High School Hoops: An Ominous Start

Last night CHS finally played their first game of the year. I say finally because their opponent, and many other schools in the state, had already played two games. I know our coaches were trying to find a game to fill last week, but that fell through and we got off to a late start to the new season.

Maybe it was that difference, one team having been on the court – and losing – twice versus the other getting real action for the first time. Or maybe it was because one team shot a ton of 3’s, and made at least seven, while the other barely looked to launch from deep and made just one for the night. Or maybe our Jesuit sisters are just better than us. Regardless, the season began with a disappointing 17-point loss.

That disappointment was especially bad because we led by nine in the first quarter, and six at halftime before totally falling apart in the second half. It seemed like a fairly evenly matched game until fouls caught up with us – two of our starters each picked up their third fouls early in the third quarter – and the Jesuits started hitting 3s.

L didn’t play much, maybe 6–7 minutes total. She took only one shot, making a layup on a break after a nice pass from a teammate, and had one turnover, otherwise not checking any scorebook boxes.

Her foot is back to 100% but you could definitely see some rust in her game after not playing much over the past year. She spent most of the summer working on her conditioning rather than her game, and I’m afraid that showed. I’m also nervous that a combination of changes in her body – she’s stronger but slower than she was as a freshman – and what the varsity wants to do on offense – she should never dribble as much as she did as a freshman – take away her old strengths and she’s yet to develop new ones to take their place.

It was just one game, though, so no need to make broad assessments yet.

What was concerning for the team was this should have been one of our most winnable games. And we lost by nearly 20. We have our typically super difficult schedule and are trying to replace four starters from last year. Plus our most talented girl is playing on an injured knee that we are all worried could get worse at any time. I looked at the schedule after we got home last night and did not see a lot of opportunities for W’s.

Again, it’s early. In June we beat the team that lost in the 3A state title game last spring. We should get better. The problem is the competition gets better, too. Next week we play the #5 4A team that has two D1 seniors.

This is also my chance to say I will probably not write as much about high school hoops this season. L’s role is much more limited than it was as a freshman on JV, and as we hoped it would be last year before she got injured. She’s a 10 minutes-per-game player, and some nights that will be five, others 20, depending on fouls, injuries, matchups, how well she plays, etc.

There are also some weird vibes in the program that I have some thoughts about. I think this site is fairly well anonymized, but if someone did enough digging they could match me up with my kid and then with her team. I don’t want to put her in a bad position because someone got busy with Google and found her dad’s opinions. Rest assured, though, I’m saving those thoughts and whenever she plays her last game, I will happily share them.

I will still do weekly roundups, but they won’t be as detailed as they were two years ago. I reserve the right to change my mind if L suddenly starts playing 20 minutes a night and scoring 10 points per game. Or make them less frequent if writing about this team becomes painful.