Today is Saturday

It was a very weird Saturday to say the least. Despite coming out of it with two wins and three losses, it feels like our teams today collectively didn't play at our best and were not prepared.

3rd Grade
3rd grade finished their season with a 14-4 loss. They are simply outmatched right now, as many 3rd grade teams are, as the divisions are a toss-up at the 3rd grade level. They are getting shots, but the little things like grabbing onto a ball, making lay-ups are missing. With more experience, they should be fine.

8th Grade
The 8th grade (5-3) are slumping at the wrong time, as they have lost two straight, backpedaling into the playoffs. They were in the second spot, just a few days ago, and now they have slipped into the fourth and final spot. They lost 31-28 today. The effort was there from most of the players on the team, but when you don't have everybody on the same page, you can't expect to win games. You're only as good as your weakest player.

7th Grade
7th grade picked up a very sloppy win today 44-39 in their final game of the season. They finish the season (7-1) and win their division. They are the number one seed going into the playoffs.

The game itself was all over the place, and it took more than an hour to finish. And from what I saw, although parents, coaches and players will more than likely disagree, the referees were not that bad. There were a lot of fouls called today, some that should've and shouldn't have been called, but the 7th grade put themselves in a lot of positions where fouls were called.

They were reaching for the ball, not moving their feet, 50 feet away from the basket. Any time you do that, you're asking for a foul to be called. Move your feet, have your hands straight up, you won't get called for a foul.

The refs missed their share of traveling calls on both teams. Were the refs terrible? No. Were they great? No. And we'll leave it at that.

6th Grade
The 6th grade lead 11-0 at halftime and probably thought the game was over. They were outscored 13-7 in the second half, but still hung on to win, and improve to (6-2) on the season. They are playoff bound and are the number three seed in their division.

5th/6th Grade
The 5th/6th grade team beat the team they played before today, and they more than likely overlooked the opposition, as they lost 22-19 in their final game of the season. Despite their drastic improvement, today's mistakes showed why they are (2-6) and not (4-4). Too many turnovers, the same ones, over and over, lost the game for them. They had a lot of layups that shouldn't have been missed, and in a three point game, those baskets will hurt.

Even though they lost their last four games, this team should be ready to hit the next level. They are better than what they showed today, and they will be the first ones to admit it. Much to look forward to next season.

Practices for tomorrow are listed in previous posts...Have a fantastic Saturday evening.