Posted on 01/16/2015 4:17:15 PM PST by Borges
A high school girls basketball coach in California has been suspended for a rare reason: Winning by too large a margin. Arroyo Valley's Michael Anderson kept his foot on the gas pedal even as his team went up by 60 early in the game against a winless opponent.
The end result was brutal: A 161-2 beatdown.
Decisive as it might be, it was far from impressive. The coach was called by the school's athletic director and later told The Riverside Press-Enterprise that he had been suspended two games for what had happened.
The coach also expressed regret for his actions while suggesting that he didn't expect the game to get so far out of hand -- when he put in his bench players in the second half, he was surprised by their output.
Arroyo Valley applied a high-pressure full-court trap throughout the first half, ostensibly under the pretense of tuning up for tougher competition down the road. By halftime, the score was 104-1.
Nevertheless, the opposing team's coach was not happy with the result, and he made sure his opinions were known. He called the ethics of Anderson into question.
"People shouldn’t feel sorry for my team," opposing coach Dale Chung of Bloomington High told The Sporting News. "They should feel sorry for his (Anderson’s) team, which isn’t learning the game the right way."
The Press-Enterprise reported that Arroyo Valley won its first game without Anderson. It was also a blowout -- 80-19 over San Bernardino Indian Springs -- but not the extent of the one against Bloomington that triggered the uproar.
Good post.
My high school alma mater does pretty well in basketball (in the last fifty years, 39 conference championships and six national titles), and the team doesn't utilize a full-court press against clearly inferior teams. Period.
But sometimes, we do run up the score a bit. The year I graduated (a long time ago), we beat one of our conference rivals 105-35.
sitetest
If you work for company A do you let off the gas against your competitor B or attempt to crush them out of business? What are we teaching the winning team?
Whoever put those teams on the schedule should be fired.
Ridiculous.
Play at your level. On both sides.
What else did they expect him to do. Cut their hamstrings?
Between my HS Junior and Senior years we beat a team 136-25 during summer basketball. We were a state tournament team and they were from a school in our size class, but obviously weren’t up to par.
They had 0 points at half and we had 125. Our instruction for the second half was no shooting unless it was outside of the key and with our weak hand. We played defense, but were not to challenge any shot or steal the ball. At the end of the game, both teams shook hands and nobody felt bad. They knew they stunk and that we did everything to not run up the score (even in the 1st half, where nearly every shot was a lay-in). No hard feelings, no suspensions.
He needs to pick up the defensive intensity. . .threw away the shutout.
Baseball is different. In principle you can score 50 runs with two out in the ninth inning.
How in the F do you only score 2 points?
I can’t believe how bloody minded a lot of posters to this thread are.My high school had, and has, a local football reputation; they haven’t had a losing season in over fifty years. The coach wasn’t the kind to run up the score. Then one game, I noticed that the score was getting out of hand. And the fans (it was a home game) began singing, “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More.” I asked what was going on - and was reminded about the game the year before.
The weather when the two teams met the previous year had been so bad - just above freezing, and pouring rain - that all the games in the whole county were postponed. Except one. The home team of that game was UP for upsetting the visitor, and wasn’t going to let a little thing like the worst imaginable weather delay the game. And they DID manage to eek out a victory. The next year? Not so much.
The purpose of high school basketball is to get college scholarships for the players and to get a college coaching job for the high school coach. You’ll find that scoring those points were very important to the winning coach.
They should have brought the starting five from the losing team out at the end of the game and disembowelled them. Then, we could really send a message about how to compete.
Without seeing the game, my guess is that the winning team is very fast. They won by pressing. That works great for awhile. I knew a team like that. Their senior year was a losing season. All the other players had grown up and gotten faster and learned how to beat the press. Not one kid from that pressing team received a basketball scholarship. They were a one trick pony. They couldn’t do anything but press. Their coach had the satisfaction of beating the hell out of some teams, but he couldn’t coach beyond the press. He’s back working construction.
What’s the purpose of high school basketball?
FINALLY. Someone with a little coaching, or requisite life experience.
And it only took 49 posts!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
“... it sounds like he could have put his bench players in sooner, or gone deeper on the bench.”
That’s what i was thinking too.
Losing coach should have forfeited the game at that point. Instead the weasel is crying victim. Pathetic.
When my boy was in the 9th grade-—at a 1A school——they played a game where the opponent had five players and one fouled out. It was 52-2 at halftime. The coach, who was also the varsity coach, told our boys they had two make at least five passes before shooting. He figured that instead of just running up the score they could work on their passing. Also, the bench played most of the game.
Final score was 66-16. The other team kept hustling and never quit. I think this Cal coach was just a dumbass.
Georgia Tech - 222
Cumberland - 0
("The Game" - 1916 Football Game)!
No crying was heard on "The Hill". "Go Yellow Jackets!"
How times have changed.
1916 was different. People walked twenty miles uphill in the snow just to get to the game. ; )
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