March 3, 2008                        Check Out previous Blogs

The sectional/quarterfinal week ALWAYS brings us much excitement, great coaching,  thrilling games and many situations and outcomes not seen previously by these highly talented teams. Coaching does make a difference......

Let's take a look a couple very sound coaching strategies. Some "blew up" in a matter of seconds, some worked. For example, McCluer North (defending Class 5 Champion, decides to defend the outstanding star of Parkway South, Ben Hoener, with Femi John to shut him down. What happens ?  John fouls twice in the opening minutes of the game !  He's out of the game until half due to the foul trouble. Coach Randy Reed uses a couple other defenders throughout the first quarter without much success (Hoener scores 9 of South's 11 points). At start of 2nd quarter, he goes 1-3-1, it nullifies the great dribble drive of Hoener. The North Stars begin getting some break out baskets on rebounds from Anthony Booker and march to a 68-48 win. Showing the skills of a successful coach, Randy Reed's first option then float neiter did the 2nd but the 3rd took him  to Mizzou Arena.

Veteran coach Jim Scanlon of Rock Bridge modified his strategy from 07. Last year his Rock Bridge Bruin team fell to Ft Zumwalt South boys in the sectional as South "packed it in" in their 2-3 zone. The Bruins launched 30-3's and fell as only 6 long shots dropped. This year as the two teams met again in sectionals, Coach Scanlon, realizing that South would probably collapse on his gunner, 6-8 Jordan Dressler, made the choice to be  patient and try to get it inside. His plan of action had the Bruins hold a 24-17 lead entering the 4th quarter. The deliberate, slow offense kept the Bruins on "course". As the 4th quarter opened, Coach Bill Friedel wanted his  Bulldogs to play with a frenzy. All-State player Josh McCoy took over! He scored 16 4th quarter points himself (remember, South had 17 points for the first 3 quarters). The thrilling ending saw Bruin marksman, Skylar Tolson, 3 point attempt to tie the game rattle in and out with 1.6 seconds left, a  foul ensued as the final score of 42-37 was clearly the lowest score of the night.

Coach Julie Matheny of St Joseph Academy had 4 girls in "big time" foul trouble. Four of her starters had 4 fouls midway in the final quarter. Coach Matheny decided to go with her best at that point of the game. The Angels did have two players foul out but the difference was not the  fouls but the free throws! Hazelwood East shoots 19 of 34 from the line while St Joe is better at 16 of 25 including some key ones in the final seconds by Ashley Hanlen. Channon Haywood, Haz East, as usual was very entertaining to watch for the Spartans with her spectacular leaping ability, agility, soft touch, tenacious rebounding and drives to the basket. She will be a force at U of Ark-Little Rock.

#1 bites the dust !  The unbeaten Raytown Bluejays were upended by a red-hot Truman Patriot team 52-49.Truman Coach Billy Guinnee saw his team at 9-8 midway through the season. Now riding an 11 game win streak, the Patriots had to hang on for dear life.  Leading by 8 points with under 2 minutes remaining, the Bluejays fought for their basketball post-season life frantically. Cutting the lead to a slim 3 points, the Bluejays gunned up two three-balls in the final 12.3 seconds while trying to send the game into OT. Each was off the mark as was the shooting of the Bluejays in the final 4 games of the year.  Truman will now tangle with Webster Groves in the semi's .  Webster  used the one-man show of Drew Hanlen to advance to the final four. Having tasted defeat in each of the last two years in the quarters, this game was enjoyed by the Statesman as they watched Hanlen score 34 points, grab 9 rebounds and have 8 assists. Not too hard to figure who Coach Guinnee will be "marking"  all week in his game planning.

What an up and down week of St Charles West(28-1) boys! While the three premier players were playing "through" different levels of injuries on Wednesday, Kramer Soderberg knocked down 37 points in the unbelievable 64-63 sectional win over highly ranked Moberly. Soderberg hit a trey with 4 seconds left to give the win to the Warriors. On Saturday,as the injuries still nagged all three key outside perimeter players for West, against the fleet footed, Berkeley Bulldogs (25-5), the Warriors slowed the pace, hit key free throws in the last quarter and moved along to the semifinal game against Webb City with a 48-35 victory.

What a way to go out?  Coach Eric Johnson of Webb City announced earlier in the year that he was stepping down as coach at the end of the season. He now has the 24-4 Cardinals all the way to the Final Four after beating Clinton 65-56. The speed of Webb City proved to be too much for Clinton as the WC Cardinals scored several easy baskets in transition using their speed. Webb City will now face the St Charles West Warriors in the Class 4 semis.

On the Girls side, Webb City fell to the #1 ranked Class 4 team,  Bolivar Liberators (27-2) 68-53.All-State player Casey Garrison and a stifling press were the key components in this  Liberator win. Webb City was senior-less this year so  there hopes for the future are  sky high.

In District play at Class 1 level, the Bell City Cubs clearly know what horse to ride. Despite only 2 first quarter points, the Cubs still encouraged Nick Niemczyk to keep shooting. Shoot - he did. Niemczyk got red hot and score 41 points in an 88-57 win over Lesterville. The Cubs have now recorded their  7th consecutive distirct title but face their annual hurdle Scott County Central in the sectionals.

By the way, rankings are fun and good to kick around but it seems to me that far too much faith is put into them. Until these voters see all the teams, these blind votes seem speculative and very limited in their scope. Looking at a team's record alone, doesn't describe their caliber. Especially with the smaller schools , records can be very misleading. Is the smaller school playing larger schools, good teams outside their conference or are  they facing all year long the same size(or smaller), and or the non-conference foes less than  challenging. Other factors are  how many home games, injuries, adaptability, development of the  non-stars, how many close wins, who have they beaten (not lost-it doesn't take skill to lose). Unless  a  voter in the polls, which I am not, sees several teams, the  polls should  be viewed for what they really are-- good topics of discussion and one  person's perspective.

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