Graceketball

A workout at St John's, a Glen Cove Jr Varsity scrimmage, a clinic at St Dominic's and another Storm victory were a few of the basketball related activities over the long Thanksgiving weekend. I'm thankful Thanksgiving is over until next year. On Wednesday Grace worked with Laura Barry at St John's. She went over a variety of offensive moves as well as shooting. Lots of change of speeds, exploding out of crossovers, inside out dribbles a few ball fake to step through low post moves. Lots of NCAA action over the weekend. Hofstra went to Cancun and won two games, St John's went to the Bahamas and lost two games, Princeton stayed home and won two games... we stayed home and ate turkey. Saturday morning bright and early GraceAnne and her JV teammates boarded the bus at Glen Cove High School and headed to Wheatley for a scrimmage. The girls played extremely well! I think they "won" 3 out of 4 quarters. Coach Corinne Turner played the four 7th graders to...

GraceAnne and I went to see LuHi scrimmage Christ The King on Saturday afternoon right after her first official JV practice. It was great and we got to see some really talented kids, especially all the underclassmen. Some very impressive players including Sierra Calhoun who is definitely for real. The speed at which they play is the most obvious difference as far as "next level". GraceAnne's Hudson Storm team won their second game of the season on Sunday in what was a very hard fought victory. I had the privilege of coaching and I really do mean privilege, this is an extremely nice bunch of girls that have worked very, very hard. I was relieved to get the victory because I felt like it was a team we should beat and I didn't want to let the girls down. Sunday's game also marked the end of an era. Our longtime point guard, and GraceAnne's good friend, Grace Stone has moved on to greener pastures. Stone signed on to be team manager for the Long Island Luthera...

Nice! Went to see St John's v Hofstra on Friday at the Mack center. Grace brought her friend Aniya who doesn't follow basketball. I wasn't sure she would have fun but it turned out to be a fantastic game! I found myself cheering for both teams alternately but really pulling for individual players more than anything else. Nadira McKenith is an amazing player and fun to watch. She has a heavy load to carry with Da'shena Stevens out hurt but she has really picked up her scoring in the two games since we last saw the Red Storm against St Bonaventure. Friday night it wasn't enough but I would take her at the point any day. Shante Evans had an amazing game for Hofstra with 27 points and 14 rebounds. She seemed to somehow come away with every rebound when it really mattered and dominated the offensive glass. Jen "Big Love" Blanding couldn't counter her because when she entered the game Marie Malone came onfor Hofstra and kept her busy. It seemed lik...

Things are beginning to heat up... even though they never do seem to cool down too much. GraceAnne has qualified to play varsity basketball through selective classification. Yay Grace! She should be very proud, she worked extremely hard. Tryouts for JV and Varsity begin today at Glen Cove High School. Hopefully she will be confident in her skills and do very well. We're looking forward to her playing Junior Varsity along with several of her long time teammates for Coach Corinne Turner! CYO St Hyacinth Storm won their first game this past weekend against St Aiden. The girls played well with the new teammates playing confidently and coming into their own. Grace and I went to see the St John's home opener against St Bonaventure. The Red Storm lost the lead for the first time late in the second half in a game where it seemed like they just couldn't get the separation they needed. They were obviously the better team but if you don't play like it sometimes it doesn...

One of the things all ballers should work on is their screening. GraceAnne should know and be comfortable with setting most of her screens (she knows away screens, down screens and ball screens). But, unfortunately she isn't encouraged to use them in the offense that her team runs. When the girls do set screens the ball handler usually runs off the wrong side, doesn't set up the defender, leaves before the screen is set or simply doesn't use the screen at all. Lots of timing and footwork combined with proper balance and positioning for the screener. Coming off the screen correctly is every bit if not more important than the screen itself. It's a BEAUTIFUL dance when it works! Along with good ball movement and help defense good screening is one of the true measures of good teammates and proper team basketball . Nothing as selfless and as satisfying as setting a GREAT screen! Below is an example of Tiffany Hayes coming off a Kailie McLaren screen using the correct t...

Marc, Nicole Capurso, GraceAnne, Amara, Marie Malone

Grace has practice this evening and then her last Game7 workout with Nicole Capurso. Next CYO game 11/13. Dropped their first three, YIKES! The first two were battles in which the team played extremely well and went right down to the wire. The last game was against an inferior team but the offense just couldn't seem to get on track.... that and 31 turnovers.... yes, I said 31 turnovers against a mediocre press. Grace has been playing extremely well but needs to score. At some point she's going to have to develop a scorers mentality, she has all the tools. Can't wait for the college season to start! Not a huge NBA fan but this lockout is a bummer. Princeton 2012 Recruiting Class Princeton 2011-12 Preview Toulouse Metropole Basket (Carrem's French Team) Carrem Gay Highlight Tape Ramat Hasharon (Ketia Swanier in Israel) St John's Picked #25 Hofstra Freshman PG Hofstra's Shante Evans Pan Am Games ...