Bedford County Boys Basketball All-Stars
Posted: April 7th, 2007, 12:25 am
Some interesting choices for the first team. I know that historically the All-Star team is usually made up of the top scorers in the county, but this year that was literally the case. The top seven scorers in Bedford County made first team.
Since my own son is one of the players who made the second team, I'll lose any credibility I might have by suggesting that he could have been a first team member -- but I'll still argue at least three members of the second team could easily have made the first group.
The fact that the second group includes three players who are point guards -- three pretty dang good point guards if you will, seems ironic.
Measuring the value of a point guard involves far more than the points he scores, of course, though perhaps this was ignored or forgotten by the voters. Since the Gazette does not keep stats on assists -- maybe they should start (if the coaches would cooperate) -- nor steals, recoveries, blocks, deflections, and, of course, rebounds, The voters, I guess, are hamstrung by the scoring stats.
And there are other facets of play, such as defense, ballhandling, passing, leadership, intelligence, etc., etc., that are factors too. Some call these things intangibles, but to me they seem tangible as can be. Unfortunately, coaches often do not address these elements of the game in their post-game reports.
Tussey, Ridge, and Everett had the best records in the county as well as the Sideling Hill League. They all had excellent point guards. Since I'm biased about Herncane, I'll focus on Ryan Decker of Everett and Elias Hoover of Tussey -- two players who ran their teams' offense, got the ball consistently to their top scorers, effectively stopped pressing defenses because of their ballhandling and passing skills, and played tough defense, often on the other team's best players.
If all we're talking about is points, pure and simple, then I guess the guys who made the first team were good choices. I'm certainly not one to slight their accomplishments. But if we're looking for multifaceted, well-rounded players -- the best players -- then I certainly feel that a few other boys could just as easily made that first team -- and maybe even deserved to be there.
Some would argue that selecting players for an all-star team is very much a subjective business. Looking at the top scoring averages and picking the top seven is hardly subjective. I know it's a difficult business for the voters -- the coaches -- and believe it or not -- I've actually had some coaches tell me that on occasion there's more than a little politicking involved.
My point in bringing this up really doesn't have much to do with the players I feel who were slighted. Ryan Decker, Elias Hoover, and Nick Herncane , as well as any others for whom similar cases could be made, probably haven't given the all-star selections much thought or lost any sleep over making second team.
I guess what I'd really like to see is less of an emphasis on "I" -- look how many points I've scored -- and more on the "we." After over 35 years of coaching basketball on and off, I've found that "selfishness," not selflessness," is too much in evidence.
Maybe I'm hopelessly old school, but I still argue that the main reason for a boy or girl to play high school sports is to bring fame and glory for their "school" and "team," which, if my grammar serves me right, are both collective nouns.
Since my own son is one of the players who made the second team, I'll lose any credibility I might have by suggesting that he could have been a first team member -- but I'll still argue at least three members of the second team could easily have made the first group.
The fact that the second group includes three players who are point guards -- three pretty dang good point guards if you will, seems ironic.
Measuring the value of a point guard involves far more than the points he scores, of course, though perhaps this was ignored or forgotten by the voters. Since the Gazette does not keep stats on assists -- maybe they should start (if the coaches would cooperate) -- nor steals, recoveries, blocks, deflections, and, of course, rebounds, The voters, I guess, are hamstrung by the scoring stats.
And there are other facets of play, such as defense, ballhandling, passing, leadership, intelligence, etc., etc., that are factors too. Some call these things intangibles, but to me they seem tangible as can be. Unfortunately, coaches often do not address these elements of the game in their post-game reports.
Tussey, Ridge, and Everett had the best records in the county as well as the Sideling Hill League. They all had excellent point guards. Since I'm biased about Herncane, I'll focus on Ryan Decker of Everett and Elias Hoover of Tussey -- two players who ran their teams' offense, got the ball consistently to their top scorers, effectively stopped pressing defenses because of their ballhandling and passing skills, and played tough defense, often on the other team's best players.
If all we're talking about is points, pure and simple, then I guess the guys who made the first team were good choices. I'm certainly not one to slight their accomplishments. But if we're looking for multifaceted, well-rounded players -- the best players -- then I certainly feel that a few other boys could just as easily made that first team -- and maybe even deserved to be there.
Some would argue that selecting players for an all-star team is very much a subjective business. Looking at the top scoring averages and picking the top seven is hardly subjective. I know it's a difficult business for the voters -- the coaches -- and believe it or not -- I've actually had some coaches tell me that on occasion there's more than a little politicking involved.
My point in bringing this up really doesn't have much to do with the players I feel who were slighted. Ryan Decker, Elias Hoover, and Nick Herncane , as well as any others for whom similar cases could be made, probably haven't given the all-star selections much thought or lost any sleep over making second team.
I guess what I'd really like to see is less of an emphasis on "I" -- look how many points I've scored -- and more on the "we." After over 35 years of coaching basketball on and off, I've found that "selfishness," not selflessness," is too much in evidence.
Maybe I'm hopelessly old school, but I still argue that the main reason for a boy or girl to play high school sports is to bring fame and glory for their "school" and "team," which, if my grammar serves me right, are both collective nouns.