Mahalo to 808 Basketball for tonight's scrimmage. When Coach Hinano asked us to play, I knew it would be a good battle. When I finally got to the gym after picking up a couple of our guys, one of our other guys who had seen 808 in the gym said, "I didn't know they were so big."
Well, they suited up Varsity and JV girls, so their Varsity definitely will have size. When their varsity team was on the floor, most of the time we were smaller, much smaller, especially Chris and Tenchi were off the floor. When 808's JV was on the court, our young guys had the speed advantage and trapped well.
808 has always played great basketball. Many of their players feed into Roosevelt, which won the OIA championship last season. For most of our more seasoned players, they've played top girl players (Molina sisters) before so they know what to expect. 808 is always well coached, and fundamentally sound. Our guys? Between our two 7th graders and some of our newer additions, there's a lot to be learned. We're getting there.
Their posts Tyra Moe (6-1) and Vae Malufau (6-1) banged up Chris and Tenchi often and it was physical also on the perimeter. They also had 6-1 Keala Quinlan, one of my favorite girls players to watch, a tall girl with 3-point range. Their guards are tough and do a lot of grabbing, hacking, all the stuff that mainland referees sometimes allow — what we call "Alpha" on our defense when we know referees will let it go. It's the kind of tight man defense we need to practice against. We mixed up our defenses and got a lot of court time for the newer and younger guys. Skyler and Jance learned a lot tonight.
Michael and Anu were effective when they were aggressive about scoring, but as with most nice guys they need to be "encouraged" to think this way. Chris was valuable in so many ways and hit a couple of treys too. Tenchi was a weapon defensively, as always. Still could be a little more aggressive about getting position and calling for passes. Again, nice guy, need to be more vocal.
That was a serious issue tonight. Our point guards often didn't call plays or didn't yell out the play loudly enough. Often times, quiet teams get crushed unless their floor leaders get LOUD and direct the situation without fear.
Jonah was steady and continues to be one of our fastest rising 8th graders on both ends of the court. That corner 3 on 8-ball from Colin was smooth. Colin was terrific defensively, as were most of our younger (intermediate) guys. Still want him to use more change of speed, use the 10-foot floater instead of going full maximum speed in a predictable way every time. He will learn.
Our older guys, the ones who are newer or don't practice much, they were sometimes lost on defense. Something to work on.
I hope we gave 808 the kind of competition they want before heading to mainland tournaments. I wanted our guys to play smarter and defend better, but having just 8 players for about 60 minutes of time on the clock was a challenge. Good workout indoors.
Big mahalo to Coach Bino for warming the guys up while me, Chris and Anu were stuck in traffic. I was on the road more than an hour. Mahalo Bino.
Big mahalo to Mrs. Patti Chang and Sanford for being there to support the Thunder. All in all it was fun seeing some of the top girls in the state play against our squad. Also saw former Thunder Kodee Viena and her folks there.
Lineup: Jance, Skyler, Jonah, Micahel, Tenchi, Colin, Keanu, Chris. Props to Anu for playing after a long football practice.
Next: Wed 430 pm - Practice at Makiki Park.
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