Dec 22, 2008                        Check Out previous Blogs

The Holidays are one of the "markers" along the way of the season. I've thought for some time now that the really elite teams have more intense competition, better practices and continue to improve over the "break". The mediocre teams, or maybe teams who are emotionally satisfied at this point, are less intense in their improvement. Thus, I believe the "gap" between the levels of teams widens during the Holidays. Many, many approaches have been tried by coaches to keep their team focused. Some play ball almost every day, some take long stretches of basketball-free days, some have no games, some install new offensive or defensive schemes, some sprinkle in days "off" throughout the break. Many schools are enjoying a full two week holiday--watch how your team plays and reacts during the first 10 days of January.

Ozark knocked off Kickapoo for the 2nd team this season 66-50 last week. Both of these powerhouse programs are often found in Columbia during Final Four week. Ozark outscored the Chiefs 20-7 early in the 4th quarter to "ice this one up". Now...the question....if one is looking way down the road into the early weeks of March....which team gained more from this second Ozark victory ?  Your thoughts.....bryan@prepcasts.com

How important is it to have a terrific ballhandler who can knock down clutch free throws in the waning seconds of a wild ballgame?  GrainValley (3-3)has that type of player in Derreon Parker (only a Soph!) who downed his last 6 consecutive free throws(and was 9 for 9 from the line in the game) to lead the Eagles to a 47-43 win over Higginsville.

Another factor that impacts teams improvement is the weather. Many schools

(usually rural) have played only a handful of games while others have been in action 8-9-or 10 times already. St Vincent won the 2nd game of the year--not impressed ? Well, their record is 2-0 after beating Oak Ridge 50-39.  Oak Grove has also only played 2 games. The Panthers had an 11 point halftime lead as 6-7 Ethan Sticken was having his way against Smithville. The Warriors went on a rampage as they lit up the scoreboard 21-5  in the 3rd quarter. Smithville held on for the 60-54 win. Generally deeper in the season, teams become more adept at learning how to stop these long scoring "runs" by their opponents.

At Rock Bridge(5-2)- the defending Class 5 Champions, Catherine Harry is in the process of rewriting the girls scoring record book. Recently the 6-3 DePaul signee entered into the 4 digit scoring column with her 1000th point against Kickapoo. The School record is a mere 1043 points. Harry already holds the record for most rebounds.

Why is it that sometimes teams just can't score until it's too late ? Some might say because the pressure is off, some suggest the team ahead takes its foot off the accelerator, others just think one or two players seem to ignite a team. Whatever the case, Ft Osage was far behind N.KC  45-32 at the 3rd quarte buzzer. In the 4th the Indians put 33 points on the board(one more than they had scored in the first 3 quarters COMBINED). It wasn't quite enough as NKC eeked out a 71-65 win in Suburban Middle Six action in KC area.

Now for some of  those shining objects behind the Holiday decorations. Some of us may not even know that they are shining??  How about these unbeaten girls teams-Kirkwood Pioneers (7-0). Coach Ron Sanford has better balanced team this year. Lindbergh Flyers (6-0) - Coach Thoele is preparing his team for the tougher part of his schedule. Two teams at 5-1 are Parkway North and Hazelwood Central. Haz Central will be in the challenging Viz tournament and we'll know more about them in 10 days.

As usual, the MWAA White division is loaded-- St Joseph Academy(7-1) (just returned from Arizona where they competed against the #1 team of the USA--lost by 12), Incarnate Word Academy (7-1)(who have more road wins than the St Louis Blues), Cor Jesu (5-1), Visitation Acadmey (5-2), Nerinx Hall is again a top notch team. What a conference ?

Some boys teams who have sparkling records, without many headlines, during December-- Trinity (under Coach Kelly Thames) is 7-2;  Ft Zumwalt West is 6-2; Parkway West (5-1) has an impressive win over Parkway South; the Four Rivers Conference still has a three-headed king--Sullivan(5-1), Owensville(2-0) and Pacific(6-2) all have good records.

Watch how these teams perform over the Holidays.

Don't ever think that the human element isn't a part of coaching. Sam Sides was the successful Girls Coach at Jackson. This year he moved to Saxony Lutheran Boys (4-1). With his upset win early this week over Jackson, Sides said "It meant a lot to me go in there and compete the way we did.." You bet it did.

3rd time was a charm....the Kelly Hawks(4-0) had dropped two straight Chaffee Tournament Championship games to Delta. This year the string was snapped. Kelly, using Debra Hall's 24 points, beat Delta 55-50 to snatch the crown.

Prepcasts has 5 Basketball Tournament Championships on tap plus a Wrestling Championship Round between Christmas & New Years....check our Home page for the exact details. The Holidays are time for R & R....Prepcasts will do the same at the blog table. See ya in 09 ....

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