Citizens First Holiday Classic @ Bowling Green High School

Owensboro vs. Greenwood 12-19-07

Blane Embry's Greenwood Gators lack size this season. His rising star player has a leg brace that looks like someone stole a strut off of a Hummer brought back from Iraq. Those things don't matter when his teams are clicking and they follow their game plan. I'm always impressed at how well his teams move the ball, and they always know where they should be on the court. The player with the ball knows that a teammate is going to be where he should be. The result is that they pass with confidence, and they force an opponent to stay moving on defense.

Last night, Owensboro learned about Greenwood the hard way. I was told that Owensboro had benched two starters last night, and I have no idea why. I don't know if they were injured or if the coach was trying to send a message to them. I must remind anyone reading the Pick and Roll that I am just a fan and not always privvy to the same things reporters are. I'm not trying to be a reporter. I write from the fan's perspective.

Owensboro played in an absolute funk in the first three quarters of the game. They shuffled their feet on defense, and they just went through the motions on offense. I was late getting to the game, but the Red Devils had the lead when I walked in the gym, but Greenwood attacked in the second quarter and took the lead. Owensboro never sniffed the lead again. The Gators took a 23-19 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Greenwood continued to make the plays, breakdown Owensboro's half-hearted defense, and force the Red Devils into making mistakes on the offensive end.

Who knows what gets into the heads of a high school basketball team? I was anxious to see this matchup because Greenwood is versatile and tough and Owensboro is always good.

Reminiscence Warning!

The last time I saw Owensboro play was in 1983 in the championship game of the Louisville Invitational Tournament. This was back in the days before the proliferation of holiday tournaments and before Kentucky teams disappeared to Florida for the big, sun-filled ones down there. The LIT usually had 16 of the best teams from around the state playing a 15 game tournament that mirrored the Sweet Sixteen.

In 1983, Male High and Owensboro met in the championship, which was played in Freedom Hall. I can't remember much from that year's Red Devil squad, but they were good. Plus, they had won the state championship just three years prior. Male High hadn't tasted the state tournament since Darryl Griffith and Company took them there in 1975. It was a match up of two basketball powers, and Male High was armed with Winston Bennett.

Late in the game, Owensboro's pesky defense angered Bennett, and he took a basketball and bounced it off of the top of a Red Devil's head. I thought a bench clearing rhubarb might erupt right there in Freedom Hall. Maurice Payne benched Bennett until things cooled off, and Male High won the LIT.

Oh yeah, back to the game. The 2007 brand of Red Devil seemed unable to make a decision or play or set up a defense without instructions yelled from the bench. It was distressing. I don't if the players were all worried about what to get their coach for Christmas or they didn't like being away from home on the run-up to the holiday, but they responded to nothing.

Greenwood swarmed like a cloud of mosquitoes -- another swamp dwelling creature that can cause pain -- and Owensboro seemed to be in a haze in the purple walls of BGHS's auxiliary gym. Purple? Haze? They weren't kissing the sky last night on Owensboro's bench.

Greenwood won the game 60-50. They controlled the tempo. They controlled the game, and I think maybe the real Owensboro team stopped at the Denny's cafe' in Beaver Dam and stayed there. Stay away from the patty melt there; those things will kill you.

OBSERVATIONS

Impressive Goal Tend: Owensboro's C.J. Holman chased a Greenwood player down the court on a break away. Holman is 6'2" but he "climbed the ladder" and tipped the ball while after it had come off the box on the backboard. It was incredibly athletic, but it was also goal tending. I saw Dantae Smith do the same thing for Oldham County in the Eighth Region Tournament several years ago. Only, Smith didn't goal tend; he blocked the shot. Still one of the most impressive plays I've seen on a basketball court.

Dee Dee Dee: Dee Anderson is a lot more mobile than when I saw him play at Allen County a few weeks ago. He still has the Terminator knee brace on, but he was flying up and down the court against Owensboro. He still has trouble going east and west, though. He's one of my favorite players in the Fourth Region.

Time Out on Time Outs: Oh my gosh! Basketball is killing itself with the proliferation of time outs. First of all, they should do away with 30 second time outs. There is only one reason for these timeouts, and that is to get your teams butt out of a crack. Yeah, I know, coaches are there to teach the game to the kids, but wouldn't also help them to teach them how to think on the court and stay out of traps and not dribble the ball in pressure for more than five seconds. I liked the game when timeouts were precious. Coaches should only be able to call a timeout during a dead ball, and player should only be able to call one if they have both feet on the floor and control of the ball. The timeout in basketball is not fan friendly. It's one of the reasons why I've cut back on going to college basketball games. Between media timeouts and coaching ego timeouts the college game has no flow. Terrible!