Let's face it, 36.7% shooting (11 of 30) from the field and 16 turnovers is not going to get you a win, but even with those stats, the Arizona Wildcat men's basketball team kept coming back.  Even though it seemed that only the UCLA players were getting rebounds (I know now this isn't true, but it seemed like it from the stand), the Arizona Wildcat players came back.  And when you would, yourself, want to walk off the court after the 3rd defensive block call which was called on your team when the UCLA offense most definitely and obviously purposely elbow your chest so you go flying backwards under the basket, yes, the Wildcats kept coming back.

As a Wildcat fan, I felt the other Arizona fans represented well.  Here we were, sitting in a big stadium where we expected to be one of 20 or so fans attending the game, and actually 1/3 of the seats were full of Wildcat fans, blue and red everywhere.  It was obvious we were there when some guys to the left of me started the U OF A chant, and we were loud!  You would think that would help the team..and I think it gave them a reason to continue coming back, but they just couldn't muster up enough desire it seemed to win the game.  

Another quick observation: Most of the UCLA and Arizona players were from Southern California, with UCLA having at least 4 players from Orange County where the game was being played.    Seemed like it was a game between California natives.

I have watched a whole lot of basketball in my time, I have coached it and been a commissioner of a rec league, and it is very obvious when the referee wants to be the 6th player and wants to affect the outcome of the game.  This game was no different.  The Bruins seemed to be beating up the Wildcats with actual hits (once there was a karate chop to the neck, and twice there were purposeful elbows to the chest).  This game was hyped up with all the Wooden video's and I am sure locker room speeches (I am a huge Wooden fan, don't get me wrong) and all the respect the refs had for Wooden, how could the Bruins lose?  How could Howland go home a loser in this beautiful stadium where lots of West LA folks drove for over an hour (lots of traffic) to get to Anaheim on a Thursday night for the game.

Don't misunderstand, I will tell you I think UCLA did a fine job on offense and defense, I was impressed, I just didn't like the dirty pool.  I looked to me like with their center out, the team seemed to step up.  Their point guard was on fire, so were the twins, it seemed the first half, they couldn't miss the basket.  In this game, maybe size did matter (LOL).  UCLA clearly has a taller team, and Arizona's freshman 

Upshot: Solomon Hill will be shooting 100's of free throws today and tomorrow, Sean Miller will be rethinking his starters for the next game, Nick Johnson has to find his love for the game and desire to win (I know he is only a Freshman), Lavender will be teaching the rest of the team how to shoot, and us fans will be spending Saturday praying for a win against USC on Sunday.   GO CATS!
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I am so upset I can't even talk about it.

This is a year of no compromise...

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As you know, I have 10 years experience coaching girls in basketball, from the age of Kindergarten to High School.  I have learned a lot during those 10 years what makes these girls tick, what motivates them, but that would only be the girls who live in our little pricey community by the beach, so it may not apply to all girls.  Some of what I have learned is because of what I went through growing up, some from being a parent, some from trial and error, and other influences.  I most often had an assistant coach who was a dad, so we would have a good balance, and the dad's were so great, they followed my lead, and they were frankly shocked that my approach worked. To this day, one of my assistant coaches quotes me to his friends, and credits me and reminds me that I taught him how girls tick, he had changed his mind about how to coach girls.

What I have learned is that what works is to figure out how each team member ticks, how each player gets motivated, what matters to each player, how they play with their parents watching, how they get along with their teammates, how they take direction, how they learn (show them, tell them, practice it or all of the above).  After I figure that out, I make sure they spend non-basketball time together, that they hang out and get to know each other.  At practice, I would let them spend 5-10 minutes gabbing and shooting to get it out of their system, then I had to keep practice interesting and fun.  I found the girls learn a lot from just playing, skills and drills are important, but correcting their play while they are playing, that made the most difference.  I made it a rule for not player or coach to ever put down a player, I made it a rule for coaches to not yell at the players, I made sure the girls knew they could make mistakes and I would not get mad, but they would get some instruction to improve.

I learned to hone in on what each player was good at, maybe they were fast, maybe they were great at defense, as I subbed them in, i would make sure that they had at least one thing they needed to do for focusing.   Parents were happy most of the time, the parents that weren't usually were the ones used to their daughters playing 90% of each game, but their daughters actually played better when they got to watch the game dynamics, it motivated them to watch for awhile.

I always believed in my teams, even if we were missing our "best" player, I told them they could win if they wanted to win, they knew I had confidence in them, and they wanted to win for themselves, not from fear of getting yelled at, they wanted to improve because their teammates counted on them and they wanted to play more.  The girls enjoyed the game of basketball.   Oh, one more thing, I always played all the girls, as equally as possible, this way the whole team got better, not just a few players, if they all put in the work, then there should be equal play, now if we had to come from behind in the 4th quarter or it was a close game, then we had to play the stronger players, but the other players totally understood that and were very supportive of their teammates.  Of course this was Recreation basketball...

In High School, the entire focus for parents and players is "How do I get more play time", no matter if you are on the Frosh, JV or Varsity team.  The coaches are the sole decider who gets to play or not for each game, the parents beg their bosses to be able to get off of work mid afternoon to go see their daughter play, the daughter wants all the practice and workouts to use, the whole thing is very frustrating.  If I volunteer, maybe my kid will get play time, if I pay the coach for lessons, maybe they will get closer to the coach and get more play time.  There are 32 minutes in a game, you can't get 12 players into a 32 minute game somehow? On a FROSH Team? 

I also find it very interesting that some of these high school players learned things in rec ball and Jr. High school basketball that they aren't even utilizing in High School.  I am talking offensive plays, press, double teaming, man-to-man defense, etc.  Shocking really that in rec ball all these facets of basketball were taught and learned, but in High School the girls are told "you won't be able to learn the plays", frankly shocking.

All in all, I have been through this will my oldest child, and it is better this time around, she is enjoying herself, the Varsity coach is inclusive and the girls feel important, but there is a ton of drama with the boosters and the parents.  Again, expected all this...what makes me feel better is that the game my child was able to play the most in was the one we won, and the 2 games I was allowed to coach with a fellow rec coach dad, we won both games, games were supposed to lose, so that is the saving grace for me.

God help me through this season, and let there be offensive plays, and various defensive strategies, and more substitutions, and more positive encouraging coaching...AMEN!
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