Mark Lewis
Mark Lewis writes for Hoop Gurlz… he writes exceptionally well. Very insightful. Would I consider him a writer? Probably not. No disrespect intended. Mark’s a basketball coach. In my mind’s eye I still see him on the sideline, or out on the road recruiting…. minus the camera.
So many times in the recruiting process parents try to re-live their sports lives (or lack there of) through their child’s… HUGE MISTAKE. Mark’s insight is accurate and helpful. Mark says, “I’m not a parent…” I disagree. Biology may not have played a part in Mark’s “parenting,” but he “parented” many during his 20+ year coaching career.
I’m a parent. We have a daughter. Both my wife and I went off to college. I blew out my ankle twice. If I didn’t pick the school because I wanted to be there no matter what happened on the basketball court – I would have been miserable. My wife did transfer because she was miserable. We had both sides of the story. Mark is spot on.
I hope Mark is around and I remember his words in 2018 when our daughter is making her decision.
In… Remember who has the final decision, Mark shares a great perspective into the process of recruiting for parents. Who actually has the final decision is really important.
Parenting is tough. That fact is evidenced every day by rebellious kids and surrendering parents who just throw up their arms in exasperation. The approaches to guiding, teaching, preparing and supporting are varied and as daunting a challenge as any adult will face.
Now add to that the twists, turns and decisions that come with the recruiting of a prospective student-athlete and you’ve got a volatile mix that can tip the fragile relationship between a teenager and her parents.
I must confess, I’m not a parent. In fact my single greatest contribution to society may well be that I’ve added no offspring of mine to the population. However, I have had a ringside seat to a multitude of recruiting decisions through the years that have revealed some startling child-parent dynamics.
A lot of athletes go through the recruiting process with their parents at their side and come up with the right decision that makes sense for her future in the classroom, on the court and personally. The tug of war begins when the agenda of mom and dad start to override that of their daughter.
Continue Reading…
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago at 10:28 AM. 1 comment
THIS IS REALLY GOOD. You’ll see, even though it is “anonymous”, it’s still not 100% accurate… but it’s pretty good. Coaches will still be self-serving and self protective even when being anonymous. It’s as close as I’ve seen to the “truth” though.
By Dana O’Neil ESPN.com
The image of college basketball has taken a beating in recent years, with rumors, murmurs and innuendo about cheating spreading like wildfire. Cynics believe no one is trying to follow the NCAA rulebook and that the game has fallen victim to the begging hands of agents, runners and hangers-on looking to collect on the next NBA star.
Is it that bad? What are the real problems? And is the NCAA doing enough to fix those problems?
To get the answers, ESPN.com went to the sources. During the EYBL Peach Jam last week, we interviewed 20 high-profile head coaches, representing each of the six power conferences. With the promise of full anonymity, we asked them to tell the truth about their sport.
And they did.
What is your least favorite part of summer recruiting?
No one likes the constant travel, the bad basketball and the emphasis on individual skills instead of team play.
Coaches travel everywhere to watch high school kids in July, but can’t keep an eye on their own.
But of the coaches surveyed, many — eight of the 20 — cited the time away from campus and their own players as the biggest problem with the summertime.
“I have my team over for a barbecue before I leave in July,” one coach said. “Little do they know it’s a farewell, not a welcome barbecue.”
“You walk into a living room and promise a mother that you’ll be there for her son,” said another. “And as soon as they get on campus, you’re gone.”
“They’re all on campus and I’m on the road,” added another. “If they do something stupid, I’m going to get fired — but I can’t be there to see what they’re doing.”
Some other popular grievances:
“What don’t I like? All of it. I don’t think there should be summer recruiting, period. They want to clean it up? Get rid of it.”
“I’ll tell you another problem — 70 percent of the kids we’re sitting here watching should be in summer school. They shouldn’t be here.”
“What don’t I like about summer? Everything. The babysitting, the ass-kissing. Does that cover it?”
Continue Reading…
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 11:54 AM. Add a comment
This is fun…
Monica Wright
Monica Wright playing Ryan Gomes is H-O-R-S-E.
http://www.sikids.com/Horse
Moni has to learn to talk the talk and walk the walk!
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago at 6:31 AM. Add a comment
Swish Appeal had a nice piece on Monica Wright’s first three games in the WNBA…. I can’t wait to take my family to see her play in Washington (Friday the 13th of August!) With her family there, it will be a special night. I won’t be able to wait that long to see her play live though. I’m going to need to make a road trip.
In reviewing game film of Minnesota Lynx rookie guard Monica Wright, Seattle Storm coach Brian Agler noted that she is a confident go-to player and liked “how physical she is for being that young.”
Monica Wright
Wright wasted no time in person showing Agler and the Storm just how good she could be when she came to Key Arena on Wednesday evening.
On an inbounds play during Minnesota’s first possession, Wright came around a screen on the right wing and received the ball from forward Hamchetou Maiga-Ba and in seemingly one fluid motion elevated over Tanisha Wright for quick jumper falling away for the first two points of the game.
That was just a sneak preview of what was to come.
In the first five minutes before a Storm timeout with 4:44 left in the first quarter, Wright had already scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting capped off by a strong layup off of two feet after driving by Wright on the left wing and pulling a crossover on a rotating Lauren Jackson in the middle of the key.
It wasn’t just that the Lynx were running plays to Wright, it’s that she so smoothly showed the ability to score in multiple ways and an undeterred tenacity even in the face of a stalwart defender like Lauren Jackson.
In catching up with her after the game, Wright was definitely disappointed with the Lynx’s 79-76 loss, but relieved by the breakthrough performance in which she finished with 19 points on 8-16 shooting in 34 minutes.
“It just felt like it was a weight lifted off my shoulders,” said Wright. “It was just something I needed to do for the team to be in the game and be able to win.”
The weight Wright was referring to was the 8-31 shooting in her first two games against the Tulsa Shock and Washington Mystics, which some might see as a harbinger of inefficient volume shooting to come. However, Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve shared a more nuanced analysis of her performance with Swish Appeal prior to Wednesday night’s road game against the Seattle Storm.
“You know, without Monica Wright to start the Tulsa game, we don’t get off to a double figure lead,” said Reeve when asked about Wright’s 6-18 and 7 turnover performance against the Shock. “So we didn’t really have a whole lot to say to her. We actually took her out at the end. And we’ve got some veterans that we need to count on. It should not be a situation where you count Monica Wright to get through this time. So I’m more interested in letting Moni just kind of adjust to our league and when she plays well obviously we’ll be really good, it’s just going to take some time.”
Between Agler’s observations of the Lynx offense, Reeve’s faith in her rookie, and Wright’s self-assessment of her game, it might almost seem inevitable that Wright ends up becoming a great scorer in this league. Perhaps needless to say, Wright was a bit better than the Storm expected.
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago at 2:24 PM. Add a comment
Interesting… The Sporting News (Digital Edition) released today all the Men’s Division I basketball attendance figures for the 2009 – 10 season. There is both the Top 100 individual schools as well as the conference by conference breakdown.
The page is linked below.
Division I Men’s 2009-10 Attendance
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 2:47 PM. Add a comment
