Greater Cincinnati Classic 2008

Well it has been several months without a word, but of course life and basketball has continued.

After my middle school season came to an end, I could turn my attention back to the kids basketball tournaments in March. Kaleb's team (2nd grade recreation) was knocked out in first round; Kevin's team (4th grade recreation) made it all the way to the championships and finished runner-up to best team in their league; Kailyn-Naddiyah's team (6th grade select) made it to the championships and finished their year as Dayton Metro DI Runner-Up to Springboro.

That's the end...just kidding...you should know by now that basketball lives forever, so on to AAU.

Through a series of chaotic twists and turns, I ended up coaching Naddiyah and the Dayton Lady Hoopstars 11 and under black team this summer. This group of girls are very talented, but we struggled for first two tournaments largely in part as I figured out what kind of team we were going to be. They say you learn more from the games you lose than those you win, so boy did we do a lot of learning. :) 1-7

By our third tournament, we were looking like a decent team, but in the same tournament showed we needed lots more work going 2-2. Therefore, we learned some more and went on to prepare for the Ohio AAU District Championships which we were lucky enough to draw the #1 team in our district the first game into a double elimination bracket of 14 teams. I was hopeful, though, but was probably the only one -- and even I have to admit I was being optimistic about winning against WV Thunder but thought even a lost playing our best game would propel us to the next level. Luckily for me, the girls worked very hard and took the lose to WV Thunder as the spark to make a run in the tournament I had hoped as we went on to win four straight games decidedly and nearly won fifth losing to the 3rd place Cincy Angels 48-50 with Naddiyah scoring 19 points. From where we started to districts, I was very happy with 4th place and 4-2 record.

And the growing doesn't stop there...

On to McGee's Courts4Sports for another AAU Super Regional in which we put in pool with our district championship's 2nd place team, Southern Ohio Magic, and the solid Indiana ISSA Elite. We played phenomenal basketball in both games, but had not quite learned the lesson the Cincy Angels lost should have taught us about playing with a lead in a close game, so we lose two heart breakers at buzzer 40-41 and 46-47 to end up 3rd in our pool. That would probably stop most teams, our girls bounced back the next day short-handed (6 players) and beat Cincy Legend to advance to the semi-finals, controlling the game and displaying an understanding of all the areas we came up short in the previous three loses starting with the Angels. Unfortunately, with few subs, we played Southern Ohio Magic poorly in the first half of the semis; however, the girls showed their talent and we scored 30 points in second half to prove again that we are still a good team. It was only 1-3, but what we learned was well worth the heartache. We played like champions even in defeat highlighted by Krystah's 14 point (4 3-pt baskets) and Bethany's 22 point (6 3-pt baskets) displays in lose to ISSA Elite (tournament champion) in pool play and Magic (tournament runner-up) in semis, respectively.

We can't stop now...

The Greater Cincinnati Classic finally arrived last weekend May 16th - 18th and we were ready to show the world how much better we were, but we did one even better and we became even better as the tournament went on. Starting on Friday night, the girls played a game I told them was the "worst game" I have seen them play all season as we won 40-17 -- harsh coach I know, but it worked. On Saturday, the girls played very disciplined and made it clear to everyone what they were all about as we won two more games 37-12 and 50-25 to move on to the championship bracket. We couldn't stop now and we didn't playing two brilliant defensive games to win semis 24-17 against Cincy Heat and finals 36-29 over Cincy Royals. We still did a lot of learning, but without the losing: 5-0 and tournament champions.

We saw a number of big things, including a 13 point run by Nadi to get us fired up in the first half of Saturday night's game, followed up by a complimentary second half 13 points by Krystah (16 points total) as Naddiyah sat out hurt. We had 11 point barrage by Bethany to lead us in scoring in the championships along with Chea who pulled down 12 boards to go along with her 11 points. We also saw the "iron woman" display by McKenzie who played 24 minutes straight playing the best girl on Heat on Sunday; played in a soccer game; played almost 24 minutes straight again playing the best girl on Royals in championships. Brittni had key free throws down the stretch and controlled the boards with Chea all weekend. Johna, Tiffany, and Mallon showed everyone how to hustle in game against Heat as we held them to 17 points to win semi-finals.

The girls made my weekend and so I had to share with all of you as I was very proud as a coach and a dad. No matter what we do from here on out, I know two things will always hold true.

Who are we: HOOPSTARS! And how did we do it: TOGETHER!

And we won't stop...