There is a reason Gilroy’s boys basketball team has stunk to
start the season.
The Mustangs practice like they play, and they play like they
practice. Which can best be summed up in one word: Lazy.
There is a reason Gilroy’s boys basketball team has stunk to start the season.
The Mustangs practice like they play, and they play like they practice. Which can best be summed up in one word: Lazy.
However you want to describe the manner in which a 3-3 record has come about, for a team that was billed as Central Coast Section contenders coming into the season, it’s been far from pretty.
In fact, it’s been downright ugly to watch.
It was inexcusable to get muscled and outmaneuvered by a San Lorenzo Valley squad that had no player over 6-foot-3 and hadn’t won before Tuesday. Gilroy, in contrast, was showcasing a front line the size of PAC-10 players with near PAC-10 talent, as well as better guards. It’s so inexcusable – it would be the equivalent of GHS losing to Alvarez in football (winless in its last 25 games).
To date, I’ve seen two home games and sat in on two practices in the last two weeks. By no means does this give me a full sense of how hard the players and coaches worked to get ready for the year. But what I saw in those four viewings was abysmal.
During practices, players stood around for extended periods of time and rarely moved with a purpose. They didn’t seem focused on basketball in between instruction from coaches – which was ill-prepared and unclear at times – and didn’t push each other when running plays or scrimmaging. The players often took bad shots, threw lazy passes, didn’t accept the challenge individually on defense, didn’t deny the ball on the wings, didn’t box-out for rebounds and acted as if turnovers aren’t a big deal. Part of the reason the team has lost three times, and won three games by smaller margins than expected, is because turnovers happen to be a very big deal.
Coming from someone who has spent his entire life following hoops, from when I was a little kid tagging along with my dad (who was a high school teacher, basketball coach and disciplinarian in varying order) to the time I finished my own playing days, this team doesn’t appear to take the game seriously but still expects to win.
I actually got a headache from watching Wednesday’s practice, in which I counted three minutes of all-out hustle in a two-hour session. It’s possible players are getting worse by acquiring bad habits and not sustaining effort over a considerable period of time. From a coach’s perspective, this is the ultimate blasphemy.
One player told me this week that his Amateur Athletic Union team had practices that pushed him further than anything GHS has thrown at him this year. Another said there was more of a focus on fundamentals in those practices. If you know much about the typical AAU style of play, which is often selfish and me-first, this should be somewhat hard to believe. But a group of Gilroy’s players had a lot of success on the AAU circuit, once taking third place in a national tournament. Obviously, something is currently lacking in this “organized” high school setting.
I say organized loosely because I can’t say I’ve seen the Mustangs’ run more than a couple plays to conclusion in a live game this year. Apparently, this was a problem last season, too. The team generally comes down the court, passes once or twice, and fires up a shot out of rhythm. If the team wasn’t so tall and able to grab so many offensive rebounds, Gilroy would have lost by more this week to lowly SLV.
Worst of all the things that are fundamentally flawed with GHS basketball currently, there is no hustle, no fire, no intensity.
Everyone – from coach Bud Ogden, who I doubt made it to the NBA practicing the way GHS does, on down to the role players, who at times didn’t even stand during timeouts to join the huddle Tuesday – seems to assume that because Jason Conrad and Lorenzo Dobson are taller than almost anyone the team will face and are able to dunk – which by the way, gives you the same two points as a textbook layup or a bank shot from the wing – there’s little need to prepare themselves to play.
This all goes back to practice.
Maybe I caught them on a couple of off days, but I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be coasting in practice just because the season has started. You can bet the teams trying to win CCS are working hard to improve every day. I’m even a bit concerned for Conrad who will be playing college ball at Portland State next year. He can more than hold his own in games, but unless he and Dobson – who can be just about as great as he wants to be, if he wants to be great – don’t battle each other hard every single practice, Conrad could actually be at a disadvantage when he goes to college and has to compete at a high level, day-in and day-out.
The coaches are responsible for installing an attitude, a system and a style of play, which is perfected over the course of a season. The players are responsible for executing. Right now, neither is happening.
On offense, players are freelancing. The result is turnovers and bad shots.
On defense, players are being passive. The result is open looks and offensive rebounds.
Making the team run windsprints won’t change what’s wrong.
Ogden and his staff will need to reassess the way they prepare their players.
Players will need to take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are really competing as hard, and as smart, as they possible can.
The Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament starts tonight, named in honor of a GHS basketball coach that, I’m told, was quite a disciplinarian and got the most out of his teams. Fourteen league championships in 17 years, four regional titles and a National Coach of the Year award in 1973 would back up those descriptions.
With Gilroy playing Pajaro Valley at 8 p.m., a team the Mustangs should smoke, it will be interesting to see how much heart the staff and players show.
But when it comes to effort, enthusiasm for the game and having a mental edge on your opponent, these things only comes through preparation and can’t be turned on like a light switch.
Right now, I see everything the team is, and everything it isn’t. And right now, I don’t even know if Gilroy is a CCS qualifier, let alone a contender.
Let us know what you think
What does the Gilroy basketball team need to do to start winning? Let the Green Phone know.
