Double Game Report!: Tulsa and Nashville advance to face each other in gold ball round

St Louis couldn't quite run down
Tulsa NOAH Tuesday

When I saw the tournament brackets, I circled a possible Wednesday night Class 5A gold ball championship game between the two top seeds, Tulsa NOAH and Nashville.  Well, after two fantastic semifinal games, I'll get the game I anticipated.  But the road to Wednesday's round was not easy.




After jumping out to a 21-10 advantage over the St Louis Blue Knights, Tulsa saw its lead shrink to 1 (31-30) near the end of the third quarter.  A late flurry gave NOAH the win, but it was certainly hard fought.  And Nashville trailed OKC Storm North 30-19 before one of NCHBC's best players, Caleb Hollander, seemingly converted every opportunity he got in the paint during the second half.  This performance was especially impressive because he played the entire second half with three (eventually four) fouls.

Nashville's Hollander willed the
Warriors to a gold ball game spot

Wednesday's gold ball round finale should be a great one!

After furious Memphis comeback, CHSM holds on... Advances to gold ball

CHSM's Nathan Fontenot did it all in Tuesday's win

The CHSM Crimson Knights sprinted out to an early lead over Memphis Metro, leading 56-39 at one point in the third quarter.  Memphis staged a furious comeback and eventually reduced the deficit to 74-72.  But CHSM was able to make free throws and get enough stops late to advance to the Class 4A gold ball game Wednesday.

CHSM is a very deep team.  All of the players play with a purpose and share the ball.  Sophomore Nathan Fontenot led that charge Tuesday.  In addition to running the offense and regularly breaking down the Memphis Metro defense, he made the free throws that separated his Crimson Knights in the final seconds.

Kalamazoo advances after a late comeback!

With the exception of a flurry or two, the 4th seeded Dallas Thunder controlled the action throughout Tuesday's 4A semifinal round contest, nearly earning a win over top seeded Kalamazoo and a place in Wednesday's gold ball game...

I typed that paragraph after Dallas took a 46-37 lead.  I should have known better than to take my eyes off the action.  It was at this point when Kalamazoo made a furious comeback to cut Dallas's lead to 1 point.  The video above is missing that comeback.  Silly me.  I was typing while the guys on the court were playing their hearts out.  But I turned the camera on in time to see a great exchange of baskets that eventually led to Kalamazoo's capturing the win to advance to Wednesday's gold ball game against the winner of CHSM and Memphis Metro.

Game Report: Noah Oetjn leads Indy to gold ball game with a win overTHESA

Indy's Noah Oetjn was all smiles
Tuesday... Rightfully so!

The Indy Wildcats play fast!  But they do so while appearing under control at all times.  Judging from Tuesday's Class 4A semifinal win over THESA, I will attribute the team's ability to run and gun while at the same time getting great shots to Noah Oetjn's mastery of the game's finer points.  Oetjn whipped left handed passes to teammates, buried jumpers shots from all angles and distances, and even made a nifty post finish with his left hand.

After seeing Indy post near 100 point games throughout the season, I suspect that Tuesday's game, in which Indy and THESA both scored in the 60's, was not one of Indy's best scoring games.  That alone would worry me were I am Aggieland fan.

Indy and Aggieland will meet Wednesday in the Class 4A gold ball game.

Game Report: Aggieland defeats Saline County

Aggieland's Allen is a force inside

I entered this game anxious to see Saline County's Michael Higginbotham and Aggieland's 6'10"center Jeremiah Allen.  Those two did not disappoint.  But I was struck by how complete both teams are.  This was a fast paced and well played game.  And early in the game, it appeared as though my prediction, shared privately with Rob Flatt, that Higginbotham and the Warriors would pull off the 4 vs 1 upset over the Texas state champs would play out.

Cal Evans constantly finds teammates

But I should have known better than to prematurely judge Aggieland.  Allen asserted himself nicely inside and his teammates got him the ball in great positions.  But as good as Allen was, the play of point guard Cal Evans was the catalyst that sparked Aggieland's comeback that turned a second quarter 29-24 deficit into a second half 52-44 lead.  Evans is fun to watch.  He handles the ball extremely well and seems to thrive off making his teammates successful. 

Great point guard and great post play is a combination any coach's dream.  Add the skilled and intelligent players surrounding these two on Aggieland's perimeter and you have a good recipe for success this week in Springfield.

NCHBC Live Coverage from Springfield, MO

I am a proud former NCHBC coach (GAIS Eagles) and a forever fan of the national championship tournament.  Blogging about high school basketball (with articles, videos, pictures, shows, etc) is something I regularly do in my hometown of Augusta, Georgia.  And it's something I've done at times in Springfield.  This is one of those weeks!

I am thrilled to be back in Springfield for the 2015 homeschool hoops national championship tourney.  I missed Monday's round.  But I plan to provide live coverage of the action every day after.  I do my best work when I am familiar with the teams playing, so I will concentrate much of my time on the varsity boys showcase courts.  But I will certainly also follow as much girls varsity action as possible because I know enough to be dangerous covering that group as well.

If you watch my coverage and like it, and if you want to help me expand my knowledge to other age groups, please don't hesitate to introduce yourself to me and help me get educated enough to spend some productive time in other gyms.  I haven't studied the schedules enough to be certain but I'll assume it's correct that by frequenting the most meaningful boys and girls varsity games, especially later in the week, I'll see my share of 16u-12u championship action to be of service to a wide range of NCHBC hoops loving families and fans.

I will "live tweet" the action I witness in Springfield from the @NCHBCLive and/or my @AugBball Twitter account.  And I will blog about it  here.

If you like the videos, pictures, and stories and you want me to make custom videos of specific players or team, please contact me or approach me in the gym for product and pricing information.

Here is my contact information:

Chad Cook

(706) 550-2229

cookchad08@gmail.com

I plan to spend Tuesday covering the following 18u Boys Gold Ball semifinal games at Hillcrest (this schedule is NOT official.  Forgive me if I get a time or a team wrong):

10:45 - Aggieland vs Saline Co

12:10 - Indy Wildcats vs THESA

1:35 - Kalamazoo vs Dallas Thunder

3:00 - Memphis Metro vs CHSM

4:25 - Tulsa NOAH vs St Louis BK

5:50 - Nashville vs OKC Storm North

7:15 - OKC Storm vs vs Austin/IL

8:40 - Dallas HSAA vs MHEA

If the internet connection works well enough, you'll be hearing from me all week.  Like I say to the basketball fans back home... I'll see you in the gym!

Game 1 Live Blog:

Aggieland vs Saline County

Green Country Defenders: NCHBC Live Special Feature

Enthusiasm is contagious. So is winning.  And after winning a Division 3 "gold ball" at last March's national championships and a 3-1 record at the national tip-off tournament last weekend, the Green Country Defenders' enthusiasm is showing quite a bit.  But is the enthusiasm a result of the winning, or vice versa?

My take is that the coaching staff has set the tone for the proper attitude, and the results are following.  Coach Jeff Francisco told me at Tip-Off this is his first season as a head coach.  I sense that his well warranted optimism is making an impact far past X's and O's, and the early season wins speak for themselves.

Take the off-season addition of high scoring guards Devin Ponder and Noah Sluka.  Maybe attracting these players was pure luck.  But I think it's more likely that the high scoring perimeter duo was attracted by the "vibe" of the program.  I googled the Defenders to stay in the loop for upcoming games and I found a very well organized, full website.  Now having a good website gets a team no buckets and no stops on defense.  But the parents and coaches who take the time to present the program with such care are also very likely to field a good team and to attract good players.  According to the About Our Team section of the site, the "Tulsa Green Country Defenders Homeschool Basketball organization is excited about Basketball!"  This is evident.  And the enthusiasm of the leadership has put the team in position to have a lot of success.

But the players and coaches will have to continue to execute on the floor.  And most importantly, the boys will need to learn to react well when things aren't going well.  After an emotionally gratifying win over traditional homeschool power Eastside in the season opener, adversity was nowhere to be found.  Sluka and Ponder had scored 28 and 26 points, respectively, and Francisco had shredded the Eastside defense to get teammates open looks throughout the game.  But after a second round, mid game run put the Defenders ahead of Impact (VA) by double digits, Green Country finally encountered its first roadblock of the season when Sluka fouled out and Impact went on a blistering run.

All teams face these moments throughout the season.  The good ones learn how to handle the stress with composure.  Apparently there was a moment after Impact took control that Green Country's Ponder's emotions got the best of him.  If this is correct, the decision to attend Tip-Off was a great one.  Better to learn how to take a hard blow from a very talented team for the first time on day one rather than later in the season or worse yet at regionals or nationals.  So it is a good sign that Green Country responded with two wins following the Impact loss.

I think Green Country has lots of potential and is one of the country's ten best teams with additional upside beyond that.  As with any team with a new mix of players, there are more questions than answers at this point in the season.  Would Green Country have been able to beat Impact had Sluka not been plagued with foul trouble.  It would be logical to say yes.  But Impact could very well have been finding their rhythm during the first day of its program's existence when facing the Defenders.  And would Green Country have topped MHEA had not the Eagles' Rashaan Benson rolled an ankle early in the game?

The good news is these questions will be easier to answer after Green Country plays more games.  And all uncertainties will be erased come post season time.  But all things considered, I believe the signs point to the Defenders being a force on the national scene this season.