Mid-Michigan Lakers

Guys, our next tournament is in mid-July.  As you are with your HS teams in June, please get me your schedule.  I have only heard from two schools, Kearsley and Holly.  That said, we will not conduct practice this week for MML.  Please get the information to me as soon as you can if you have not already done so.

In one of the more inexplicable and strange trends in tournament scheduling is the elimination of pool play and starting everything with a big bracket.  The Up North Challenge had such a schedule and it presents interesting questions and possibilities.  If you lose your first game, no matter what, you are automatically placed into the consolation bracket, which just seems weird to me.  If you lose your second game, you go to the silver bracket, and everyone winning the first two go to gold.  That scenario allowed our U17 team to lose by 1 in the first game for their only loss of the tournament, but only end with a consolation bracket championship.  Now, to be fair, no one will care or remember who won these tournaments in a few months, but it still just makes you wonder how?  Due to players being unavailable, only the U15 and U17 teams made the trip to this year’s tourney in Mount Pleasant, with the U17 bringing home hardware for the second straight week.

U17:

The tournament started out with a rematch of the previous week’s silver championship game versus our good friends at CDBA.  Unfortunately, turnovers and missed free throws down the stretch of this one found us losing by 1, 50-51.  Game two was a forfeit victory for us as the opponent did not show, but we did play a hard game versus Parallel 45 as a makeup to help us prepare for Sunday’s games.  In the semifinal game on Sunday morning, we were able to pull out a tough, gritty win over the Great Northern Elite squad, 64-61, which propelled us to the consolation bracket championship game.  Kennedy Martin continued his hot streak with 25 points, Dominic Reggio added 11, while Isaiah Franklin chipped in with 10.  Demetrius Miller had 9 and Dominick WIlliams 8 in the win as well.  The championship game was against a good Michigan United team.  We were able to buckle down defensively in the end and come away with a 71-66 victory!  Martin again led the way with 27 points, Andrew Spak poured in 16, Franklin 9, Miller 6, and Reggio 5 to help secure the victory.  Congratulations again to players and coaches for their hard work and perseverance!

Offensive MVP- Martin
Defensive MVP- James Richardson Jr.
Unsung Hero- Andrew Spak

U15:

In what seemed like a bad case of deja vu, the U15 team played three of the exact same opponents as the previous week (another reason why this format can lead to some issues).  In game 1, we played our friends at Camp Darryl again and again without one of our starters.  We lost 43-59 this time as we couldn’t seem to get off of the ground.  Luke Curran led us with 12 points and Jacob Boulay added 9 in the defeat as well.  Game two saw us play another opponent from last week in CGR.  Though we played them much tougher this time, we were unable to come out on top in the 65-71.  Noah Baylis led with 22 points, Hunter Jackson 12, Boulay/Curran 6, and Austin Pellett added 5 as well.  Game 3 AGAIN saw us versus ANOTHER common opponent from last weekend in West Michigan Lakers-Gold.  We played much better this time and secured a 53-27 victory.  Curran had his best game of the spring with 23 points, including five 3 ptrs.  Jackson added 6 and Alec Harless/Brandon Buswell had 5 a piece.  Becuase of a forfeit in the U16 division, we had an opportunity to step in and play up a level, testing where we are at in the process.  We secured a win 48-38 over Northern Exposure, which is a very solid way to cap off the spring season.  Baylis dropped 15 in the win, while Boulay, Curran, and Jackson all had 6.  Harless added 5 in his best tournament so far as well.

Offensive MVP- Curran
Defensive MVP- Pellett
Unsung Hero- Harless

Well, it is off to HS summer season for all teams, so get your summer schedule to coach Miller as soon as possible for practice scheduling purposes.  Tournament time will resume in July!  Be better then than you are now!

All,

Congratulations are in order to the MML U17 team that captured the Silver division championship at the Bankhoops.com/Camp Darryl Classic with an impressive 4-1 record!  We last won that same title back in 2013, so this team was able to re-capture the crown, despite some intra-team issues and injuries.  It goes to speak to the strong wills and mindsets of players and coaches.  Isaiah Franklin landed on the all-tournament team, following in the footsteps of those like JD Tisdale and Amariontez Ivory-Thomas who did so before him.  Write up for all teams below:

U17:

As mentioned above, this team was able to capture the silver crown!  They are the true definition of what we have been preaching to all teams since day 1, that is, “trust the process.”  The banded together through some adversity and came out on top, despite losing key member James Richardson to a concussion during the week.  They started out in game 1 with a 55-40 win over ZBA Saturday morning.  Andrew Spak led the way with 13p, Dominick Williams added 12, Demetrius Miller 11, Dominic Reggio 6, and Kyle Haines 5.  This was a true team effort that would be the theme throughout the tournament.  In game 2, they faced a tough Parallel 45-Green team and couldn’t find the mark offensively in a 54-76 defeat.  Reggio had 13, Kennedy Martin 10, Williams, 9, Miller 7, and Franklin added 6 as well.  The loss seemed to re-focus the guys as they moved into the last game of pool play.  Despite their opponent not showing up, they played against the host CDBA team instead and had their best offensive output of the season in a 81-73 win.  Martin dropped a game high 23 points and Williams was right with him adding 21.  Also right there was Reggio with 19 and Miller with 10 points of their own.  Spak finished with 6 in a very compelling game to propel them into bracket play.  Due to unfortunate circumstances with condensation on the gym floor, bracket play was pushed back 4 hours or so while other locations were secured.  Despite the delay, the team was ready when their number was called.  in the silver semifinal game, Reggio dropped 17, Martin 14, Franklin 7, and Williams/Miller 6 in the 55-42 win over MBA, setting up a rematch versus CDBA in the final.  The rematch did not live up to the pool play game as the guys took out CDBA 69-55 to become champions!  Martin had another big 26-point performance to lead the way, while Reggio scored 16, Williams 12, and both Spak and Miller had 6 a piece.  Congrats to the team, including Coaches Andy and Cam in their first championship as MML members!

Offensive MVP- Reggio
Defensive MVP- Franklin
“Big man” Award- Williams
Unsung Hero- Spak
“Shooter’s Touch” Award- Martin

U16:

This tournament followed a week in which everyone had a chance to speak their minds about any and everything they wanted to.  We uncovered many good things and some areas of improvement for the group and while the tournament results did not show it overall, this was the hardest they have played all spring (heck, Collin Baert couldn’t stop bleeding everywhere LOL).  Although having to deal with a substitute coach, the short-handed team gave all their hearts to the event and will be better for it moving forward.  In a game 1 46-56 loss to a very powerful Parallel 45 team, Ethan Brady knocked down five 3pt buckets en route to 20 points total to lead the way.  Ruffy Burks put in 10 points inside, while Max Jones added 7, and Trevor Shaheen 5 in the loss.  Game 2 saw another familiar and tough opponent in the West Michigan Lakers.  The game was close throughout until a final stretch of free throws at the end pushed it to a 53-66 loss.  Baert and Burks led with 14 points each, while Dylan Hubbard put in 13 with three 3pt shots.  The third pool game hurt the most because there were so many opportunities missed in the game to win in the 53-57 loss to Northern Exposure.  Coach Miller shoulders the blame for this loss as he did not make the right adjustments in time to secure the win.  This game did have the best 3/4-court bounce pass I have seen in a while from Donovan Pointer.  Baert poured in 15p, Burks 10, and Brady/Hubbard 9 in defeat.  Unfortunately for the group, bracket play meant playing a fourth game on Saturday evening and having only 8 “healthy” guys proved to be to insurmountable of a task.  Playing a very solid MBA-Regional team, the guys fell 47-66 in a game where both Baert and Brady had to miss time because of injuries.  Shaheen had a breakout game with 15p (three 3ptrs), while Baert still found a way to put in 9 of his own.  Burks and Hubbard added 7 a piece, while Brady scored 5.  Rest and recovery are in the works for this team after this hard weekend.

Offensive MVP- Baert
Defensive MVP- Pointer
“Dirty Work” Award- Burks
Unsung Hero- Hubbard
“Shooter’s Touch” Award- Brady

U15:

I have to start this one out by apologizing to the U15 team.  Because of scheduling, they sometimes unfairly did not know who would be coaching them in what game.  Now, that said, there is no excuse for letting that affect their play, but we do strive for stability so I recognize when it was not there at times.  In my mind, it was our worst weekend since the first tournament, especially defensively.  We surrendered 70+ points to 3 different teams, when out spring average was much closer to 50 ppg.  I believe we found out how much missing our defensive anchor Austin Pellett meant to us.  Again, not an excuse but it is important to see how each piece fits into the whole.  Game one saw us fall to an athletic CGR team 60-73, after falling behind 0-15 to start the game.  Digging that type of hole to try to climb out of just is not conducive for success.  Hunter Jackson scored 20p to lead the team, while Noah Baylis joined him in double-figures with 14.  Ben Gramer put in 7 and Dylan Hignite showed more flashes with 6 points of his own.  In game 2 once again we dug ourselves a big hole to try to climb out of in the second half.  We nearly did, before succumbing to MBA 63-73 in a game that saw more free throws made than baskets.  Baylis led the way with 21 points, Jackson 17, and Jacob Boulay 12 in defeat.  The team’s best game of pool play was in game 3 versus the West Michigan Lakers-Purple team.  Though we lost 43-60, it was the closest game that very good team had in the pool.  In the game, Gramer led with 7p, while Boulay, Baylis, and Jackson all had 6p.  Chad Williams and Alec Harless also chipped in with 5.  Brakcet play opened with us playing against the other West Michigan Lakers team (Gold).  Despite it being the 4th game of the day, the boys played hard in a come-from-behind win to push through to the silver semifinal game 61-57.  Jackson led with 23 points in the contest.  Baylis added 13, but hit three big 3pt shots in the end after having some trouble finding the range in a gym where the batting cage nets caused obstacles.  Gramer and Boulay both put in 7, while Willams also scored 6 in the win.  The semifinal game put us in a battle with the host CDBA club, who was looking for revenge after and earlier semifinal game this spring.  Strong starts by Baylis and Williams got us out to a halftime lead; however, difficulty finishing in the second half with defensive lapses ultimately cost us the game in a 62-72 defeat.  Baylis capped off his tournament with a 20-point game.  Williams scored 12 in his best game of the spring as well, while Boulay added 10.  Jackson dropped 9 points and Luke Curran 7 before fouling out.  All-in-all, it was another learning experience for the boys as we prepare to close out the spring season in Mount Pleasant.

Offensive MVP- Baylis/Jackson
Defensive MVP- Curran
Unsung Hero- Boulay

Hello all, first I want to apologize for the delays in the last two tournament write ups.  I promise they are coming, but I have just been crazy busy.  That said, there will be no practices this week as we all recover from a grueling spring.  Please email me your summer school ball practice and game schedules so we can see what adjustments can be made to practices in June if necessary.

There will no practice tonight for all teams at Holly as we will give all teams time to heal and recover before this weekend’s games!

All,

The schedules are out for the Up North Challenge.  Due to unforeseen circumstances with several members of the 16u team missing, I had to make a decision that I have never made before in 11 years and contact a tournament director to pull the 16u out of the tournament.  I am positive they will regroup and recover in June to be ready for July though.  For the 15u and 17u groups, the schedule is a bit awkward for this tournament.  It essentially is one big two-sided bracket with no pools. So, the only game you know for sure when and where is the first one and after that it depends on if you win or lose.  Heck, the 15u don’t even know their first opponent yet.  I am posting the link to the tournament below where you can find the schedules as well.  So, with that said, here we go!

Tournament Website:
http://tourneymachine.com/Public/Results/Tournament.aspx?IDTournament=h2017052222370267465f700a4e69448

17u schedule:

Saturday, May 27 @12:30pm vs. Camp Darryl at Shepherd HS court 3

If we win game 1, we play Saturday, May 27 @6:20pm at Shepherd HS court 1
If we lose game 1, we play Saturday, May 27 @6:20pm at Shepherd HS court 3

Based on a number of scenarios, the next game will be on Sunday, May 28th, but could be at several different times and venues.  Your coach will let you know.

15u schedule:

Saturday, May 27 @1:40pm vs. winner of Camp Darryl/WM Lakers-Gold at Shepherd HS court 3

If we win game 1, we play Saturday, May 27 @7:30pm at Sacred Heart Academy
If we lose game 1, we play Saturday, May 27 @4:00pm at Sacred Heart Academy

Based on a number of scenarios, the next game will be on Sunday, May 28th, but could be at several different times and venues.  Your coach will let you know.

Venues:

Shepherd HS
100 E. Hall St.
Shepherd, MI 48883

Sacred Heart Academy
316 E. Michigan St.
Mount Pleasant, MI 48858

We have the usual practice schedule on Tuesday and Thursday this week.  Write up on Camp Darryl tourney to come.