Huron League Thoughts and Questions

Does anybody play defense anymore?

Huron looks like they are for real.

It looks like Jefferson is improving.

Look for SMCC to really progress as the season rolls along.

Things aren't looking particularly good on the island.

Airport seems to be playing with confidence.

Milan looks to be a year or so away.

Riverview will still play and compete with anybody.

Did Flat Rock have any assist against Woodhaven?

Does the league miss Lauwers, Tarrant, Hawley, Ridzik and Mangin?

Those coaches all had one thing in common, any ideas?

Wednesday Night Scores

Northville 59 Milan 45

Tuesday Night Scores

Annapolis 61 Grosse Ile 34

Plymouth Salem 60 Airport 50

Riverview 48 Detroit Central 42

Pinckney 67 Milan 46

Woodhaven 68 Flat Rock 62

Tuesday Night Games

Flat Rock @ Woodhaven Pick:Woodhaven

Plymouth Salem vs Airport @ Woodhaven Pick:Airport

Milan Vs Pinckney @ Chelsea Pick:Pinckney

Riverview Vs Detroit Central @ Cass Tech Pick:Central

Annapolis @ Grosse Ile Pick: Annapolis

Monday Night Scores

Carlson 58 Grosse Ile 54 OT

Plymouth Salem 51 Flat Rock 45

Airport 72 Woodhaven 50

Please submit scores here if you attended a game tonight. I will get the scores up ASAP.

Monday Games

Flat Rock vs Plymouth Salem @ Woodhaven Pick: Salem

Airport @ Woodhaven Pick: Woodhaven

Carlson @ Grosse Ile Pick: Carlson

Basketball Wish List

As the Christmas season is upon us I caught a glimpse of the wish list that was given to Santa via the league schools.

Airport is asking for a player whose #1 sport is basketball.

Flat Rock is wanting a bruising rebounder who will help out their guards.

Grosse Ile would like some of the height that used to be so prevalent on the island.

Huron would love to win back to back league titles as opposed to waiting 32 years between them.

Jefferson is hoping that their first year head coach can suit up for a few games this year.

Milan longs for a guard in the mold of Aaron White.

Riverview hopes the new decade will be much like the last decade.

SMCC would like their new coach to be half as successful as their last coach.

My wish and prayer for everyone of my readers is that we all remember the "REASON for the season", Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas everyone!

Dundee Slips by SMCC 49-46

In a pre-Christmas game, Dundee was able to outlast SMCC in a game that came down to the wire.

The Vikings led most of the game after jumping out to a 7 point 1st quater lead. The Falcons had a hard time matching up with Dundee's duo of Mike Hand and C.J. Wolfenbarger. The Vikings pushed the lead to 8 points at the half.

SMCC came out a little more focused in the 2nd half and forced three straight Dundee turnovers. SMCC used a 1-3-1 half court trap to put pressure on the Viking guards and were able to cut Dundee's lead down to 2 points at the end of the 3rd quarter 33-31.

During the 4th quarter SMCC was able to take a 2 point lead behind the scoring of Jon Pederson and Keenan Wetzel. But the Falcons were unable to handle the tall Wolfenbarger who seemingly scored at will down the stretch.

After SMCC had cut Dundee's lead down to 1 point with less than 20 seconds to go in regulation Mike Hand seemingly forced a shot but the senior was able to knock home the runner and give the Vikings a 49-46 lead with 8 seconds to go.

Smcc's rookie coach Randy Windham used Pederson and Wetzel as decoys while setting up Ed Shinavere for a shot that could have tied the game. The shot went long but a Falcon hauled in the rebound and got it to Wetzel but his 3 point attempt was off the mark giving Dundee the win.

Wolfenbarger scored 25 points for Dundee while Hand added 16. Wetzel led SMCC with 13.

Tuesday Night Games

Dundee @ SMCC Pick:SMCC

Jefferson @ Trenton Pick:Trenton

Monday Night Scores

Allen Park 60 Jefferson 51
Jake Sterling 18 points

Kentucky Gets 2000th Win

The University of Kentucky reached the 2000th win plateau tonight pummeling cupcake Drexel 88-44. UK is the first college program to win 2000 games.

As the Kentucky players danced around the court in celebration in their shirts that read "the greatest tradition in college basketball", I couldn't help but wonder what tradition they were talking about.

Were they talking about the great Adolph Rupp whose bigotry and racism is legendary?

Are they talking about the treatment of Tubby Smith who led the Wildcats to a National Championship in his first season and an average of 26 wins per season over 10 years?

Or are they talking about the great John Calipari who can coach with the best of them but manages to land every school he coaches at on probation just after he bolts for greener pastures.

I know winning is what it is all about in college basketball but doesn't integrity mean anything anymore? I guess down in Big Blue land it doesn't and probably never has.

Please Submit Stats

I would like to post the stat leaders for the Huron League if I can get enough participation. I'm looking for points, rebounds, assists and steals.

College Update

I took some time to travel up to Waterford today to see a JUCO game. Former Flat Rock star Devon Crain's Glen Oaks Community College was playing Oakland Community College.

My buddies (former FR coach Andy Mangin and FR All-State pitcher Tom Oestrike) and I were treated to an entertaining brand of basketball and a game that came down to the wire. Glen Oaks entered the game at 9-1 while Oakland brought in a 10-3 record. Oakland is coached by former Michigan star Antoine Joubert. Both teams should contend for division titles in the MCCAA. Oakland walked away with a cool five point victory.

Crain starts at point guard for the Vikings from Centreville, MI and used his cat-like quickness to defend Oakland's Kevin Grayer, the son of former Iowa State All-American Jeff Grayer. Crain has turned into a true point guard looking to dish the ball a majority of the time while being opportunistic with his shot.

Crain has bulked up his 6'1" frame and plays at about 170 lbs. The former All-State Ram hurdler is receiving realistic Division I interest and will probably be a nice find for a Mid-Major team next season.

It was good to talk to Devon after the game. I hadn't spoken to him in quite some time. He is easily the best athlete I have ever coached and it was nice to see him talking about his GPA and the prospects of playng Division I basketball next year.

On another note, it was good to see Monroe County native Mike Knabusch officiating the game. His crew did an excellent job in what was quite a chippy game.

Huron League Thoughts and Questions

Jefferson is going to have to find a way to score points.

Milan seems to be struggling a bit in the preseason.

The Holidays will be a nice time to get out and see some of the league teams play.

Flat Rock was lucky to squeak out a win against Trenton.

SMCC found a way to beat Ida.

Once again defense and rebounding will win the league.

The Riverview juniors seem to be playing well.

Grosse Ile is probably a few years away.

Airport's Daniel Jones is off to a good start.

Thursday/Friday Night Scores

Flat Rock 58 Trenton 55

Airport 66 Erie Mason 42

Huron 79 Detroit Westside 64
Zach Richardson 33

SMCC 55 Ida 54

Dundee 61 Jefferson 29

Thursday and Friday Night Games

With the Holiday break on the horizon many teams are playing on Thursday this week.

Here is a look at the schedule:

Thursday Night

Airport @ Mason Pick Airport
Jefferson @ Dundee Pick Dundee
SMCC @ Ida Pick SMCC
Detroit Westside Christian @ Huron Pick Huron

Friday Night

Flat Rock @ Trenton Pick Flat Rock

Tuesday Night Scores

Please submit your Huron League scores here and I will get them posted ASAP.

Carlson 58 Flat Rock 57

Huron 62 Annapolis 53

Dundee 69 Airport 60

Onsted 65 Milan 49

Wyandotte 60 Riverview 46

Tuesday Night Schedule

Wyandotte @ Riverview Pick:Wyandotte

Milan @ Onsted Pick:Onsted

Flat Rock @ Carlson Pick:Flat Rock

Huron @ Annapolis Pick:Huron

Airport @ Dundee Pick:Dundee

Huron League Thoughts and Questions

It was kind of a slow week in the Huron League. Many schools chose to play only one game.

Though it wasn't a typical Divine Child team, Huron's 23 point win was impressive.

SMCC's quality win over Bedford was trumped by a poor showing against Adrian.

I wonder if Flat Rock's Andrew Scarton will be 100% this week.

I never did hear a Riverview/GR score.

Milan struggled in their opener against Tecumseh.

Looks like a young Grosse Ile team played some bigger schools tough.

I'm sure Jefferson's offense will improve this week.

Airport seems pretty confident in their guards this year.

Friday Night Scores

Huron 53 Divine Child 31
Hiigh Scorer Zach Richardson 27

Tecumseh 49 Milan 32

Wyandotte 53 Grosse Ile 40

Good Stuff

Check out this article about communicating with your coach.

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/importance-of-communication-with-your-coach-how-it-helped-the-villanova-wildcats-reach-the-final-four/

Parents this is some good information for you too!

Friday Night Games

Milan @ Tecumseh

Huron @ Divine Child

Riverview @ Riverview Richard

Wyandotte @ Grosse Ile

Thursday Night Results

Adrian 63 SMCC 41

Opening Night Thoughts

Here are some idle thoughts on the opening night for most Huron League teams.

Flat Rock struggled mightily against a rebuilding Ida squad.

Keenan Wetzl is an absolute stud.

Grosse Ile was outscored by 14 points in the 4th quarter in their 59-52 loss to Woodhaven.

Airport struggled with a rebuilding Carlson squad but a win is a win.

Zach Richardson will have something to say about Player of the Year voting.

Giving up only 32 points in a game usually results in a win.

Milan and Riverview remain undefeated.

Tuesday Night Scores

Huron 77 University High 39

Ida 71 Flat Rock 59

SMCC 66 Bedford 63

Woodhaven 59 Grosse Ile 52

Airport 70 Carlson 67 OT

Erie Mason 32 Jefferson 21

Opening Night

Tonight is opening night for most of the league teams. Here is a list of tonight's games:

(Home Team in Bold)
Carlson at Airport
Flat Rock at Ida
Erie Mason at Jefferson
University High at Huron
Bedford at SMCC
Grosse Ile at Woodhaven


I will get the scores posted if people submit them for me. If you would like to add who the scorers were I will include that.

Huron League Predictions

Well after seeing how the pollsters voted during the two months prior to the season I thought I would throw out my picks for the order of finish in the league.

I am just taking into consideration league games and where I think the teams will finish.

1)Huron 12-2, the Chiefs have excellent guard play and good size along with being the defending champs.

2)SMCC 11-3, the Falcons will have the preseason to adapt to a new coach. There is a lot of talent down there in Monroe and the Falcons should have a shot at a league title.

3)Flat Rock 8-6, the Rams are undersized but have some excellent guards including the returning Huron League Player of the Year in Andrew Scarton.

3)Milan 8-6, the Big Reds are an unknown but their new coach has a good track record and some new players in the program.

5)Airport 7-7, the Jets have some solid three year guards returning but lack some size. The Jets could fall a little higher or lower based on some breaks.

5)Riverview 7-7, the Pirates are probably a year away from being a really good team. They have a solid guard and big man but their youth may hurt them.

7)Grosse Ile 2-12, the Islanders have an inexperienced roster and are probably a year away from being a factor in the Huron League.

8)Jefferson 1-13, like some other teams in the league the Bears are youthful in every position including coaching.

This league is pretty tough to figure out. I think Huron and SMCC are the favorites and then anything can happen with the next four teams. Don't be surprised if GI and Jefferson jump up and bite some teams. Scharf is an unknown at Jefferson and Friel at GI is an underrated coach.

Huron League Thoughts and Questions

Can Randy Windham replace the legend Ray Lauwers at SMCC?

Can Jim Kalbfleisch repeat his magic trick at Huron this year?

Will Riverview return to Huron League glory?

Will Airport make the jump this year behind senior guards?

Is Flat Rock planning on "32 minutes of hell" with their small athletic lineup?

Will Milan become relavant in basketball again?

Can Jefferson replace their best coach in history?

Can Grosse Ile turn gridiron success into hardwood magic?

Who is the best player in the league?

Who is the best big man in the league?

Cancer Benefit

Hey everybody I wanted to include a quick word on a fundraiser that is going on for a friend of mine Cathy Villarreal who has breast cancer. Cathy is a 1986 graduate of Flat Rock High School and the sister of one of my close high school friends Ollie Collins. It is open to the public and is going on December 10th, 2009 down in Monroe. I have included a link if you are interested. Thanks to all!

Please click below:

Holiday Wine Tasting Benefit

Huron League Fan Poll

Well after being open for a few months the Huron League Basketball fan poll has now closed. It looks like 458 people took part in picking who they think would win the league this year. The poll was extremely close for a while but the results are in and I'm not surprised by the results. I don't think I will pick them exactly this way but I think the fans are close.

1)SMCC 25%
2)Flat Rock 22%
3)Huron 15%
4)Airport 12%
5)Riverview 10%
6)Grosse Ile 6%
7)Milan 4%
8)Jefferson 3%

This poll certainly wasn't scientific. From my stats I am able to determine that a large majority of my readers are from Monroe County. That would certainly put teams like Riverview and GI behind the eight ball. I think Riverview has an excellent chance to compete for a league title. I think Airport may have gotten a little too much love from the pollsters, as well as, my Alma Mater Flat Rock.

I will be posting my Huron League predictions over the weekend so please check back.

Copyright 2009 HLBBlog All Rights Reserved

Preseason 1st Team All League Basketball

1st Team: Andrew Scarton (FR), Zac Richardson (H), C.J. Luvene (M), Michael Kowalski (R), Ed Shinevarre (SMCC) and Player of the Year Keenan Wetzel (SMCC)

Others to Watch: Tyler Baker (A), Dex Teen (GI), Joe Conner(FR), Mike Oley (J), Caleb Tavtigian (H), Robbie White (GI) Brad Stewart (R) Daniel Jones (A), Bryan McCullough (J), Torin Wetzel (SMCC), David Stockert (H), Robbie Kobylasz (FR) and Andre Duffin (M).

The Blog is Alive

Okay, I decided to do this thing but it will be much different than the football blog. It will be a true blog providing opinion and insight on the teams throughout the league.

Don't look for coverage or scores unless people are willing to provide it. If I attend a game I will try and write something.

I would be willing to do stats if people will cooperate and provide me with them but I will not give incomplete stats.

Look for Huron League Thoughts and Questions every Sunday, Stars of the Week will look to run on Wednesdays and I will try and give a preview of a big game on the schedule a couple nights before teams play.

I will need help from people if they would like this thing to be as successful as the football blog was. My email can be found on my profile.

Don't look for much this week as I am coaching five games in six days this week.

Just an FYI, I will only be covering the boys.

Basketball Blog to End

After much consideration it is with great regret that I won't have a basketball blog covering the Huron League. While the Huron League Football Blog was a big success (over 100,000 visitors), I just don't have the time to do a basketball blog to the best of my abilities. The football blog seemed like a natural because games are played once a week and I usually attend one game a week. Basketball would take way too much time to cover the way I would like.

During the winter months I will be spending time developing what will end up being a website devoted to the Huron League that will include all sports. Look for this site to launch August 1, 2010. That site will include coverage of every Huron League school including High School and Middle School athletics. The site will attempt to cover many of the things that the traditional media outlets neglect. Coverage will include stats, video, pictures, features, school pages and coaching insight.

Please visit my prototype: http://www.huronleague.webs.com/

Scrimmages

Please let me know of any scrimmages that may be going on this week or over the holiday weekend. I'm sure there have been some scrimmages already but I would like to let everybody know when the others are going on.

80's All Decade Team

Tim Rybicki Riverview 1983: Rybicki led the Pirates for 3 straight years and was a two time All Huron League player. At 6'3" Rybicki was a do everything guard type who led some of the best teams in Riverview history. Rybicki was a Class B All Stater his senior year. Rybicki went on to have a good college career while playing basketball in Arkansas.

John Vandecaveye Monroe CC 1985: Vandecaveye was a 4 year varsity player for Ray Lauwers and led the Falcons to 3 straight Huron league titles. This slick 6'2" point guard could do it all for the Falcons but scoring was what he did best with a career average of 15.9 points including a 21.5 clip his senior year. Vandecaveye was a 1st Team Class B All Stater his senior year and played his college ball at the University of Toledo.

Dave Clum Flat Rock 1986: Clum was a 6'8" center on some of the great Flat Rock teams of the mid 80's. Clum scored more than 800 points in his 2 1/2 year varsity career but was more known for his rebounding abilities that allowed him to set a Flat Rock rebounding record his senior year with 336 which was a 14 rebound per game average. Clum went on to play basketball at Eastern Michigan University and was a starter on the Hurons Mid American Champion team that lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Andy Mangin Flat Rock 1987: Mangin is considered one of the best point guards in Huron League history. The 5'10" playmaker scored 1,395 points in his career which amounts to an 18.2 scoring average. Many of Mangin's baskets were from long range but he never benefitted from the three point line which was adopted by the MHSAA in 1988. Mangin had a 3 1/2 record on varsity of 62-16. Mangin was a two time Class C 1st Team All Stater and went on to be a four year starter at Alma College and still ranks as one of their all time leading scorers.

Chris Boller Carlson 1989: Boller was a 6'9" swingman who scored over 1,180 points in his career. Although Boller was the tallest man in the Huron League he was capable of bringing the ball up the floor and shooting three pointers. His senior year his team was one of the tallest in Huron League history with 3 of the other 4 starters being 6'4" or taller. Boller was the 1989 Huron League Player of the Year when he averaged 19.5 points per game and led his team to the 1989 league championship. Boller went on to be a 4 year Division I basketball player in Louisiana.

Ray Lauwers Monroe CC: Lauwers won six Huron League Titles in the 1980's and had a mind boggling 169-57 record over the ten year period. His 1980 team won 20 games while his 1985 team led by John Vandecaveye won 21 games. If that was not good enough his 1986 and 1987 teams won 19 games each following Vandecaveye's graduation in 1985.

I'm hoping all my facts are straight on these guys. I did the best I could. Obviously there were some other great players. I was fortunate enough to be a player in the Huron League when four of these guys played. I was a teammate of two of them and had to defend two others personally. Please feel free to throw some other names out there as there were many great players in the 1980's.

Other players that were considered: Dave Suemenick (FR), Steve Applin (MCC), Greg Baker (A), Dan Bondy (A), Randy Windham (J), Don Tuttle (C), Randy Roland (H), Larry Markey (MCC) Joe Skaiger (GI), Doug Lipford (MCC) Mark Vollmer (R), Chuck Collert (A), and Coach Dennis Sluder (FR).

All Decade Teams

Look for the All Decade teams from the Huron League over the next week. I am still taking nominations but have things pretty far along.

I have been working on the 70's team and have some great candidates but could use some nominations from Grosse Ile and Tecumseh. Please free to email those over along with any pertinent information.

Practice Starts Monday

Basketball practice starts around the league and state tomorrow. Each team will begin practice tomorrow with the hopes of claiming a league championship.

SMCC, Jefferson and Milan are all opening the season with new head coaches. Randy Windham of SMCC has the biggest shoes to fill by replacing the legendary Ray Lauwers. Most people around the league seem to think that Windham will do an excellent job at SMCC. In early season fan polling the Falcons have been tabbed as the team to beat.

Huron returns a solid core of veterans and the Chiefs hope to defend their Huron League title behind third year head coach Jim Kalbfleisch.

Flat Rock returns the reigning player of the year in point guard Andrew Scarton and figure to have a say in who wins the league.. The Rams also return to valuable pieces to their squad in Joe Conner and Robbie Kobylasz.

Riverview is another team that returns a group of veterans and the Pirates made sure they played their usual tough summer schedule that always prepares them for the Huron League.

Airport and Grosse Ile figure to be improved this year and both teams should have solid guard play this winter.

Look for a handful of posts from this blog each week in an attempt to add a little something extra to the season.

Hey Folks

Hopefully the basketball blog will be as well received as the football blog was. Let's remember a few things here though. Let's not turn this into an mlive thing where people just trash others. This is meant to be a fan site and we need to keep things friendly. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be critical but we need to be repectful as well. Have fun all and remember keep it clean the Blog Master is watching.

Huron League Voting

We have a while before the preseason vote is over for the fans pick for league champion. It looks like it is a three horse race between SMCC, Flat Rock and Huron.

The Rams return the reigning Huron League Player of the Year in Andrew Scarton. SMCC has a lot of players back, an excellent JV team moving up and Keenan Wetzl. Huron returns most of their team including guards Zach Richardson and Caleb Tavtigian.

One team I wouldn't overlook is Riverview. They have some solid players returning and some excellent size.

Anyway, keep voting people! The Season starts soon.

Coming soon........

The All-Decade Teams Please send me your nominations for the best players over the years in the Huron league. I will be including the 70's through the present and I will be including the coaches.

Best Player in the League?

Give me your opinions on the best player in the league. Several good players return to the league this year. Obviously, the reigning player of the year returns in Andrew Scarton from Flat Rock. Who are some others?

I have some ideas and opinions but would like to see some suggestions. Let's Here it. Give some players and why.

One Month and Counting

Boy's basketball practice starts one month from today. I will officially launch the blog that day and will probably post 3-5 days a week until the first games. I then plan on having one post per day.

AAU Basketball - A Parents Perspective

This is a reprint of an article I wrote back in June.

As a long time coach I have always had players who played AAU ball. I use to confer with other coaches regarding AAU. Their thoughts were quite simple. AAU ball is for the great players to help them get exposure. It made sense to me and I usually steered my best players toward AAU in the spring.

This year as my sons 5th/6th grade school team finished up a 16-0 season I thought to myself, "what can my son do to improve his game". He was a starter on the team and a good player but far short from being a great player. He had expressed to me that he would like to get better I reluctantly suggested that he played AAU. So we searched to find a team.

We found a 12U AAU team in our area and he tried out for the team. He made the team and he quickly found out that most of the kids were better than him. Most of them were the best players on their respective school teams. The team practiced twice a week and the practices were extremely intense. Most of the parents would stay and watch practice, I was no different. I watched as my kid struggled especially athletically. He just wasn't as quick or as fast as the other players. My kid noticed the same thing. He had a decision to make. He could quit and not get any better or he could take the beating, keep working and hopefully improve.

The season lasted 8 or 9 weeks. We continued to practice twice a week and played in 4 weekend tournaments. We won some games and lost some games. We were man handled by some teams but we were able to win a tournament and compete at a pretty high level. My son did his best everyday to get better whether it was in practice or a game. Some games he scored others he didn't. Some practices went well others didn't. During the course of the AAU season my son would ask me to go over to the gym so we could work on his game. I took him every time he asked.

In reflecting on my son's first AAU basketball experience. I have to say it was nothing but positive. My son realized he had to elevate his game in order to compete at a high level. His work ethic increased 100%. His quickness and game speed improved immensely. He developed moves that used his opponents superior athleticism against them. He developed a deeper love for the game that I adore. He even told himself that he needs to get stronger in order to compete at a high level. He starts every morning and ends every day with sit ups. He says he is trying to develop better core strength. I can honestly say that my son is twice the player he was before he played AAU. Both he and I are looking forward to next basketball season.

Another thing my son gained during his experience with AAU was new friendships. He only knew 3 of the kids going in. I find him talking with some of the other boys on the phone or through text messaging. It is nice to see him develop some new friendships during the experience.

Huron League Coaches

Airport-Spencer Roecker
Flat Rock-Dave Bogataj
Grosse Ile-Brian Friel
Huron-Jim Kabfliesch
Jefferson-Jon Scharf
Milan-Steve Tropea
Riverview-J.J. Hatzl
SMCC-Randy Windham

District Basketball Championships

Flat Rock 14
Grosse Ile 13
SMCC 13
Milan 11
Riverview 8
Airport 7
Huron 4
Jefferson 1

Sunday Basketball

If your looking to watch some good high school basketball throughout the month of September and early October. Get down to Detroit Consortium High School on Sundays and watch some of the top players from the metro Detroit area play ball. The league starts on September 6th and runs for 6 weeks until October 11th.

You will most likely see a couple of the best Huron League players tuning up their game down there. Consortium is located on Rosa Parks Blvd just east of the old Tiger Stadium site. The school is on the north side of the road and the gym is in the back.

All Decade Teams

This season we will be picking players from four different decades that represent the best players of basketball eras in the Huron League. We will be picking 5 players and 1 coach from this past decade, as well as, the 70's 80's, and 90's.

Please feel free to nominate some players that you feel are worth consideration. Please give their name, height, position, school, decade and any pertinent statistics that could be used for consideration.

We will begin doing research and unveil our picks around the time practice begins in November.

Coming soon.......

Due to the overwhelming success of the Huron League Football Blog I am going to unveil a basketball blog in the near future.