Day: February 17, 2025

I would wish you all a happy Presidents’ Day but, well, you know.

Speaking of bullshit, I’m splitting what would normally be in the Weekend Notes post into two entries this week to separate the fun from the bullshit. Although there will still be some bullshit in this post.

Regional Champs!

Saturday we drove about an hour west of the city to Greencastle for the regional round of the Indiana State basketball tournament.[1] Indiana high school sports are full of oddness. One of the oddest aspects of the basketball tournament is that each regional site hosts two games but those games aren’t necessarily related. In Greencastle, the early game was a 2A contest followed by our 3A matchup. We had no need to show up early to scout a possible semi-state opponent. It has something to do with geography and trying to keep teams from having to travel too far. I’m sure there’s some formula involved that makes sense, but there are always some weird assignments.

I was a little worried that our opponent, Northview, would pack the gym since they had an easy 30 minute drive down a state highway where we had to drive halfway around the 465 loop then halfway to Terre Haute. NV did bring a decent group of fans, but since the Greencastle gym holds nearly 5000 people, they didn’t seem super intimidating.

As big as this gym was, it was one of the quietest games I’ve ever attended. I think it was because our two sections on opposite sides of the court probably didn’t fill close to half the total seats, leaving lots of empty space, and because the building has a domed roof that all the noise seemed to disappear into. I heard our coach better than I’ve heard her at our home games when we have maybe 200 folks in attendance.[2]

The team got to bus over Thursday afternoon to practice there once before the actual games which was cool. That gave the event a more big time feel than sectionals.

Anyway, the game is what you care about, right?

NV came in at 20–6 on the season, but hadn’t played a very impressive schedule. I looked at the scouting report L brought home and it seemed like their offense revolved around a quick point guard and a big wing who worked out of the high post. I was confident but still super nervous when the game started.

Like most things in life, this was needless anxiety.

Our senior point guard, who is a D1 soccer recruit and rarely shoots, hit her first 3 of the season on our opening possession. On the next two possessions we worked carefully against NV’s sagging zone and got multiple shots in close that we could not get to drop. Eventually we hit another and that was, kind of, the game.

We led 9–0 after one quarter. Our trapping press destroyed their offense. We were doubling their big and daring their guard to shoot. We got nearly every rebound.

They finally hit two free throws to start the second quarter and basically played us even that period, leading 18–7 at the break.

After halftime we lost our composure. NV swapped their sagging 2–3 zone for a trapping 1–3–1 one and we turned the ball over on our first four possessions. And each turnover was more because of dumbness on our part than good D on theirs. We threw the same entry pass three times and each one got knocked away easily because the pass was horrible and our girl posting didn’t seal her defender. Midway through the quarter NV hit a 3 and suddenly it was a six-point game. We called a timeout. Their fans were fired up. Their players jumping on each other on the way to the bench.

That was a good time out. Moments later we got three straight steals out of our press. We kept threatening to completely blow them out but were just careless enough with the ball that we never got the lead over 15 points. The game was basically over with three minutes left as we casually tossed the ball around to kill time. Eventually they would foul us, we’d hit a free throw or two, they’d go down and hit a quick shot, then we’d start killing time again.

That point guard who hit the opening 3 for us? We learned during the game that she had been home with 103° fever two days earlier. She looked absolutely beat the entire second half. If the NV coach was smarter he would have attacked her when she brought the ball up. She looked like she might fall over if anyone pressured her very hard. In fact, both teams looked utterly wiped out for the entire fourth quarter. You’d think it was a 70–65 game, not one where both teams struggled to combine for 60 points. I wonder how many players would have tested positive for flu, Covid, or something else had we lined them up for nasal swabs after the game. Good thing it wasn’t a close game because I’m not sure either team had the energy to make winning plays.

Our coach cleared the bench with 55 seconds left and the reserves dribbled out the clock.

38–23, first regional title in 24 years. An impressive win that would have really raised some eyebrows if we could have hit our easiest shots. We missed 10–12–14? shots right at the rim, including multiple layups on breaks. We had at least three possessions where we grabbed two offensive rebounds but couldn’t do anything with them. We were very careless with the ball, something that needs to improve next week. Which, I guess, gives the coach something to focus on in film today.

It was also one of those games where even when we screwed up, things still went our way. There were several times when we turned it over, only to steal it right back or force NV to throw it away. One of our players turned the ball over on three straight possessions, then she drilled a 3 on the fourth possession.

Our defense continues to be fantastic, going back to our sectional opener against Chatard. I’m not sure why it took us so long to start pressing and trapping, but it has been working.

It’s been really fun to watch the girls enjoy this run. Each time they started to build momentum this season, they would have an all-around bad game to ruin it. But they’ve now won five in a row, six of seven, and nine of 11. It’s not always pretty, but they’ve been getting it done. Their work has been paying off and all the smiles and hugs after the games the past two weeks will be my lasting memory of this run.

Other than L cheering from the bench and getting to hold the trophies and cut the nets, my favorite memory (so far) came after Saturday’s game. I saw our senior who had carried us in sectionals but struggled Saturday being hugged by her dad. This dude and his wife are very tough on T. Like ridiculously tough. But I caught him hugging her, whispering to her with a smile on his face, then giving her a kiss. I don’t think much of this dad because of the stories I’ve heard about how he treats her. This moment, though? Fantastic.

A new feature to the Indiana state tournament is keeping the semi-state bracket empty until after the regional round. Unlike the NCAA tournament, where you can plot out every team you might play on your path to the Final Four, in Indiana you only know your sectional and regional brackets. The tournament is split north-south from the beginning, and Sunday the four remaining teams in each half of each class were drawn in a live broadcast to determine who plays each other next week.

We knew we were in the tougher half of the draw, which featured us (#9) plus numbers 3, 4, and 10. The North side of 3A has numbers 1, 2, 22, and 70.[3] And even though it is a blind draw, we knew exactly what would happen. Sure enough, our ping pong ball popped up first, immediately followed by Roncalli, a Catholic school on the southside of Indy. For some reason the schools stopped playing each other two years ago, but before that it was an annual game that while not as intense as our rivalry with Chatard, was still a highlighted one on the schedule.[4]

We are 18–9. They are 17–8. They’ve won eight straight. They lost to several teams we beat, but I also am pretty sure they were missing a starter for much of December. They seem healthy and locked in. They also have a sophomore who is their best player, and was largely responsible for L’s kickball team losing both of the City championship games they played in. So we need to beat her.

Now, the real peach of this whole deal is where we play them. While the matchups for semi-state were selected Sunday, the host sites were already locked in. The IHSAA allegedly looks at each semi-state quad of teams and tries to send them to the host site that makes the most sense for travel, how many fans each school will bring, and so on.

Our quad features the two Indy teams, one from halfway between Indy and Cincinnati, and one from Evansville. So, naturally, we’ve been sent to play in New Albany, which is two hours south, just across the river from Louisville. Like so much about Indiana high school sports, it makes no sense. Although I guess if you draw a triangle between Indy and the two other schools, New Albany falls on the base of that line.[5]

As an extra bonus we have the first game, which tips at 10:00 AM. So we’ll be leaving our house by 7:30. Earlier if the weather is bad. The team will bus down the night before because otherwise that makes for potentially a super long day.

Why a super long day, you ask? Because the teams that win the early games (the second is at noon) get to hang around for the semi-state championship game. Which is scheduled for 8:00 PM.

For years I’ve heard stories about happy fans from small towns taking over other cities as they burn time Saturday afternoon before the semi-state championship game. Now we have a chance to live that experience.

I mean, I want our girls to win. But I’m not going to be mad if we come home after the first game. L isn’t even playing, for crying out loud. We may have to pack sleeping bags so we can put the seats down and nap in the car if we do have to stay. I guess we can drive over to Louisville and kill time there, although, as you’ll see in a moment, L will not be in walking around mode that day.

The important part, though, is the Irish added another trophy and set of nets to their collection, the program’s first regional title in 24 years. Might as well get the first semi-state one in 25 years since we’re making the drive.

Under the Knife

L was again on the bench in street clothes Saturday. They have a light workout today and a full practice Tuesday, and then she will be done as an active basketball player for several months.

At our follow-up with the specialist last Tuesday we scheduled her for surgery this Wednesday. We were hoping that the timing would work to get her in right away, but were worried that spring break in six weeks would complicate things and we’d have to wait, thus pushing recovery and rehab out further. The doc said that because of L’s age and fitness, he was comfortable taking her cast off a little bit early which would allow her to get on the plane and go to Florida on March 28.

So, surgery Wednesday to remove an accessory navicular bone then re-size/re-attach a tendon. She’ll be in a splint for three weeks, then a cast for three more. After the cast comes off she’ll stay in a boot and on crutches until she’s cleared to begin PT. He is confident that, again, because of her age and fitness, she will recover quicker than most. But we’re still looking at four months minimum to be fully cleared. Which means, officially, no travel ball this year. She is very bummed about that, and the whole process. She’s had a few bad days over the past couple weeks, as this all became real and consequences realer. But hopeful this means junior year will be better, personally, than her sophomore year has been.