. If you'd like to learn more about it, please let me know. I would be esctatic to sit down and share it with you! Be fore-warned, I can talk for hours on this subject.
Transition: First Half C- / Second Half B+
It was difficult to be effective in transition vs this team. They had a tremendously disciplined team who played very similar to us. With that said, our defense did create transition opportunities. In the future, for us to capitalize on the transition our defense creates, we need to increase our court vision, pass up court quicker in transition to the player in front of us. For some reason, about 50% of the time, our transition would stall out because we did not do that, choosing instead to dribble the ball up. I am reminded that under-pressure we revert to our most trained habit. This is the reason I think some of our players chose to dribble instead of pass & that is encouraging as it can simply be remedied by increasing training reps and bringing attention to it.
Strategy Adjustment in second half
With support from the coaching cadre, I made a strategic shift in the second half due to our team being behind. I challenged individual players to increase their effort and asserted that I would leave a squad & individuals that were being effective in for a longer duration; if they were "cooking" I would let them continue to cook. We needed to light a fire, and this provided that spark. This left playing time in the most competitive squad's hands. I chose to frame it that way, and although I understand if it was unpopular to you as a parent, I stand by the decision as it was in the best interest of the team, and it was effective.
The athletes responded to the challenge. Despite trailing 17-9 at halftime, the girls responded as a cohesive unit, ending the game 25-23. While we didn't win the second game, we clearly won the second half, demonstrating a remarkable ability to adjust and persevere as underdogs. If/when we play that team or a team like it again, we will have a great experience to learn from and we will know how to attack them!
Head Coach Mistakes in Second Game
Additionally, I need to acknowledge my two critical errors in the second game.
The first was implementing a half-court trap, which we hadn't practiced. I gave the half court trap too much time in the first half. This gave an advantage to the other team, which they capitalized on. This was not on the girls as they executed what I asked them to do.
The second error was not calling a timeout when we couldn't get a shot off in the last 14 seconds. Coach Dave had an effective play drawn up and I misread the situation. I take full responsibility for these errors. Before the championship game I apologized to the girls & coaches for them, they accepted my apology.
Coach Andrew & Tim used it as an opportunity to talk about our growth mindset and I really appreciated that. Thank you coaches and team for accepting my apology and reminding me of growth!!!
Championship Game
In the championship game, we witnessed the girls' exceptional effort and aggressiveness from start to finish. This allowed us to return to our preferred substitution strategy. Our preferred substitution method is what is typically best for the team. It keeps our press high pressure and effective and also keeps the defenses and their coaches frustrated and guessing, because when our offense is "cooking" we have all of our girls who can attack, and not just a couple like other teams.
My gut feeling, in combination with a reading of body language or admittedly it could have just been my competitive nature, BUT I sensed the other team thought we would be cake, an easy team to beat. They should not have underestimated us. Again, it could just be my competitiveness, but it brought an even sweeter feeling when we effectively attacked them and never gave up the lead the full game. Underdog and tenacious mentalitiy again proved to be very effective.
Defense A
We went back and forth from our full court pressure to the pack-line and occasionally sprinkled in the man-to-man press. This confused and frustrated the other team. That is the goal of a good press. Apply pressure, make them revert to their most trained habit (reaction) and have the girls not applying the direct pressure read that habit and attack. This gave us the advantage over them.
Offense A-
Our buckets started to drop. Our spacing got better. Our decision making continued to be the right decisions. The girls played with confidence under pressure and over-all, this was our best offensive attack all tournament.
Transition B+
Court vision became better and we looked for the player ahead. We scored effectively in transition, but also in an effort to include everyone, made a couple bad passes, still in the face of those less effective decisions, we persevered and applied great effort on defense to get us more opportunities. Defense makes offense!
UNIQUE PATHWAY TO CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Lastly, our path to the championship was unique. The team we loss to in the second game conceded their right to the championship and as the next in line, we were offered the opportunity to compete.
Although I’m unsure of the motive to concede their path to the championship game, I am inclined to think it was benevolent in nature, although it was bizarre from my view to give up the opportunity to play in a championship game. Whatever the reason at the end of the day we got the opportunity to compete in the championship game and we took full advantage of it!
Additionally, we clarified with all parties the winner would be champion of the tourney. All parties, opposing coaches, tournament director and our coaching cadre all agreed together that the winner would be crowned champion!
So, although it was a unique route to the championship, ultimately it was all on the up and up.
In spirit of good sportsmanship, I have requested contact information for all teams we played to send them a thank you card for the opportunity and for making us better. I will seek out all players' and parents' signature for that in the coming week.
CONCLUSION
Overall, it was a successful first adventure for Team Hustle, with our athletes performing admirably in an unfamiliar environment, with heavy pressure, and against good and unknown opponents. Their confidence should be boosted, knowing that our basketball program is competitive and effective against good teams from other states!
In conclusion, I want to thank the parents for their unwavering support and the athletes for their incredible efforts and teamwork during this past weekend! With this championship victory we are invited to a Regional Tournament in March. More details will come out for that in the next couple months. Looking ahead, our focus turns back to our winter teams!
HUGE thank you to our Coaching Team - Dave, Tim and Andrew! Together we are formidable coaching cadre. We see each other's blind spots, we have trust with each other to tell each other the truth, even if it's a tough truth and we respect each other. We are a GREAT team and we set a great example for the kid athletes. I believe any one of us can take the reins of a team at the head, and if we stick together, we will be successful! Thank you coaches for choosing to be part of the coaching cadre and choosing to compete!
To all of you, thank you for choosing to be on Team Hustle. There is no HUSTLE without "US".
If you'd like to discuss any of this in more detail or one-on-one PLEASE call or text to set up a time. I would love the opportunity.
On behalf of the coaching cadre and with Respect,
Jeff Sprick
651-387-7887
CoachSprick@gmail.com