Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Hey, Team.

Unfortunately, last night's game didn't go any better than our first one. The Dunkin' Docs had the one attribute that just can't be taught -- height... and lots of it! They were able to look over our zone and easily shoot over all of our defenders. Plus, they ran like thoroughbreds and jumped like crickets. They, in fact, were docs that actually dunked. Thankfully, nobody on our team was posterized.

It was a tough night for us, particularly since we were missing three of our big men. We did get some really tough board work from Jonathan and our two new additions, Greg and Kolleen. Jonathan played most of the night out of position at center, but did an excellent job clearing space and getting two hands on the ball regularly. He was also very active inside getting open for a few eight-foot jumpers. Greg also complained (and complained and complained!) about playing out of position on the wing of our 2-3 zone, but he managed to keep some offensive players on his back to grab a few boards and also knocked down a shot from the elbow. Kolleen showed a good feel for playing in our zone and a knack for getting her hands on a few rebounds. She admitted to being a little rusty, but she worked off enough of the rust to make some good passes in the offense and was also able to get to the charity stripe. On the outside, we got some excellent hustle: John displayed a willingness to put his body in harm's way to save a loose ball from going out of bounds; Lauren made sure to keep the defense honest by hitting a timely three; Rachel showed a Scottie Pippen-like ability to get her hands on a lot of balls in the passing lanes and on the floor (had she been wearing shorts, she surely would have won the coveted "Floor Burn" award); and Eleni demonstrated excellent court awareness filling in empty areas of the zone and was a solid secondary ball handler.

Our guards played much better this time around. We looked more smooth playing the top of the zone and did a much better job taking care of the ball. Eleni did a great job running the offense and getting into the heart of the defense for a couple of pull-up jump shots. She even tried setting a few screens to get other teammates open when the ball wasn't in her hands. John looked much more comfortable playing the zone and handling the ball on the wing. It looks like he may have found a home playing down on the wing in our zone. From that position, he was able to grab a couple of boards and get us a couple of possessions. Rachel, once again, showed some scrappiness and heart driving to the bucket and getting her hands on any and every ball on the floor. The best part of the night occurred when the ref ran by me as I was standing on the sideline and objectively said of Rachel, "She might be y'all's MVP." We've definitely got people pulling for us, since we will probably be the underdog in every game that we play.

We should have a full squad next week. In fact, Tom should be joining us for the first time. If he's half as good as his banter in orgo lab, we'll be in good shape. According to John's scouting report, we're going to be in for a tough game against Free Artest (law students). Just so you're not intimidated when you see them, they won't be wearing pinnies; they have their own uniforms! We'll try not to laugh at them too much during warm-ups.

We might try some new tactics for our next game. Depending on how big/good they look, we could try a man-to-man defense, or we might try having five gentlemen on the floor at the same time. We're definitely improving as a team, but we should definitely strive to become more competitive.

I'll send out another reminder about the game later this week.

Rick

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