WOW, what a game!!

[BE]

Being starved for good high school competition, I took the family to watch a homecoming basketball game between 2008 state champions Laneville and defending champs Slocum. It was the first district meeting between the two powerhouses this season, and what a treat it was.
The crowd was packed into the Laneville gym like sardines, literally. The gatekeeper was reluctant to take our money fearing the lack of standing space available,but I thought how many folks go to a class A basketball game on a Sat. night. The answer---everyone. Refusing to get a refund and disappoint the kids, we carved out a nook on the far wall under the 10,000 watt speakers some three feet from the sideline. You can imagine what my wife was thinking sitting across the floor from hundreds of crazed basketball fans only inches from the court beneath the loudest rendition of "Pants on the Floor" imaginable. We had a fantastic view of both the game and the fans. The old gym had bleachers on only one side, therefore both teams' fans sat together separated only by the entrance to the court.

The game quickly developed into the best display of class A basketball I have seen in years, maybe ever. The only game close would be the 2006 playoff game between Nazareth and Paducah in Levelland.
Both teams had incredible guards possessing lightning quick hand and foot speed. They made Waelder,the team that knocked us out of the playoffs in '07 and '08, seem slow in comparison. Each team had their own unique strategies, but both executed their plans with amazing zip and confidence. Laneville's players relied on constant defensive pressure and eye-numbing paint penetration on offense. Slocum had identical slashing guard play and one of the best small post I have ever had the privilege of watching. Maybe 6' 2", his abilities were more like those of a seven footer. Laneville shredded the opponents man-to-man throughout the first half. Slocum refused to play zone until the start of the second half, a move that seemed to surprise the Laneville guards. The Slocum 2-3 zone ( looked like a 1-3-1 sometimes) slowly began to limit the Laneville inside play. The lead started to build for Slocum late in the third despite missing five freethrows and two layups in a row.

One minute into the fourth quarter and the defending champs explode to a fifteen point lead. I have no idea how they accomplished this lead. The game moved so quickly during that stretch that all I can recall is several long threes and a couple of brilliant putbacks right on the rim. I didn't realize the big lead until Laneville called a timeout after one of their best players was called for a technical for throwing an elbow into the chin of one of the Mustang players. Final score was something like 68 to 53, not positive because we left with a little over one minute to play so we could beat the traffic jam.

The game was thrilling and we can't wait for the rematch in Slocum.
The most amazing thing about these two teams is their lack of size. As I already mentioned, Slocum's tallest player was probably 6'2", and after him they had a 6'1 player and the rest were from 5'9 to 5'11. Laneville was similar, maybe their two tallest were 6'3 and 6'2, but then they dropped off to the same heighths as their opponents.

The things that separated those two teams from all those I have seen in the past was their extreme quickness and ability to take the ball to the hole despite intense defensive pressure, in your face and on your hip tight pressure. Every player on the floor except maybe one on each team had no doubts about attacking the basket with or without the dribble. The winners may have been better three point shooters, however. Laneville's boys had a slight jumping advantage. In addition, Laneville used tough full and half court trapping presses...until the end of the third when Slocum destroyed both with backside passing leading to easy baskets.

These two teams played the same type ball as the Dallas Madison and Argyle teams of last year. Of course they wouldn't beat them mainly because of the heighth difference on the inside, but they would be good games. Madison had several players over 6'5 and Argyle had two posts listed at 6'6 and 6'5. Argyle's best player was a 6'3" point guard who could shoot the three, penetrate and dunk if the opp presented itself.
I watched Jim Ned play Navasota in the Whataburger Classic this year and have little doubt that both could be beaten by Slocum and Laneville.

 

[CoachA]

Coach Bleiker at Rule and I can both attest to the "joy" of playing Laneville. Coach Nichols there does such a great job with his kids and they play just as you described.

Crazy thing about that district is that in 2007 Laneville finished runner up to Tenaha and then beat Tenaha to go to Austin where they beat us and lost to Naz in the finals. 2008 Laneville finished runner up again, and this time made it to Austin and won the whole thing. 2009 Slocum finished runner up to Laneville and then beat Laneville to get to Austin and won the title.

Maybe Laneville is just setting themselves up for another title?

 

[BE]

I've watched Slocum twice now and they are one of those teams that does not impress you in the pregame warmup. Both Oakwood and Laneville portrayed eyecatching warmups from their court entrance throughout their shoot around and freethrows. Those two practically sprint around the floor chanting and thumping a ball in each player's arms doing their best to intimidate the opponent and electrify the crowd. And it works, at least with me. At Laneville I found myself feeling sorry for the motley-looking Slocum bunch. They came onto the court two different ways in the games I attended. At home against O' they jogged on and into their layups...no pomp or show of any kind. At Laneville they simply walked out of the dressingroom over to the ball rack and started shooting freethrows...must have shot 15 or 20 before going into their layups. And only seven or eight boys shot freethrows, everyone else rebounded.
Both O' and Laneville had NBA type team breaks at least twice before the start of the games. Slocum did one at home but can't recall one at Laneville.

All of Laneville's kids were the typical basketball looking players. Other than one post, #5, they were all lean, long and hungry looking. #5 was built more like a football player with thick legs, chest and shoulders. O' had a combo of heavy and lanky players. Their best player was a 6'5" all-around jumpingjack who could slash and drive or shoot the long three. He must have had three or four dunks, too.
In contrast was the unimpressive physiques of the Slocum boys. Their best post was more like a defensive end with broad shoulders. They had a salty point guard who began every game on the left wing who was muscled like a runningback. His blond hair was cut short and moosed straight towards the roof making him appear taller than he was. This kid was quick, strong and could leap out of the gym. He had two gorgeous putbacks against Laneville with both hands over the rim. He might stand 5'10" tall. They had another kid who at first appearance looked totally out of his element. He looked like he would be more comfortable in AG. class than on the court. He had knock knees with one foot turned slightly inward, oversize thighs and a slight puge. His ability lay hidden until the game began. Another guard was constructed like a runningback with big arms and stocky legs. This kid could also jump to the clouds, but his skin was so fair it looked as if he had never been in the sun. Their last two main players were skinny and anemic in appearance with bleached out skin and curly blond hair. Both could shoot the three from anywhere and played man-size defense.

Slocum's kids reminded me of the type kids Roscoe had last year...totally unimpressive looking in comparison to their opponents. I never saw them play, but Tyler described them that way. A lady at the O' game said that their next big test would be against Neches. She also said that there are no patsy teams in their district, and that any of their teams could win most regionals anywhere else in the state. I may believe her. I asked her who had beaten Slocum to date. Apparently Laneville, and a couple of 2-A schools have gotten the best of them in a couple of tournaments.

 

[BE]

I drove over to Slocum last night to watch the district closer between Slocum and Laneville. The jv teams played as well. The teams split the wins with Laneville winning the varsity game and inflicting the first district loss on Slocum. Laneville has two loses, one to Slocum and the other to Neches so the Mustangs are district champs.

Laneville benefitted from the return of one of their senior guards who missed the first match with Slocum. Apparently his return from a wrist injury was the difference...Laneville slaughtered the hapless Mustangs by 30 points, i think, i left with 3:45 left and Slocum funneling in five substitutes. It was a spanking of the truest form. I played the game over in my head until 3:00 am and finally realized the reason for the obvious blowout. Laneville made a subtle change with their fullcourt press that took advantage of one little Mustang weakness. In both the jv and varsity games Slocum used a sideline pressbreak approach. In the backcourt the Mustangs used two players to move the ball upcourt with three players stationed in the frontcourt at each deep corner and the freethrow line. After the throwin either the receiving guard or the throwin guard dribbled the ball down the sideline and passing the ball across the midcourt line just before the trap was set. But unlike their first game at Laneville's regulation size floor, using Slocum's shorter court the Laneville team used three in the backcourt and two in the front to cause tons of pressure and turnovers. I'll describe in reverse. To cover the two corner players one defender was used, while the man at the freethrow line was played tight man. But here was the key...Laneville used two of their quickest players on the ball trying to deny the sideline alley to the ballhandler, and if that failed they kept both men on the ball. The third backcourt presser played the second Mustang guard who trailed the ballhandler way to deep. As a result the third presser split the difference between his backcourt man and the center of the court and parallel to the ball. So basically Laneville used a three-on-one advantage in the backcourt and used that pressure to prevent the ballhandler from locating the backside cornerman down court. In addition, the other guard was out of play by being too far behind his teammate with the ball. Laneville was playing a 5 versus 3 press almost everytime down court. Slocum's second guard and backside corner man rarely assissted their pressbreak. Despite missing almost every freethrow Laneville turned a 17-12 halftime lad into a 46-22 end of the third lead.
Laneville looked like a pack of sharks in a feeding frenzy in the second half. They out rebounded, outhustled and outcoached Slocum all night. I sat next to some Laneville teachers who once coached there and they talked all night how Slocum's coach was the most brilliant coach in that area and how he had outcoached their coach over the past two years, despite holding a two and two record over the past four games.

If last night was the real Laneville team, I don't see anyone beating them before a team like Nazareth runs into them at the state tournament.
Their explosive quickness made my eyes tired and my head swirl. They seemed empervious to fatigue. Slocum will have to design a plan-B before they face Laneville again, just in case.

It was only Slocum's seventh home loss with that group of three seniors in the last four years, four of those to the Laneville team. Slocum's senior class was 46-6 at home entering that game, and 101 and 15 overall in four years.
Three of Laneville's four seniors have started since they were sophomores.
Laneville's most obvious weakness is their quick loss of composure and tendency to lash out at their opponents when they drop behind on the scoreboard. I saw three of their players visibly frustrated and lashing out at opposing players and officials. That could be their downfall in the playoffs, but I don't see them losing to anyone before the state tournament in March.

 

[Old Bearkat]

Sounds like Laneville can be beaten by a calm methodical team that has the athletes good enough to break their press. Lipan???

 

[BE]

They are beatable. They are short and short tempered. But if they get a lead they turn into killers. At the start of the third they must have hit six threes in a row. However, their freethrow shooting is horrendous. In fact I only recall them making two freethrows the entire game and probably attempted twenty. But that quickness and competitive passion was limitless in the second half. They were a machine :!: :!:

Honestly, Slocum appeared somewhat overconfident. They had beaten Laneville two consecutive games, and their JV had just won a double overtime thriller with their best player fouled out early in the fourth. During the overtimes some of their players sat in the bleachers with lots of girls hanging around them. Laneville remained in the dressingroom the entire time.

I believe that all Slocum needed was a simple pressbreak and Laneville loses 50% of their game plan. We'll see what kind of coach he is in the finals of the Regional tournament, again.

 

[BE]

I spoke to one of the assistant coaches at Laneville and one of the questions I asked him was what they thought about the freethrow shooting performance against Slocum. He said something very interesting. He said that with the type of kids they had there if a game came down to freethrows they had done several things miserably wrong throughout the game and they were probably going to get beat anyway. :shock:
He explained that their philosophy was to control and win the game long before the last four minutes arrived, by relying on pressure, passion and domination in the paint. :shock:
He also said that freethrows are primarily a matter of focus and attitude, but that they would rather address and perfect the dynamics that occur during the entire game, not just those few moments when freethrows are the determining factor. They did encourage their players to shoot as many freethrows on their own as possible, and that most of them did at home and throughout the school day when possible...before class and at lunch. :idea:
In a nutshell they teach their kids to win the little battles throughout the game that determine the winner before the end arrives, and that emphasizing freethrows was the wrong state of mind for their team...they never wanted their kids to feel they needed to play "not to lose", but rather to dominate and win the game during the first three and a half quarters. 8)

There is one possible gameplan to beat them---stay close enough to force the game to be determined in the last four minutes with fewer team fouls and better freethrow shooting. They are going to foul you, alot. And two or three of their players have no reluctance in using intimidation and an occasional elbow as they cut by your players. :shock:
Does anyone remember how the 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack upset the N. Carolina Tarheels who had two guys named Jordan and Perkins, then upset the Phi Slamma Jamma Houston Cougar juggurnaut led by Akeem Olajuwon and that future Portland Trailblazer. Anything is possible!

Slocum players were masters at taking the charge when they played at Laneville, but I noticed at their place the coach chewed his players out several times for not setting themselves in the lane. They had many opportunities to do so.