(KB - 05/17/09)  Lexie Fitts has done it!!!

Back in March I received a call from Winter Park High School.     Essentially, the caller said, "She's effin' up"

She had a 2.1 GPA, a couple of D's, an A, and a bunch of C's.     She was doing the bare minimum to get by.    She was investing her time and efforts into her social life.      And she was ignoring her parent's sincerest efforts to get her focused on her academics.

In short, she was being a teenager.

Enter that crazy mofo from up in Lake Mary:  Moi.   I don't play.    And I know how to run game.    I enlisted the buy-in from her coach, Rick Weyers.     And I told her mom to step back and let me be the "bad guy".    I told her to direct all inquiries, whines and complaints to me.

I went over to Winter Park High.    I sat Miss Half-Steppin' down.    And I assured her that she would remain sat down until her grades came up.     And I meant it.

Lexie sneaked into a meaningless game against the Comets Red at the FBVA tournament in March and immediately earned a withering blast from me.      She missed Boo Williams and Spring Fling entirely.     The other Wildcat parents and players were beginning to get antsy.      The all-important July tournaments were looming. 

Faced with the prospect of missing the entire 2009 summer season AND the 2010 high school season, Lexie has stepped it up.      Last week's Progress Report finally excised the final C from her card.       She had two A's and four B's.      One of the B's is a single point away from being an A.

I am ecstatic.

Armed with this academic muscle, Lexie rejoined the Orlando Wildcats 15U at the AAU State tourney in Clearwater and led them to yet another state championship.    The Wildcats blew out all comers, beating FGB in the championship game by 20, and averaging 40 point wins over everybody else.       By playing in the state championship, Fitts now qualifies to compete at AAU Nationals this summer.

I KNEW she could do it.

But that's not the end of this story.   First off, if another C creeps up on her report card this school year, she's done for the summer.

Second, next year, those B's have to go.      This child is too talented to laze along with B's.      None of my own kids would wander into the house with a report card laden with B's and expect me to smile.

But seeing where she started from, I'm pleased.

Congratulations, Lex!!!    Getcha a plate of seven layer bean dip for that one!!!!

(KB - 05/13/09)  I thought this photo deserved a mention.

This is my niece, Amare.    Lexie's sister.

That colorful beast she is trying to wrap around her head is Corrie, Laniere's pet king snake.    Amare picked him up off the ground where I was crawling him and attempted to make a mask out of him.

When he resisted, she threw him forcefully to the ground.

Usually snakes will try to steam away from humans under such rough treatment.     Corrie poked his head up and steamed straight over to me.   I bent over and offered him my hand.    He raced straight up my arm, coiled around my wrist and looked at me as if to say, "WTF MAN!!   I thought we were cool!!     Who is this broad??    Take me in the house.    I can't deal with your yard apes."

I'm going to save this photo for several years and then show it to Amare when she claims she is afraid of snakes, as girls are prone to do.

(KB - 05/12/09)  OK, this is what's what. 

The Jacksonville Rams are the top 16U team in Florida.    They won that title on the court at Spring Fling.     Unless they completely fall apart next weekend at AAU States (which isn't likely) the Rams hold this year's bragging rights.

Of course, I predicted this outcome two years ago.    The Rams have been together since forever.     There's no way the Comets, Breakdown, Jags, FGB or the Essence are going to cobble together a team of 16U all-stars, practice for a month, and beat a real team, even if that team still qualifies as under-aged.

Further, the best player at Disney this past weekend was Loliya Briggs, followed closely by Brittany Rountree and Shelethia Stringfield--all Rams.   (Amber Henson was injured and didn't play.    Morgan Jones and January Miller played well, but the three players I mentioned were clearly the best Florida players there.)   I watched the Rams play several games.    Briggs, Rountree and Stringfield were head and shoulders above everyone else based on hustle alone.

Other than tweaking Yeahhhhhhhh about Breakdown leaving Spring Fling off their schedule, I've kept quiet about who's who this year.    I hadn't seen the Comets Red 16U play, or DEBO, or FGB, or SF Jags.       I went to Spring Fling with a clean slate, ready and willing to be impressed.

So,  of course, I watched the Comets 13U first.    I have a dog in that fight.    And I watched the Orlando Wildcats 15U closely.    I have a dog in that fight, too, even though she had to sit out this past weekend.     And I watched the Comets Red 16U closely, to see if my intuition about the wisdom of cobbling together 16U all-star teams held true.     And I watched the Comets 14U, believing them to be the best team in the Comets stable.

The Comets 13U did about what I expected.    They finished second in their pool, won their first bracket game on a last second shot, and lost their second bracket game after a game tying layup rolled agonizingly off the rim.    They missed Ronnie Williams (who is starting for the Comets 14U now) and Corey Duren (who was out of town).     In the absence of Williams and Duren, Kaley Barnard and Joné Akins showed flashes of promise and some outright talent.

The knock against the 13U team has always been that their bigs are a trifle soft and the guards can't beat the press.   This past weekend  Barnard, Ciara Cumbie and Akins quelled the latter criticism, while Laniere Coleman and Arriana Cumbie did a credible job in the post.

The problem is, the Comets 13U have been doing a "credible" job for a couple of years now.   At some point, that adjective has to be changed to "making demonstrable strides".     The best thing I can say about them is that they learned how to play close games this weekend.       Both Coleman and the elder Cumbie missed several excellent lob passes into the post that could have resulted in easy scores.    Coleman, especially, needs to come to the ball on the inlet pass.    On several occasions her reticence allowed her defender to step in front and steal solid passes from Comets guards.    Arrianna mis-timed an inbounds lob that may have resulted in a game-tying last second basket.    The Comets' guards cannot be held accountable for these missteps.    One hopes that the Comets bigs will gain more coordination as they grow into their bodies.    It was easy to hear opposing team parents doubting that Coleman and A. Cumbie belonged in the 13U division.      That's always a good thing.

This team is and will remain mid-range until the players themselves gain the rage that champions have.

I watched the Comets 14U play.    Excellent.   Just EXCELLENT.      They play like the Rams, except that they don't press the whole game.   January Miller is an uber-stud.    13U player Ronnie Williams has meshed nicely with the team.     I was surprised that she'd earned a starting spot with the team and advised her dad not to let her get pegged into playing the post when her natural position is out on the wing.    I was also surprised that Morgan Robinson came off the bench.    She, too, is a stud.

So I looked forward to the Comets 14U matchup with the Georgia Ice.     You've heard of them, of course.   They're the team with all the famous dads.      Antonio Davis.    Dee Brown.   Delino DeShields.   Ken Griffey, Jr.       They recently dominated the 14U division at Boo Williams.       And they've won a couple of AAU National Championships recently.    The matchup with the Comets Red 14U was much anticipated.

What happened?

Well, even though the Ice won 52-44, the game wasn't that close.    The Ice led by 20 for most of the game.     January Miller finally got fed up and started going nuts defensively and offensively.     She made several improbable steals and followed up with even more improbable shots that brought the Comets back into the game.     But ultimately her efforts were too little too late.

My question is, why didn't the Comets 14U unleash her earlier?     It looked to me like she just got pissed off and went "rogue".     She just started attacking Ice ballhandlers all over the court and making plays.

It's clear that one superior player isn't going to beat the Ice.    Their best player, Diamond DeShields, didn't even play.   In her absence Kaela Davis stepped up and was clearly the player of the game.     Miller might have won that honor, but she started playing too late.    The Ice have a team of superstars and a well balanced team.    The Comets Red 14U ought to be seeking them out at every opportunity before AAU Nationals.        I would have liked to see the Ice play against the Rams.     They are that damn good.    In fact, I would bet that the Ice were the second best team at Spring Fling in any age group, after the Rams.

I watched the Comets 15U play.    They dominated the Lakeland Lady Cavs in the semis, but seemed to become deflated after shooting guard Saphira Philson went down with a high ankle sprain late in that game.      We expected them to dominate the Wellington Wolves in the championship game, but they played badly in Philson's absence and lost.

Still, the Comets 15U were a bright spot for the Comets.     No one expected them to be this good.    And why was Philson in the Cavs game that late anyway?     She's a starter.   She should have been resting on the bench.      No word on how long she's going to be out.

It'll be interesting to see this team play against the Orlando Wildcats 15U.

I watched the Comets 16U play.    The Comets Red 16U only return three players from last year's squad--Jordan Mosley, Selena Archer and Alexis Parker.    They promoted Brooke Bowie, Arielle Durant and Leo Montalvo from younger Comets teams.    The rest of their players are new recruits.

How'd they do?

Ordinarily, I'd say having a team with six Comets alumni would have a great chance of winning any contest they play.      But his ain't ordinarily.

I have to say I was decidedly unimpressed.    Disappointed, even.    While its obvious that the Comets have a wealth of individual talent, I thought they lacked hustle and effort.      They played like they were too cool to sweat naps into their perms.    Even Leo.   The only player out there who was bringing the pain was Brooke Bowie.    Selena Archer didn't play much; apparently she's missed too many practices.      And Amber Henson sat on the bench with a broken wrist.

To my mind, the Comets played this same game last year.       "We'll build on bad experiences in May and gel in July".

That might make sense.    But it didn't work last year.    (Does anyone remember that 1-5 mark at Nike Nationals?)    And I don't think its going to work this year, either, unless the Comets start pressing 24-7-365 like the Comets of old.

I watched the Comets play a pool game against the St. Johns Lady Bears.       Ten minutes into the game the Comets were only up by three.    I'm saying to myself, "The old Comets would be up forty right now".

Of course, they made some adjustments at halftime and won by forty.      But look at what they did.   They brought in Selena Archer off the bench and pounded the ball inside to her against a smaller team.     She put up 19 points in the second half.    Then they sent Selena back to the bench.     She was present but unused in the Comets loss to the SF Jags, a game in which the Comets were out-hustled in every aspect of the game by a smaller team.

If this is a subliminal suggestion to Selena that's saying, "Attend more practices" it's the moral equivalent of losing games in order to make parents pay their light bills.     It's just not a proper linkage.    Selena has already committed to Miami.   She doesn't need to be playing travel ball at all.    It's not like this season is going to make or break her scholarship.     But her absence is going to hurt several Comets players who ARE playing for scholarships.

The Jags rebounded from a first half deficit and rolled out to an eight point lead which they nursed, more or less, for the rest of the game.   The Comets seemed stunned to find themselves down by five with a minute to play.      Then it occurred to them that a little bit of hustle could win the game.     But the Jags weren't having THAT.   They forced the Comets to foul and they hit their fouls shots.     The Jags ended up winning 54-49.

The Comets haven't won a game against a significant opponent since July 2007.

And here's something else.    The Comets have picked up two MORE players:   Tynia McKenzie and Shaya Wilson from Tampa.    After last year's debacle in Augusta, all the coaches concluded that less is more.    It was decided that no more than ten players would grace the Comets roster in 2009.     I argued for nine at most.

Now the Comets have twelve.   WHY?

The reason is clear.       They are stock-piling good players for next year.     AGAIN.   McKenzie and Wilson are good, solid underclassmen.   Both players are solid building blocks to cloak around Henson, Mosley, the upcoming 15U players (Briona Brown and Sapphira Philson) and (presumably) January Miller.

I actually was impressed with Wilson.    (McKenzie didn't get much playing time).      But read my lips.   BOTH OF THESE PLAYERS SHOULD BE STARTING FOR THE COMETS RED 15U INSTEAD OF COMING OFF THE COMETS 16U BENCH.      The 15U team would be on the way to dominating their division with McKenzie and Wilson.     As it is, both girls are window dressing on a team that, if the truth be told, is still struggling to find a point guard to lead the team, and isn't spending much time developing its post players.  

Worse, the 15U division is wildly competitive, even moreso than the 16U division.    The 15U division will have the Rams again next year, the Orlando Wildcats, the Florida Storm (who actually won the 15U division at Spring Fling) and (surprise, surprise!) a VERY solid FGB 15U team.     Of course, all these teams will be 16U next year, but I suppose their core players will remain intact.

McKenzie and Wilson should be getting to know the girls in their own age group so they won't be strangers next year.

I mentioned the Comets point guard problems.     The main problem is, they've got TOO MANY.     Leo Montalvo, Terrice Robinson, Jade Givens and combo guard Jordan Mosley provide depth at the position.      But they also give Jack Givens too many options.      Each of these girls is always looking over her shoulder for the hook when they make mistakes.    And they play like it.    Not one of them plays with the attitude "This is MY team.     We will go as far as I take US".     And this is why the Comets will continue to struggle.

I thought I'd made that clear last summer in private sessions with the coaches.     Apparently not.    So I'm saying it again here for emphasis.      You don't see Dawn Maye looking over HER shoulder for the hook.

And here's something ELSE.    Earlier, I'd mentioned January Miller as a Red 16U candidate next year.

Nope.   Not smart.

She excels where she is.    She is a critical member of a TEAM, not just a collection of disparate superstars.    If I was her, I'd stay put.      The Comets 14U are going to be national caliber team in their own right.   They are the logical successors to the Jax Rams once Briggs and Co. graduate.

Bottom line for the Comets is this:      Jack and Garfield have to spend more time building younger teams instead of trying to blend talent at the last minute.     That takes more time than can be had in a four month summer season.       The Comets also need to stop trying to cure world hunger.    They need to settle on a core team and run with it.

OK, lets talk about some of the other teams.  

(More tomorrow.    I'm tired....)

(KB - 05/13/09)  What happened with the other teams?

Of course, I had to go and watch the Friday night matchup between the Jax Rams and FGB 16U.    Even though I've given up drama for Lent this year, that doesn't stop me from wanting to check out other people's drama.

And the angle here was the burgeoning rivalry between my former nemesis, Angie Mayor, and my former whipping boy, Kenny Kallina.    Angie has turned her acerbic tongue from me to Kenny;   I wanted to see the showdown.    

Further, FGB's early season win over Breakdown put them in the catbird's seat as the top team entering the tournament.    I hadn't seen the Rams play since 2004, so there was that angle, too.

The game was anti-climatic.     Kenny had a school function and didn't show.

Neither did his team.    The Rams trounced FGB, 61-37.    It was clear that Rams coach Tony Bannister was trying to run up the score.

Well, maybe not.    The Rams press, trap and harass everyone they play.     But Tony kept his starters in the whole game, and the game was over early.    So there's that.

What I immediately noticed is this:    I was led to believe the Rams are a deadeye three point shooting team.    What I saw was that they take a lot of threes, but they didn't make a lot of threes.     The long ball, for the Rams, appears to be just a method of spreading the defense.     I watched them closely all weekend.    Either they were off, or.......      

But it's not like they need to shoot the three.     They put so much defensive pressure on FGB that midway thru the first half FGB's players were huffing and puffing.     You know a team is beaten when they muddle thru a foul shot lineup stooped over with their hands on their knees.

Anyway, FGB lost their seat at the catbird table on the first day of the tourney.      In bracket play FGB fell to DEBO Elite, 47-41, in the quarterfinals.      So that puts them in the same neighborhood as the Comets Red 16U, at least until next weekend when it's possible that the Red team and FGB can meet face to face.    That's provided, of course, that FGB attends AAU states.       A few months back Kenny wrote a scathing article about AAU states and its organizers Chet and Gigi Lemon.     Apparently, he objects to attending poorly run tournaments like AAU States.     So we may not see FGB there.

From what I saw, FGB made the mistake of trying to go toe to toe with the Rams.   FGB has got some tough players, too.   I guess they figured turnabout is fair play.

I'm not sure I would have played the Rams like that.    As a coach, you never play to your opponent's strength.    Pressing, slash and burn is what the Rams want to do.     Logically, then, the way to beat them is to slow the game down to an agonizingly boring pace, take one good shot deep into the shot clock, and minimize their opportunities to run the floor.   You minimize turnovers, frustrate them and take them out of their game.     It's a longshot, but it's a shot.

Obviously, FGB wasn't going to be able to do this.    It's just not how they play.    FGB teams want to get out and run.    The only team in Florida that can play that "passing precision" game is Rick Weyers' Wildcats.     He's played the Rams on several occasions and ain't won yet.     But he clearly has their attention and their respect.      It's going to take a Fencor or a Philly Belles type team to compete with the Rams.

The Comets Red don't play like that.   Neither does Breakdown, DEBO or Essence.    And that's why the Rams are destined to go the farthest this year.

I went to see the Wildcats play, too.     I got to their last pool game expecting to see Lexie Fitts on the bench, but she was nowhere to be found.

This angered me.

I'd specifically ordered that she attend all her team's games to support them from the bench.    I later found that she'd been missing practices, too.

What's the point of sitting out games if the joy of playing isn't presented as an incentive to get good grades?     Where was the pain of looking on from the bench?    My game plan was being undermined.

So I made a few calls.     I said, "Make sure that heffah is here TOMORROW.   I want her to see this."

(She tells me she only has one C left on her progress report.    Truly, I am rooting for her, but that C has got to go.    I am adamant that she take her academics seriously.     C's have no place on a serious athlete's report card.   C's are not conducive to obtaining college scholarships unless you're 6'6" and can dunk.   5'6" shooting guards are a dime a dozen and need to wield strong academic credentials to get into college.    And that's as it SHOULD be.)

So anyway, I watched the Wildcats play and it didn't look like they missed Lexie much.    They didn't take any forty foot shots, that's about the only difference.      They moved the ball well, moved well without the ball, and beat up on just about everyone they played in the 15U division.

The Wildcats played FGB 15U, too.    I wanted to see this game because Kenny told me that his 15U was king hell, maybe the top 15U team in the state.    I wanted to see for myself.

Of course, when I got there the Wildcats parents kept pulling me aside to ask about Lexie.    One of them accused me of favoring FGB by forcing Lexie to sit out.     All of them wanted to know her availability for AAU States next week.

I said, "That's entirely up to her.    She's running this show.    I just have the final word on the actors, that's all.   If the C goes away, she's free to play."

So anyway, the game I actually witnessed was a bracket game.     The Wildcats won, 52-48.    Earlier, in pool play, they'd beaten FGB 61-49.   (The bracket win was facilitated by the absence of FGB point guard Monique Bunk, who bounced her head off the floor in the first half and was held out of the game in the second half.    I will note that, up to that point, Bunk had been having a great game.    If she'd played in the second half, FGB may have won.)

Of all the teams in Central Florida, I get my greatest joy out of watching the Wildcats play.    They rarely, if ever, make the wrong play.    When I'm following them with my camera, if they come off a pick and need to stroke a jumper, the jumper gets stroked.    If they need to go to the hole, its to the hole they go.     If they need to make a left handed pass to save a micro-second, the left handed pass is made.

I say this because photography is all about anticipation of the next play.    If you know what the next play is supposed to be, you get better photographs.     With the Wildcats, they always do the right thing.   They are always at the right place on the floor.    They are unselfish, anonymously efficient, and a damn good team.    So I get great photos of them because, as the play develops, I can sense where they are supposed to be before I take my own shots.

But because their players are all so uniformly competent, none of them really stand out as great players.      They don't have a January Miller or an Amber Henson or, really, any go-to players.    They are just a....collective.   A TEAM.

One wonders whether this will be enough to get them scholarships at the high levels that they deserve.     Because if you look at their individual parts, they're just a bunch of mid-range guards who cut, pick and pass well.

Whatever the case, I enjoy watching them play.    After seeing the Comets 13U make scintillating plays surrounded by aggravating mis-steps, watching a consistently efficient team play is refreshing.

The Wildcats made it to the championship game at Spring Fling, where they were upset by the Florida Storm from Ft. Lauderdale.    The Storm were down by four with 25 seconds to play, but hit a huge three pointer, then forced an uncharacteristic Wildcat turnover.     They called timeout, set up a play, and hit the winning bucket with 6 ticks on the clock.       I fully expected the Wildcats to hit the winning shot on the other end, but they didn't.      The Storm players went nuts after the final buzzer;  they'd lost to these same Wildcats by 12 in pool play.

And finally, I watched the Rams play in the semi-finals against the SF Jags and again in the 16U finals against DEBO.

As with the Wildcats, it's easy to predict what the Rams are going to do.    They press and attack and attempt to intimidate their opponents.     One observer noted that it always seems as if there are seven Rams players on the floor at any given moment.

And that's what they did against both the Jags and DEBO.

The Rams toasted the Jags, 51-26, then polished off DEBO 68-47.    Not one team played the Rams within 20 points.    I could describe the games, but you probably already get the point.

As far as rankings are concerned, now a better picture emerges.    Clearly, the Rams are the top team in Florida.   DEBO, SF Jags and Essence are battling for the #2 spot.    FGB, Comets Red and Breakdown are apparently third tier teams.

I base these rankings on the head to head matchups so far.    Jags beat Comets, Rams beat Jags.     FGB beat Breakdown, DEBO beat FGB.   Rams waxed them all.   

(I don't know why I have the Essence ranked; they haven't played anybody from Florida  yet.    I'm clearly ranking them on rep alone.    I've been on record as saying they don't really count in the in-state rankings.    Allow me this one hypocrisy.      I'll correct it on the back end.)