Winning Educationally

Last night, we won our second game, beating Boston Collegiate Charter School (a fascinating place where a colleague now works, a school that was in South Boston and populated by that student demographic, but is now in Dorchester and the face of the students being served is slowly changing). We won 48-44 in a game that we led the entire 32 minutes. We led by 9, 30-21, heading into the halftime break, but some tweaks by BC and some sloppy play enabled the outcome to be far from determined until the buzzer sounded. A win is a win, though, and we're happy to take another one.CCSC looked outstanding coming out of the gate. Perhaps it was the result of our humbling loss to PHA earlier in the week, or a sense of urgency that accompanied the prospect of falling to 1-4. Regardless, the offense was controlled. We scored multiple times on new half-court sets designed to get the ball in players hands where we now know them capable of being effective. This may end up being the key to our season: recognizing the strengths of our kids and figuring out ways to deliver the ball to the floor locations necessary. Geo worked well off of the baseline, building off one explosive, "I've seen the future and it's that kid driving baseline and dunking on someone's head" sequence on Wednesday night.
Jude scored early and often, driving hard to hoop and using a new play to get an early basket and keep his confidence high and healthy. Jude also, midway through the second half, kept trying to call time-out, hobbling around in some inexplicable way. Finally, with the sole of his shoe on the court, everyone realized that he his sneaker had busted apart. He switched with another player and re-entered the game. He was, as you can see, proud of what he thought it meant about his own performance and the intensity with which he attacks the game...
Bayoan did a tremendous job first half controlling the tempo. He is beginning to play like a leader, like a point guard. He pushed when he saw opportunities and slowed things down when he did not. He again out-hung someone to finish spectacularly on a fast break and is simply hungry to learn, hungry to win. Michael and Chuck boarded well, figuring out what fronting a big man means. We did not employ our new Texas Tech defense, designed to stop some specific threats, but our man to man was adjusted in a successful way. Steven and Ariel both got some time and played well.
Down the stretch, however, our weaknesses were laid bare. Perhaps it comes from a pick-up mentality, but our kids want to score. When the ball lands in a player's hands, his first thought is to take the ball to the hole, despite the defender locations or those of his teammate. This mentality was omnipresent last night as, time and time again, with a substantial lead of between 7 and 12 points, we made stupid decisions. When playing pick-up ball, the game ends when you score enough points. When playing organized ball, with a clock, the game ends when the clock runs out. As such, last night was one huge learning opportunity. We didn't treat the clock like our friend. Despite me constant pleas to pay attention to the score and time, players would get steals, run the length of the floor and try to finish instead of slowing up, resetting and using clock. As a result, Boston Collegiate was able to make the game much closer than it should have been. BC also went to a box and one on Bayoan, which took us some time to adjust to. Despite my pleas for a solid screen, he was effectively removed from the offense for the first 8 minutes of the second half.
We spoke at length after the game about the best defense sometimes being a time-consuming offense. The kids seemed to get it. We continue to make a lot of mistakes, but this is a process and, if the mistakes begin to disappear, we will improve considerably. This is all new, I constantly remind myself. Passing, cutting, helping, boxing out, using the clock. It is all a novelty and the learning curve is steep and my expectations are not low. The talk was solid. The kids, importantly, will head into this vacation break with a win and a semi-respectable record. How much will we regress? How much will kids think hoops and work on aspects of their games that require improvement?I head into the holiday break needing sleep. This last week was brutal. Three games, a successful mini-unit on the middle passage as part of my larger second unit on the slave experience, student energy heading into vacation. I could not speak for most of it, but it's done, it was successful and now, sleep is possible, and lots of it.
The students, like Wale below, who started the season failing some crucial classes and has, not surprisingly, been motivated as a result of his participation and was recently named the Physics student of the month, will hopefully study and get their grades to a point where the semester ending report card does not effectively end their season.Thanks for checking in and caring. The season continues after the vacation and will move speed up, moving at break-neck speed through March and the league tournament at UMASS-Boston. I will, of course, continue to offer you glimpses inside of my own head, as well as perhaps those on the team and those in the stands.Wishing you (and your family, like Orin's number one fan and CCSC's proven good luck charm, Lila -- below. We're undefeated in her presence, but daycare is rigorous and her making games is understandably nothing short of a production) health and happiness in the new year and much, much love.