August 5th - Day 5 - What a Wonderful Ride We've Had

Everyone is up early, we meet for a light breakfast and a quick team meeting and prayer (led by Toni) in the lobby before heading over to Wide World of Sports. Some nerves can be seen with both the boys and the coaches. It is errily quiet as we walk into the Josten's Center. We are scheduled to play on Court #8 and unlike yesterday's game, we have plenty of warm up time. The boys are looking good.

Game time - We clearly dominate the first half of the game from an offensive perspective and go into half-time with a 35 to 28 lead. Unfortunately, Orlando's Finest re-evaluated their strategy and outscored the King's by 7 in the third quater and 10 in the fourth quarter, resulting in a devasting loss to the King's. We once again got out-rebounded and allowed our opponent too many offensive rebounds and put-backs. We did not play with the same Intensity as our first two games. Final score Greenburgh Kings 60 - Orlando's Finest 70.

The coaches took the boys aside and had a nice long talk with them. Whatever they said, hopefully they inspired them to play with everything for our next game - as we don't want it to be our last.

We are now in the 1st Round Consolation Bracket. Our next game is at 2:10. We are now at single elimination. We all head back to the hotel to rest and get a light lunch. The boys all go back to their own rooms to rest. About 11:00 Jordan goes door to door to round up all the players for a "player's only" meeting in his room. We are in a "do or die" situation and it looks like the boys are taking matters into their own hands.

We head back over to Wide World of Sports at about 1:00 for our game against the Redbird Hoops out of Illinois. (This is a team we saw last year at Memphis.) They have some serious height on their team (along with a player who's appearance puts into question his age...). We take to the court and come out with a 6 point lead at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately, we are outshot in the second quarter by 11 points to go into a halftime down by 6. The third quarter is a tight one as we score 15 to the Redbird's 17 points. It is obvious that the coach of the Redbird's is concerned as we head into the fourth quarter. He decides to play "stall-ball" with 8 minutes to go in the game. These boys have some heigh on them and manage to hold onto the ball for a good 3 minutes before we decide to start fouling in order to stop the clock and to try to gain posession. (We only have one foul in the half, so we have plenty to give.) Needless to say this was a long quarter with many fouls occuring. (The Redbirds were given 21 foul shots, 14 of which they converted.) The Kings worked hard. Darren and Sal stepped it up this quarter and converted five 3-point shots (2 and 3 respectively). The parents were so hoping that the Redbirds "strategy" of holding the ball at the beginning of the quarter would backfire on them, and it nearly did. We outscored them 23 - 20 in this quarter. We ended up losing the game, but we showed heart and determination. Final score Greenburgh Kings 62 - Redbird Hoops 67.
Tears were shed by players, coaches and parents. We are all sad that our journey at this year's Nationals has come to an end.
A team meeting was held for everyone and the coaches had many words for the players - You're all a wonderful group of players and young men; We have enjoyed coaching the team; EVERYONE needs to practice - EVERY DAY; EVERYONE has weaknesses they need to continue to work on and improve on; don't ever give up on yourself; continue to be the best person you can be; continue to be the best academically you can be; continue to push yourself in ALL you do; YOU are the master of your own destiny.
Coach Terry challenged each of the boys to call anyone of the coaches (or all of them) to discuss with the coach their individual strengths and weaknesses, and what they need to do to improve. If the boys want to improve, play at the highest level they are capable of, and potentially play ball in college, this is something that THEY need to do proactively.
Bottom line is this: We are all so VERY PROUD of OUR Kings. You all worked hard and achieved much more than last year and went above and beyond the expectations of Coach Mike coming into the Nationals - we won two games - finished first in our pool - AND made it to the Championship Bracket - Remember - only 50 other teams made it to this bracket - KINGS you are in the top 50 in the United States - THAT is something to be VERY proud of.
The final question to break up the meeting was a math question: What is the percentage improvement over last year's Nationals result for the Kings? The answer: Positive Infinity (from zero wins to 2 wins!) CONGRATULATIONS KINGS!!! Hold your heads high and walk with pride - you deserve it!!!

Okay - so back to the hotel for relaxation - we are here till the end of the week and we plan to have as much fun as we can! Happy hour poolside with cheese and crackers. The boys relax and hope that the girls from Argentina are coming back to the hotel early tonight (sorry boys, we checked, they're not due back till after 11.) The big decision was where to eat for dinner - believe it or not, we couldn't make a decision - so Michael, Lisa and Clyde won out (they REALLY wanted banana pudding) so off to the Golden Corral it was. Mind you, this will be the LAST time we eat here, so they better get their full of banana pudding (and I think they did). Once again, being it was a buffet, the men ate too much and were uncomfortable. Joseph (one of our mascots) proclaimed that he ate a "Big Fred" meal - two helpings of dinner and two helpings of dessert. A nice evening of great company and conversation offsets a disappointing end to our tournament play. I can't say it enough - what a GREAT team we are.

Congratulations Kings on all you have accomplished this year.

PS - Stay tuned for more updates - we have three days left and will be making the most of them and I'll keep you posted.