NMPreps.com special feature following the New Mexico Flash led by former Las Cruces head coach Matt Abney. The Flash are playing in San Diego, California, July 21st-23rd.
DAY 2 - JULY 22ND
Since our 1st game wasn’t until 3:15 I was able to take in a little boogie boarding at Mission Beach. As much as I love watching a bunch of games at these tournaments, you cannot come to San Diego and not go to the beach. I’ve always loved Mission Beach because of the good waves it provides. Since I traveled here by myself it wasn’t as much fun without my family. I missed being out in the ocean with Alyssa and Sarah. However, I still had some fun trying to ride some waves. On a side note, if you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend eating at Cheesy Express. It’s right off of Mission Blvd. The grilled cheese sandwiches are legit.
Game 2: NM Flash 58, CBA Ballers (California) 20
As we headed into our 1st game of the day, I encountered my first frustration as a travel team coach. Most of the team was not at our court when the previous game had ended. I had wanted them there early so I could go over a few things that I had seen about our opponent. I had assumed that they would all be there early and ready to go. Why did I assume this? I assumed this because it’s a big tournament with college coaches in attendance and thought they would want to be there early. I was clearly wrong, and ultimately that is on me as their coach. I should’ve given them a specific time when to be at the gym. I realized that it doesn’t matter what kind of tournament we’re in, if it’s high school or a travel team, they are still 16-17 year old kids that still need to be told/reminded of the little things.
It was clearly obvious at the start of our game we were not ready to play. We barely got a warm-up, I wasn’t able to go over what to expect and we were completely disorganized. We started off slow and looked very bad against an inferior team. During a timeout, I expressed my displeasure with them and the slow start we were having. We quickly turned it around and wound up winning easily 58-20. The team we played was very athletic but not very skilled. Our press dominated them as they struggled to get good shots. We were fortunate to play the team we did because if we had been this disorganized and sloppy to start yesterdays game or our 2nd game later in the day, we would’ve lost. The lesson here is that I shouldn’t have assumed.
Game 3: NM Flash 54, Express (Washington) 39
Our 2nd game of the day we played Team Express from Chehalis, WA. They were a solid team that really had me worried. I had scouted them in their previous game and they looked great. They shot the ball really well (11 3’s) and they had a good 2-3 zone that they liked to extend and occasionally trap. I wasn’t sure if our press was going to work because they’re guards were really good.
My concerns soon became reality as we immediately got down 9-0, and sure enough our press was ineffective. We got out of our press and we were finally able to get some buckets. In the quarter, Express made three 3’s and we were down 15-6 at the end of the 1st quarter. The adjustment of not pressing was big for us because we were able to find a man in transition on every possession. In fact, Express only made one more 3-pointer the rest of the game. Offensively, we had a great 2nd quarter outscoring Express 22-9. We got great shots in the half-court but we were really good defensively. We went from being down 9-0 to being up at the half 28-24.
The 2nd half was very similar to the second quarter. We were very good defensively in the half-court and we held their post player to two points when in the previous game she scored 20. We continued to do well offensively when we shared the ball. In these showcase tournaments, players tend to want to do a little more than they are used to doing, which I completely understand. After all, they are here to catch a college coach’s eye. However, when this happens, players usually end of taking bad shots or making poor decisions. What I’ve always told my past teams is “good for great”. If you have a good shot and your teammate has a great shot, swing the ball! We were much better with that concept. This team is full of really good shooters and when we went good for great we usually knocked down the open shot. Team Express would cut our lead to 8 early in the 4th quarter but we wound up winning 54-39.
We have our last pool game tomorrow at 11:30 am followed by a bracket game at 3:15. The NCAA restricts these tournaments to no more than 2 games a day so that is why we only have one bracket game. One of my goals coming into this tournament was to get that fifth game I am happy we were able to do so. Stay tuned for day 3.
DAY 3 - JULY 23RD
Game 4 (NM Flash 70, LPF Elite (CA) 30: On day 3 we had our last game within our pool at 11:30 am. We played LPF Lady Elite from Moreno Valley, CA. Lady Elite did what we did yesterday prior to our 1st game. They didn’t show up early to the game and they were not ready to play. They were clearly disinterested during our game. They knew they were not advancing into bracket play and it showed. They gave a lackluster performance and we wound up winning 70-30. It was a big game for us because if we had slipped up we may not have gotten into bracket play later in the day. I was proud of our girls’ mental approach. They were very focused and it showed. The biggest difference I noticed this morning was the appreciation the girls showed for one another. There were a lot more high fives and a lot more “nice pass” comments toward each other. I think the reason for that was the girls all went to dinner last night and really got to know each other. When teammates get to be real close it shows on the court with the way they play. They truly were excited when a nice play was made throughout the game.
The game was out of hand by the end of the 1st quarter with us leading by 18 points. We wound of scoring 70 points in a game that all of the girls played well offensively.
Bracket Championship: NM Flash 67, CenCal Elite (California) 57
In the bracket championship we were given the #1 seed. We matched up against the #2 seed CenCal Elite from Fresno City. I watched them a couple of times the first day and noticed how talented they were. They beat both teams badly on day 1 so I knew they were going to be really good.
The first half went back and forth. We had a variety of girls scoring while CenCal had two primary scorers. One of their guards hit three deep 3-pointers while being closely guarded and their point guard was a great shooter as well. With us up at the half 35-34, I decided to completely face guard and deny their two scorers for the rest of the game. Our girls did a great job shutting them down. The other three players on the floor struggled to pick up the lack of scoring. We really pulled away in the 3rd quarter and wound up winning the game and the championship 67-57. It helped that we were 7-11 from the 3-point line.
Final Talk
Observations
My quads and hamstrings are killing me! It’s been four months since I coached a game and with all of the squatting and standing, it feels like I did 200 lunges. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be okay.
Team chemistry is not overrated. It was a beautiful thing to watch these girls come together and play against teams that have been together since April. During our 1st game I heard Maggie and Jazmin introduce themselves to each other. Neither one of them had been at the same practice prior to our 1st game so they hadn’t met. They gave up “the me for the we” throughout the weekend. If they hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have been as successful.
It was a great experience playing in front of college coaches. Hopefully, we played well enough that some of the girls generated some interest from the coaches. We had more coaches in attendance on our first day. There was less the 2nd day and even fewer today. With so many NCAA certified events college programs are spread thin. Instead of watching an entire event they’ll fly out after day two to go watch another event. I did notice quite a few of the coaches that I had contacted prior to the event continued to watch our games, Hopefully, that’s a good sign for our NM Flash girls.
Moving Forward
I really enjoyed coaching these past three days. Does it help that we won a lot of games? Sure it does, but I really enjoyed piecing together the talent of this team in order for them to be successful as individuals but also for us to be successful as a team. I learned a lot about having a travel team over the past two weeks. I’m really excited to learn more and grow as a travel coach. I look forward to helping more NM athletes achieve their dream of playing at the next level. Go NM Flash!
