Monday morning quarter -- MMQ

Mr. B and his students all showing their Christmas colors -- Photo by Julie Quock.

• Monday Morning Quarterback

One who criticizes or passes judgment from a position of hindsight
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Welcome to Monday morning quarterback, even though this is being published in the late afternoon.

First, I'd like to thank everybody for the birthday wishes and especially Emily who hacked into my account to post a video of me. Very much appreciated by me, and a special thank you goes out to those who actually remembered the day without being reminded, and I guess, thanks to everyone who found out, and then wished me one anyways. So...now on to MMQ.

The one thing that stood out from this weekend was Timmy's big foul in the White Team's loss on Saturday. You will see more in Epic Video tomorrow when Timmy talks about it on Timmy's Corner, but what Timmy did was something that could've brought the 8th grade out of their funk, but it didn't.

Timmy didn't intentionally foul the guy, he was merely trying to strip the ball, but sometimes a play like that can rally a team, and the rest of his team failed to respond.

Right now, the White Team sits at (2-1) and still in a good position to make the playoffs. If they make it, are they going to be one and done like some of the previous teams who have made the playoffs, or will they be able to play their best game and then catapult themselves to the playoffs? If it's what they showed Saturday, their last game at St. Mary's will be a loss.

Calson was borderline great, so I'll say good, on Saturday. If you look at the highlights, his putback was what he should be doing. Using his size and long arms, while jumping, to put back a lay-up -- not the dreadful sight of his feet glued to the ground, hands above his hand like a soccer throw-in, trying to make a shot. He needs to do more of that.

Mark was held in check and scored only 4 points, after his career high 24. He was unable to get much going on the fast break as the other team was just as fast. His teammates need to run the lanes on the fast break better and get open.

Also, no help from anybody else on the team as nobody could hit an outside shot. They do a very poor job of moving without the ball, and they need to start cutting more and getting to areas on the court where they are able to hit shots.

6th Grade
Too bad there was no footage to see this game, but the 6th graders bounced back with a nice win after their stinker one week ago. Their record also sits at (2-1) three games into the season.

Just from hearsay and our 6th grade beat writer, the 6th graders missed a lot of make-able shots around the paint. My theory as to why they miss it is because they do not focus in practice when they go through the drill Louisville.

Louisville is one of the best drills for shooting, because you are constantly on the move and it emphasizes the catch and shoot aspect of basketball. I've seen many times at practice where they just jog through the drill, catch and just throw up a prayer. They don't focus on cutting hard to a spot, catching the ball, and really follow through with the shot. Come game time, it's missed shot after missed shot and those shots will come back to haunt them in tight games.

5th Grade
The 5th grade forfeited their paragraph in this week's MMQ.

Just so we have stuff to discuss for next week's MMQ, we will save the Red Team, 7th grade and 4th grade for a week from today.

Be on the lookout for Epic Video #4 tomorrow as well as highlights from the Christmas Show this last Friday. Until then...

Angels fly cause they take themselves lightly