First tournament of the year presents good competition right off the bat for the Grade 9 Thunder squad. Here are some of the takeaways from this weekend’s tournament:

Takeaways:

Scoring buckets is not an issue for this team
They live and die by the outside shots, not enough points in the paint considering their size …… they rely too much on the long range shots. Perhaps they don’t want the contact who knows. They had their way in the paint against Richmond High but not the case against St. George’s
their shooters have good strokes so there will be some nights where shooting will be good and some nights where it will be bad ….. they gotta learn to be more multi-dimensional as a team and find ways to score more in the paint (i.e. post ups), in transition (fast breaks), from inbound plays and overall hustle plays
they lack the defensive intensity that their opponents have, Holy Cross and St. George’s to name a few
given the height advantage they get out rebounded on a regular basis
play zone defense on this team and you will have a chance
saw kids hustle with ‘first-to-the-floor’ mentality, those 50-50 balls can make the difference in close games
‘no middle’ = ‘yes middle’ … paying too much attention to the ball as oppose to cutting players in the paint
no ball movement in their zone offense, no cutters …. no screen
predictable passing
not enough anticipation on their press-break, and once beaten others don’t help to stop the guy with the ball
study your opponent …… if you know he likes to spot up for three in the left wing, make sure you defend him on the next one not after he knocks down 4 against your team. I think they should have went man-to-man on Saints and force our bigs to play defense in the paint on dribble drives
change of possession transition fast-break is slow to progress …. they have the speed on the front line to advance the ball but they prefer to walk it up across half court …. they need to put that pressure on the defense on easy fast break opportunities
guards that have good hesitation dribbles that shake the defender but kills dribble and forced to pass, that blow-by has to be complete with an attempt to either finish at the hoop or a pull up opportunity
lack of communication on the court is evident …. players need to be always chatting with each other
lack of rebounding and defense might get you by in your district but will be exploited when you get to Fraser Valley’s

2 and 1 record with wins against MEI Eagles and Richmond High is a great start to the season, they just gotta keep working in the lab and learn each others tendencies to get that chemistry better.

Check out the boxscores here and highlights!

vs Saints

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNII7LTulMI’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-xLlOewNcE&feature=youtu.be’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7j-U9JpepA&feature=youtu.be’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNzqSlKb1Zs&feature=youtu.be’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdRBnjtaYAY&feature=youtu.be’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6yLnaD4d7Q&feature=youtu.be’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbbYExLi5Sk’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV8Ob4_bAPE’]

vs Richmond High

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYJsDn5JS_M’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX0p4hpjumo’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx75wQGp6FY’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqsfetaH9Vo’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzY8bxa2hlI’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe1RuLzSTEQ’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW4XIWl9-t8′]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrU3QKfmhs’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GshtSGUMLmA’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgMLPTVu6p0′]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXQhsHtiAN0′]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kteUwIGL-g’]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E2mDg220c8′]