BleacherCoaches.com

Well, the Bisons lost to Central last night. They couldn't hold it together at the end after leading a good part of the game.

Bedford has some fine kids now in the program and some coming up, but I certainly don't see any great teams vying for future LHAC crowns unless some high impact transfers show up. I know these things run in cycles, but somebody show me how the Bisons are going change their fortunes to become a LHAC leader in the near future.

I tell you what would allow bedford to win more games in the lhac next year, is more substituting in the later quarters. The bisons were in the games with most teams in the first 2 quarters. ie they were tight with jtown at half, beating fh by 12 at haft, beating pc up there by 7 at half, beating central by 10 at half, and lost all of them.

It seems to me that maybe mental toughness may be a contributing factor to the underachieving Bisons this season. Looking at what bookboy wrote, they have been in games that they probably should have won. It sounds like the coaches had the team prepared and would start off strong, but obviously, would run short come the end of the game. They have the talent, but sounds like no one wants to step up in the 4th and maintain the lead and ultimately get the win. Granted, these are only opinions coming from a guy who hasn't seen the Bison's play, but maybe some one who has can provide some info....???

It doesnt matter how mentally tough a player is or how good of shape they are in, if they never get a break for 3 straight strenuous quarters eventually they will not be playing as well as they would in the first quarter.

What a crock! You're telling me 16-18-year-old boys can't play full tilt for a whole game! Coming up short at the end of a game has everything to do with mental toughness.

If substituting isn't being done, there must be a reason. And most reasons are formulated during practice. I'm paraphrasing Bobby Knight here, who might be a jerk in his old age but still makes a lot of sense to me. Dean Smith also says the same thing in one of his books.

Come on playbookboy, you know thats not the reason. The reason is guys not playing smart when they have a lead. When you are playing a game even if you start getting tired you have plenty of adrenaline to finish the game strong. I think mental toughness has to do with it also, after losing that many games some guys start to think they can't win and that hurts when the games get tight. Our worst time is right after the half, that has nothing to do with fatigue, just playing stupid.

then why do all the winning teams substitute strategically through that game?

Zabo (dont know how to spell it) from pc is clearly their best player, even he sits on the bench and gets a breather atleast 3 times a game

I'm disputing foghorn's original post, its not lack of talent that has resulted in bedford absence from d5 playoffs the last few years. This year bedford has been competitive for much of the game with most teams dispite being out sized nearly every night.

Because most of the good teams have a deep bench. Look at a team like CC, they have a ton of guys who could score in double figures on any night. Most of the other teams have guys who are interchangable. Also talking about taking Dziabo out, could you imagine if Troy was out three times a game. You saw what happened against Everett early in the year when he was out.

To dispute that, marshall didnt play more than 2 minutes last night. Are you saying he isnt good? Koontz finally got to play and he played well. Read the winter sports preview from the paper from November. It said bedford should be able to play 8 or 9 guys