yes, another kids coaching story (Update: 2016-17 edition)

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

They discussed it, but as they go up through the grades they will play as separate teams, and the whole idea is to get each group of girls used to playing with each other.

Other schools (one in particular) in 'our school's' league have their own, in-house, biddy basketball leagues which begin operation in kindergarten (with Nerf ball on 6-foot rims). By the time organized inter-school league play begins in fifth grade, they often run away and hide since they usually have a full lineup of kids who have played four or five full seasons of organized ball while many kids at other schools (like ours) are playing their first 'real' basketball.

Another option which was briefly discussed was playing as one big humungous team -- which would have had 17-18 players, which would have resulted in each player getting about one quarter of playing time per game. That one was quickly shot down.

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

Douchebag parent update:

My sister got a call from one of the other coaches in the league (who she really didn't know from Adam) inquiring whether her team would be open to the idea of mixing lineups with the 'Big Girls' 3rd grade team from 'Our School' and making two combined 2nd/3rd grade teams for "the second half of the season."

The impetus for this bright idea is that the league plays every Saturday but the Feb. 15 weekend is an open week due to the President's Day holiday on Monday (schools are out and many families take a 3-day weekend out of town).

So presumably if the big shuffle was done after the games of Feb. 8 the reconstituted teams would be ready to go on Feb. 22 (it would also be the unofficial halfway point of the season -- most teams have 4 games before the break and 4 games after).

Sis said she was "very coolly noncommittal" to this dude (she's a lawyer, she's used to playing the bluffing game; in reality, she was flaming), although making it clear she was not much in favor of the idea. The guy rang off and said, "We'll talk to you more in a couple days."

Sis called three of the 6 other parents on "our team," presented the idea very matter-of-factly, and they were instantly and vehemently opposed -- it would mean all new practice schedules, game schedules, shoot car-pool arrangements out the window, etc etc. Two of the parents said flat out if such a move was put into effect, they would pull their daughter out of the program.

She then called the coach of the 'Big Girls' team -- he claims to have heard nothing at all about it. Ditto for the League Director, who said such a move would be 'highly unusual.'


=============

PS, it turns out Sis's helpful-caller guy is the coach of the team which smoked us in Game 1. Reportedly they have "won" their two other games by big scores (for those who have been keeping score). They play the 'Big Girls' on Feb. 22.

Uh huh. You betcha. : :

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

Dumbass/douchebag parent/coach update:

Coach of the "Big Girls" team calls Sis and he seems for a minute or two to be vaguely hinting that he thinks the 'team merging' plan might be a good idea.

(As noted in one of the marathon posts above, this dude is the dad of the best player on Sis's oldest daughter (Sis-12)'s 7th grade team.)

Sis says, "You realize this plan involves half of your 3rd grade players being replaced by half of my 2nd grade players?"

BG Coach says, "well two or three of your kids are probably good enough to play on my team."

Sis says, "I don't think the plan is supposed to be that you get all of my best players and I get all of your worst players."

BG Coach: "um, a humma, hummaa, uhhh, umm ... well, I kinda thought that was supposed to be the plan."

Sis: "Well, that's not MY plan. Why don't you call Helpful Caller Guy (the guy who apparently hatched the whole idea) and see what HIS plan is. I would certainly bet you good money his plan does NOT include you acquiring any players which are going to improve your team in any way, especially before you two undefeated guys match up on the court. His plan involves you trading off half of your good players for half my girls who have never touched a basketball before."

BG Coach, the light bulb apparently going on: "Oh." (Long pause.) "Maybe I'll give him a call."

Sis: "I'll save you the trouble. I have talked to the other 6 parents on our team and it is unanimous: if this plan or anything like it is put into effect, we all quit. We know this would completely screw up the rest of the league season, so we presume this is the last we will hear of this brilliant plan. Now here is MY plan: Everybody goes back to practice this week with all the players they have had on their team all along."

CLICK


: :

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

Let me add my story ...
Coaching Upward this year; two of my kids teams.
I am HC for the my youngest's kindergarten team. I signed him up this season to play to see if he would like it. So far, He does not like basketball. It's been a struggle with him. There are six other kids and an assistant.
The assistant's kid also plays - and like my son does NOT want to be there. He's not into it at all.
The assistant coach (divorce, or baby mama situation or whatever) ... If his kid is not at practice he leaves. We had pictures this week. He came into the gym, saw his kid wasn't there turned around and left. He didn't show up at last week's the game until after half time because he had a "long night," whatever that means.

My No. 2 kid's team ... 10 kids. I offered to assist, because they were short on coaches. It got so bad they had to go out and ask people to coach. The guy they got... He quit after the third practice. Texted me 10 minutes after practice started to tell me he wasn't doing it anymore because he claimed a parent cussed him. Sent his kid in with all the stuff. His kid .... Oh Jesus.
There's 10 kids on this team, including his son - another broken home situation. The kid has behavioral issue as well. And (I suspect) he has/had worms.
Anyway, his kid does not listen, and antagonizes the other players. Hits them runs into them, disrupts practice and the games. I was at my wits' end. I made him sit out about half of one practice because he wouldn't listen.
One of the parents volunteered to help me - which was awesome. But this kid is a handful.

I enjoy coaching - did it with my little brother's teams in middle school about a decade ago - but God Damn.. these broken home situations and fucked up kids are for the birds.

Anyway ....

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

Yoiks. Sis coaching her 2nd graders is crazy enough.

Out of 8 players on her team, I think about 5 have some remote idea of the object of the game (as in, you are only supposed to try to shoot at one basket), of which 2 are her daughters who have been watching their older sister and brother play since they were about 3.

I can't imagine what it's like coaching kindergartners. At that age I think playing dunk-em with Nerf balls on 5 foot high plastic hoops is good enough.


I've coached a couple kids over the years who were kind of disruptive, but I would draw the line at hitting/knocking down other kids. After about the second time it happened non-accidentally there has to be a talk with mommy or daddy whether Sonny Boy wants to stay on the team or not.

You don't want to dump slightly-troubled kids at the very first sign of any problems, but it's certainly not fair to the kids who come and play right to allow a bully to mess things up for everybody.

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

Quick update on Sis's continuing soap opera:

1) Her team played and lost Saturday, about 22-18 to what we think is about the 3rd place team in the 6-team league. Fell far behind early and closed it up late.

2) The other two games included blowout wins by Mr. Helpful Caller Guy's and The Big Girls. The Big Girls won by what I guess was a really fearsome score (something like 38-4) while Helpful Caller Guy won 22-8 or thereabouts. So that leaves both juggernaut teams with 4-0 records (theoretically) heading into next week's world-shaking showdown.

After the game Helpful Caller Guy was heard harrumphing in the stands about how unfair it is The Big Girls have an all 3rd-grade roster.

Since his abortive attempt to get the league to merge The Big Girls in with Sis's team to make two mixed (and presumably mediocre) 2nd-3rd grade teams fell flat when Sis stonewalled it, apparently he's just going to piss and moan about it the rest of the season.

At one point one of the parents on our team pointed out, rather archly, "I thought nobody was supposed to be keeping score in these games."

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

OK, LTL jogged my memory on the main page so here we go with an agate-capsule update:

1) The two juggernaut teams played Saturday, with The Big Girls taking (reportedly) a 28-22 win over Helpful Caller Guy. Again much grumping about how "unfair" it all was. Sis plays THCG next week and he could be looking for payback for her derailing his scheme for ultimate glory. (Considering it was something like 21-3 first time they played in the season opener, god have mercy.)

2) This week Sis played a team she hadn't seen before whose coach said they had "won most of their games." (Mathematically we don't think this is too possible.) : She THINKS we won by a basket, 24-22, scoring the winning points on the same trademarked inbounds play I used coaching her as a player some 30 years ago. (The other coach thought it was a tie.)

3) That inbounds play is essentially a version of the 'picket fence' play where 3 kids run across the lane and the 4th kid comes straight down for the inbounds pass and (hopefully) a layup. In somewhat more-grown-up basketball where you are really trying to win, you usually put your best driver/shooter in that No. 4 slot, but Sis has been using it to get either of the 2 kids on her roster who hadn't yet scored all season an open shot at the basket. And holy hell, it worked; the kids ran it right, the kid who hadn't scored got a wide-open shot, made it, and "won" the game.

4) The twins, Sis A and Sis B, had great games, combining for 14 of the team's 24 points. Each made a free throw, believed to be something of a historic event in this league (where the overall FT% is something like 9%). Sis B, the better point guard, had the assist on the winning basket. All by themselves, they have worked out a deal where they do a jump switch on defense any time opposing players do any kind of crossing move (usually devastating in kids hoops). Sis A, who has been somewhat overshadowed on offense, suddenly exhibited a completely heretofore-unknown speed dribble with her left hand (another near nuclear-level weapon in the kiddie leagues).

5) The next day (Sunday) was going to be Sis's 40th birthday. The twins worked out a plan to dump the Gatorade/water bucket on her head after the game but wiser heads (like me) prevailed against this idea. One of the other team moms made cupcakes for the postgame chow-down.

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

In response to absolutely infinitesimal demand, here's an update from the Starville Youth Basketball League:

LAST week, Sis played Helpful Caller Guy, who was still grumping and grousing about 'how unfair' it was he had to play against the all-3rd grade lineup of The Big Girls, and how he was 'still thinking of doing something about it.'

In the 'pregame coaches' meeting' at halfcourt (you know, where the coaches stand there and trade lies about how their teams are doing), Helpful Caller Guy grumbled to Sis, "we're probably out of the race for the championship, we lost to your buddies with the all-3rd-grade roster and nobody else is going to beat them," to which Sis responded, deadpan, "oh really? I thought they weren't even keeping score in these games."

Helpful Caller Guy (who beat Sis 21-3 in the season opener) said, "Yeah, I am sure that's the way SOME PARENTS (very sarcastically) want to keep it." : :

Sis comes to the bench and leans over to her helpful brother sitting in the first row behind. "Oh boy, we're in a world of shit now," she whispers.

Due to the mandatory playing/sitting rules, Sis opens the game with her original point guard from Game 1 back at the point (in the ensuing weeks, she has mainly transitioned into a shooting/rebounding forward) and the twins, Sis A and Sis B, sitting out their mandatory quarter.

The action pretty much mirrors Game 1, with PG1 getting the ball stolen at halfcourt about a half-dozen times, and THCG rolling out to a 14-2 lead at the end of the quarter. Helpful Caller Guy the coach himself is up, fist-pumping, yelling, "keep it up," etc etc etc as the lead rolls into double digits.

Quarter 2 starts with THCG knocking a rebound out of bounds under our offensive basket. Sis B, now the point, shouts out "LINEUP" for the inbounds play. Badda bing, badda boom, basket.

THCG brings the ball upcourt, and the twins do their 'scissors switch' -- a running switch where they crisscross defensive assignments just as the dribbler reaches halfcourt -- and immediately begin just picking them clean on every possession.

When it gets to 14-10 HCG calls time out and actually yells Bobby Knight-style at the players (pretty much unheard-of in this league). "They're stealing it every time!! Can't anybody dribble the ball?," to which the answer is, "but coach, they're coming from behind me! I can't see them coming! I turn around and they steal it!"

This suddenly sets off HCG on the premise that the switch is an illegal zone, that the twins are actually double-teaming the dribbler, plus illegally pressing. They're not -- they make the switch when the dribbler is still about two steps in the backcourt, then pounce when the ball comes over -- but he won't give up on it. We score again to close it to 14-12.

The next couple times upcourt HCG, standing on the sideline, starts yelling at the twins. "You can't switch players on defense. You have to stay on one player," he says, and at least the first time, it works, they stay put, and THCG actually manages to advance the ball to the free throw line, get a shot off, and start playing volleyball on the boards and score to make it 16-12.

Sis blows her cork (or as close to it as I've seen any coach in this league). She calls time out and huddles the team, and says, "You don't listen to one dang word that guy says. He's not your coach. **I'M** your coach. If you want to switch, switch. If they can't keep from getting the ball stolen, it's not our dang problem."

Then Sis buttonholes the refs and says, "I know this is supposed to be a happy-happy joy-joy cupcakes-and-cookies-for-everyone league and everything is supposed to be all in fun, but my players don't need to be taking orders from the opposing coach."

Helpful Guy, a few feet away on his own bench, butts in helpfully, "Oh I am just trying to educate them, you know? Those switches are illegal. Somebody should really tell them."

Sis snaps back, "Oh I think we can just let the refs decide what's illegal or not, don't you?" (nodding to both officials). "They've heard you crying all game long that it's illegal defense and they say it isn't, I think I will go along with them as far as what's legal or not."

The refs say, "OK, that's enough. No more crying over what's an illegal defense or not. And no more coaches attempting to deceive players on the other team."

Happily the half ends a couple possessions later at 16-12. The third quarter is the 'shuffle' quarter for us where each player has to sit out half the period (both teams are really burning off all the sit-out requirements) and HCG pulls back in front 20-14.

In the fourth quarter, with all the mandatory sit-out quarters finished, Sis can finally play her theoretical starting lineup, and with 2 minutes left we move into a 23-22 lead. HCG, with a ghastly panic-stricken look on his face (i mean holy hell, the runnerup position in the no-official-score 2nd grade kiddie city rec league was slipping out of his grasp before his very eyes!! ), finally has his all-big lineup in the game, with height advantages of 6 inches to a foot across every position.

They convert a couple of offensive rebound baskets in the final minute, canning the second in the final 10 seconds as the clock runs out at 26-23. Helpful Guy is cheery and jovial in the postgame handshake line, "great game, eh? We were really getting a little carried away there!!"

: :

After everyone cools down a little from the game, Sis feels pretty good: Another player scored, cutting the number of players on the team who hadn't scored for the season to two, and overall our balance was great, with 3 players with 6 points each. And, of course, cutting your losing margin from 21-3 to 26-23 certainly qualfies as progress).

THIS week -- less drama for a shorter recap.

Rematch with the team Sis beat in Week 2, 24-19.

Our Original Point Guard, our leading scorer, was off at grandma's house for the weekend, so that left us semi-shorthanded, but the team manages to make up for it with a 28-20 win which was actually much more of a rout (we led 26-14 entering the fourth quarter). We spend the entire fourth quarter trying to feed the two kids who hadn't scored, and one of them does get on the board with a basket. Sis A, the 'defensive specialist' of the twins, leads the way with 12, Sis B adds 8, and four of the other five players dressed add a basket each.

Next week, end of the season with a bright and sunshiny 8:20 a.m. tipoff, and a rematch with The Big Girls.

Sis-12, the twins' older sister, is on a volleyball team along with another daughter of The Big Girls' dad-coach.

At a volleyball tournament later Saturday, sitting in the stands, Mr. BG Dad and Sis are just absently gossiping. "How did you guys do this week," Sis asks. "Aww, we had four kids out of town for gymnastics or swimming or some other stuff, I can't even keep track," he says. "We only had five kids show up for the game, one got hurt in the first quarter and one fouled out," and Sis says, "So how did you do?"

"Oh, we won, 25-15 or something like that," he said.

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story

And in the end...

Season finale at an eyelid-drooping 8 a.m. (requiring me to roll out of bed at 6 a.m. to make the 90-mile drive) against the Big Girls, the undefeated league champions (barring an astonishing upset which, non-spoiler alert, is not to be).

The Big Girls roll into a 14-4 lead at halftime with "LeBron" (the coach's 5-foot-2 G/F/C daughter) scoring 10 of the points.

The second half turns into a run and gun scorefest on both sides. "LeBron" continues her one-girl show with 14 more points, setting a league season-high with 24 points. For Sis, Point Guard 1, her orginal point guard, gets hot and finshes with 10 points, while both twins finish with 4 points each (and also two real-live certifiable assists each, undoubtedly a world record in a 2nd/3rd-grade league game). The final margin pumps out to 32-22.

With 3 seconds left in the game, we get the ball under our offensive basket. Sis calls time out and calls her one and only inbounds play. "Annie," the only girl who hasn't scored all year (about 3-feet-6 and can barely throw the ball up to the rim), is put at the 'runner' position (the kid swinging around the picket fence and straight toward the hoop for a layup). Sis B, the best passer and by now the real floor leader of the team, is the inbounds passer.

Bing, bang, break, pass, layup, score, chaos. "Annie" is carried off the court.

Cupcakes and Kool-aid after the game. Which doesn't end well after the first kid rubs icing on the next kid's nose and matters escalate quickly.

Sis hands out golden (colored) trophies to every member of the team. Everybody gets a trophy!!

 

Re: yes, another kids coaching story 1sr-Ld Writethru/Season Wrap

Epilogue/Postscript:

After both teams finish mopping up cupcake icing/spilled koolaid from the floor at the kiddie basketball venue, the entire Star nuclear family piles into the minivan and scoots crosstown where Sis-12 (the older sister of the twins on the b-ball team) is playing in the CYL 7th/8th volleyball tournament.

When we walk in, who is sitting in the stands but Mr. BigGirls, coach of the team which just smushed Sis in the kiddie hoops game, who also has a daughter on the volleyball team. Three other volleyball parents also have kids on one or the other's basketball squads.

Sis sits down next to Mr. BG and gets some juicy basketball tidbits:

1. His daughter, "LeBron," the superstar who just dominated the city rec league, also plays 'up' a grade on a 4th-grade regional winter league, not quite a 'travel league' but definitely a much more organized deal than the city rec loop -- they keep score with running scoreboards and stopping clocks and everything. He says to Sis that her 3 best players (the twins and PG #1) are good enough to play in that league and they should think about it next season. (Quick detail: Mr. BG is about 6-5 and his 8th grade daughter is 5-11, so it's a pretty good bet "LeBron" will develop into a C/F in years ahead.)

2. He said Helpful Caller Guy has still been grumbling and grouching about 'unfairness,' but his (HCG) daughter is a 3rd grader so she -- and he -- will move up to the 4th grade league next season, so most likely his interest in how the 2nd/3rd grade league runs its show will evaporate.

3. He said when they played Mr. Helpful Caller Guy, "the final was 28-20, but I sat my daughter out two entire quarters (including the fourth) she had twisted an ankle playing on her winter league team the day before, and it was 24-10 going into the final quarter."

4. He says "LeBron's" class at school has only about 7-8 girls in it who appear to have any real interest in playing basketball. There were a couple who did not play, and he said he "really tried to recruit them" onto the rec team, but according to the kids themselves and their parents, they just didn't want to play. He said one or two of the girls who DID play, "are the type of kids who may not be playing basketball in two years" (ballet, gymnastics, swimming).

5. This is a relevant topic since the school begins organized CYL play in 5th grade, and in order to equalize PT, the 5th/6th grades the league has a 'squad rule' requiring that all teams must be divided into two equal squads of 5 or more players, each of which may only play in two quarters.

There are a bunch of technical points and exceptions and provisions which are way too long to go into here, but the main point is if you have fewer than 10 players on your team, making it impossible to divide into equal squads, the opposing coach gets to specify which of your players get to (or more accurately, are forced to) play more than two quarters. So as a result, opposing coaches invariably pick the worst players on the team, and bottom line it is pretty much a disaster if your team has fewer than 10 players on the roster.

So Mr. BG comes out with it, "In a couple of years when my daughter is in 5th grade and your kids are in 4th, we will probably need to bring up 3-4 kids from 4th grade to have a full roster."

"Mmmmm-hmmm," says Sis.

In the stands a few rows away, the twins and "LeBron" are playing videos on mom's cellphone.

 

Rather than start up a new thread on the same topic, I decided to go back and dig up this one from last year as the new season approaches.

StarSis is coaching twins Sis A and Sis B again, and she has 7 of the 9 players on last season's roster back too. And the much-anticipated age breakdown comes into play: this year her team is all 3rd graders (in the split 2nd/3rd grade league). Since Sis's team was the only all-2nd grade team last year, the educated guess is they're probably the only all-3rd grade squad in the league this season.

They got together a couple weeks ago and have had three practices. To her considerable shock, Sis said the kids mostly remembered their one set play from last season.

Two players from last year's team didn't come out -- they are involved in swimming and gymnastics. One was the 'Original Point Guard,' who ended up the season as the No. 2 scorer.

There are two new players (both from outside schools); one has hardly ever played, but the other, in the words of Sis, "is a freakin' lightning bolt." Apparently the new kid can't shoot for diddly -- and never passes -- but she can steal the ball and break away from the pack as well or better than the twins, so she'll be shooting a lot of breakaway layups.

One thing remains the same; they have no size whatsoever. All 9 players are within about 3 inches of each other in height. So again they'll have to go with a pressing/swarming style (the league doesn't allow fullcourt pressing, but halfcourt is OK).

The size disadvantage only really killed them in 2-3 games last year, including the two games against the all-3rd grade 'Big Girls' team (now moved up to the 4th grade league), so it probably shouldn't be a deal-breaker this year.

This year, Sis is introducing actual numbered positions (1-5); last year she just had "guards" and "forwards." While Sophie, the new kid, will get the ball a lot by sheer speed, she literally never passes, so Sis is leaning toward putting her primarily at the 2-guard position where the whole idea will be she will shoot every time she gets it.

They get a couple more practices before Christmas break and then tip off the season on Jan. 10. Wednesday night they're going to vote on a team name and colors. Last year they had no team name, so in huddles, it was always, "yay, uhhh .. team," and Sis thinks it will be better if they have a team name of some kind. (Early polls have some variety of jumping cat as the likely winner.)

The league issues (well, sells) each player a reversible (and awful-looking) red/blue tank top, which is usually used as game uniforms (so every other game you are either red or blue). One of Sis's law clients is a guy who runs a T-shirt shop and she's going to pull a deal to get the team their own uniforms in their own colors.

Douchebag coach update: Sis is pretty sure Helpful Caller Guy has moved up with his daughter to the 4th grade league. One can only hope.

 

Well, the "Power Pandas" opened the season Saturday morning at 9:15 a.m., and after a 90-mile crawl on glazed ice to see the game, I can report a few items of note:

1) The initial impression (or maybe forlorn hope) I get is the douchebag coach/parent problem will be dramatically reduced this year. Although maybe we just lucked out with the draw in game 1.

2) The unofficial prohibition against keeping score is being flouted more than ever. Parents of both teams spent the whole game cross checking the score with each other.

3) Thankfully for the 9:15 a.m. games, the prohibition against food and drink (i.e. coffee) in the gym is being flouted as well.

4) Coach StarSis reported the 7 returning players from last year picked up their one inbounds play from last year pretty well, and one of the two newcomers seems to have pretty good court sense for a 9-year-old. They also seem to have retained the idea of defense pretty well too.

5) Before the game, Sis A and Sis B recognized three players on the other team as softball teammates from last summer (fairly decent ones, too, including one big strong girl pushing 5 feet). Thus the game figured to be reasonably evenly matched.

6) With 9 players on the roster, StarSis will have to work to distribute PT equitably, and figured out a rotation system which equalizes everything down to the last 3 minutes.

7) Breaking the huddle with a shout of, "1-2-3 Panda Power!!" does seem to have more dramatic impact than, "Uhhh... ok, go team!"

8) The game started with the customary 5x5 lineup at halfcourt for everybody to pick out their defensive opponents and the customary confusion of the opponents on how to tell the still-utterly-identical Sis A and Sis B apart. The opponents won the tip behind their Shaq-ish 5-footer, came down, got a shot up, played volleyball on the boards, and on the 4th or 5th rebound/tip attempt, "Shaq" dumped in the bucket; 0-2.

9) Sis B, the primary point guard, brought the ball up and quickly cris-crossed with Sis A. Both defenders were caught in the wash and Sis B had an open drive to the hoop. She dumps off to Sophie, the hot-shot newcomer, who rattles in a shot off the board, 2-2.

10) The Pandas set up their defense. Instead of slapping the floor Dook-style, they line up at the midcourt line (the limit for defense in this league) shout "Pandas!!," and each player points straight at their respective defensive opponent as they come upcourt, gunslinger-style. It did seem to freak out the opponents somewhat and also eliminated more or less completely offensive players running upcourt completely free.

11) Although the opponents' "Shaq" was still able to play volleyball on the boards, that was pretty much all they had, team-wise. The PowerPandas started picking them clean at halfcourt and the game quickly turned into a layup parade, 12-2 at half.

12) Playing time balancing limited the amount of time the twins could play together; they were only slated to play the first 3 and the last 3 minutes of the game on the floor at the same time. By the time the final 3 minutes arrived it was 25-9 and StarSis was busy calling inbounds plays to make sure her "last" player from last season, who didn't get into the scorebook until the final game, got a chance to score (she didn't make a shot Saturday, but she did get 3 chances as the shooter on the inbounds play).

13) Early in the 2nd quarter, the opposing coach made the trenchant observation, "Hey, they do the same thing on inbounds plays every time." True enough, but the key thing is, they do it RIGHT. During the game, they ran the same baseline out of bounds play 14 times, got 12 shots at the basket, and made 9 of them (including tipback rebounds -- at 3rd grade level you have to consider a possession a success if a kid gets a shot, misses and then throws in the rebound).

14) Each team made 1 of 2 free throws -- a landmark achievement in a league where the FT% has to hover somewhere around 25%. The Pandas' free throw scorer was the 'new girl' who apparently had never played basketball before.

15) In the second half, as the margin got up near 20, StarSis had to confront the eternal RUTS question. She pulled the defense back from the halfcourt stripe to the 3-point circle and said, "no more reaching to steal passes, but if they throw it right in your lap, go ahead."

16) The twins, combined, had 6-7 assists -- StarSis paired each of them with a girl who likes to drive-and-shoot and each of the combos busted loose for 3-4 baskets. Plus they each had a couple assists on the magical "Lineup" inbounds play. Neither scored but both got several decent shots and it didn't matter as the lead balooned. In all, 6 of the 9 players scored.

(After the game, Sis confided in me, "I'm fine that the twins didn't score; at least I know we have one parent who won't bitch their kid isn't getting enough points.")

17) In the final seconds, with the margin at 29-9, the refs hurriedly awarded a throw-in for the Pandas at midcourt. With the clock running down in the final 5 seconds, Sis B takes the pass, drives, pulls up and tosses in a driving 12-foot semi-jumper; by far the best shot of the game. In the wrong basket, as the buzzer went off, making the final unofficial 'theoretical' score 29-11.

Vegas wept (the pregame line was --19.5).

Sis A gleefully pointed out her twin had done the same thing in the first game last year (scored in the wrong basket). It seemed to be a lot more fun this time.