Rick Reilly on Houston Yates

[triplethreat]

So pushing his players hard for the entire game is classless? letting his 3rd string score points is classless? :crybaby:

 

No pushing your players hard for the entire game is not classless. Letting 3rd stringers score is not classless. But, when you are on the verge of hanging 170 on someone and beating a team by 135 then those things are not necessary. There was a report out about this game that they were trying to get 200 because the team was weak. Tell me what the point is of beating a team like that. Maybe, this is just a difference in coaching style and philosphy. I would never allow a team I was coaching to do that. Because it is classless.

[mav01]

I wonder what he did that won him those awards. Must have been really nice off the court.

[ctown81]

I'm just not buying the thing about messing up the kids on the opposing team's lives. It only will affect the ones with what I call the "Al Bundy Syndrome" in which high school sports is the pennacle of your life.

[BCFlash]

Coach Wise isn't just a wise man by name. He is my hero! The players on the losing teams can learn a lot from this man...perhaps the ability to handle defeat. I think they have all done a good job of doing that. Most of the players on the other teams have greater struggles than getting beat in a basketball game. I guess...according to Sammyiam... they should be shooting up the gym following the games. Go Lions!

[ooRufusoo]

No pushing your players hard for the entire game is not classless. Letting 3rd stringers score is not classless. But, when you are on the verge of hanging 170 on someone and beating a team by 135 then those things are not necessary. There was a report out about this game that they were trying to get 200 because the team was weak. Tell me what the point is of beating a team like that. Maybe, this is just a difference in coaching style and philosphy. I would never allow a team I was coaching to do that. Because it is classless.

 

 

So your going off a report? Or a rumor that somebody said? Come on man give me a break. Your also telling me that losing a game by the number 1 team in the nation can ruin a kids lives? They should be thankful they get to play against a team like that. What would you have the Coach do? When your up that much just pass the ball to the other team so they can score? Or just stand there? the team runs a full court press... its what they do and all those teams know it, if anything it makes the "weaker" teams practice harder and do better against the other 20 teams they have on their schedule. One game ruining lives hahahaha you guys are something else.

[BCFlash]

We don't even keep score during our games...we just shake hands and sing kumbaya.

[triplethreat]

So your going off a report? Or a rumor that somebody said? Come on man give me a break. Your also telling me that losing a game by the number 1 team in the nation can ruin a kids lives? They should be thankful they get to play against a team like that. What would you have the Coach do? When your up that much just pass the ball to the other team so they can score? Or just stand there? the team runs a full court press... its what they do and all those teams know it, if anything it makes the "weaker" teams practice harder and do better against the other 20 teams they have on their schedule. One game ruining lives hahahaha you guys are something else.

 

Not going off a report, going off 170-35. I never said anything about ruining someones lives. I understand the style of ball they play, I have watched them on TV. I also understand there are D1 kids

on their squad. I would not have a team pass the ball to the opposing team, I would just stall and let the clock run. I understand Yates is good, they will cut down the nets in Austin on Saturday and if they don't it will be a huge upset. My question is what is the point in hanging 170 on someone or beating a team by 135 or 100? I just don't really see the point in that. IMO it is classless.

[BCFlash]

No, no no...playing keep away from the tiny children is classless too.

[ooRufusoo]

seriously good point. Playing keep away and "stalling" would rub it in their f ace. And yes the people that agree with you have stated many times what getting beat by the number 1 team in the nation can case violence for whatever reason. If they have beef with them before the game that is where it comes from. Beatnig somebody that bad can be a bad thing i get what you are saying its just impressive they can put up those numbers. IM sure the other team just quits at that point but theres your lesson.

[mav01]

I don't think its classless passing the ball around and stalling. If thats the case, then consider Pine Trees coach classless as well.

[triplethreat]

Hanging 170 is impressive, I would have thought it to be almost impossible in a 32 min ballgame. But, it is one thing to score 170 if the other team has like 155-160 not if the other team has 35. I don't know about this messing with kids lives and things leading to violence. I could see where a team would have a hard time after getting beat that bad especially when it becomes internet news and then it is everywhere. I just don't think teams should be putting that kind of margins on other teams. To me, that is not what the game of Basketball is about.

[luvthewolfpack]

Why can't people just let those kids be great?

Whose to say the fight in the parking lot had anything to do with the game? Fights in the parking lot are common place at games across the country just like breaking and entering into school buses.

 

 

[Eagleborn]

Why can't people just let those kids be great?

Whose to say the fight in the parking lot had anything to do with the game? Fights in the parking lot are common place at games across the country just like breaking and entering into school buses.

If those fights didnt have anything to do with the game then Im going to the moon tomm. on a hang glider...

[luvthewolfpack]

I agree totally sammy-u nailed it-ive coached at some rough, innercity schools, sports (bball) may be the only reason they come to school--you embarass them like this and it is all they have--its probablly not going to end good...

 

 

That's quite a generalization.

A lot of those kids come from middle class families and believe it or not Yates is a magnet school where they place a big emphasis on education and grades. Basketball is something a few of them happen to be good at but, I would'nt go as far as to say that's why they all get up in the morning.

Regarding the teams they are competing against, there will be kids on Lee, Davis and the other schools who will have players offered D1 scholarships for basketball so I would'nt call the lashing they received by Yates a demoralizing life defining moment. This years Yates team is an apparition. Even though they won the state championship last year, they were not able to do it in the record setting fashion they are performing at this season so this is not something we can expect to see every year.

[luvthewolfpack]

If those fights didnt have anything to do with the game then Im going to the moon tomm. on a hang glider...

 

 

You don't know that those fights had anything to do with the game neither does Reilly. As far as he knows the kids ( assuming they were kids) may go to the same school. Reilly just assumed they were kids from rival schools. The Yates and Lee kids live in the same neighborhood and see each other all the time. I doubt Lee takes the basketball team that serious.

[Eagleborn]

You don't know that those fights had anything to do with the game neither does Reilly. As far as he knows the kids ( assuming they were kids) may go to the same school. Reilly just assumed they were kids from rival schools. The Yates and Lee kids live in the same neighborhood and see each other all the time. I doubt Lee takes the basketball team that serious.

And you dont know that those fights didnt have anything to do with the game..

 

You have your opinion and I have mine!

[32dive]

I look at teams like Lucas Lovejoy playing Dallas Madison, a team that averaged over 100 points in the playoffs, and holding them to 50 points in that game. Any team that allows another team to score at will and then resorts to fighting because they lost is unprepared, poorly coached, and an embarassment to themselves and the concept of competitiveness.

[TheRedBaron]

I agree with some of that article, Wise is just like a certain reporter from ESPN. He is arrogant, self-centered, and isn't exactly the classiest guy in any room. He's not a criminal however. He's teaching boys to be winners. He emphasizes winning well and graciously. He also subscribes to the same philosophy that I do. It is more demoralizing to your opponent to beat them without trying than it is to put everything you got into it and beating them handily.

 

Do fights happen? Yeah, especially when one of the teams is getting beat by 70+ points. That tends to cause a bit of angst, which leads to tension, and then any little thing can set off the kids on the losing end. They are teenagers. Why does anyone expect them to act like something other than teenagers?

 

I actually enjoyed the article. I can appreciate Reilly's take on it. I figured that, like Wise and myself, Reilly knows he isn't the classiest guy in the room, or at least I thought I picked up on that reading his article. Then, he blows the whole thing and loses all credibility in the end by stretching beyond Wise and essentially calling the Yates team classless. After writing what he wrote, who is he to judge anyone's class in that same article? What a hypocrite.

[misterbball05]

Amen. It is a classless program

 

 

I agree 100% and I agree with Reilly. A lot of people would like to boil a classless jerk like Wise in oil. He is what every coach should not be. In fact, I would think that Wise is the racist instead of anyone who complains about what he is doing. There are a LOT of people in this state and across the country who would love to see Wise and his band of thugs get beat.

[ctown81]

There are a LOT of people in this state and across the country who would love to see Wise and his band of thugs get beat.

 

Tell me he just didn't say that.

 

Wow! Talk about classless. Say what you will about the coach but I doubt if you know any of the young men on that team personally to make a statement like that.

[Lobos2004]

Has our country really stooped so far? We're full of crybabies and those who think everyone's a winner and should be treated as such. It's not the job of Yates to lay down; it's the job of another team to stop them.

[bordertown]

No need foul to extend a blowout game. I think most of those denouncing Yates coach, are not saying the kids should not play hard. You can do things to improve your team and the players skills without embarassing the opponent.

 

Example 1. Every player has to touch the ball before a shot is taken. Improves ball movement, passing skills, vision of the court, awareness of other players on the court, etc....

 

Example 2. Require shots to be taken with your weak hand. Great basketball players can shoot with either hand. If these kids want to be great, make them realize their weakness and let them working on it.

 

In a tight game (in a summer AAU game) it might be beneficial.

 

I will not accuse the team of being classless, but reserve judgement on the coach.

[bordertown]

Has our country really stooped so far? We're full of crybabies and those who think everyone's a winner and should be treated as such. It's not the job of Yates to lay down; it's the job of another team to stop them.

 

You have it all wrong. As the "Greatest Generation" is lost, we are losing our understanding of class (ala Bob Hope).

[Coach4Christ]

Classy article by Reilly. I would expect nothing but from him.

[whodathoughtit]

bordertown, I think you nailed it.