News and Announcements
Parent Contact and Wooden Story
I want to thank parents for the many interactions we’ve had so far here at Vincennes. I’ve fairly satisfied with the effort and attitude of our players, and I’m quite thankful for them choosing to play basketball. Support of the boys has been strong, and I feel like we are headed in the right direction.
I don’t put many parameters on questions that parents ask as some coaches do. However, the general answer to “why isn’t my son playing more” is “I’m playing the guys I think give us the best chance to win…”
I’m always willing to discuss strengths and weaknesses of kids with their parents, but I never discuss anything about other kids. We’ve had a couple questions from parents about other kids in the program and that’s a “no go” area. That’s not meant to be mean or disrespectful. I just know you don’t want me talking to other parents about your kid.
There are going to be all sorts of rumors and innuendos flying around throughout the season, and social media gives voice to many who no one would listen to in person. I don’t care about any of that. We just keep plugging along.
As I preach to the boys…we “never get to high on the ups nor to low on the downs.”
In a related story….When I was a first year assistant coach at Martinsville, Indiana back in the late 80s, John Wooden returned to town because the high school was naming the gym after him. This was obviously a big deal and the whole week was covered by Sports Illustrated. As the low man on the coaching staff, I got to drive Coach W around town some, and I marveled over the many stories he recited about his life.
When asked at a coaching clinic how he managed to have such discipline on a team filled with egos and individuals, he came back with the following…“By George I had discipline…what I said went! If I said the bus was going to pull out at 6:30, the bus pulled out at 6:30…unless Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) wasn’t on board, then we left at 6:45.” He clarified that his point was that rules were made as guidelines. He was the leader, and he did what he thought was best for his team. He went on to say…"It doesn’t matter anyway, you’ll be criticized regardless of the decisions you make…Just be true to yourself. "
I’m certainly no John Wooden, but I’ve always respected him and his advice.
Interesting Article...memory Lane...
When looking over the internet for scouting information, I found this article…
It lists Evansville’s top high school basketball teams ever. Coming in at Number 1 were the Bosse Bulldogs of 1982. That happened to be my senior year at TH South. Interestingly, our game with them in the the semi-state is “that one game” that I still wake up from at night in a cold sweat!
In the semi-state final, we led the Bulldogs by 2 with :07 remaining on the clock and our best free-throw shooter was at the line with a one-on-one. (Remember, this is pre-3 point shot era). One make and we had punched our ticket back to Indy for the 4th time in 6 years.
He missed…badly. However, we just needed a stop to secure the win. USC commit Derek Dowell missed a jumper with 2 seconds remaining, but an acrobatic slap of the rebound sent the ball through the hoop to tie the game. We again had a shot at the buzzer in OT for the win, but it rolled out.
That year at South we were on the tail end of a minor dynasty…the Braves had been to the state finals three times in a row followed by a couple near misses. This was the one-class era, and signs of the end of that run were creeping in. We were pretty much overlooked in the early season, but most of us were the younger brothers of former stars for the Braves. We were just too dumb to know that we weren’t supposed to win. We also had a guard named David Conrady who was one of the best players I ever saw.
We lost 5 games that year…twice to Number 1 ranked Bosse (both games were given away), and once to the state’s early season Number 1 ranked Indianapolis Washington led by Myron Christian (another game that we led big but didn’t hold on).
Ironically, 1981 (the year Vincennes won the state) was the only year we did not travel to Roberts Stadium for semi-state during the 6 year run from 77-82. We were upset in the Regional by Brazil; we also knocked off the Alices at home during that campaign. (I’d be delighted to trade that regular season win for Lincoln’s state championship…I guess we just need to get another one together!)
It was a crazy year, and the memories have stayed with me throughout this journey. I hope our kids experience similar events! The Good Lord has blessed me in regard to many wins on the basketball court. However, it’s a couple losses that I seem to remember most!
I’m sure you’ve already figured this out, but many of the times I write these posts I’m on the road or in a difficult situation. However, I truly believe that communication works really well here. (Judging by the amount of hits the site got last night, I now likely have data that backs that assertion up!)
I push out information so quickly that typos are unfortunately the norm. Please ignore these errors. I always cringe the next day when I get to my computer and read the mistakes that invariably pop up.
I’m trying to recruit an editor to proof read copy prior to posting, but the salary hasn’t enticed anyone so far!
Be advised that I apologize for all typos!
Eventlink Instructions
The eventlink site looks to be very informative, but there are a couple things to know.
First, for practice schedules, junior varsity and varsity are paired together. To see schedule times and locations for JV and varsity, follow the varsity practice schedule.
However, for contests, make sure to follow each team separately. Obviously, the junior varsity start times will be earlier than the varsity tip-off times.
The freshman team has both its own practice schedule and game schedule.
Larry
Here’s a silly story…
I grew up in a kind of magical time in Terre Haute. ISU had America’s best gymnast (Kurt Thomas), wrestler (Bruce Baumgartner), and men’s basketball player (Larry Bird) at the same time. I was finishing junior high and beginning high school. I was also the younger brother of a pretty good (and very big) basketball player, so I got to tag along to all sorts of things. (My brother was 6’9" and 220lbs in the 9th grade).
Needless to say, I was also a Larry Bird fanatic. After Larry won his first championship with the Celtics, he came back to Terre Haute to help raise money for Kevin Thompson, a local star player who contracted cancer. Kevin was pegged to be Larry’s replacement at ISU; however, he was never able to play a game before being diagnosed and subsequently dying from the dreaded disease.
Early that summer Larry brought a whole cast of characters back to TH for for a couple weeks. They were going to play a benefit game to raise money for Kevin, so they started having open gym at the Terre Haute Boys Club. My brother, being a Butler player was invited to attend those workouts to fill out numbers, so I quickly tagged along to see if I could snag autographs.
Little did I know, Rick Robey, Jerry Sichting, and a league of college legends and NBA guys would want to bet Larry that he couldn’t win every game if they got to pick his team. To make a long story short, I found myself not only getting autographs, but also playing on Larry’s team for three or four days in a row.
Terrified didn’t accurately describe my emotional state!
A little context…This was the beginning of my hoops career. I was short, plump, offensive lineman on the football team before growing 8 inches one summer. At thins point, I had just decided to drop football and become a hoopster. I was in WAY over my head!
Anyway… to make a long story short… we never lost. I ran around and tried to grab every rebound. I also learned (the hard way) to never take my eyes off Larry. He’d be triple teamed and fire a bullet pass to me as I headed to the boards. After getting smashed in the face the third time, I learned to keep my hands up. I’d catch the ball … and throw it right back to him.
He was incredible.
After that experience, the light seemed to come on. I had a pretty solid high school career, ended up going to college for free, and being one of the better small college players in the district. All of that was done by simply trying to listen to anything Larry said.
Work ethic, desire, competitive spirit…he taught that it wasn’t about being pretty and acting like you could play. It was about being tough, refusing to rollover, and doing whatever it took to win.
Obviously, I never got anywhere near Larry in ability or success, but I learned a lot about life that’s served me well.
In coaching, one of the things I simply hate is the silliness that pretend players enact prior to games. The dancing, skit performances, and overall lameness that many teams promote makes me ill.
We don’t do it.
When people leave the gym after the game, I hope they talk about how hard we played. We may not always win, but I want our team respected for their basketball effort and sportsmanship. The last thing I want to hear is…“Did you see how funny those boys were during introductions?”… or “Wasn’t that cute the way they acted at the start of the game?”
My role models in coaching have been Wooden, Knight, Keady, and a plethora of others. All had the same understanding that this isn’t entertainment, this is a contest. It’s us against you. There’s not much room for anything else.
If you want to perform a skit, go be in the play.
Here’s a related article that I really like.
I hope this works…
