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[The Midnight Rider]

Folks, losing 62-33 at Mount Vernon in basketball is acceptable?

I realize....basketball isn't our sport....but wouldn't you think Massillon could field a more representative basketball team?

Nothing personal against anyone, but I think something has to be done for this program. I don't fault the kids.

[orangeblood]

It is totally unacceptable.  We have athletes, and also TALL kids walking the halls who will not play for this man, for whatever reason.  We do not need season, after season, after season. of losing.

Btw, our freshmen have recently won 12 in a row.  I want them to be coached by someone else.

[The Midnight Rider]

I watched footage of the Benedictine game, which seemed like one Cleveland dunk right after another and the Tigers body language totally dejected. In front of a 75% empty gym.

Is this the direction Tiger basketball should continue to pursue?

It's clear that the feeder system is not developing players and that's a coaching issue.

[orangeblood]

I watched footage of the Benedictine game, which seemed like one Cleveland dunk right after another and the Tigers body language totally dejected. In front of a 75% empty gym.

Is this the direction Tiger basketball should continue to pursue?

It's clear that the feeder system is not developing players and that's a coaching issue.

The whole thing is a farce.  Basketball is a MAJOR sport, we need new blood in the coaching box. 

[The Midnight Rider]

I couldn't agree more. When you look at what a similar sized (and similar community with similar demographics) school to Massillon....Barberton....does in basketball.....there is no excuse for the Tigers in basketball to perform like they've had. What I find curious is coach Creamer's quotes in the local paper blaming the kids for not playing with the proper focus, intensity, etc.

That is a coaching issue. That buck stops at the coach's desk. Stop publicly blaming the kids.

[TigerCarl]

Throughout the long history of WHS basketball, most of our teams used to win roughly 60 to 65 times out of a hundred, depending on who was coaching.  Some years we did a whole lot better than that, rarely did we dip below .500.  But I'm talking about the typical Massillon basketball teams, not the exceptions.

Throughout that same history, McKinley almost always won.  So did other powerhouses of a given era (though we'd sometimes pull off an upset).  Among the other "good" teams, we sort of won some and lost some.  And we'd generally win over average teams and less-than-average teams.

Today, it's not just the powerhouses that beat us.  And it's not just the other "good" teams that beat us.  We lose to anybody and everybody that can play the game better than badly.  Sometimes we win over a good team.  But not very often.  And our schedule is relatively light these days.  So it should be producing a win percentile somewhere in the 70s as an average.

Massillon's history is not exactly filled with superstars.  They've been rare.  Most of our kids have looked average, and played a little above average as a team.  I remember when we'd win with the full-court press, being that pestering team that could steal the ball away or cause the other team to worry about it.  Such tactics caused us to win a lot of games that talent alone would not have won for us.

But you have to know how to teach such a press.  And you have to know how teach the fast break.  And you have to know how to teach fundamentals, with techniques that adjust to the individual player.  Then . . . you must meld that scheme into a team expericnce.

I never thought Vrostos was the best coach in basketball, but he forced intensity into the game.  We'd still lose to the outstanding teams, but that was about all.

And, yes, it's true -- in high school basketball is a major sport, second only to football.  The program has never been on par with our football program.  But it used to be a whole lot closer.

As for kids not coming out because of Creamer.  Could be.  You'd know more about that than I do.  But I think when a kid loves a sport, he's going to play no matter what.  I think for some kids it's a lot nicer doing the wonderful things that teens love to do, and playing sports really diminishes your time for that stuff.  It's called apathy toward playing sports.

We need to create intense interest in sports.  When I was in junior high, I went out for every sport.  I typically got cut from the team early on, but damn it I gave it my best shot.  The only sport that I hung in there with was football.  Football is a game where the mind can greatly make up for lack of athleticism.  So I saw some action in games and contributed while at LA. 

The point is, I was among scores of kids in junior high who were trying out for virtually every sport and getting cut.  Such enthusiasm has to help any sports program. 

We need to find ways to create interest in sports in our town.  This is an opprotune time to do it because kids are more poor now than they've been since the depression.  So there is less money to buy them events which deter kids from sports.  And there's more desperation to your level of play when you're poor.

A good athletic director creates a higher level in sports by what he has his coaches teaching in gym.

Posted by A.J.

Posted by TigerSpize

Posted by TigerSpize

Posted by TigerSpize

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