The banner uncoiled from the rafters of John Paul Jones Arena, forever retiring Virginia senior Monica Wright’s No. 22 jersey. Most of the 6,264 fans that attended the Cavaliers’ 55-46 win over rival Virginia Tech on Sunday stayed long after the buzzer sounded, celebrating the Woodbridge native who has cemented her spot as one of the finest players in Virginia women’s basketball history.

Monica Wright

Wright played her final home game on Sunday and was the lone senior honored on a day when the Cavaliers (21-8, 9-5 ACC) clinched the No. 3 seed in this week’s conference tournament.

The post-game ceremony included a video presentation with words of praise and appreciation from her teammates.  Wright spoke, thanking God, each member of the coaching staff, her teammates, her parents and Virginia’s fans.

“I tried not to look at the coaches, because they were all tearing up,” Wright said. “I didn’t want to cry.

“I was just in my head going through all the people I wanted to thank. Just trying to make sure my speech was intact.”

The afternoon was more fulfilling because of the victory. Wright broke Virginia’s scoring record in a Jan. 11 loss to Maryland, creating a bittersweet evening. Sunday’s ceremony would not have been as heartwarming for everyone involved had the Cavaliers lost to the Hokies (15-14, 4-10).

Wright started the game sluggish as a result of end-of-season exhaustion and received intravenous therapy at halftime to bolster her for the second half. She finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds, while the rest of her teammates shot only 25.8 percent from the field and together barely outscored the Cavaliers’ star.

“Let’s have a big party and welcome her to the WNBA and level out that playing field,” Virginia Tech Coach Beth Dunkenberger said.

Before Wright departs, there remains a burden to overcome. Virginia has not reached the regionals of the NCAA tournament since 2000 after becoming a regular during the 1990s.

As Ryan said before the season started, it helps that Virginia has Wright. She has received all-ACC honors three times during her career, and will soon add a fourth. It continues a career that started at Forest Park High, where she led the Bruins in scoring in each of her four seasons, was a three-time All-Met and was the 2006 All-Met Player of the Year.

Ryan emphasized that Wright’s legacy will be entrenched as much for her off-the-court persona, where she has remained a model citizen during her time at Virginia. Teammates spoke about Wright’s example in the classroom and her willingness to stop and talk with kids and fulfill autograph requests.

Young girls filled John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday with shirts featuring Wright’s No. 22. Those shirts will likely give way to a new crop of Virginia stars in coming seasons, but Wright is “honored” to know that her jersey was retired.

Virginia returns everyone next year, except Wright, the current crop of Freshman were the #3 ranked recruiting class in the country by Blue Star.

Unfortunately, it’s that time of year.

There’s huge excitement with conference and NCAA tournament action, but it also marks the “other” end of the coaching spectrum.  Firings.  Non-Renewals.  If you have been in the coaching profession long enough – you’ve been there.  The shelf life of an NCAA Division I college basketball coach is under 6 years at the same school.  The days of 25+ year careers at the same place are over.  Even 10 years at the same place is rare.

The “Job Boards” are already flowing and everyone hears the “rumors.”  Who’s going – Who’s in – Who might want in – Who’s staying “one step ahead of the posse’.”

This is the part of the profession that is the most difficult.  The one that writers forget exists for coaches and their families.  Coaches are chastised for their exorbitant contracts, country club memberships, courtesy cars, annuities and the like at the highest levels.  Truth is, that very same coach who got the new job,  signed the new contract for the next great opportunity… needed to relocate their family and then could be out of a job in 3 years.  That’s the highest levels.  What about the mid-levels?  The assistant staff?  The contracts and fringes aren’t as large and plentiful, but the risks and results are just the same.

For some coaches in that position, it is their own un-doing.  Bad recruiting.  Bad results.  Other problems.  OK.  But, for many, many others, they worked their tail off, did it the right way, followed rules, graduated players, provided a disciplined and safe environment and simply did not win enough.  How many bank managers, school teachers, CEO’s, you name the profession – can say that.  There is a trade off.

Yesterday, I left my home around 10:00 AM, drove to Ohio for a game.  490 miles each way, 7 hours 35 minutes without stops according to Google Maps… there were 4 stops in all – 9 hours total.  Each way.  Two stops for speeding tickets – $400.00.  Just an added bonus.  I arrived for game at 6 pm, watched the game, talked to coaches – jumped back in the car – hit the Wendy’s drive-thru and drove through a snow storm in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia back home…. parked the car in my garage at 5:30 AM.  19 1/2 hours.  Why?… there was practice at 11:00 AM this morning, had to be back.

All coaches and their families well know… that is the norm, it’s what we do.  The people who aren’t willing to work hard – won’t win.  Every coach out there has a similar story, with a different town, different game – but same story.  Coaches don’t worry about this, they don’t flaunt it, they just do it.  How many bank managers, school teachers, CEO’s have to do that.  There is a trade off.

I’m not saying that other professions don’t work hard.  They do.  Those people who are successful at anything, work hard.  Just… There is a trade off.

Before you chastise the coaches contract, the jumping ship from one school to the next, the perks or anything else… understand the professional hazards and the trade off  - life style – of a college basketball coach.

You won’t find speculation on jobs on this site.  This profession is too difficult to act like an ambulance chaser with my colleagues.  There are plenty of sites out there that will track the comings and goings of coaches.  Those sites are readily available almost as much as tracking the games all the way up to the Final Four.

25 – 30 New staffs will be hired around the country in both Men’s and Women’s Division I Basketball in the next 60 or so days.  That has been the average the last few years.  2009 was a “Down” hiring year in college basketball on both the Men’s and Women’s side – the total number of new coaches in the Women’s game was under 20.  In the Men’s game – 28.  Already for 2010 there are 5 Men’s and 1 Women’s position open at the Division I level.  Everyone sited the turn in the economy in ‘09 for fewer coaches losing jobs and less professional movement.  The economy hasn’t really improved.  Also, the fact that less and less schools are likely to “pay someone to go away” and also pay the new coach, rather than just wait out the end of the current coaches contract.  This is especially true on the Women’s side.

As a side note:

No one really knows what goes on at any given school, behind the scenes, except those staff’s… BUT, unless something illegal, immoral or both occurs within a program – firing any college basketball coach DURING the season makes NO sense in the college game.

University’s scream about the “Mission” of their basketball program is about “graduating student-athletes,” “doing things the right way,” ” following conference and NCAA rules,” “helping young men or women grow and develop on and off the court,” “the total student-athlete experience.”

I agree, absolutely.

Then, schools turn around and fire the coach IN SEASON?   How does the message that the firing sends mimic that of the Mission, or reinforce the Mission, or makes the Mission better at that point in time?

An in-season firing says, WIN.  Period.

In the end, you can do everything the right way, you can ensure a fantastic student-athlete experience, you can graduate players, you can follow all the rules… if you don’t WIN, you are gone.  Always.  I’ve never read a release or listened to an interview of an athletic director or university president and heard, “our basketball program continues to lose at a high rate but our student-athletes are graduating, they are healthy and the program is in good order and the coaches follow all the rules.  So we’re extending the contract of Coach X three more years.”  Doesn’t happen.  Ever.

With an in-season firing, an administration doesn’t gain a “head start” on hiring a new coach.  Not any more so than they would by quietly researching potential candidates behind the scenes.  We know that happens, it’s happening right now – search firms are the norm in the hiring of coaches  in both the Men’s and the Women’s game.

A university does not save money with an in-season firing, salaries are still paid, teams still travel and play.  It usually doesn’t help with the chemistry or continuity of the team or staff to make a significant difference in wins.  So, if there isn’t a illegal or immoral reason, why do it?

I wish I knew the answer.

Here’s Charlie’s latest projection through games as of Feb. 21.  Scroll over a team name for more analysis. Records reflect Division I competition only.

Automatic bids are in CAPS.

This is the absolute best time of the year for talking basketball with everyone.

Bids by Conference is going to make some people edgy…

• Big 12 (8)
• ACC (7)
• Big East (7)
• SEC (6)
• Big Ten (3)
• Atlantic 10 (3)
• Pac-10 (3)
• America East (2)
• Sun Belt (2)
• Colonial (2)

I love the ACC, was part of it for 4 years.  It is arguably one of the Top 2 Conferences in the country year after year… but, 7 bids is high!  I say 5.  UNC and Maryland are all questions and NC State is on the cusp.  Each of those teams are currently 5-7 or 6-6 in the ACC.  If you allow all of them in, how then do you say no to Wake Forest and maybe Boston College?  Both are either 5-7 or 6-6 and Wake Forest is a head of UNC and Maryland in the ACC standings.  don’t go to the RPI and Strength of Schedule… it’s all comparable.

Why not give the Atlantic 10, Colonial or Mountain West a 4th, 3rd or 2nd team in, respectively.   Maybe give one or two of the MAAC, MAC, America East or Missouri Valley and 2nd team in.

Everyone screams for more parity in Women’s Basketball.  You can’t have parity if the Top 5 Conferences hold 31 of the 64 spots in the NCAA tournament every year.  Those coaches will never be able to consistently convince (recruit) top prospects to play in conferences where only one team goes to the NCAA’s year in and year out.

We’ll see…

Major Grassroots Changes Coming (UPDATED)

by Adam Zagoria

Grassroots basketball will undergo some major changes again this summer.

Reebok will not hold its annual Reebok All-American Camp in Philadelphia in July because of a “change in marketing strategy at the grassroots level,” said a source with direct knowledge.

“It just means that college coaches will have to work a little harder to see high-level talent play against high-level talent under one roof, “  the source said.

Chris Rivers ran the Reebok All-American Camp for two summers as an extension of Sonny Vaccaro’s old Reebok ABCD Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. That camp featured legendary grassroots players like LeBron James, O.J. Mayo, Sebastian Telfair and Lance Stephenson.

When Vaccaro retired from he sneaker business in 2007, Rivers, pictured above with Mayo, moved the camp to Philadelphia University in 2007 and ‘08. Pat Coombs ran the event in 2009.

Last year’s Reebok camp included uncommitted junior LaQuinton Ross, Joe Jackson (Memphis) and Patric Young (Florida).

Rivers left his position as Director of Basketball at Reebok and now works for adidas, for whom he worked before 2003.

Adidas will still hold its annual adidas Nations event in August for the classes of 2011 and 2012. The site has yet to be determined.

The other major change on the grassroots horizon involves the LeBron James Nike Skill Academy.

A new set of NCAA rules could be passed in April which would prohibit any grassroots event from behind held on Division I campuses that did not have a contract in place before Oct. 29, 2009.

The NCAA recently voted on this matter and decided to table it until April, when it will be voted on again.

If the rule is passed, numerous events, including the LeBron camp at the University of Akron, would not be permitted on Division I campuses.

Numerous other such events — the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, previously held at Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State; the It Takes 5ive event held at Cincinnati; and the Pittsburgh Jam Fest held at Pitt — also wouldn’t  be permitted at those locations.

No word from Nike just yet on where the LeBron camp might take place.

There was a sense of relief in the way Georgia post Angel Robinson exhaled, following her team’s 49-46 overtime victory over No. 19 LSU on Thursday, snapping a three-game losing streak.

With the offense scoring a season-low 42 points in regulation, it could easily have gone the other way. It’s only the second time in coach Andy Landers‘ 987 games at Georgia that his team has won a game in which it scored fewer than 50 points.

As has happened so often this season for the Lady Bulldogs, defense carried the day.

After allowing 60 or more points in seven of the previous eight games, No. 14 Georgia (19-4, 6-4 SEC) emphatically reversed that trend. And after five of the previous six opponents shot better than 41 percent, the Tigers shot 27.3 percent — the third-lowest field-goal percentage for a Lady Bulldogs opponent this season.

Robinson said the defensive performance is a sign that the team is headed in the right direction.

“It’s taking one step; we’re not completely back where we want it,” Robinson said. “I’m glad we took one step. On Sunday [against South Carolina], we need to take another step.”

Ardossi honored

On Monday, Georgia Tech forward Brigitte Ardossi was named the ACC Player of the Week for her performance the previous week, when she averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds in home wins over Miami and Virginia Tech. She’s the first Yellow Jacket to earn this distinction since Chioma Nnamaka in February 2008.

Ardossi entered the season as a relatively unheralded player in the conference but has been Georgia Tech’s most consistent post presence and is playing her way into consideration for All-ACC honors.

In ACC play for the Yellow Jackets (18-5, 4-3 ACC), Ardossi entered Friday second in the league in scoring (18.9 points) and tied for first in rebounds per game (8.9). She also was eighth in free-throw percentage, leading the team at 83.6 percent.

Panthers’ struggles

Georgia State took two more losses this week, along with more blizzard conditions on a road trip through Virginia, making for another challenging trip back to Atlanta.

A 53-39 loss at Virginia Commonwealth and a 61-53 loss to Northeastern at home leaves the Panthers at 12-9 and 3-7 in Colonial Athletic Association play this season. That’s four losses in five games and seven out of nine since a win over UNC Wilmington on Jan. 3 moved the Panthers’ record to 10-2.

The bright point in the loss to Northeastern was Danyiell McKeller, who had career-highs in points (27) and steals (6). The senior is fourth in the CAA in scoring with a 19.3-point average and fourth in steals with 2.5 per game.

Graham Hays does an exceptional job of capturing “who” Jim is and what his relationship is with his players.  As you read this one thing jumps off the page… the article is being written about him and all he talks about is his players, the university and how fortunate he is to be part of their existence.  Humility.  This isn’t just because Jim had a brush with death, it is who he has been since I met him in 1983.

There is no question that if Jim had stayed at Marquette they would be the “UConn” of the Big East as well.  Jim has the plan and the process and Dayton is his vehicle.  Enjoy this.

Jabir making most of second chance

Five seasons after dealing with cardiac issues, coach has Dayton on brink of NCAAs

By Graham Hays ESPN.com

HANOVER, N.H. — Kendel Ross embodies just about everything Jim Jabir believed Dayton women’s basketball could be when the school gave the veteran coach a second chance seven years ago. But for any of those plans to come to fruition, Jabir first needed to receive a second chance at something far more substantial than a profession.

Tim G. Zechar/Icon SMI Jim Jabir hasn't taken a team to the NCAA tournament since 1995 (Marquette), but his Flyers are 17-5 overall and 5-2 in the A-10.

Dayton’s coach admits he’s harder on Ross, now a senior, than just about any player on a Flyers team that remains in control of its postseason fate despite a loss last weekend at Atlantic 10 leader Xavier. Coming out of Canada four seasons ago, Ross was, in Jabir’s words, “the first kid we shouldn’t have got that we got.” He expects excellence out of her, and her mistakes pain him more.

For lack of a more accessible comparison, she is Dayton’s Shane Battier. She does everything that shows up in the box score and half a dozen things that don’t. For better and occasionally worse when stubborn will meets stubborn will, she has a motor and a competitive streak that will not shut off. Tell her you need 15 rebounds in a game and the result is predictable.

“She’s gonna get you 15,” Jabir said. “It’s like clockwork; she’s going to do what you ask her to do. Or she’ll die trying. So it’s this great intensity, it’s this intangible — this will is tremendous. I mean, she’s got this will — and sometimes it works against her, but for the most part it’s been beneficial to us. And I tell her this all the time, too, I love her and I hate her. I mean, she’s so stubborn, you know what I mean? I literally love her and I hate her. There are days I want to kill her and days I can’t get enough of her.”

Mostly though — and this is the most important part — there are just days.

Live a little and die a little. That’s the life of a coach, for whom a job comes down to 30 or more annual public assessments stretching from late fall through spring. It’s an agonizingly brief opportunity to show what all the unseen hours practicing, recruiting and teaching were about. It’s also a painfully prolonged grind through which to experience emotions rising and falling with every executed offensive set and every turnover, let alone every win and every loss.

Wednesday’s game against Charlotte was No. 650 in Jabir’s career, ample opportunity for a lot of winning and a lot of losing. For a long time, there was more of the former than the latter in Jabir’s case. After a successful stint at Siena, he led Marquette to back-to-back 20-win seasons and a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. But when the Big East came calling, he took the job at Providence, a rebuilding project that might as well have been Pompei by basketball standards.

And he lost — a lot. The Friars won more than 11 games just twice in his six seasons. A career coaching record that had stood 37 games over .500 when he left Marquette was three games below the break-even mark when he and Providence parted ways after the 2001-02 season.

Enter Dayton, which eschewed up-and-coming for down-and-out when it hired him.

“I work really, really hard at this, and I love my job and I love Dayton,” Jabir said. “I love that they gave me a chance. I was kind of a down-and-out coach. I left Marquette when it was great and stupidly left like a top-15 recruiting class, top-12 recruiting class, went to Providence, worked my butt off for six years and couldn’t get it turned around. And then I’m kind of like, ‘OK, I’m a used car salesman.’

“I mean, I lost for six years at Providence, so I go to Colorado for a year [as an assistant coach] and then [former and current Dayton athletic directors] Ted Kissell and Tim Wabler gave me a chance. They recycled me; they gave me a chance, so I’ll be forever in debt to them for that. I knew what I was capable of; I just needed a place to prove it and they gave me an opportunity.”

The Flyers were in better shape than Providence was when Jabir took that job, but they weren’t an Atlantic 10 juggernaut by any stretch. They had just one winning season in the decade preceding his arrival. His first team went 3-25. And before Jabir could coach a game his second season, he found himself asking assistant Greg Williams for a ride to the hospital after suffering chest pains. He was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia (a genetic condition, not specifically related to job stress) and had to have a defibrillator implanted to shock his heart back to a normal rhythm when necessary. He also had to take a leave of absence from the bench and face the prospect of losing something far more meaningful than a game or a job.

“I really thought, without getting too dramatic, I thought I was going to die,” Jabir said. “It’s a really, very lonely experience to go through. I was in the hospital for about three or four weeks, and in that process, it really kind of felt like I was going to lose everything I really, really loved.”

First and foremost, that meant his family at home. But it also meant his basketball family.

“All I could think about was losing my family and then feeling like I wasn’t going to get to do this thing,” Jabir said of turning around Dayton. “Because I knew what we could be. And I felt remorseful that I wasn’t going to get a chance to finish what we started.”

He did get the chance, returning to the bench after a month away and helping lead the team to a nine-win improvement and a 12-16 record. But despite a 17-12 record in the 2005-06 season, Jabir said it wasn’t until the last three years that he felt his players embraced and took ownership of the culture he wanted. That coincided with the arrival of Ross for the 2006-07 season and a talented freshman class last season that quickly learned to follow her lead.

“I feel like he demands excellence,” Ross said. “Not just in how you do stuff but it’s all about hard work. I think that is kind of like the heart of our program.”

Ross is a talented writer who pens a blog on the team’s Web site, but this was not a case of well-placed irony. From the outside, there aren’t any signs of Jabir’s brush with mortality. He’s as animated as any other coach, particularly when he and Ross knock heads. But even a guy who once viewed himself as a pick-and-roll Willie Lohman and who owns a stubborn streak every bit as wide as his Canadian import’s had to take stock of his affairs.

“It’s weird — like I have a defibrillator and a pacemaker, so I’ve been shocked a couple of times,” Jabir said. “And I’m very, very, very fortunate because I’ve not been shocked as often as other people. I think about, like I’ll be driving too fast down a highway and I’m thinking, ‘I could get shocked like right now.’ So that’s always in my head. And because of that, I think, I try to really enjoy right now. And I have to practice, to tell you the truth.

“When I was in the hospital, I was making a lot of promises, praying a lot and saying, ‘Hey, you get me out of this and I’ll change.’ And then you get back to — not the grind, but you get back to working too much and pushing and trying to be what you want to be, and sometimes I forget those promises. You get caught up in what you’re doing. But I’m really grateful that I do what I do, and I think we have a chance to be special.”

Jabir hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1995, but with Ross and leading scorer and sophomore forward Justine Raterman leading the way for a team that plays as many as 12 people in its rotation during the normal run of play, that should change. Players talked about the intensity that translates into practice this season, just as their coach noted that for the first time, anything less than an NCAA tournament would feel like a disappointment. But that drive is all-consuming only within the gym walls.

“It’s harder for me to be the hard-ass during practice,” Jabir said. “Because I love my team — I love being around them. I love laughing. We have a good time, and I really enjoy every minute with them. I’ve got a lot of keepers. It’s harder for me to be the hard-ass … but I think they demand it and for us to be what we can be, I have to be. But I love the time I spend with the kids off the court. I think it’s probably more the reason I coach. I just love being around them. I love seeing them grow up. I love helping them when I can. They’re a lot of fun.”

You live a little and you die a little. And you’re thankful to have the chance.

The Cavalier Daily shares thoughts on Monica Wright.

Story from The Women’s Basketball News Server

Until I spoke to Joe Logan a couple of weeks back I never knew.  Everyone is swamped this time of year. We think we are busy and trying to get ready for the next game.  Alisha Mosley’s next game was fighting for her life.  Amazingly, she won! At first she wasn’t supposed to… but she won!  Alisha Mosley’s story is nothing short of amazing.  Read it.  Check in with Joe, Abby or Gizz.  Keep them in your prayers.

Loyola Women's Basketball

The simple fact that this team is still in the thick of things in the MAAC and right around .500 is amazing.  Forget about the fact that this staff is down a member… less “man-hours” for scouting reports, film work, player workouts, practice, player relations.  (Not to mention recruiting)   Think about the emotional drain on the players themselves, Joe and his staff.  Good news or bad, everyday there is a full range of emotions for players and coaches to work through.  This group of players and coaches is to be applauded for how they have persevered and worked their way through this, found a way to keep the ship floating.

Keep fighting Mos… can’t wait to see you back in the gym.

Lyon Video Production Truck for ESPN2

Maybe it’s just me, but I had never seen the inside of a TV production truck.  I’ve done some TV, a studio show “This Week in the NBDL” with Mike Crispino a few years ago, but that was a studio gig.  That is NOTHING like THE Truck, LIVE – on site production.  In the studio (at least the one I was in) there were a few people, it was quiet.  Everything seemed pretty low key, simple.

I was able to get an invite to “observe” an ESPN basketball game from THE Truck.  Did not know what to expect, what I was in for.  Amazing.

First off, let’s talk about set up… you’ve seen THE Truck, it’s not that large.  There are 16+ people inside THE Truck at all times.  People are coming in and out of it all the time, through out the entire production.

I arrived at 5:20 pm for a 7:30 pm game.  The action was already well into the flow.  The anonymous, diligent professionals going about preparing the countless graphics, statistics, intros, video clips, screen shots for the live game presentation.  I say anonymous because we as coaches as well as the fans never get to see these people or understand how hard they are working to make the game look so good.  This is the scouting report and walk-thru phase for us basketball coaches.  One of the amazing parts… much of the stuff that they seem to spend hours preparing before the live game… doesn’t even get used.  As the game unfolds, there is constant re-doing, adding to and adjusting what was done before.

ESPN2's Production Crew for Maryland @ Virginia

There is so much going on, constantly… everyone talking on headsets at the same time, clacking away on computers, countless monitors full of video or different camera views and recorded material.  All the while, no one seemed the least bit confused with all the action or ticked off that you everyone was talking over everyone else.  The build up… the final meeting and rehearsal.  Running like a well oiled machine.

As we’re getting close to game time, I soon realized that part is NOTHING compared to once the game starts.  I felt a shot of adrenaline as the countdown started to being on the air.  You could feel excitement rise in THE Truck.  Game Time!

Tip off.  Talk about precision chaos!  The prep time was nothing compared to this!… Jeff, the producer, barking out commands – Scott doing the same, all coordinated, all in sync.  Amazingly enough, there is very little stress coming from any of  their voices… just instructions: which camera, when to zoom in, go wide, fade to another, bring in a stat or replay.  Even a little bit of humor.  Amazing.

ESPN2's Producers

They work in the live four-minute chunks coordinated with the scorers table and always wanting to steal a few extra seconds to make the presentation of our game more enhanced for the viewers.  They are having fun.  There are no time-outs, no real breaks in the action for this crew.  The live game action is also cluttered with preparing for the next dead ball, media timeout or stoppage when they figure out what is needed to be placed into the presentation.  The announcers (Carolyn Peck, Bob Wischusen and Rebecca Lobo) become extensions of the people in THE Truck, but honestly – very few in here listen to what they are saying.  They realize this.  It is all part of the show.  I could hardly concentrate on what the announcers were saying about the game with all the action in side THE Truck.

All of this made me think of our role as coaches on the sidelines.  Seeing nearly two dozen games over the last two months, I’ve seen screaming, teaching, ranting, raving, the calm, the studious – all of it.  The calm, humorous, deliberate and directive manner in which this crew went about their business was re-affirming that is the best way to go.

After seeing all this action in THE Truck, I’ll stick to coaching… it’s WAY easier to manage than the presentation and production of a live basketball game!

A special thank you, again, to everyone involved and to those unseen who make live basketball games just amazing events to watch.

]]> http://www.allbasketballreview.com/the-truck/feed 2 http://www.allbasketballreview.com/play-of-the-day-late-clock http://www.allbasketballreview.com/play-of-the-day-late-clock#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:35:00 +0000 Jeff http://www.allbasketballreview.com/?p=2176

VS.

I was able to see a really good live game the other night with my former college coach, Jim Emery, the other evening at George Washington University.

Simple, yet effective short clock set.

The back-side duck-in was consistently there, but the throw back to 5 and reversal to 2 for open 3 was also available when 2 was caught in no man’s land.  2 was caught… trying to rotate down, inside of 4 to prevent duck-in or play in between to be able to recover to 2.

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