Once again we were placed in a tough pool but that's a good thing. I watched a number of games and saw most teams. There were many pools we could have won but we would not have gotten as much from the tournament had we been placed in an easier pool. We improved a great deal. We avenged a loss to Fieldhouse Elite with a solid game. We battled MoKan Elite for more than 3/4 of the game and were within 2 with 7 minutes to play. I don't believe in moral victories but I was proud of the effort. We showed we belong and that's a much better feeling than we had after the MN Pump n Run game. MoKan Elite won the Gold Bracket, Tulsa Wildcats won the Silver, and FH Elite won the Bronze. So we lost to the Gold champs , lost to the Silver champs in the semi-finals by 4 with only 6 players including 4 guards, and beat the bronze champs.

Pluses: -- For 3/4 of every game we led, except MoKan Elite when we were down 2. That proves we can play with the so called "Elite" teams. -- We handled pressure much better than in Iowa. -- We executed our offense much better, especially against Tulsa. They never were able to defend us.

Areas of Focus: -- The last quarter of the game. We have to finish stronger. -- Defense away from the ball, whether zone or man, we're not active away from the ball. -- Offensive execution. We can get the shots we want when we execute.

Overall this was a great experience for the boys. We played some excellent competition. We played well at times and extremely well at other times. We also identified some areas where we didn't play as well. We got a chance to play the defending champions and now 2 time defending champs. It didn't feel good when it was happening but it's a great experience to play talented teams to see where we stack up.

Pluses:

- Man to man defense was much improved - Good transition defense in 3 of 4 games - 2-2 record. Beat 2 good teams.

- FT's other than 1st half of All Iowa game

Areas of Focus:

- Rebounding. Given our size we must block out better. - Patience and Teamwork. We have great kids and all care about the team first. We just need to exercise more patience and teamwork especially against the better teams as we develop our chemistry. They did a great job of that in the last game.

- Sense of urgency. We stood around and watched on both offense and defense on many occasions. Need better movement without the ball and we need to work on staying in a good defensive stance even away from the ball.

The Kansas Pathers defeated the Kansas Cagers in the championship of the USSSA Easter Special by a score of 45-31.  Congratulations Panthers! Along the way, we filled in for a mising team in the 17u bracket and easily defeated the Hoops and One 17u team by 17 points.

The Kansas Panthers won a very competitive Pool 51 in the Hoop City Classic.  However, a tough loss in round 2 prevented the Panthers from getting any farther than the Sweet 16.  The Panthers expected to play much better and advance much deeper.  Small mistakes are magnified against good teams and that we the difference in the two games we lost.

Joe, Khalil, Ryan, Sean, and Zach led the Lansing Lions 8th grade team to an impressive victory over an 18 team field at the Lawrence MAYB Tournament on July 9-11.  The Lions finished with a perfect 6-0 record.  In the Championship game the Panther 5 keyed a big victory over a Kansas Heat Elite team that had dominated and won every game by at least 27 points.  However, in the Championship, Lansing led by as many as 16 points in the first half enroute to an impressive 62-54 victory.  Congratulations to the Lansing Lions and the Panther 5.

The Kansas Panthers played another strong tournament and finished 2nd at the USSSA Summer Classic.  A close loss to a Lawrence Cougar team that played very well prevented the Panthers from winning 3rd tournament out of four.  You can see pictures from the tournament by clicking on the Panther Pics link.

The Panther defense was the key as we went 3-0 to claim our 3rd championship of the winter.  Game recaps are posted on the Game Schedule link.