hawk saturday

SoCalHoops Recruiting News

adidas Big Time Tournament:
Feel Sorry For The Losers? No Way--(July 19, 1998)

Joe Hawk, a columnist for the Las Vegas Journal-Review, who publishes a column every Thursday and Saturday, wrote a great piece about all of those "losing" teams that are participating at the tournament. You know, the ones like Seal Beach, Powhatan, Crusaders, Wrecking Crew and the rest that have all been getting hammered by the big boys, including EBO, Rockfish, DC Assault, and the rest of the top teams. Rather than just give excerpts from the article, we're going to reprint it here in it's entirety (hey, fair use-- there's commentary here, right?). We think you'll enjoy it.

Overmatched prep teams hope to learn from blowout losses
Joe Hawk, Las Vegas Journal Review Columnist

Give 'em a smile.

Give 'em a pat on the back.

And if you're one of their parents, give 'em a hug.

A loving, supportive hug. These boys could use it. You see, for every highly regarded all-star prep team in this week's Big Time Basketball Tournament -- and there are quite a few in the 224-squad field competing at six area high schools -- there is "that other team."

The one everyone beats up on. EVERYONE. Losses of 50, 60, even 70 points, are not uncommon as these teams go winless in their individual round-robin pools. Keeping the margin of defeat to 40 points is considered a close game. Scoring 40 points -- hey, that's a cause for celebration.

With such nondescript monikers as Squires Powhatan, Seal Beach, Crusaders and Wrecking Crew, there's no need to change the names to protect the innocent. And with so many games played over six days, their game scores only stand out if you look closely for them: Dallas Dirty Dozen II 108, Crusaders 47. Michigan Mustangs 104, Wrecking Crew 48. Team Indiana 95, Seal Beach 21. L.A. Rockfish 101, Squires Powhatan 20. Ouch, ouch, ouch and yikes!

Are these teams THAT bad? If so, why pay a $600 entry fee and as much as another $2,000 in travel expenses to have your heart ripped from your chest and then dunked in your face? And not once, but three consecutive games?

The answer: experience.

Whether the team is an overmatched junior varsity squad, such as the one from Seal Beach, Calif., or representing a group of small, rural schools, such as Squires Powhatan of Virginia, the prevailing thought is that playing the best teams will make you better -- if not in the painful short run, then in the philosophical long run.

"It's the opposite of what people think," explains Taylor Johnson, coach of Squires Powhatan, a team from outside of Richmond, Va. "You can learn a lot in defeat -- even big defeats. You see what other teams do and then take that back and work on it yourself. "Of course," he adds with a laugh, "it helps if you have the same talent."

Which clearly isn't the case for any of these teams. Squires Powhatan, for example, has just nine players -- none taller than 6-foot-4. L.A. Rockfish, which beat the rural team by a tournament-high 81 points Wednesday, has three players in the 6-9 range. Additionally, Johnson's squad comes from an area where prep football -- not prep basketball -- is king. "The best players are getting ready for football," he says. "Basketball is just something to do in the winter, to get them from football to baseball."

Meanwhile, Seal Beach, of northern Orange County, features a group of fuzzy-faced sophomores and juniors-to-be. There isn't a senior on the squad. And it showed Friday, in a 74-32 loss to Oakland Hot Shots at Durango High. Seal Beach missed layups, fumbled rebounds and turned the ball over ... and over ... and over against a team that was passable at best. If not for a surprising 12-point burst in the first 2:20 of the second half, Seal Beach would've had its second straight game of scoring in the 20-point range. Not that the players would've hung their heads over it.

"We know we don't have a lot of talent," says sophomore guard Eddie Courtemarche. "But by playing here, we can see what working our butts off in practice and weightlifting will do for us." Adds junior forward Sean Harrington: "You have to get the experience somewhere. It isn't easy getting beat like this, but it's not like we didn't expect we'd struggle when we came here."

Still, it can't be easy looking at the scoreboard at game's end and seeing a differential of 50, 60, 70 points. Wouldn't it be less humbling to duck out the gym's back door and sprint to the team van? No, Seal Beach -- just like Squires Powhatan and Crusaders and Wrecking Crew -- exits the same way it entered: through the front door. There aren't any smiles as the team walks out. No pats on the back. No hugs. That's the way it goes when you lose. But if these young teams can take any solace, it's that they gave it all they had. It just wasn't enough.