What I learned at Carolina Basketball Camp

Now that the summer is over, it's time to sit back and appreciate some of the finer moments. The highlight of my summer was easily a long-planned trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For the longest time I dreamt of working at the Carolina Basketball Camp. And I do mean for the longest time stretching back to my days as an undergrad. Ever since I started coaching, I've been thinking about it. And in the last couple years since my son has been bitten by the basketball bug, I knew some day I'd be making the trek up to Chapel Hill.

This week at camp, I had the good fortune of being in Coach Ed Will's gym, which just so happened to be Carmichael Auditorium.  All Carolina fans know that Carmichael has so much history, the site of famous games in Carolina basketball lore. To get to work there for an entire week was a cool experience.

Carmichael

So here are some of the things I learned this summer.

1. Stephen Curry is impacting the basketball world, and not in a good way. Kids are jacking up threes at the slightest notion.  I thought it was maybe a CR thing earlier in the year, but at Carolina basketball camp kids were firing off shots left and right. Prepare yourself coaches, we are facing a generation of gunners.
2. Carolina players are good people. We had the good fortune of having two UNC basketball players in our gym (current and past). Fans are so focused on games and titles, but it's easy to forget that players are real people. It was refreshing to see that we have some great guys representing the university, just good guys. Our current player was genuinely interested in topics beyond basketball.  Now maybe he was just being nice and respectful, but I found him to be genuine in his interactions with coaches and campers.  

   

   Joel Berry & Dani
   

3. You know how sometimes you step into a different world?  Basketball gear, particularly branded gear, has this currency at a basketball camp. It's a badge of who you are, where you've been and what you represent...at least at first glance. I never quite comprehended the impact of gear in basketball circles, but I got an interesting look at that this summer. The irony here, is that I work in marketing in my regular job; I am well versed in the power of brands, so this was an interesting revelation.
4. My son has become a hoops junkie. That's not exactly a surprise; he tags along to all the games he can, he sneaks into the locker room of my games and he checks the Laker's latest moves every morning, even in the offseason. This was the first overnight basketball camp. He drank straight from the fire hydrant. My son got to run up and down the Smith Center court in a warm-up game. I'm not sure if he can fully appreciate what a cool experience that was (decked out in full Carolina gear no less). Of course he didn't touch the ball once in those four minutes (again, gunners), but he was out there being a good teammate. He got his picture taken with Coach Williams as well as a few players. And he learned a little basketball, which he now practice almost daily. 



On the court at the Smith Center.


5. Attention to detail and organisation makes a huge difference. I spent a year as a JV manager when Coach Randy Wiel in my freshmen year in college. That year left an indelible mark on my views about basketball; I soaked up every bit of knowledge I could gleam and that has been the foundation of my basketball coaching. Many of the drills I learned back then, and that I use with my teams to this day, were being used at camp. At no point during camp did I feel at a basketball information disadvantage with my fellow coaches; I took that as a good sign for coaching in Costa Rica. There's some coaches in Costa Rica who know their stuff (and many who don't know what they don't know).  The biggest gap, and its not just coaches, is in organisational skills (planning, punctuality, attention to detail, communication, follow up, etc. ). There more than 800 kids and nearly 100 coaches at camp participating at 15 different sites. As a parent and a coach, I can say it ran like clockwork. What's even more amazing is that the operation is basically run by an army of managers (as well as the steady supervision of Coaches Frederick and McGrath). The managers weren't involved with the basketball side of the camp for the most part, but they make sure campers are where they need to be and that coaches can do their job. One of Ed's most astute observations was that the operational efficiency at camp is a legacy left by Coach Guthridge. I compare that to our situation in Costa Rica, and that's where I see the greatest difference and room for improvement. Take for example the National Games and the daily schedule of competition. Two games into the day and things were already behind schedule. By the end of the day, games were an hour to two hours behind schedule. 

   

   With my college roommate, Ed Wills.

6. The enduring power of friendship should not be underestimated. I met Ed back in those JV Manager days as a freshman in college. On the surface, we made for an unlikely duo; Ed was from the frozen tundras of Vermont and I was this kid from Costa Rica. Basketball has always been a uniting force; we bonded in the bowels of the Smith Center on those endless gamedays. We eventually ended up as roommates on a path to an enduring friendship. As years roll on,  life gets in the way. You see each other less and less, and even with social media helping bridging distances, it's a challenge to keep in touch the way you'd like. Being able to spend five days at camp with Ed was such a delicious luxury. In some ways, it's like you pick up things seamlessly, like picking up a conversation mid-stream after many years. 
7. In other ways, Ed has grown so much as a basketball coach. He's been doing Carolina Basketball Camp for 25 years, running his own gym. It was so cool to see Ed in command of the gym; I learned as much watching Ed that week as much as anything. The other cool thing was seeing the bonds Ed has created with his fellow coaches, forming a long-standing quartet with Mike Hefner, Troy Odergard and Jeff Junker). It was like watching a jazz quartet playing in the dark in total sync, knowing what note each guy is going to make.  It was just cool to see a close knit group of guys brought together by basketball. As an innocent bystander, I went with the flow, even if it meant having "dinner" at 4PM. 

Coach Ed Wills

 

What's the goal?

As a new governing board takes over for the FECOBA (Costa Rican Basketball Federation), my thoughts turn over to what their objectives are for this upcoming period.

What is the objective and how do you measure progress towards those objectives? Is it to qualify for the Olympics or FIBA Worlds? Is it to be champion of Central America? Is it to have a strong professional league? Personally, I think all of these are misguided objectives. The Federation can squander an incredible amount of resources pursuing those goals, and never improving on our current position. Our qualifying region is too strong to think that the current way we do things will find a way to qualify for anything more than the Centrobasket. The results of Costa Rican teams in Centrobasket are not very encouraging once we have to face Caribbean teams.

So what should the objective be? Participation. How many people play basketball in Costa Rica in a registered league? I will go out on a limb and say that the Federation has no idea. It might have a basic idea of how many people participate in its current tourneys, but that doesn't encompass the basketball-playing universe in Costa Rica. The first obvious step is calculate how many players you have currently.  For the sake of argument, let's say that number is 4,000. Put a goal that by 2020 you want to double that number to 8,000.  Once you reach that goal, double it again in five years.  Many people feel that basketball has been slipping in popularity...putting hard numbers is vital to understand this phenomenon. We need a visible, tangible goal to track participation.

The first step is getting all leagues under the Federation umbrella. Don't make it complicated, don't make it expensive. There are too many rules designed to omit people from basketball in Costa Rica. (Exhibit A...coaching licenses).  The goal is inclusivity. If theres a basketball league anywhere, let's get it under the federation umbrella. Give every player a Federation carnet, that way we can generate a database of basketball players in Costa Rica, that way we can track young players and keep adult players engaged. Make the carnet have some value (negotiate with store that the carnet gives you a discount at Extremos, GNC, gyms, etc). The important thing is that it has to be easy and fast to get a player carnet and provide an incentive so players use it.

Getting existing leagues under the Federation umbrella won't be enough. The Federation should be in the business of helping organise leagues. How about some regional leagues (Limon, San Carlos, Perez Zeledon, Guanacaste, etc)? How about creating some school leagues, similar to what the private bilingual schools have done? How about bringing the very popular maxi-baloncesto into the fold? How about blowing out the professional leagues? How about helping out large companies and enterprises organise their intra-company competitions? What does help mean? Put their results on the federation web page. Put the finals of some of these leagues in the large gyms. How cool would it be to have the finals of the judges Laborales in the National Gym?  Players of all skill levels want to play games...let 'em play. 

Increased participation has all sorts of collateral benefits. First, it reverses the aforementioned trend of basketball sliding towards obscurity behind soccer and other sports. Second, it makes it a more attractive product for sponsors and media (and if the media doesn't cover it, go direct). Third, more players means more resources, more facilities, more refs, more coaches. Third, a larger player pool eventually helps out in national teams, providing more players to choose from. Increased competition is good for the system as a whole.  Finally, and personally the most important reason in my book, as a nation, Costa Rica has a huge challenge in reversing sedentary lifestyles; its vital to promote an active lifestyle. Basketball is an ideal vessel for that mission. We need to get people off their ass.

Escazu 81 San Ramon 90

Our first road game of Clausura brought the same result as  our previous trips to San Ramon: a loss. After a close first quarter, San Ramon used a three point barrage in two minutes of the second quarter to break out a double digit lead, an advantage that they protected for the rest of the game.Marco Castrillo had a strong shooting night; in Apertura he spent long stretches on the bench, but Jorge Arguello started him and gave him important minutes. The change worked, as he was aggressive offensively all night, shooting form the outside and taking the ball to the basket.

Grecia 83 Escazu 94

After a two week hiatus, it was time to get back to the court for the beginning of Clausura. Costa Rican basketball has this funky setup where the winner of the Apertura tournament plays the winner of the Clausura tournament in a National Final. If the same team wins both, they are automatically the national champions, a feat San Ramon accomplished last year in a near-perfect season. Its a format that they have borrowed from soccer. One of the positives is that the mid-season reset gives teams new hope to stay in the hunt. This year, Ferreteria Brenes Barva won the Apertura tournament. Now we have several teams that hope to win the Clausura tournament, including Barva so they can win things outright.


That reset allows teams to make adjustments. Our big adjustment is the incorporation of Amaurys Ripoll into our squad. Originally from the Dominican Republic, Ripoll has lived in Costa Rica long enough to be a nationalised Costa Rican. Amaurys played for us as a foreigner last year. We had been waiting on his paperwork to clear all during Apertura, which was tough for Amaurys, to practice not knowing what your status will be is a tough task. His papers cleared just after the deadline; we actually had his citizenship before but there was one more document necessary for his registration.

Amaurys Ripoll

Our first game of Clausura was against Grecia. The schedule flips automatically, so this time our season opener was at home.  Our games against Grecian were very close in Apertura. Their veteran squad has the capacity to score a lot of points. Going into the game I was a little concerned about integrating Ripoll into our rotation without messing up chemistry. Thing is the season has so little games that you almost need to force things and hope they work out.

Herny Forester and Michael Jackson

By bringing in Amaurys, we needed to make adjustments to our rotation. for this game we went with a smaller lineup, moving Michael Jackson to the 4 spot. The first half was an up and down affair. every time it looked like we were set to make a run, Grecian would answer with a big basket or we would make a careless turnover.  We finished the first half with 13 turnovers and clinging to a one point lead.

In the third quarter we played around with our rotation a bit, putting both Amaurys and Michael on the wing. Amir Alvarado had a strong quarter for Grecia, keeping the score in the quarter close. Then right before the end of the third quarter, Diego Loria got called for a foul on Henry Martinez, and then got called for a double foul and a technical foul; three fouls on the same play, though to be honest the double foul should have been called on one of our other players! San Ramon got three free throws and the ball, a three pointer that Henry converted. Suddenly, Grecia closed the quarter up by five points.
Michael Jackson and Nick Leon took over in the final quarter. We erased Grecia's lead in the first two possessions and never looked back. Clifford Smith hit some long threes to break the game wide open and we never looked back, cruising to a comfortable lead.

Clifford Smith and Henry Martinez squaring off. 

Notes

• Michael had his first career double that didn't include turnovers with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists. Amaurys Ripoll added 16 points, with Nick Leon chipping in 15 points. 
• Amir Alvarado had 26 points while Korey Fisher added 16 points and 7 assists. 

Super fan in the stands.

Apertura Semi-Final: San Ramon 2 Escazu 1

I still can't sleep right.

We lost to ARBA San Ramon in the Apertura Semi-Finals 2-1. I refrain from posting during a playoff series because a) it's a very busy week where time is best allocated elsewhere and b) I want to limit the information the other team gets (what up SR peeps 👊). 

So here's what you missed:

Game 1: Escazu 68 San Ramon 91

So far this season, the vast majority of our games have been close games. Not this one, a blowout loss is not the ideal way to get the playoffs started. Just a week earlier we had played San Ramon well on the road, but it was evident that they came out with some adjustments to change the tone of the game. Nino Williams came in hitting his shots and establishing his authority on the offensive glass, but the scoring attack was balanced with Giorgio Milligan chipping in 17 and Marcos Castillo adding 14.  San Ramon placed a high emphasis on containing Nick Leon, trapping him on all ball screens and limiting him to just 12 points. The San Ramon defence forced us into our worst shooting night of the season. The final score says we lost by 23, but really it wasn't that close.

Blowout losses are the trickiest outcomes in coaching. Doubt creeps in, making you question things. Left unchecked, you can end up questioning every thing. Person, systems, lineups, decisions, routines; it all comes into play. The most frustrating aspect is that in a lopsided loss, you see your team at its worst. Is that really my team? You always know your team is capable of a stinker...just like you also know that you're capable of the perfect game.

Game 2: San Ramon 101 Escazu 105 (OT)

The second game was back in Escazu in the friendly confines of our gym. The greatest advantage to playing at home is familiarity with the rims. During our Thursday practice before the game we shot...a lot. That extra emphasis was quickly evident as our guys were hitting their shots from all over the place: Dave Milliner and Clifford Smith had a hot first quarter, sticking their early jumpers. San Ramon also came out firing, resulting in a high-scoring first half with an edge for the home team 47-40.



Things cooled down in the second half. San Ramon chipped away at our lead. Every time we would break out a two possession lead they would make a big basket. Giorgio Milligan shouldered the load, eventually scoring 35 points. On our side, Michael Jackson took over, scoring 39 points on a variety of dunks, jump shots and cutbacks. It would have been a lot more enjoyable if it weren't our playoff lives on the line. With 18 seconds to go, we called a play for Nick Leon to attack the basket on the final possession, but apparently muggings are allowed in our league on final shots. Fortunately, we were able to recover in overtime and pull out the victory.

 Game 3: San Ramon 93 Escazu 91 (OT)

Thanks to the advantage in tiebreakers, we had the third game at home. It was a game worthy of a deciding game. Both teams had big runs, trading the lead over the course of the game. We took the lead in the first quarter. San Ramon took the lead in the second. The hot shooting from both sides in Game 2 was replaced by a much grittier encounter. What stayed the same was the duel between Giorgio (31 points)  and Mike (36 points). Our offence stalled in the third quarter and SR was able to capitalise, stretching out their lead to eleven. To make matters worse, Clifford Smith aggravated a leg injury forcing him to the bench.

Not a foul, obviously.

There are times when you just have to go with your gut. One of our bench wings, David Gourzong, hasn't played a lot this year. David has a demanding job as an engineer which affects his availability for practice. It's hard to get in the flow of things, both from an individual and team standpoint without court time. However, David is a good defender and a heady player, so I decided to roll with him and put him on the blazing hot Milligan. Another key development was Nino Williams picking up his fifth foul early in the quarter, which allowed us to do a better job of helping on penetrations to the basket. A string of defensive stops allowed us to quickly erase San Ramon's lead and tie things up with five minutes to go. Nick Leon was struggling with his outside shot, but he was able to get inside on dribble penetration, hitting some big shots and feeding Juan Carlos Rosich. There we were up six point with a little over a minute left.

Now look, I don't like to harp on refereeing. There is big room for improvement in this league. The bad officiating affects all teams, and I'm fully aware that San Ramon got some horrible calls as well. What is tough to digest is when all the calls go against you in the deciding moments of the game, and there were four tough calls in the last minute or so, including a phantom foul on a three-point shot (Gourzong on Milligan) and a very quick five second count while we have the ball with ten seconds to go, up three. San Ramon got the ball in the hands of Daniel Simmons for a three point shot, which our shot blocker decided to challenge. Unfortunately, he came down on the shooter, giving him three shots at the line. Simmons...this clutch motherfucker hit all three free throws to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Gourzong on Milligan

Unlike Friday's night game, my team was very deflated that the game went to an extra period; we had let the game slip through our fingers. The refs blew three fouls on San Ramon on our first three possessions in OT, as if they felt guilty about those questionable calls to end the game. Things got tough when Michael was called for his fifth foul. San Ramon took a quick three point lead, but we were able to tie the game with two big free throws from Juan Carlos Rosich. With 18 seconds to go, San Ramon had the final possession to win the game. Coach Jorge Arguello put the ball in Giorgio Milligan's hands. Giorgio  was able to turn the corner and get close enough to the basket to hit the game winner over our help defenders as the final whistle sounded. Game and series over.

Notes

• We had back-to-back 30 point performances form Michael Jackson and Giorgio Milligan in this series, despite each defence's best attempts to slow them down. Michael also added in 16 and 18 rebounds in those games.
• The refs decided to start calling technicals on flops in the playoffs, something they had not been doing during the regular season. It's like the exact opposite of what they should be doing. Those technicals were brutal for San Ramon in Game 2 and crucial for us in Game 3 (technical on a jumper in the fourth quarter? C'mon, get serious). 
• Barva and San Ramon will square off in the finals of Apertura. Coming up next, Clausura. 

Escazu 77 San Ramon 78

A trip and a very nasty bout with the flu had me sidelined for three weeks. In the meantime, the team had some exciting wins against Grecia and Barva, putting us on top of the standings.

Last Tuesday we traveled to San Ramon for our showdown with the defending champ. In my early years in the league, the toughest road venue was Limon. A hot, humid gym a stone's throw away from the ocean. Their crowds were not only into the game, but also very knowledgeable about hoops. And back then, they had some great teams. Just a tough place to play. Now that they're out of the league, the reigning title of toughest place to play has become San Ramon. Their administration has done an excellent job of drawing crowds to their gym; games in San Ramon feel like real basketball games and not glorified exhibitions. 

San Ramon came out of the gate quickly, attacking the basket. In the first five minutes they jumped out to an eight point lead. Some defensive stops on our part led to some buckets and we quickly erased the lead. The rest of the second half was a back-and-forth affair. Michael Jackson and Nino Williams were trading big baskets. Isaac Conejo converted a three point play at the end of the first half,

reducing our lead to one point.

 

Nick Leon came alive in the third quarter from the outside with Michael continuing to make some tough baskets. Out lead swelled to nine points as Jorge Arguello called a time out to settle his guys. San Ramon turned up the defensive intensity, switching around their assignments. Slowly but surely, they whittled out lead behind baskets from Giorgio Milligan and Jefney Anderson. With forty seconds to go, Jerson Harris putback an offensive rebound giving San Ramon its first lead of the half. Michael Jackson scored a quick basket to take back the lead. Niño Williams scored the go-ahead basket for San Ramon on the ensuing play. On our final half court possession, we had a lapse in execution and despite corralling San Ramon's final miss, we were unable to get a last shot up. 

Notes

-Michael Jackson led out scoring with 32 points with Nick Leon scoring 22. 

-Nino Williams led the San Ramon scoring with 22 points. Isaac Conejo had 18 points and eight assists.  

Escazu 72 Latina 71

Sometimes a loss feels like a win. Sometimes a win feels like a loss. This last game felt like the latter. 

Now I could make excuses. Michael Jackson was in Panama playing in the Ligas de America. Three other rotation players were away for personal reasons. We had to play our sub-23 guys some heavy minutes. Rosich has some bad sushi. Sure, all that may have factored in, but when you get down to it the U Latina played a better game. We sidestepped disaster. 

The Latina guys were very intense for the entire game, capitalizing on lackadaisical effort the entire game. Just when we would score back-to-back baskets and possibly start a run, here came Latina with a gutty basket. I had seen videos of Latina, so I knew they played hard. Usually they just ran out of bodies, letting the other team go on a big run that opened the floodgates. 

The floodgates never opened. Jeff Dixon picked up some early fouls. In came Juan Carlos Rosich who had a big game against San Ramon, but had been sick all week with food poisoning. Back-to-back offensive fouls soon got him into foul trouble as well. Dixon came in, got called for an offensive foul and then got called for a technical. Three minutes into the second quarter my starting center had four fouls, and his backup was on the bench with three. Dixon's technical was not only costly from a personnel standpoint, it gave Latina the ball back immediately, letting them take the first lead of the game as they scored six points unanswered. 

Latina big man Jose West got busy inside, taking advance of his size. We went into the half down two...having played a our poorest half of basketball on both ends. 

Until the second half that is. After scoring three baskets in the first half minute, we went on a prolonged drought mixing in bad shots with balls coming back out. The Latina guys were setting great screens and making quick cuts, putting together a nice run to build a six point lead. Diego Loria got whistled for a foul, which he then proceeded to argue with the ref, earning himself a technical. Another free throw and possession, on which they scored...suddenly the lead was back to 10. 

In the final quarter we started making a determined effort to attack the basket. We got the lead down to six, but ULatina was resilient. A three pointer with 4:42 to go gave them a twelve point lead. Adrian Chavarria and Ernie Forrester led the defensive charge, getting some crucial stops. A couple of old fashioned three point plays halved the lead to six in 20 seconds. A couple more stops let us whittle the lead to one. With 24 seconds to go Nick Leon made a key defensive play, chasing down a Latina player to prevent a layup. Jeff Spencer, masquerading as a post nabbed a key rebound and Nick was able to push the ball up for the go-ahead basket with four seconds to go. A desperation half court shot came up short...the U Latina players in shock that they had let their first win slip through their fingers. 

Notes

-Nick Leon led our scoring with 22, while Jose West led a balanced effort with 17. 

-Jimmy Garcia is back on the sidelines coaching the U Latina, which helps explain their gritty play. Jimmy was one of the best point guards in CR hoops.