DCRealist

There is no question that DCHS has underperformed the past couple of years. The sad part is the administration does not care. Dekalb County has never fired a coach for performance in the past 30 years. I am quoting that from conversations with administrators and the decision makers. Apparently that is a badge of honor in our county. If that is the stance leadership is going to take then what can kids or our county ever really hope for? I love the people of our community but this type of thinking holds back progress. Losing (and everything that it mentally and emotionally brings with it) has become ok in Dekalb and that is sad.

Agee was definitely starting to find her stride when she tore her ACL. It is a shame she is not healthy enough to play right now giving DC one more playmaker. I would agree with DCTiger in that she and Ferrell have comparable talent with different strengths. Next year she will help offset the loss of Brown's scoring. Having both she and Walker back will make the squad more athletic. I wouldn't go so far as to say DC is now on even playing field with Upperman and Macon but the gap has narrowed. Coach Fish is doing a great job of getting the girls to compete harder and become more connected on the defensive end.

There wasn't a crowd. Dekalb outnumber Smith 2:1 at their place. If anything, it seemed indifferent.

We stopped pressing and committed to pressure the ball defensively in the half court for the first time all year! Hallelujah! We looked good doing it and the few times Macon was able to break us down off the dribble our help side was good drawing charges and blocking shots. Good decision. Defense travels. We made more shots tonight because they were easier looks coming from inside out. Substitution pattern was much better. We had a 2 minute stretch in Q4 where we started thinking about preserving a win instead of putting our foot on their neck leading to some turnovers. Other than that 2 minutes, missing a few bunnies and some FT it was clean game. Great and needed win. Second round of district games will be more interesting IF we settle into roles and grow to play as a team instead of individuals.

I missed the first half but was impressed by the lady bees discipline and movement without the ball in the 2nd half. DC clearly did not shoot the ball as well as we have been. Much of that had to do with defensive intensity by lady bees but also our choice of cuts. The lady bees were trailing over screens with our (DC) shooters. We should have run curl cuts leading to lay ups but seemed too focused on trying to catch up quickly and shot a lot of 3's that were slightly out of rhythm. My bet is that will be fixed before playing at UHS and the next game will be much more competitive down the stretch.

We can build on last night. Coaches led with energy and were engaged every moment. That became infectious on the court as well. There were plenty of times most coaches would have gone negative with some of our mistakes but they kept it upbeat and stayed positive. That is great. They designed a good play in the last moments to get the ball to a hot shooter. Even with less than a second on the clock they did not give up and were giving good instruction on how to possibly get the ball back. We shot the ball as a team pretty better from the perimeter. We took better care of the basketball for much of the first half of the game. At times we had better movement in the half court. Our screens and cuts aren't very good but even our simple movement helped open some lanes and freed up some kick outs for clean looks. Our defense was still a little passive in the half court but it was improved none the less forcing more shots to be contested. The second half we became tentative with the ball against the press and overpassed in the half court on penetrations. When we kept an aggressive mindset of finishing at the rim instead of passing in traffic good things happened. That can be a learning point. The positives of the half are that we didn't fold after they punched us in the mouth with a 9-0 run to start the half. We were playing without Norris who is our most steadying presence against pressure. Even with what seemed like 30+ turnovers we had a chance to win the game against a team we got smoked by at their place. I know we can fix the issue with pressure. Some of it is positioning against the press but most of it is technique and mentality. Once we understand how to keep an attacking mentality instead of survival mentality the press will become welcomed instead of feared. With a couple focused practices dedicated to it and regular short refreshers, that TO number can be cut in half. We will be 10-15 points better nightly when that happens. Three things really stood out to me that are positive. First, we pushed the ball in transition a ton more than we have all year and good things happened. Dakota's greatest strength is quickness. Running uses that by giving him space to attack. Because of pushing the ball, I thought he and Josh had their best games of the year at point. They got to the rim or found open shooters on multiple occasions and those easier looks help. Second, while we need the kids that are injured, our flow was so much better with only eight rotating in and out. Most shooters need to find a rhythm and I felt like that was improved and yielded results. Last, with the game on the line there were kids that stepped up to make plays. We did not shy away from taking and making big shots when it mattered. There is clear hope. We have a couple weeks to fix issues that are fixable and re-enter district play with a full healthier team.

Moonshiner, first let me say I agree that they looked soft against Cannon. Frankly, they have looked soft in a lot of games and that is not solely the coach's fault. Second, I am unaware of any kids intentionally not doing what they are told but if that is the case it is a problem and needs to be addressed. Third, I am definitely the loudest dad in the stands and if my yelling constitutes a need to make a change fine. I don't just yell at my son. I yell at all the kids because I have a relationship with them having done skills clinics with them last year when Coach Martin was here. The kids don't communicate among themselves on the floor and lack a passion and energy. That is a problem I try to help with real time during games. Coach knows that I will support him if he believes my son is not capable of playing for him. I have already told him that. Against Cannon, my son did not start and did not play for nine minutes of the first half because he was viewed as the problem with the offense the previous game. We scored two points without him on the floor. Some of the critiques coach has had with my son I completely agree with and have told him the same things. Every coach this year has put their best defender on my son and three teams have brought a second defender as soon as he puts the ball on the floor with his right hand. Until Tanner is back that will likely continue. My son needs to work harder to overcome these things and nobody in our family is going to make excuses for him struggling to deal with it. I do try to communicate to help him and all the kids in games the best I can but Coach should play who he feels gives them the best chance to win, period. Last and this is most important.... Parents entrust their hearts to any coach. That is why they are so passionate. Often a coach takes unfair blame because passion overrules reason. None of us are in practices. If the time is being used well and the right things are being worked on daily they will improve. If that is not happening they will not. Either way, I still believe Coach Sanders can be a good coach whether they win 20 games or 2 if he is focused on the right stuff and I am not talking about X's and O's. Coaches are the most influential person in life outside of parents on a kid. Everyone would like the team to improve, compete and win but as a parent that pails in comparison to a coach that will pour himself in my child and other young people to help them become men of character with great work ethics and the desire to serve others. It is still too early to know whether Coach Sanders is going to be that kind of coach but I can give him props on several fronts. See below: Coach Sanders will stay late after practice to let me work with my kid on areas he is struggling with. All the kids can stay but it tends to just be the two of us for most of the time and they are the best hours of my week. Hopefully that extra work pays off soon but what I am thankful for is that he cares enough to give me the opportunity to bond deeper with my child over something we both love. The hours in that gym with him when nobody else is there are precious to me. Every minute counts. Coach Sanders and Coach Vance make that happen. They don't have to stay late but they do. Coach Sanders does not get in the way. He gives us time together. Coach Sanders listens. He has shown on more than one occasion the ability to hear concerns and not blow them out of proportion but try to find remedies. His even keel and willingness to work at things says a lot about him as a person. The most important things have nothing to do with a game. Coach Sanders has brought new ideas to the program at Dekalb trying to build it up and get more resources into the system for player development. That shows me he cares. It will not help my kid or this year but he is trying to make a difference for future kids in the program. This is not the year anyone envisioned but ten years from now not a single one of those kids will be playing basketball competitively. My hope is that they all are better men for having been on this team.

York was clearly the better team. I thought I made that clear. My observation was just the difference between the two halves in foul counts and how it impacted score differential. DC has to learn how to deal with physicality and pressure in general. I was impressed by York. They play really good team defense, shoot the ball well, run hard in transition on both ends of the floor, have length and athleticism. They will be the team to beat in the district. LA has the best player in the district in Sells but York has the length and connectedness on the defensive end to make things difficult for him and they have 3 or 4 guys that can put points on the board.

I actually thought they played harder against York than they had been. They played man for the first time but were out of position some. That should improve if they continue to play it. York was by far the best team DC has played to date. York lit it up in the first half to build the lead. Second half was even. Apart from York coming back to earth from 3 in the second half, the biggest difference seemed to be in the way the first and second half were officiated. Refs allowed York to play very physical defense in the first half (led to a lot of TO and few FT) and began calling it closer in the second (less TO and more FT). After 6 games into the season, I haven't seen DC have a good shooting night. Van Buren was an outlier because of so many lay ups. As bad as DC is with ball security, I am not surprised by their record. The 2 senior guards that started last year have not shot it nearly as well as they did a year ago. A lot can change by adding back a starter like Poss who seems to keep his composure and will pull some of the defense focus away from others. We will learn a lot Friday when they play Watertown. Until discipline and shooting improve, I think that is the battle for 4th. If they don't take care of the ball and shoot better than they have Tuesday at LA could be another long night. That said, we are due to shoot better.

I have not seen any of the Jr. High kids play. DC does lose a lot this year. I think of the 8 players receiving the most minutes currently 5 are Seniors and that is before Poss comes back. They will be very young next year (particularly in the back court). They could play a really big line up if some of the Sophomores and Juniors develop. I believe there are 4 kids that will be back 6'4" or taller. While I don't know about the middle school kids in basketball the football team was great this year and so my guess is that athletically things should improve a couple years from now.

It is true all kids are different. I think one of the strengths of the new coach is his steady demeanor. A steady hand could benefit a team over the course of the season not get too down when things don't go their way. What it has not done yet is motivate kids to play with passion and max effort from opening tip to final buzzer. My point was Martin's fire was infectious with the kids and he demanded that they play with urgency. Fire can still come if Sanders presses the right buttons. Don't get me wrong. I see enough ability to compete with most if not all teams in the district once completely healthy if the right buttons are pressed. We are bigger than last year, will have as much shooting once Poss is back, and if playing under control should be better handling pressure. (That was not a strength last year either). I also see the ability to lose to just about anyone if our turnover rate does not improve and we continue to look lost defensively. I think they will start to find their identity as a team. At least I hope they do. Football season was painful. I need something to get excited about.

A team typically takes on the personality of its coach. One thing Martin definitely brought was an intensity level. They and the coach have lacked that so far. I agree on too many playing and substitution patterns. It definitely would be easier to get in a flow with 7-8 in a rotation instead of 10. Now that districts are here hopefully we will see the player experimentation end.

DC 1-4..... They look awful and asleep most games in a zone press and 2-3 in half court. They have been weak with the ball at every position but the point guard play has been atrocious with a negative assist to turnover ratio. Way too many turnovers without creating enough easy looks for others. Generally the team seems undisciplined on both ends of the floor, they force the ball into the post without the post effectively sealing, lack movement away from the ball, poor screening, bad reads on cuts, etc. The good news is that they can't play much worse and should have won 2 of the 4 they lost. Once Poss is back, they should have a pretty balanced approach offensively with 4 players that can score in double digits. Hopefully we shift to a pressure man defense soon. That will improve our energy level, create a few more turnovers and allow better match-ups on the glass to box out. I think they can finish in the top 3 with some changes in style and intensity or in the bottom 3 without.

We (Dekalb) will learn a lot this week with Warren County coming to town. After WC beat Giles handily (even Giles thread admits it and they the kings of trash talk), this will be a true test. WC seemed to handle the Giles 4 star receiver pretty well and have some big boys up front that will test our line. Vanilla - YES; crisp - NO; explosive - not even close. I hope we are ready for a war come Friday and can get the season started with a "W".

Before the pre-season I would have said DC would have a legitimate shot at the district with Livingston being the favorite. After watching some practice and the jamboree I think we will be competitive and in the top half of the district but I would say winning the district may be a poor bet to make. Our lack of team speed is obvious. We do not have any real deep threat and while our running game looks to be solid it does not look explosive enough to force the safeties to cheat up. From what I have seen holes in the opponent's secondary are lacking (unlike what was created from speed with Sonny a couple years ago and Devonte last year drawing attention at the line). Jennings will be a really good QB (and our receivers have pretty good hands) but the ball is being forced into tighter spots and those risks often don't pay off. I think Coach Trapp will find a way to spread the opposing defense out a bit more during the regular season but we will have to grind out yardage this year much more than in the past few. As much as we have pushed the pace on offense under Coach Trapp, this year may be one that the defense (albeit thin) must lead and pace likely should slow. I am not sure how the DC faithful will like that as we have gotten accustom to big numbers on the scoreboard but W's are never easy to come by and we have to adjust to what we have.