Mismatch down low BIG TIME. Throw in a terrible shooting performance from the Royals and you get a blowout. After shooting well from 3 against McComb (9-16) and Lake (10-17) they shot poorly tonight. (5-25) Very discouraging performance. But with the size differential, they have to make up for it in other ways. ( blocking out, rebounding, playing good defense, and shooting high percentage) They didn't do it tonight. Hopefully next time they meet they are better prepared. Very good game for the Comets.

Genoas schedule is terrible 3 games in 5 weeks!!! WTF...

I know the time has passed but the Elmwood vs Genoa game... I never thought I would see an Elmwood team "quit". Middle of the 3rd quarter simply gave up. Looks like most of the players didnt even care to be on the court let alone play the game and thats a shame. Best of luck to both teams in the future....I think Genoas next game is March 28th.

TALKisCHEAP13 wrote: Genoas schedule is terrible 3 games in 5 weeks!!! WTF...

I know the time has passed but the Elmwood vs Genoa game... I never thought I would see an Elmwood team "quit". Middle of the 3rd quarter simply gave up. Looks like most of the players didnt even care to be on the court let alone play the game and thats a shame. Best of luck to both teams in the future....I think Genoas next game is March 28th.

I don't follow either team, but have spoken to 2 of the Genoa players since the game and they said similar things (Elmwood giving up)

No game til March 28th? Wow! Such a long ways away. LOL

Dear Santa,

I know you allready got me an early christmas present with Genoa's early exit from the playoff's but can you PLEASE increase the quality of basketball in the sbc/sll area.

Please and Thank You

Tinkertrain

P.S. I'm holding Blitzen hostage just in case you don't improve the quality of ball.

It happened last night, but:

Genoa 58
Lakota 54

Wonnell lead with 25, Bassit close behind with 24. If you do the math, that's right, that leaves 9 points for the rest of the team. With lester out, Cuevas sick and in limbo of not playing this year, a lot of the offensive production is going on the shoulders of Wonnell and Bassitt. Though it is working out right now, this situation couldn't have come at a worse time. Genoa plays Liberty Benton next and if they want a chance at winning they will have to give the Eagles their A game from everyone and it doesn't look good right now.

If Liberty Benton plays anywhere close to normal, Comets have essentially zero chance anyway. A very lopsided game unless it is a very strange night.

Tha is true, LIberty Benton is more than likely a statebound team lead by Craft that play very well together and have been tearing up opponents so far this year. However, Genoa has a height advantage if all their players are at full strength, it's in Genoa, and if they are having a good night anything can happen. Before I get anyone too excited, I have seen the Eagles play this year and they are by far the more talented team overall and should win. In order for Genoa to have a chance they will have to have their best 5 out there and those 5 have to play their A game in order for them to stay in it.

Elmwood was down 13 to LB late in the 3rd quarter. They were completely out of the game in the 3rd quarter against Genoa. You never know. Genoa's height advantage was a big difference. LB has about the same size team as the Royals.

Feelin a blow out in Genoa tomorrow!!! One of the areas best coaches will show Genoa how basketball is truely played!!!

GCTD64 wrote: Feelin a blow out in Genoa tomorrow!!! One of the areas best coaches will show Genoa how basketball is truely played!!!

Agreed

So what was the final score of the Genoa vs. LB game tonight? Have a feeling Genoa didn't even come close to winning.

Liberty Benton 63
Genoa 54

Genoa was down by 20 something at halftime. Genoa played scared to start the game and it costed them. Genoa lost the game Liberty Benton didnt win... Craft had 29 points, Wonnell had 24(?), Bassitt had 17.

(EXTRA COMMENTS)

Aaron Craft will slap, hip check, and block you all game long without a call....If you come within 5 feet of the kid your getting a foul called on you! The motto tonight "Star Treatment....get the autograph AFTER THE GAME"....

Also..........STOP CALLING FOULS ON RICHARD WONNELL FOR BEING 6'9''....if he is standing straight up and a player runs into him ITS NOT A FOUL!

Tinkertrain--- you want better basketball in the SLL/SBC.....I want better officiating!

I've seen Craft play since he was in 3rd grade. He just plays so much smarter than everyone else, most people just can't understand it. Comets should be pleased they came with 9 points of Liberty Benton and get ready for the rest of the SLL season (which I believe they can win it all).

Thanks for the update. Not surprised by the bad officiating. The couple of games I have been to have been ridiculous.

Much, much closer than I expected. Evidently there must have been a huge disparity in the number of fouls being called on Genoa as opposed to those called on Liberty Benton. Does anyone have those total fouls figures??

I feel like my basketball IQ is pretty good and I can watch a game and feel bias because im "close to the fire" but I can still walk away from a game with an accurate perspective on things. The game was terribly ref-ed. The foul differential wasnt that bad. I think it was like 8 and 7 for the second half. The thing is though...our guards were getting hand checked left and right and craft body checked Matt everytime he drove. To be honest, I LOVE how Craft plays defense. I love how he plays offense. He is one of the best players I have seen in High School. (BTW he beat Wonnell on the jumpball...no knock on Wonnell more of a tipping of the hat to Craft). However, if you let LB bump our guards and hand check our guards so they cant get it down low then you better understand that you have to call the same game on the other side of the ball. LB would have had 2x the fouls if the refs would called the same game on both sides of the ball. For the first time in how many years that I can remember Coach Overmyer coaching, he actually argued with a ref. He usually is very polite and always agrees with the refs but tonight even got under his skin. He along with many others got a little heated when Wonnell was called for a blocking call because their player lowered his shoulder and threw the ball into Wonnells armpit while Wonnell is standing straight up. I would love to hear a neutral view of this whole thing because I have a strong feeling they would say pretty much the same thing....it was pretty obvious. I hope LB games are not ref-ed like that every time. Heck I hope no games are ref-ed like that.

Like I said, if your going to call the game really close...thats fine! Do it both ways. If your going to call the game and let the kids bump and grind a bit (my favorite) then do it both ways. However, dont have ticky tac on one side of the ball then let them bang on the other.

The biggest thing though is....GENOA LOST THE GAME....the refs didnt lose the game for Genoa! They came out scared and thought they couldnt win and then they realized they could and they made one hell of a run. Im just sick of terrible officiating.

Happy New Year everyone. I wish you a safe and healthy 2010!

Ekmwood has LB on their schedule every year. They are a well coached team. And that coach has a reputation. Officials know him and respect him. Does that mean they get calls or the game is called differently for them than their opponents? I believe it does. I've seen the same thing when Elmwood has played them. I've complained to others and have heard fans from other schools say the same thing. But there's really not much you can do about it. As far as the calls Craft gets, he's agreat player and has a rep as well. Don't like it but I'm sure as hell happy he will be a Buckeye next year.

I wasn't at the game, so cannot debate what happened Saturday night. But many people believe contact cannot be made between the offensive guard and the defender without a foul being called, and that's just not the case. What I've seen with Craft is that he gets in proper defensive position , and when the opponent makes a move he is with them (torso in front) and does not allow forward movement. Yes, there is a bump but it is often caused by the offensive player trying to drive past him or at least in a marginally forward path. That's not a foul on the defender. Having said all of that, does Craft get some calls because of his reputation? No doubt. Is that fair? Absolutely not. But I don't think it happens quite as often as people think.

I didn't see the game but i'm willing to bet that what we saw here was the difference between a team that is well versed in basketball (LB) vs. a team in Genoa where basketball is just something to do in the winter.

Tink
You are dead on. I was there and L-B has basketball knowledge. Genoa lacks it very much. Talk is Cheap if I was Ref I would not have called many of the fouls you are referring to. Were they fouls? Sometimes. But dribbling into a trap or into the teeth of a zone defense etc is not going to buy you calls with any good ref. I know many refs and they say if you dumb enough to dribble into the teeth of a zone etc then unless you are mugged I'm not calling it. Thats where the basketball knowledge comes into play. If you noticed there was very little driblling by L-B. Genoas offense is one pass(if that) and penetrate if even the lane isnt open or no seam to be had. That why Craft is so good. He understands the game. He drove when it is was avaliable not forcing the issue. Thats when good refs will say ok the offense forced this so unless a mugging happens no call wil be made. Craft and L-B also made the extra pass. When was the last time in the SLL any team made an extra pass? I certainly cant remember. Lots of individualism right in the SLL not team basketball. Until a coach comes in and teaches team basketball the SLL will struggle. Also lets not forget Genoa was down 40-17 at the half. L-B schooled Genoa in every aspect of the game in the first half and coasted from there.

Ok first let me say this, the game could have been much worse and believe me LB won this one. It was obvious that once they got a 23 point lead LB's coach wanted to see how good of a team they were without Craft running the offense so they threw him out on the left wing and he just pretty much stood there while the rest of his team ran offense. Lets be honest if LB's Coach leaves Craft at the PG spot they win by 45 but I give him credit for seeing how the rest of the team w/o him. As for Genoa I have just a few complaints; first they need to dribble a lot less on offense. Heck when LB was on offense the ball hit the floor maybe 3-4 times at most but Genoa's offense features way too much dribbling and not enough passing. Also we need to be thinking on the offensive end Wonnell first. He has now become a very good player and it is insulting he does not touch the ball every single possession because he is the best player for the Comets. I think Bassitt and Wonnell have a chance to do great things this year for the Comets

I can't disagree more with insuranceguy on the reffing issue. Referees have NO business inserting their own conclusions about how dumb a player is for dribbling into a zone or trap and then not calling a foul if indeed one occurs. Here's what refs are obligated to do: read the rule book, understand it, and call the game accordingly. Period. "Good" refs should not deviate from that basic principle.

hookshot wrote: I can't disagree more with insuranceguy on the reffing issue. Referees have NO business inserting their own conclusions about dumb a player is for dribbling into a zone or trap and then not calling a foul if indeed one occurs. Here's what refs are obligated to do: read the rule book, understand it, and call the game accordingly. Period. "Good" refs should not deviate from that basic principle.

You see that's where you run into a problem because human being's are not robot's. Ref's will call the game as human beings and are not going to reward stupidity no matter how much it seems to you that " They arnt going by the book". Perhaps instead of blaming the ref's you should ask yourself " why did we play right into LB's hand's?" and why are our kid's getting schooled on a basic knowledge level? Chances are it goes down to the pee-wee and jr high level where the coaches are not doing a good enough job focusing on the basic's of situational basketball.

If genoa desires to be a basketball power they should probably also consider getting a new varsity coach as well. I've heard nothing but rave reviews of overmeyer as a person but as a coach he leaves much to be desired imo.

insurance guy...thats VERY wrong!

A ref should call a foul when they see it it dont matter if the kid is dribbing running backwards or doing jumping jacks or playing like aaron craft. A refs job is to call the game no matter what style of play. Like I said, a ref cant let one team bang the whole time down the court then say ehhhhh since this team has a "great rep" then they will get more calls on offense. Thats BS. That reminds me of Tim Donaghy's interview when he talked about how refs would call fouls to make the "better" team win. Not saying the refs are betting on the games. Im saying you cant say a team deserves to have less fouls called on them or more fouls depending on game play or style. Thats dumb.

When Lester, Wonnell, and Bassitt are getting hit to the ground when their the 3 biggest players on the court (besides Craft)...something is wrong. Im not saying everytime someone falls its a foul but come on...

For the league to improve...you might look at the coaches....but I think the refs have to improve WAY before anything else. You really cant even play basketball anymore and its a shame!