Where to Start? Recapping the End of July 16U Tournaments
I have got a month of tournaments to calculate from this past weekend before I can post my final team ratings. There were so many great tournaments around the country that I would have to work three days straight, 24 hours a day, to get the algorithm cranked up for all of these tournaments. I would be as tired as all these 16 year old kids after a month of playing four weekends in a row, five or six games in a weekend. You have to wonder, Earl Austin, Jr., is it a little too much? We certainly enjoy watching them compete and the coaches get plenty of opportunities to see them play, but are they really competing at 100% if they are playing on fumes the last couple of weeks? Especially, if you have already have a short squad, like Larry Hughes Basketball Academy, with 5 guys at Hardwood Classic this past weekend, playing 32 minutes a game, because two guys went down in the opening half of the first game? More about that later...
Prep Hoops Hard Work Region Finals had some great contests and I had SW Illinois Jets Orange, ABC Young Lions Black and Teal, Y&R, West Central United and Team Factory Gold as favorites. Team Factory Gold disposed of West Central United, the Illinois Jags in the quarters, Y&R in the semis and finished off a good Minnesota Heat Tauer team in the finals. Tauer had beaten the ABC Lions Black (who had upset SW IL Orange) in the semis. A great tournament all around. Congrats to Team Factory Gold out of Nebraska, a team that rates about 124.
The Las Vegas Classic had a ton a teams (106 to be exact), many of which I have not rated this year, with Select Red winning over Team Huncho/YRN in the Platinum bracket. Select Red beat the Oakland Soldiers EYBL (116 rating), one of the few top teams I recognize, so this tournament will take some time to sort out but I would probably have Select Red at about 124 rating at best. Lots of teams, not a lot of quality.
Local St. Louis Elite Bradley Beal won the JayHawk Invitational with a win over a good Marcus Denmon Elite team (rating 116) by a score of 59-43 after beating Lincoln Supreme National (rating 109) in the semi, 56-43 and KC YOBO 68-34 (rating 115). While it is great to win a tournament, overall, the competition in the field was just average, but still, a win is a win, so hats off to Bradley Beal who has had some really still competition all summer in their NIKE EYBL and Peach Invitational tournaments. They deserved some late season success.
The Hardwood Classic was there for LHBA to win. Going in Friday night with a seven man squad and short their top scorer, Thomas Redmond, and high flying defender, Anthony Pfifer, Larry Hughes built a huge 47-19 lead on Lincoln Supreme Black in the first half. With about five minutes left in the half, 6'9" center, Sam Thompson turned to the basket and stepped on power forward, 6'7" Logan Wich's foot, spraining his foot. Down to six, LHBA settled in to a slow down offense until fellow Francis Howell teammate, Preston Fortner, sprained a groin muscle, leaving LHBA with five healthy players for the rest of the tournament. Long story, short, a good K-Town team took advantage of LHBA's short squad to win down the stretch and win the pool. K-Town ends up losing to a very good NBDA Bison White I team that ends up beating an excellent Southwest Minnesota Stars team in the final. I would rate NBDA Bison White I about a 115. LHBA was 121 as a full squad and when you take their top scorer, their 6'9" center and their starting point guard off the table, the rating goes down to about 105.
Which brings me back to what Earl was saying.... these kids might be playing too many tournaments in July. Especially with a 7 or 8 man squad. If a team has 11 or 12 guys, then 3 or 4 tournaments might be okay, but the stress of five of six games over three or four weekends might be too much. When I ran marathons, the rule was that you needed a day to recover for every mile you raced so if you ran a marathon (26 miles), you needed 26 days to recover. If you play six games in a weekend, you might need six days to recover from those six games. You don't always get that. I don't fault Coach Bain for playing the Hardwood Classic. Sometimes bad luck and the injuries seem to follow you around like a dark cloud over a Sunday picnic. Maybe he should have pulled in the 13 year old LHBA sibling sitting in the stands. He's a good three point shooter and he could have given them a coupla minutes rest.
We need to think about how we treat our athletes. We love watching them perform but when is too much, too much?
Prep Hoops Hard Work Region Finals had some great contests and I had SW Illinois Jets Orange, ABC Young Lions Black and Teal, Y&R, West Central United and Team Factory Gold as favorites. Team Factory Gold disposed of West Central United, the Illinois Jags in the quarters, Y&R in the semis and finished off a good Minnesota Heat Tauer team in the finals. Tauer had beaten the ABC Lions Black (who had upset SW IL Orange) in the semis. A great tournament all around. Congrats to Team Factory Gold out of Nebraska, a team that rates about 124.
The Las Vegas Classic had a ton a teams (106 to be exact), many of which I have not rated this year, with Select Red winning over Team Huncho/YRN in the Platinum bracket. Select Red beat the Oakland Soldiers EYBL (116 rating), one of the few top teams I recognize, so this tournament will take some time to sort out but I would probably have Select Red at about 124 rating at best. Lots of teams, not a lot of quality.
Local St. Louis Elite Bradley Beal won the JayHawk Invitational with a win over a good Marcus Denmon Elite team (rating 116) by a score of 59-43 after beating Lincoln Supreme National (rating 109) in the semi, 56-43 and KC YOBO 68-34 (rating 115). While it is great to win a tournament, overall, the competition in the field was just average, but still, a win is a win, so hats off to Bradley Beal who has had some really still competition all summer in their NIKE EYBL and Peach Invitational tournaments. They deserved some late season success.
The Hardwood Classic was there for LHBA to win. Going in Friday night with a seven man squad and short their top scorer, Thomas Redmond, and high flying defender, Anthony Pfifer, Larry Hughes built a huge 47-19 lead on Lincoln Supreme Black in the first half. With about five minutes left in the half, 6'9" center, Sam Thompson turned to the basket and stepped on power forward, 6'7" Logan Wich's foot, spraining his foot. Down to six, LHBA settled in to a slow down offense until fellow Francis Howell teammate, Preston Fortner, sprained a groin muscle, leaving LHBA with five healthy players for the rest of the tournament. Long story, short, a good K-Town team took advantage of LHBA's short squad to win down the stretch and win the pool. K-Town ends up losing to a very good NBDA Bison White I team that ends up beating an excellent Southwest Minnesota Stars team in the final. I would rate NBDA Bison White I about a 115. LHBA was 121 as a full squad and when you take their top scorer, their 6'9" center and their starting point guard off the table, the rating goes down to about 105.
Which brings me back to what Earl was saying.... these kids might be playing too many tournaments in July. Especially with a 7 or 8 man squad. If a team has 11 or 12 guys, then 3 or 4 tournaments might be okay, but the stress of five of six games over three or four weekends might be too much. When I ran marathons, the rule was that you needed a day to recover for every mile you raced so if you ran a marathon (26 miles), you needed 26 days to recover. If you play six games in a weekend, you might need six days to recover from those six games. You don't always get that. I don't fault Coach Bain for playing the Hardwood Classic. Sometimes bad luck and the injuries seem to follow you around like a dark cloud over a Sunday picnic. Maybe he should have pulled in the 13 year old LHBA sibling sitting in the stands. He's a good three point shooter and he could have given them a coupla minutes rest.
We need to think about how we treat our athletes. We love watching them perform but when is too much, too much?
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