Blessings in a Backpack

Today was our annual team service project, packing food for the Blessings in a Backpack program at South Wayne Elementary School. After a slow start (who could have predicted dead batteries in BOTH of our mini-bus vehicles?), we made it to the school and had a good experience, talking and laughing while we stuffed over 200 bags with food designed to take the edge off of the hunger so many of those students experience over the weekends. It is simultaneously sad, yet heartening, when we consider what we're doing and why we're doing it. In a perfect world, no child would ever go hungry.

Because of the initial delay, we only had about 45 minutes of practice time left once we returned to school. The upside of having only 13 players is that we can get a lot more reps in over a shorter period of time. The downside is obvious - we're going to struggle to field both a varsity and a JV squad most nights. Two or three players makes the difference between everyone playing a lot vs. a good number of our younger kids suffering from a lack of playing time. I am very disappointed that we have not been able to sustain the typical 18-20 players we normally have. I guess there are lots of reasons why it's happening, but I don't think I buy most of them. The bottom line is that we have 13 kids who are playing hard and improving every night. The girls who have chosen to not play are providing more time for personal attention for the girls who are. We're going to serve them as well as we can, and I think the level of improvement we'll see this year will be very apparent.

Our practice time has been maximized by the addition of The Gun 8000. It's a computerized rebounding/passing machine that allows our shooters to get off dozens of shots in a short period of time without the typical rebounding/chasing that we've done in the past. Thanks to the generous support of Dr. Steve Hatch, we've got a new weapon in our practice arsenal. Some of our kids even stay after practice just to get a few more shots. It's pretty cool, and we really appreciate how useful it has been.

The jamboree is next Tuesday. We're looking forward to matching up against someone else, although I'm not sure how prepared we will be. This year will see a lot of teaching and (hopefully) learning. Our goal, as it always is, will be to have our team ready for a good tournament run. If we stay healthy, we will be fine.

October 13 update

I enjoyed a wonderful weekend with Cassie down at Ave Maria. I got a chance to watch her play in the Blue-Gold intrasquad game, and she was terrific. She hit her first five three-point shots and finished with a team-high 21 points on the day. It's funny - she never hit that many threes in a high school game and she never scored 20+ until the second half of her senior year. Then, she goes out and does it in her very first competitive situation. The rest of the weekend was great as well - dinner at PF Chang's, a round of golf at Panther Run, some grocery shopping, and several hours spent just talking and catching up. Good times...

Practice begins here in a little over a week. The soccer girls are done now, vanquished by a good Homestead team and some bad officiating. But, they gave a tremendous effort and have nothing to regret - they did their best, and that's all we ever ask. Becky and Madison will be our captains for the upcoming season, and they held that role on the soccer pitch as well. I know they will do a great job in that role.

We're eager to get started. I really believe most of our opponents will anticipate an easier game against us this year. Perhaps, but I think there is an equally likely chance that they may be surprised by the team we put on the floor. As I always preach, nothing really matters until February, and our plan is to be playing great basketball at that time. It's a long season, but we have enough veterans who understand how to manage the expectations and let their enthusiasm build as the tournament approaches. In any event, it should be interesting.

Ave Maria update

I've had a couple extended conversations with Cassie in the past few days and things are going very well for her. Classes are challenging, but she benefits from the great preparation that Canterbury provides. There is a strong support structure in place, and she is already exploring the opportunities. She enjoys her roommate, Erin, and the other members of her basketball team. Today (Labor Day) was her first official practice, and, by her account, it went well. The 3 spot is up for grabs with the transfer of last year's starter, so she's got her sights set on earning some significant playing time at her natural position, the wing. The weather is good - she went to the beach a couple days ago - but she is going to miss the beautiful weather as summer fades to fall. I will be going down to visit her on Parent's Weekend in early October - the team will have an open scrimmage that weekend - and I can't wait to give her a big hug. Skype and cell phones are nice, but there's nothing like being there.

Moving on

The next few days are going to be difficult around the Kreiger house. Slowly, clothes are being packed and checklists are being finalized. We will be delivering Colten to IU and then hopping a flight to Florida to do the same for Cassie at Ave Maria. I'm excited for them to get on with this part of their lives, but at the cost of being bittersweet for me. This will be the first year in eight that I will not have one of my kids at the high school with me every day. Colten has adjusted to college life with a fair degree of success. Cassie is really starting to feel the nerves associated with leaving the comfort of home and family, and I hurt for her. I know she will be fine and will have a great experience, meet lots of new friends, get a great education, and continue her playing career under the tutelage of an excellent coach. Still, just as I tear up at every wedding reception's father-daughter dance, I'm going to struggle mightily with letting my baby girl spread her wings and move into the next major phase of her life.

I know this is supposed to be my basketball blog, but basketball has been an incredibly powerful bond between Cassie and me. It will be strange to go to practice or fill out a lineup card that does not include my favorite #22. I pray that Cassie, Tabby, Paigey, and Molly can all make the adjustment successfully to college. I also hope that some of their experiences as Lady Cavaliers may someday come in handy as they wrestle with the inevitable hurdles that they will be asked to clear in life. They are prepared, they have paid their dues. Indeed, it is time to move on.

Canterbury's "new" Coach Kreiger

Word is slowly beginning to leak out about the newest addition to my coaching staff at Canterbury - my pop, Wayne Kreiger. I cut my coaching teeth on his staff at Columbia City for 14 years before coming to Canterbury, and now he has resigned his position there to come join me and the Lady Cavaliers.

After 33 seasons and 520 wins with the Columbia City girls' program, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Famer is headed our way to assume the position of Director of Basketball for the Canterbury girls' program. It's an exciting time, and we intend to make the most of this coaching reunion.

For more details on his career, check the Columbia City Post and Mail

Summer time...

and the livin' is easy. Or something like that.

Summer league has gone pretty well despite the radical changes that have occurred with our lineup. For so long, Tab, Cassie, and Paigey held it down for us along with Becky and Madison. This summer, we've had Madison part of the time and that's been it. The other girls are getting a chance to step up and begin to understand what it's going to take to continue the high level of play that has been established over the past couple years. It's definitely a different mix, but I think we're going to have some fun!

Tournament time!

Abbreviated version -

Heritage (Senior Night) tore me up. I did okay holding it together, but the reality that this senior class (and more specifically, Cassie) has now played their final home game hit me like a ton of bricks. We played well against a Heritage team that has really struggled this year.

Bluffton - I wanted Cassie to get her 1000th point before the tournament started, but she didn't feel good and wasn't able to finish a few shots that are normally automatic. Maybe I should have told her how close she was, but who knows if it would have mattered. Anyway, she's at 999 for her career. I think she's got at least one more point in her. The team played pretty well again. Tab had a good night and Bailey put up her biggest scoring numbers yet. Bluffton, too, was down, so I just wanted to get off the floor in one piece. We did.

Now, we look ahead to the tournament. We drew Elkhart Christian, a team we have not seen this year. They were young last year, mostly sophomores, and we handled them 68-30 in the sectional. They are probably the second best team in the sectional, so they should at least be competitive. The one foe we haven't been able to handle this week is the weather! Snow has kept us from starting the tournament on time and the girls are like caged animals - they want to get out and play!! Judging from the blue skies and diminished winds, it looks like we may finally get our chance. Barring any other delays, we will go Friday, Saturday, and a Monday championship. The quest for #3 begins at Hamilton tomorrow night!

Playing catch-up

Lots of activity since my last post. First, we went to a tournament at Culver Girls Academy and came home with the trophy after dispatching Western Reserve Academy of Ohio and then the host team the next day. The quality of play was pretty good overall, although we temporarily lost both Madison (ankle) and Bailey (broken nose) in Saturday's championship game. A little adversity doesn't hurt, so we mixed in a little foul trouble too, just to see if we could do it. We did.

We returned home to prepare for a bruising week. First up was Harding on Tuesday. With Bailey still on the sidelines, our rotation was not as fortified as it normally is. Unfortunately, we prepared for a basketball game and a track meet broke out. Very few stoppages in play and plenty of high octane performances. I was tired just sitting and watching. We blew out to a nice halftime lead, but Harding would not go quietly and we had to fight some mental and physical fatigue before we could hold them off. Thursday, Fremont came to town with a 15-2 record and the NECC Tournament Championship on their resume. We left little doubt though as we blew out to a 42-17 lead and never looked back. Pretty convincing stuff, so much so that our crowd began to head for the exits late in the third quarter. Sorry we're so boring.

The end to a long week came up at Prairie Heights, still not at full strength as we had Bailey back but lost Matte to illness. Once again, it didn't really matter as we found ourselves up 29-2 at the end of the first quarter and finished with five girls in double figures in the 87-41 win. There were a few PH fans who were less than hospitable throughout the day, so it was nice to listen to the relative silence coming from their fairly large Saturday afternoon crowd.

Two games ahead - Senior Night with Heritage and a road trip down to Bluffton. We should finish the "preseason" 18-2 and begin setting our sights on another great tournament run.

A defensive gem

Last night, we beat Central Noble 66-27.

I have been coaching high school basketball for nearly 25 years. In all that time, I have never had a team come out and dominate defensively the way we did last night. Maybe I should temper my enthusiasm a little bit, but it's hard after witnessing what I did last night. It was a total team effort and mostly in the half-court. It was against a team that came into the game with a 10-5 record and a reputation for being a disciplined, ball-control squad. There was no special emphasis on any single player. In fact, I let the girls sort out their matchups before the opening tip. Then, we just exploded on them.

By halftime, the score was 36-5 and our fans were grumbling about another boring game against another substandard opponent. What they don't understand is that they were watching a brilliant game against a very solid and competitive team. We just made it look bad, something that is actually a stated goal of ours. My dad's Columbia City teams play some great defense, so it was nice that he was on hand last night to give his seal of approval on our effort. I never believe that we have played our best game (yet), but I'm not sure how we might have improved on what we did last night defensively. We also were solid at the offensive end and in transition, but the swarming, trapping, harassing defense we played last night was clinic-grade. Replicating it will be tough, but once it happens, it should be much easier to reach that plateau again. I'd like to see it about 14 more times.

Lakewood Park and beyond

No problems Saturday night at our Hoopla! event here at Canterbury. We had a full house on hand to witness an 85-25 thumping of Lakewood Park. On its face, one might conclude that we were merciless. However, all 12 rostered players played at least nine minutes each and no one more than 17 minutes - just over half the game. 10 of our 12 scored and we had four in double figures. Thankfully, this is our last game against a 1A opponent until the tournament begins.

Central Noble comes to town tonight. They always seem to give us a tough time. Last year, they held a small lead at halftime, but we came out with some full-court pressure and blitzed them in the second half. They are having another good year, with 10 wins already and an overtime loss last week to Fremont, who went on to win the NECC Tournament. It will be a battle of styles; they like to keep the score in the 40s and we want to be in the 40s by halftime. We'll see who can exert their will on the other.

Unrelated, but the biggest game in the world will be played tonight. #1 Vincennes Rivet vs. #2 Barr-Reeve. Some have written that this game will be for the supremacy of Class 1A. I'm sure it will be an excellent game with ramifications for the tournament beginning next month. If we weren't playing tonight, I would be tempted to make the drive to see the amazing level of basketball on display tonight.

Instead, I'll be stuck here with my crummy team ;)

New Haven

We got just what we expected from New Haven last night. They are an experienced bunch and they came in with a 9-3 record. They play an unorthodox style that mixes aggressive attacks on the basket with in-your-face defense that's just physical enough to keep other teams off balance. We really had trouble finding our rhythm (again!) and while it seemed like we should be gradually easing away from them as the first half wore on, the exact opposite happened. We went into halftime behind 30-26 and wondering why we couldn't get anything going.

Despite the fresh start in the second half, we ended up falling further behind. We trailed by as many as nine points a couple different times in the third quarter and some visible frustration began to set in. Just that quickly, we went on a mini-run and had a chance to tie it up. New Haven scored a couple more times and it was back to six. Then we went on another little push and finally caught them. Once that happened, we exploded, rapidly moving our newfound lead into double digits. New Haven was physically spent and we had no trouble managing the lead from that point forward. The final score was 72-60. We scored 46 points in the second half alone, but gave up way too many in doing that.

I was pleased to win two of the three first games back from Christmas. Given the long layoff and the strength of our competition, that seemed like a fair goal. the only real disappointment came in the form of Concordia's win 59-53 over Elmhurst last night. I have trouble understanding why Elmhurst is so inconsistent, but they played awfully well against us! That loss still gnaws at the girls a little bit, but we gained some things from the experience and we'll use those lessons as we move forward through the season.

A tale of two polls

The latest state rankings are out and they paint an unusual picture. The coaches' poll places us a step down this week at #3, behind Vincennes Rivet and Barr-Reeve. We started the season at #1, fell to #2 after losing to Mooresville (currently the 2nd-ranked team in all classes), then slipped again this week after losing at Elmhurst (the reigning 3A state champions).

Contrast that decline to our move upward to #30 in the entire state in the objective Sagarin computer rankings. That is our highest appearance ever in that particular ratings system. We are ranked above all schools in both 1A and 2A. We've played the strongest schedule of any 1A team and are 2-2 against teams ranked in the top 64. The two teams above us in the coaches poll haven't even played a team in the top 64, much less beaten two of them. So, we continue to trust our schedule and chuckle quietly about the relative lack of respect we receive from the 1A coaches on the weekly poll.

The past two years we were ranked #9 and #7 coming into the tournament and carried home that big hunk of trophy from the state championship game. That's our goal again and it doesn't really matter if we're even ranked at all. We'll let the others continue to pad their records by beating up on inferior competition while we try to identify and address our weaknesses as we go toe to toe with some of the really good teams in the state.

Back on track

After a tough loss against a very good Elmhurst team, we wanted to get back to our winning ways. The problem was that our next opponent was Concordia. They were sitting at 10-2 for the season and ranked #22 in the Sagarin computer rankings. That's even above Elmhurst's #27 rank. We knew it would be a battle of styles; they are patient and fundamentally sound. They are very willing to win the low-scoring game. They play great team defense, maybe the best we'll see all year, and only yield 35 points a game.

On the other hand, we wanted to push the tempo and make them run with us for 32 minutes. Our calculus would be that by the fourth quarter, we would have sapped their energy and the pace of the game would favor our style. We were able to accomplish that goal and, in the end, it played out just as we had hoped. We stretched a four-point halftime lead to six at the end of the third. Forced to shoot the three-point shot against our zone, Concordia was unable to find the mark. Nor were they able to get back in transition as we heated up our running game. The final score was 58-44. Even though we weren't able to match our season offensive average, only one other team has scored more points against Concordia in a game this year.

Tabitha showed signs of finding her form, scoring 28 points to go with 12 rebounds. This performance was in spite of some suspect offensive foul calls, three in all, that were whistled against her. Bailey chipped in with nine, mostly from her favorite baseline shots. Becky found her range a bit offensively as well with 8. We limited IU-bound point guard Andrea Newbauer to 12 points, most of those hard-earned. It was a great team effort on the road against a very good team.

We have now avenged three of our four losses from last year (South Side, Wawasee, Concordia), and we didn't play the fourth team (Carmel) this season. The kids are beginning to really pull it together and our teaching is being done at a higher level - we still discuss Xs and Os, but we're also focusing on reading the game, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of opponents, and individual skill work that fits into the larger team concept. We've only played half of our regular season games now - I am very excited about the growth that is still possible in the second half of the season!

Elmhurst 68 Canterbury 56

We just couldn't get it done tonight at Elmhurst. They shot it very well in the first half, despite a pretty decent defensive effort. We made them work hard each possession, but too often they got the shot they wanted from the shooter they wanted. We ran the floor well in transition, but didn't have a lot to show for it as we trailed 39-29 at half.

We came out in the second half intent on playing the same style, but with better results. Instead, we suffered through a painfully bad shooting quarter and the game really got away from us. Warriors to the end though, the kids battled back in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to nine, but were never able to get any closer.

Aside from the nice stretch of play in the fourth quarter, we were out of sync for much of the night and weren't able to find a good rhythm. There were lots of good things to consider though. I thought we attacked the basket very well most of the night. We outrebounded them 37-29. We shot more free throws 23-13. We were fairly effective against their full-court pressure.

I also know that we will not see another team like Elmhurst the rest of the year. With a lightning-quick point guard who has verbally committed to Wisconsin and a 6'2" post who is headed to Purdue, they beat us with sheer star power. I know we have some solid teams ahead on the schedule, but I can't see anyone playing us tougher than Elmhurst did tonight.

We will get back on the horse and start getting ready for Concordia Saturday afternoon. Their style will be quite different from Elmhurst, but they also have a D1 point guard, Andrea Newbauer, who is headed to Indiana. They guard you like crazy and we'll be hard-pressed to score the way we like to score. Hopefully, we can get back on the winning track and start setting our sights on the rest of the teams on our schedule.