AN UGLY SCRIMMAGE

Our first real scrimmage this season (against the boys) didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I'm glad because it gave us a chance to see where we need some work.

THE GOOD

We did a great job of forcing the tempo in the first quarter. Numerous times Coach Burman was screaming "slow it down." We forced them into taking rushed shots, contested shots and shots that were off-balance. That was due to aggressive man-to-man pressure.

THE BAD

Our offense was completely ineffective. We had little or no movement, extremely poor spacing, sloppy passing and probably a half-dozen more that I won't name. We spent too much time focusing on the first & second option (even when neither were there) that we forgot how to just play basketball. We forced passes to players that were covered rather than throwing to the open man or just pulling back and resetting the offense.

Defensively, after the first four-minutes, this did not look like the same team from last season. We cannot just stand and allow our man to survey the situation and decide where they want to pass to. We attack the ball!!!

Your job (on the ball) is to put so much pressure on the ball handler that they worry more about you than they do about the offense. Off the ball, your job is two-fold, first, deny your man the ability to catch the ball. Secondly, your job is to "stop the ball" not just guard your man.

Tomorrow's scrimmage will give us a chance to work on several of the things we discussed tonight.

4:13