1-2

That's right, we won one game over the weekend, and it was to avoid being the last-place team in the tournament. We got destroyed in our first game by the host team, Brethren Christian. I swear they 16 year olds that were held back several times. On Saturday morning we played Rio Hondo Prep and we played really well in the first half, specifically in the first half of the first half. We were only down by two and we were getting lots of steals and many easy layups. However, the other team made the necessary adjustments (i.e., they stopped throwing the ball to us every time down the court) and our guys couldn't run the offense (again). So we ended up losing 45-33. Our point guard scored 24 of those 33 points, so that tells you about our balance on offense. In the last place game in the early afternoon we played a team that was smaller than us on average and although we didn't execute very well, we led 19-9 at halftime. However, both teams played sloppy and out of control in the second half, and it seemed that no one could shoot anymore. It came down to last second free throws and ball control and we hung on to win 27-26. That's right, we only scored eight points in the whole second half.

So there are plenty of things to work on in practice. Yesterday I ran them a lot because I don't feel like we were in good enough shape. Practices are outside and when the wind picks up, shots can go wild, especially when we shoot on the hoop with the crooked rims. I am learning much more than the kids are, because this is the first time I've ever done this. I am trying to instill character-building into my basketball teaching because I don't just want them to learn to play basketball well. I want to teach them to live well.

Oh, and no, I'm not the next John Wooden.