[Rick Reily] Someone Stop This Man (Yates' Greg Wise)

If the opposing coach is already up by 99 and tells his players to foul yours (or your teammates) just so he can stop the clock to get to 100, the 100 one hurts more. Actually, you congratulate the coach that wins by 1, and curse out the one that wins by 100.

 

I'm going to try to respond to everyone with one post.* Here is the reality of the situation.* Yates has a GREAT team.* They are way too good to be in their division, but they have no choice but to play these games.* As with most serious athletic teams, these kids have three goals in mind....win, get ready for the next level and earn a scholarship.* I'm going to place setting records under the win category.* Of their 16 players, 12 are seniors, 3 are juniors and 1 is a sophomore.* In other words, the 2nd and 3rd stringers are mainly comprised of seniors.
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Argument 1 - Blowing folks out or setting records is poor sportsmanship.* Now before I move on, I just want to stress that what you are asking these kids to do, we rarely ever ask anyone else to do.* I never recall us asking Katy not to blow teams out.* I never recall us asking Bellaire not to blow teams out.* When Phelps was in high school, I never recall us asking him not to dominate and grab every record that he could.* When Tiger was young, I never recall us asking him not to dominate, or set records.* We are celebrating the UCONN women killing everyone as we speak.* Why are you asking these kids to do that?* Have you ever wished others would have and just not made a big deal about it because the story wasn't as big (for whatever reason)?
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Argument 2 - Kids learn nothing by getting blown out.* They learn that sometimes your best isn't as good as the next man's.* You can either shake his hand and move on, or practice and get better.* Learn how to lose....didn't we just rip Manning and LeBron for this recently?* I would rather you play your best and beat me, then just sit around BS'ing with me so I can stay closer, when everyone knows what is going on.* There is no pride in that.* At that point what is the reason to even play the game, if one team realy "isn't playing"?
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Argument*3 - The coach can work on other things when up big.* Um, why??* They have been killing teams doing exactly what they do.* No one is stopping what they do.* They are so good at what they do because they believe in their system 100% and devote lots of time to it.* How is it really to their advantage to work on other things?* This argument would/will hold more weight if they lose.* Do we tell Rick to not have his bench run his motion offense when in the game?* Do we tell Jackson not to run the triangle with his bench?* Even on a HS level, when Katy puts their scrubs in, do we tell them not to still run the plays that they practice?* Sorry, but this is the silliest argument I have heard, since we are speaking on high school athletic competition, where the scheme that you run is very important (especially for Yates, since most of their best players are wings).* It is in the best interest of the team to practice what leads to their success.* FYI, the team did let up 3 years ago, when they were up near double digits with like a minute left, and it cost them a chance at state.* The coach promised that his team would never let up again, which leads to my next point.
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Argument*4 - There is no lesson to be learned by continuing to press.* The lesson is give your all every second you get, because in situations where you ease up it can cost you.* Yates knows this firsthand.* Do you know how hard it is to get kids disciplined enough to keep playing hard when a game is over?* We watch plenty of games where dudes get up, get lax and lose.* We always give props to guys going all out until the buzzer because that's the way the game should be played.* Yet we dog these kids for it?* Again, why are we asking them to do things we typically don't ask of others?* As I mentioned earlier, the majority of these kids are upperclassmen.* They are trying to earn scholarships for college.* You don't earn college scholarships for practicing hard....sorry but that's not reality.* It isn't fair to those kids to tell them not to play their hardest when scouts are at the game just because the other team is worse.* It isn't fair to those kids to tell them not to play their hardest when it may be their last year playing high school ball, and they may not be good enough to play in college (one Yates kid is going to UT and I doubt he plays there).* It isn't fair to the 4 remaining players with eligibility, who need to get ready to take the reigns when these 12 seniors graduate.* Sorry, but if your kid was competing for a scholarship you wouldn't want him to just hold the ball when he finally got in the game.* The same goes if your kid was good enough to make the team but not great, and this was his last season playing ball.* The same goes if your kid needed to get ready for next season.* If your kid were in either of those situations, would you want them to ease up because the other team has less talent?* Honestly????* Their bench players practice hard and have been sacrificing for years just like the rest of the team.* When they get a chance to get some burn, they have earned the right to give it their all and execute what they practcie.* Why the hell am I going to spend all summer doing sprints in the hot Texas sun when I will get in the game and just stall?* I never recall hearing a parent telling a kid to not finish at the top of their class, so C and D students won't feel bad....so please save the*"these are high school kids" arguments.* Kids get athletic scholarships just like they get academic ones.
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What really sickens me about this whole issue is that this team has arguably been the best team in the country for 3 straight years, and they rarely get any local press....unless it's something negative.* If a Katy or a Bellaire were the best team in the country for a 3 year period the local media would be all over those kids.* Yes, I said it....but we all know it's true.

 

Just read your post, icehouse. Sorry, but pressing when up like that is classless and your arguments don't justify it one bit.

 

Hmmm... pretty much goes to show you that it's not what you win, but how you win that matters.

 

Thanks for not addressing anything I typed. As Hilltopper pointed out, pressing all the time pays off in the playoffs or when you play top teams from other places (they weren't killing folks there). How do I build my players stamina to take on that burden if we never do it?

So if you were a senior bench player that just spent all summer killing yourself doing sprints in the Texas sun, and getting killed in practice so you can run a press, you and your parents would be fine just stalling when you finally got to play? What if you were trying to earn a scholarship? What if it was your last year playing ball?

 

Not only that, How many schools has he coached at in the past decade? Yates and Kingwood for sure, and did he coach at Cinco Ranch and Hightower as well?

If he was such a good coach and teacher, he would build these school from the ground up instead of being an attention w**** jumping from team to team trying to set records and get his name out there.

He only cares about himself and his records and his prestige, if he actually cared about his kids, he would stay in one spot.

 

Yes, that explains why Yates got very little love after winning last season or before they starting killing local schools and had won two out of state tournaments. And the last time I checked, other teams that kill folks get plenty of attention, and not the negative kind.

 

does icehouse play for yates or something? jeez. sorry dude, you're in the minority. no ones going to change your mind, and you wont change theirs. just let it be

 

IF I'm a third string player, I'm not getting a scholarship. Also, whether or not I run a press isn't going to affect that anyway.

Sorry, man.

Classless techniques by an otherwise awesome team

 

Where's former Temple Coach John Chaney when you need him? He'd send in a goon to foul the crap out of all of those Yates players.

 

you're right, uconn women fouled players to set scoring records and pressed while quadrupling their scores.

you're also right about katy running up the score, well maybe not, but it makes for a nice argument.

you don't remember any fusses like this? maybe you should take off your maroon colored glasses

you're right IceHouse, its all about race, tj ford's willoridge team never got any press.

 

I haven't seen any of the Yates apologists come up with a reasonable explanation why calling time out to try to reach 100 with a 30 pt lead builds character...or is more fair to the reserves....or impresses college scouts...or is anything other than ego-tripping the light fantastic.

In the Lee scenario...presumably all 12 of your players will have had a chance to score 15...play hard...run the press...show off to college scouts...become better citizens and people by playing the game "the right way"...if you are up by more than 100 with 6 minutes left...walk the darn ball up the court.

I know it's hard if you are a fan of the guy, or a fan of the program.

I was a Cougar fan when Jugular John Jenkins used to delight in horse whipping the Eastern Washington's and post death penalty SMU's of the world. I tried to form reasons why it was a good thing..and they sounded a lot like you guys arguments... but deep down I knew it was kind of a crappy thing to do.

 

2nd and 3rd stringers can earn scholarships to smaller schools. They still want to play when they get a chance, regardless. And it makes no sense to bust your balls all summer and in practice to get in a game and stall.

 

I already stated fouling a player to get a record is a bogus move. Having your backups in running your scheme and playing hard is not. Trying to get records is not, unless you do something foul like fouling a team as previously mentioned.

The Ridge is not an inner city school, is it? That was my point on that. No, I never recall any press about Katy or Bellaire or Northshore mopping folks and going for records as a bad thing. We typically celebrate their achievements.

 

The problem with your argument, Icehouse, is that every other dominant team in the history of basketball has managed somehow to be much better than opponents and not act like classless douchebags.

 

Everybody hates Goliath.

 

No.

Everybody hates poor sportsmanship.

 

Except the threads in here wanting Yao to grow a sack and stop being a p*ssy. And how TMac didn't have that "killer" in him. Or the ones stating that the Texans are too "business-like" and dont have enough edge.

 

People want Yao, McGrady, and the Texans to stop being good sportsmen?

I must have missed that thread.

 

When North shore got up big, they usually played with a running clock to shorten the game and get it over with.