pattycake

Halls has had a problem because the ladies playing for the past few years became accustomed to losing, and decided that it was a social thing, not a sports thing, to do. So when you get a coach like J D Lambert in there who wants to win, want to teach, and wants to coach to win, then all of a sudden, it isn't "fun" for some players, and that is what I understand is what got him fired. As I understand it, he and his staff had a review meeting with the AD after the season, and were told that while the AD would have liked more success (read wins), he was happy with the direction the team was going. The fact that they were competitve in more games than in previous years ( I believe the Oak Ridge gane where Halls was still in it going to the 4th quarter was cited as an example) and that they were getting coached up was discussed in the meeting. Based on that, JD had already made plans for the summer, a workout schedule, a take home packet including a shooting schedule for each player, and a camp schedule. Then he gets called in to talk with the principal, and is told the principal had had meetings (without JD) with players (and I assume parents, but that is my assumption), and was told the girls were not having fun, and the administration wanted to go in another direction. The 6-2 post player you are discussing didn't fancy herself as a post player. She wanted to play on the perimeter, and was constantly being coached in practice and in games to play inside. She was a freshman, and needs to get used to the idea of playing against some physically larger players. She also tweeked a knee at Christmas time, and so some of the positioning (IE, not on free throw line) might have been a aid to keep her from further injury. It also could have been a strategy to set up the press, by having her back and ready, rather than forcing her to run full court on the knee. You can't get a better person or coach than JD Lambert. He knows the game, and knows strategy. How anyone expects a coach to come in and try to turn around a program without straining some feelings is beyond me. You have fun when you win, you don't when you lose. The games I saw last year, the girls coming out of the losing dressing room didn't look like the losses bothered them. JD knew he was getting some talent from the middle school program, and was trying to get the winning attitude infused in the lower classmen. If you tell someone to do something, and they fail to do it, is that bad coaching, or bad playing? I think they could have won more games last year if some key players had taken the coaching to heart. But you know, listening to the coach isn't much fun, when he is telling you to work hard, and all you want to do is make sure you makeup is on correctly. And JD has another fatal flaw. He doesn't do politics. He doesn't bow down to anyone. And he isn't from the Halls community. So good luck to whomever comes in. If you have been reading this thread, then you know they expect you to go 20-6, beat Powell, Oak Ridge, etc, and get to State. This year. Oh, and by the way, don't make them work to do it. The girls just want to have fun.

They aren't 12 deep. Coach Bryan Lewis is playing 12, which I think is a mistake. Maybe if he picked 8 or maybe 9 players, and stayed consistent, then maybe the players wood play a little more consistently, and maybe there would be a reason to work hard in practice, so to keep a spot, or maybe work into a spot. To keep from getting out rebounded, you have to box out, and very few of JC's players do that. The guards watch shots go up, and don't box out the shooter, and then wonder why there girl is getting the rebound. They try for a steal in the press, and then don't hustle back and play defense. Some of the players need to learn it isn't how many points an individual scores, but if your team ends up ahead on the scoreboard. The JC players either don't know, don't care, or don't want to do the little things that they need to do to overcome thier lack of size. Or maybe the ones that know how to, aren't getting enough playing time. Most of the ones playing just don't work very hard at anything. Depew is a perfect example. She wasn't scoring the otherr night, but did she let that affect the rest of her game? No, she worked hard on defense, and owned the boards. She helped her team in other areas than scoring. Lewis and Buda picked up the slack. And I would take Buda over Nelson any night of the week. As freshmen, they might have been identical. Buda has made so much more progress with her game since then, while nelson has stagnated. And 50 free throw attempts? Some of that was fouling in the 4th quarter, trying to get back into the game, but still that is an indication of being out of position, reaching, poor defense. A lot of those were fouls after giving up an offensive rebound, and that means not boxing out. Last point on the subject. One of the last plays of the 1st half shows you what they can do, if they want to. Whiteside boxes out the big girl, and then races to the other end, and gets rewarded with an easy layup. It took the box out by Whiteside, a rebound by a teammate, the outlet pass to the guard, who hits Whiteside in stride for the layup. But that kind of effort by the whole team doesn't happen enough against good teams for them to beat good teams.