Chip Shot: The Devil Made Me Do It!
December 12, 2020 at 3:18 a.m.
Chip Shot: The Devil Made Me Do It!
By Chip Davenport-
The Warsaw boys’ basketball team entered last night’s contest with a 2-2 won-loss record, and even head coach Matt Moore knows when this happens in Warsaw, the sky is falling, and the groundswell of speculation begins.
Have the boys begun to hear any buzz around town and in the hallways of the high school? There’s an upside to this. To paraphrase Coach Moore’s words, it’s a test for the Tiger hoopsters toward how well they’ll handle the community pressure. Can they face the adversity of second-guessing from the fans, friends, and family? Can they channel that pressure into something productive?
Last year’s squad won eight of their first nine games, but finished the regular season losing six of their last seven contests (an 11-9 record overall). The prognosis in town was an early exit from the tournament at the hands of an improved Goshen RedHawks squad.
Easy folks! These were boys whose ages range from 15 to 18 years old last year!
They were an athletic basketball squad who (in this case supported by stats I’ll spare you) didn’t shoot particularly well. Athletic teams are prone to streaky stretches WITHIN games let alone AMONG games. They were predictable in that manner as well. Hey, why can’t they bounce back favorably, for old time’s sake, right?
The week of practice following that late-season skid was intense and productive. The Class of 2020 regrouped, and “found themselves.” They battled to two straight overtime wins first versus the RedHawks, followed by a Professor vs. Teacher battle Rhodes/Penn-Ogle/Tigers battle to advance to the sectional finals. The Tigers hit the Northridge Raiders’ sharpshooting buzzsaw to end their season, but the tournament run was still a joy to watch.
It’s more frustrating to be limited to family only ticket availability, no fan admittance, or 25% capacity limits depending on when and where you’re playing these days. If your access to Tiger basketball is only through livestream, radio, or catching the illustration of the results in print media it might add to your early frustration.
Stop right there! Enter a mix of new and returning 15 to 18 year old boys for the 2021 season.
One more thing. Therein lies the beauty of Indiana high school basketball. Everyone heads to an all-inclusive state tournament with a clean slate.
The journey to that tournament is a little less than three months away. However, in the immediate future the Tigers are gearing up to face teams from The Region in three of their next four games, and sprinkling two more Region teams in their January and February slates. They’re gonna’ get battle tested all Winter long, barring pandemic-related speed bumps. Warsaw will eventually have two more starters available, too.
Coach Moore is a builder, be it program building over multiple seasons, or striving for continuous improvement within a single season. He is eager for the challenge ahead. It’s a source of energy for the leader who put away his sneakers years ago, but still demonstrates an intense, competitive spirit.
Basketball pundits have seen their fair share of 10-10 regular season finishers make deep tournament runs: so many to list among fans, friends and family while indulging some adult beverages and chicken wings, but not in today’s column. Nonetheless, I speculate we’ll see seasons within seasons as we witnessed last year; some good, some more challenging than we’d like to see.
I’ve played devil’s advocate almost all my life. Let’s play it again!
No one hopes there are sine waves of performance, but enjoy them nonetheless. Witness the boys’ progress as they embrace and execute a new offensive system. Enjoy the Lake Centrals, the Valpos, the Culver Acadamies and other strong programs instead of the dogma of the (gladly removed) Manchesters and Tritons. Maybe Wabash, although they beat us last year, will just be a two-year lark. Bring on the programs who make the Tigers Class 4A battle tested. If the Tigers finish 10-10 this year, bring on the tournament. They just might regroup as they did last year.
I know I’ve risked the wrath of some of our readership in the aforementioned hamlets. I appreciate your subscriptions, but I want to create a healthy agree-to-disagree mood now and then. It’s a heck of a lot more fun to read candor than it is to read someone waxing for scared cows in the schedule just because they’re a good draw, or the stuff of water cooler debates even if it’s unwelcome – at first blush – to your reading eyes. The tournament in this century almost mandates the departure from these beloved contests.
My friends of old loved sparring over sports talking from age eleven until I left for the Air Force at age 20. We would pick right back up from where we left off upon visits home in rare reunions. It’s a love we knew no other way to express among ourselves.
May each of you feel the same with me!
Latest News
E-Editions
The Warsaw boys’ basketball team entered last night’s contest with a 2-2 won-loss record, and even head coach Matt Moore knows when this happens in Warsaw, the sky is falling, and the groundswell of speculation begins.
Have the boys begun to hear any buzz around town and in the hallways of the high school? There’s an upside to this. To paraphrase Coach Moore’s words, it’s a test for the Tiger hoopsters toward how well they’ll handle the community pressure. Can they face the adversity of second-guessing from the fans, friends, and family? Can they channel that pressure into something productive?
Last year’s squad won eight of their first nine games, but finished the regular season losing six of their last seven contests (an 11-9 record overall). The prognosis in town was an early exit from the tournament at the hands of an improved Goshen RedHawks squad.
Easy folks! These were boys whose ages range from 15 to 18 years old last year!
They were an athletic basketball squad who (in this case supported by stats I’ll spare you) didn’t shoot particularly well. Athletic teams are prone to streaky stretches WITHIN games let alone AMONG games. They were predictable in that manner as well. Hey, why can’t they bounce back favorably, for old time’s sake, right?
The week of practice following that late-season skid was intense and productive. The Class of 2020 regrouped, and “found themselves.” They battled to two straight overtime wins first versus the RedHawks, followed by a Professor vs. Teacher battle Rhodes/Penn-Ogle/Tigers battle to advance to the sectional finals. The Tigers hit the Northridge Raiders’ sharpshooting buzzsaw to end their season, but the tournament run was still a joy to watch.
It’s more frustrating to be limited to family only ticket availability, no fan admittance, or 25% capacity limits depending on when and where you’re playing these days. If your access to Tiger basketball is only through livestream, radio, or catching the illustration of the results in print media it might add to your early frustration.
Stop right there! Enter a mix of new and returning 15 to 18 year old boys for the 2021 season.
One more thing. Therein lies the beauty of Indiana high school basketball. Everyone heads to an all-inclusive state tournament with a clean slate.
The journey to that tournament is a little less than three months away. However, in the immediate future the Tigers are gearing up to face teams from The Region in three of their next four games, and sprinkling two more Region teams in their January and February slates. They’re gonna’ get battle tested all Winter long, barring pandemic-related speed bumps. Warsaw will eventually have two more starters available, too.
Coach Moore is a builder, be it program building over multiple seasons, or striving for continuous improvement within a single season. He is eager for the challenge ahead. It’s a source of energy for the leader who put away his sneakers years ago, but still demonstrates an intense, competitive spirit.
Basketball pundits have seen their fair share of 10-10 regular season finishers make deep tournament runs: so many to list among fans, friends and family while indulging some adult beverages and chicken wings, but not in today’s column. Nonetheless, I speculate we’ll see seasons within seasons as we witnessed last year; some good, some more challenging than we’d like to see.
I’ve played devil’s advocate almost all my life. Let’s play it again!
No one hopes there are sine waves of performance, but enjoy them nonetheless. Witness the boys’ progress as they embrace and execute a new offensive system. Enjoy the Lake Centrals, the Valpos, the Culver Acadamies and other strong programs instead of the dogma of the (gladly removed) Manchesters and Tritons. Maybe Wabash, although they beat us last year, will just be a two-year lark. Bring on the programs who make the Tigers Class 4A battle tested. If the Tigers finish 10-10 this year, bring on the tournament. They just might regroup as they did last year.
I know I’ve risked the wrath of some of our readership in the aforementioned hamlets. I appreciate your subscriptions, but I want to create a healthy agree-to-disagree mood now and then. It’s a heck of a lot more fun to read candor than it is to read someone waxing for scared cows in the schedule just because they’re a good draw, or the stuff of water cooler debates even if it’s unwelcome – at first blush – to your reading eyes. The tournament in this century almost mandates the departure from these beloved contests.
My friends of old loved sparring over sports talking from age eleven until I left for the Air Force at age 20. We would pick right back up from where we left off upon visits home in rare reunions. It’s a love we knew no other way to express among ourselves.
May each of you feel the same with me!
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092