2010-2011 Renegade Girls BasketballFinal PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(04-06-2011) |
MICHIGAN
CITY, IN (04-01-2011) To no one's real surprise, no northwest Indiana teams
advanced beyond the regional level this season and none really deserved to.
Watching the state finals displayed clearly that the kind of talent needed to
win state titles doesn't exist in Northwest Indiana right now. That sounds harsh
but you have to understand I'm not looking at the game the way you might be.
Coaches, parents and players know and care how hard they tried to improve and
win. You are their babies. I'm not writing to give you credit for how hard you
worked. If you don't work hard, you should have been cut from the team a long
time ago. I know you all want to win. Everybody does. But you either get better
or you don't.
The main problem in this area is a glaring lack of skills. Most girls teams in
NW Indiana resemble Butler University fumbling and stumbling around on the court
(maybe our girls are not THAT bad), trying to get lucky. Our teams try very
hard, but they lack talent and skill.
The number one skill failure in Northwest Indiana is and has been the lack of
ball handling. When you look at the boys' game (which has its own problems) you
see at least a dozen gifted lead guards in the seven county area (Lake, Porter,
LaPorte, Newton, Jasper, Starke and Marshall) I call NW Indiana. Players who can
beat any one defender. Players who can split a double team on the dribble.
Players who can penetrate the defense.
In the girls game I saw one. Just one.
Raveen Murray of Merrillville.
Until that type of players surfaces in this region, we will continue to be mediocre at best, hoping to get a break. All the coaching genius on Planet Earth will not win until you develop or acquire the girl who can make plays work by getting the ball from 'Point A' to 'Point B' under defensive pressure. If players want to know what to work on over the summer, I can tell you. Work on dribbling the ball. When your friends go on vacation, work on dribbling the ball. If your coach tells you to get in the weight room, do it AFTER you work on your dribbling the ball. If you mother says she loves you, what she means is: Work on dribbling the ball.
Dribbling is the 'universal solvent'. It breaks down whatever the other team is trying to do. And you can't become a good ball handler during the season. Your high school coach cannot teach you how to dribble under pressure. He or she does not have the time.
I've asked great lead guards, "Can you teach someone to handle the ball like you do?" And they say, "No. I can show them. But its up to them."
You
need instruction and then you need all summer to become obsessed with it.
Fortunately, dribbling is the only basketball skill you can practice anywhere.
You don't need teammates. You don't even need a court.
Along those lines, I thought the end of the season produced a revelation that
folks who watch basketball and many who coach it do not understand (or won't
admit) what I just said here. Both local NW Indiana post-season all-star teams
chose girls on sectional champions as their end-of-season MVPs.
But,
while watching most all teams in the four main leagues, Merrillville's Murray
was easily the best ball handler and, by far, the best player. I understand that
post-season awards are just 'hearts and flowers,' mental candy passed out to
make everybody feel good. But the fact that Murray was not the local MVP in a
runaway is not so much a compliment to her as it is graphic evidence of a total
misconception locally of what does and does not make a team work on the floor.
Character only wins with talent. Effort does not defeat talent and skill.
Watching the NCAA tournament, Notre Dame's Skyler Diggins (who didn't grow up
that far from here) is the type of player that NW Indiana teams will need in the
decades to come. Programs have to produce lead guards for the game to progress.
Looking ahead, I see some improvement. I thought the pace of the game in the
Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) picked up and that's the only way to compete
state-wide. The improvement of Bowman Academy suggests that they will be a
basketball power. Many teams like Lowell, Merrillville, Boone Grove, Michigan
City and Hanover return almost all their players for the 2012 playoffs.
The year 2012 will see changes in the playoff structure - the most noteworthy
sending Bowman and Whiting from 1A to 2A and Hanover from 2A to 3A. The
mind-numbing DAC 14-game double round-robin continues to sap interest in the
game, but there are rumors of nonconference schedule changes that may catch the
interest of many.
The season ended so early. Let's look at the Top-5 returning teams for the
upcoming season.
1. (4A) Michigan City (19-4)
2010 (15-8), 2009 (21-4), 2008 (20-6), 2007 (22-2), 2006 (14-11)
MICHIGAN CITY: This is a big and fast team that could eventually get to the semistate. Eventually might not be 2012, because MC has 5-foot-5 guards Jameka Collins (11.2 ppg.) and Toni Murphy (14.2 ppg.) returning for two more seasons. Aubria Clifton (9.4 ppg.) and Keshyana Cooper (9.5 ppg.) also have two years left. MC plays the best schedule. The South Bend Holiday tournament gives them 22 total games, while other schools play just 20. They'll only have two seniors, but if they get good leadership from them, the talent and skill seems to be here for a DAC title run.
2. (4A) Merrillville (14-8 )
2010 (25-2), 2009 (10-11), 2008 (17-5)
2007 (16-6)
MERRILLVILLE: The Pirates eliminated Northwest Crossroads Conference champion Hobart 49-48, but lost a sectional semifinal game to Chesterton 62-61. Merrillville can return all but one players for the 2012 playoffs and hopefully they'll play on a more even keel. The Pirates had embarrassing stretches where they just folded for 10-20 minutes and that suggests some disconnected team members. That has to change. But Merrillville returns Raveen Murray (19 points, 3.8 assists and 4.2 steals per game), a junior all-star and NW Indiana's top player. Merrillville has a lot of speedy girls including 5-foot-5 guard AJ Downs, who has three more years. Downs has lead guard skills. The Pirates return 12 varsity players, but unless they grow, they are all shrimps (no one's taller than 5-foot-8) and that's going to be a significant problem against Michigan City and Crown Point.
3. (4A) Crown Point (14-8)
2010 (10-11), 2009 (12-9) 2008 (6-15),
2007 (10-11)
CROWN POINT: Crown Point was 11-1 and lost seven of their last 10. CP was 7-3 in 2010 and finished 10-11. The Bulldogs were 9-0 in 2009 and finished 12-9. They were 10-5 in 2006 and finished 11-11. Three different coaches. All different players. The DAC double round-robin hurts them more than any other school because they are a touch slower than Michigan City and Merrillville and the more you play, the more fast teams gain confidence against you. CP needs to learn to play fast and that's hard to do. It's a work in progress. They need to find tougher teams than Michigan City and Merrillville so when they get into league and sectional play, local teams don't seem that fast or that big. Next year is promising with the return of leading scorer Courtney Kvachkoff (16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals), plus smooth-shooting and 6-foot-1 forward Michaela Prough (9.3 points), 6-foot post player Alexis Joseph's and 6-foot wing shooter Hayley Bordui. But Michigan City and Merrillville have true lead guards. Unless soccer star Sarah Rivich develops (and she is a career soccer player), Crown Point simply does not.
4. (3A) Andrean (14-9)
2010 (14-6), 2009 (12-9) 2008 (8-12),
2007 (18-5)
MERRILLVILLE: The 59ers lost for the second time to Griffith, an aggravating 38-31 loss in overtime to end their season. This team didn't win close games. They were 5-6 in games decided by less than two points and 0-2 in overtime. I thought they were close, but Griffith blocked their path. The 59ers could not beat them. Don't get caught up in what this team graduates. Look down the roster. The 59ers have good size in 6-foot-1 Ana and 6-foot-4 Marija Nicksic. The big sophomore class (Class of 2014) includes Nicksic and 5-foot-9 Brenna Boyle and they'll join upperclassmen Abby Quint, Shelby Stickler and Jessica Gray. But the Niners also lack that true lead ball handler and unless one comes in as a freshman, the immediate future is good, but limited.
5. 2A Boone Grove (20-2)
2010 (22-2), 2009 (16-7) 2008 (16-7),
2007 (18-5)
PORTER TOWNSHIP: The Wolves are Crown Point-lite. They don't play enough tough teams outside the PCC. The Wolves lost 43-36 to Culver in the 2A Sectional semifinals. Boone is 92-23 in the last five seasons, but the record shows: They have won only three sectionals in history. Guards Brittany Shaffer (12.4 ppg.) and Emily Bobrowski (11.7 ppg.) return next season and the Wolves, who graduate only one player, will again be Porter County Conference favorites. Inside, 5-foot-10 Claudia Cooper has two more years and project Nicole Malouhos has three more, but Boone does not play the schedule to compete with the Heritage Christians and the Bishop Luers of the world. Boone should play new 2A Bowman Academy and Bowman has open spots on the schedule.
6. (4A) Lowell (13-8)
2010 (6-15), 2009 (1-19) 2008 (4-17),
2007 (5-16)
LOWELL: Okay, I'll add one more team. I don't quite have them in the top 5, because they have a couple of flaws. But here's a team that returns 10 varsity players and all five starters, including 5-foot-9 Katie Bobos (15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds per game) along with 6-foot Mackenzie Kreutz, who grabbed seven rebounds a game. Lowell has good wing shooters in sophomores Carley Austgen and Savannah Summers and a true lead guard in sophomore Kalyne Godbolt.
One flaw that they really can't correct is the size of their lead guards, 5-foot-3 Godbolt and 4-foot-11 Sarah Wieser. When you're giving up 6-to-10 inches at guard, you have to handle and pass the ball extremely well and they do not as of yet. What I see here is that every other team in Lowell's sectional (Class 4A, Sectional 1) loses at least two starters and the Devils do not. And of all the teams mentioned here, Lowell is the only one where the majority of the team has played together for several years. When you get beyond the regional round of the state playoffs, that's what you find.