PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. – Competition during the fall evaluation period always brings interesting challenges.
Teams often must make adjustments due to personnel changes. Consider USJN’s ninth annual Battle of the Programs on Saturday. Rosters are not allowed to include 2014 graduates, so in many cases younger players were moved up to play with 2015 and 2016 grads to produce an unfamiliar mix.
“October is an interesting brand of basketball because no team is identical to the way it was when July ended,” Spiece Indy Gym Rats coach Danny Reigo said. “So you have not a lot of practice time. You have new kids on the roster so you’re trying to incorporate things on the fly.”
And then, invariably, you end up playing close games that are decided in the final minutes, highlighting the little things that define a team’s greatness.
It’s tricky stuff. But when a team defies that lack of continuity, it can bring a smile to a coach’s face – like Reigo’s.
The Gym Rats’ tinkered roster fended off Team Wisconsin 58-50 to capture the Battle of the Programs’ top bracket Saturday. The Gym Rats became the ninth different team to claim the title in as many years.
“We’ve actually never won Battle of the Programs,” Reigo said. “We don’t chase championships but when you play in a bracket with teams like (Mac Irvin) Lady Fire and Michigan Crossover, it’s almost insulting not to say that it’s special because they’re all really, really good programs and teams.”
The Gym Rats defeated the Nebraska Cornhusker Shooting Stars (67-56) and Midwest Elite (63-60 in overtime) en route to the title despite playing without 2015 Purdue commitment Lamina Cooper.
“We have five kids from the July team back, so there was some continuity,” Reigo said. “Cooper is a special kid, and we missed her tremendously. But, just like any team, we’re going to say ‘next man up.’ Someone is going to fill that void. I thought we had kids who stepped up. (Tiara) Murphy was outstanding today. And I thought the new kids — Kyra Taylor, Katherine Smith and Peyton Fallis — stepped in and filled Cooper’s void really well.”
That Murphy was in the spotlight didn’t surprise anyone. The 5-foot-6 point guard from South Bend, Ind., ranked 53rd nationally by Blue Star, shapes the personality of her team. She is a relentless offensive weapon, whether pulling up for jumpers or driving to the rim. Though point guard has been her primary spot, she’s just as comfortable off the ball.
“I shot the ball well, for not being in the gym as much (recently),” Murphy said.
But she has been busy with conditioning work. Off the court, she made a commitment to Purdue on Wednesday, choosing the Boilermakers over Louisville, Michigan State and Florida, among others.
“(People) didn’t think I was going to do it this early,” Murphy said. “They asked me why, and I had to explain to them, why wait when you know where you want to go? I had a great relationship with the coaches.”
Rockies A Mile High After Victory
The recipe for winning basketball for the Colorado Rockies involves unselfish passing, accurate perimeter shooting, a cohesive defense and a gritty, give-it-all style that filters through every portion of their game.
Coach Kenny VanRyn said that formula wasn’t always in place on Saturday, but it was present often enough to boost the Rockies to the title of their Battle of the Program bracket.
The Rockies defeated Wisconsin WBA Prestige (49-42), Illinois Elite (66-35) and Wisconsin Playground Elite (66-37).
“They share the ball so nicely that when they get going like that, it’s fun to watch,” VanRyn said. “We just need to keep playing hard the entire game instead of five-minute stretches.”
The Rockies enjoyed a strong summer. VanRyn said the team lost “maybe seven or eight games,” all by less than 10 points except one. And several players made significant, easily identifiable strides.
“I think Jess Lewis did that, and coaches took notice of that,” he said. “Jenn Urbaniak had a little lung issue and we tempered her minutes a little bit, but she had a good summer. Cassidy Budge hasn’t missed a shot all fall. She has improved from the end of the summer until now.”
Iowa Kingdom Hoops and Hoosier Elite also captured bracket titles on Saturday. More than 170 colleges and over 240 coaches were represented at the event, which is run in conjunction with the Elite Oktoberfest, which continues on Sunday, along with the Blue Star Fall Jamboree.
Youngsters Propel Tennessee Flight
By virtue of winning the 2012 Battle of the Program title, the Tennessee Flight were accorded the No. 1 seed for Saturday’s tournament. But none of the players who were a part of last year’s victory were involved this time around.
Coach Clifford Coleman brought a team of five eighth-graders and five freshmen, making the Flight the youngest team in the bracket.
“My eighth-graders, when they were seventh-graders, finished second in the country at AAU nationals,” Coleman said. “And two of my ninth-graders played on my sophomore team at Nike Nationals. So they’ve been through the mill.”
They have experience – and talent.
“The bottom line is we’re not here to win,” Coleman said after his team defeated the Mac Irvin Lady Fire 63-57 in its first game of the day. “What we want to do with our program is to make every kid better. We don’t put kids on teams by (their) grade, we do it by ability. A number of these kids are better than our junior team back home. That’s why we brought this team. This team is more talented.
“And another thing this does is give them an opportunity to be exposed early. A recruiter looks out there and sees a 2018 kid out there battling with a 2015, it’s good for the (younger) kid.”
One of those who catches the eye is 2017 point guard Anastasia Hayes. At 5-6, Hayes is adept at pushing the tempo and is eager to get to the rim.
“She didn’t start playing basketball until the seventh grade,” Coleman said. “She still has a ways to go, to get over the “antsiness” and things like that. But she’s not afraid to bang with older kids.”
Louisville FOCUS Makes Debut
Tim Barnett’s Louisville FOCUS squad made its Battle of the Program debut Saturday and the results weren’t what they had hoped. But it was the experience that mattered.
Louisville FOCUS – the acronym represents the academy’s slogan Focus on Character = Ultimate Success – is in its eighth year. As indicated, the emphasis is on character-building, and Saturday’s experience probably built plenty of that.
A team of 2018, 2019 and 2020 grads went 0-3 against older competition.
“Normally we’re a lot better than we were today,” Barnett said. “We had two girls on crutches, and we’re missing three of our top four players. In that last game we had some sixth graders playing.
“It’s a learning experience. They got to play in this environment, play in front of coaches. It’s a win-win for us.”
One player to watch: Grace Berger, a 5-9 2018 grad from Louisville. Barnett said she has received interest from Georgia Tech, South Carolina, UNC Wilmington and Louisville.
“She’s going to be really, really, really good,” he said.
Tough Stretch For Mac Irvin Lady Fire
Saturday’s results were atypical for a Mac Irvin Lady Fire team – it finished seventh in the top bracket while making its Battle of the Program debut.
And it also was uncharacteristic given the way the Fire’s summer played out.
“I feel really good about our summer, probably one of the best summers we’ve ever had,” Irvin said. “We had a good combination of players. This is probably one of the few years where we had a combination of bigs and guards. Usually we have one or the other.”
The stars of the summer included Tanita Allen, a 5-10 2015 product from Chicago Whitney Young; Madinah Muhammad (5-9), another 2015 Whitney Young student; and 5-8 Kiara Lewis, a 2016 guard who recently returned from knee surgery. Lewis is presently ranked #27 nationally by Blue Star.
“She’s one of the best guards in the country in the 2016 class,” Irvin said. “She’s just getting back into the rhythm of things.”
Follow the link to see the full results from USJN’s 9th annual Battle of the Programs as well as the college coaches that attended
http://www.usjn.com/xtm_post_event_new.php?which=211
