I think that most athletes, coaches and teams that want to be the best have to see how they measure up against the best. It looks as though the Northwest Premier Showcase is providing that opportunity for the kids from Idaho.
As the first tournament of the summer, I have to remind myself that you generally don't come out of the gate a single cohesive unit. Pair that with competition against top teams and the results can be predictable. Both of the Idaho Select teams and Boise Flight teams (the other Idaho basketball club participating) were yet to win a game in the 17U division as of about 8:00 last night. But, these games are providing a perfect measuring stick for players that want to know how they match up.
The first thing the players have to realize is that the stuff they got away with back home longer work here. Rarely do we out jump, run or physically beat up other top teams in the US or Puerto Rico. Little things like blocking out or deciding that a pull up jump shot is better than going into the 6'9 post are critical for success.
But we've been doing this for over a decade and I've learned that our kids are great at adapting and adjusting. This is extremely important today as we take on Friends of Hoop (last year's champs) and start tournament play.
Some of the kids from Idaho did have good days. Marsh Valley's Dallen Bills and Boise HS's Nate Prohaska showed some strong play on the Black team. From the White team, Daved Gillmor and Brock Rule competed hard all day. I also saw Flight's Jon Pulsifer continuously diving for balls and grabbing rebounds despite being only about 6'2 and Kyle Dranginis is still playing well.
About the tournament, director and Bellevue Community College coach Jeremy Eggers is doing a great job. The only thing that I have a problem with for the tournament is the officiating system they use. This tournament is a training environment for officials. When officials make a bad call, their trainers pull them out of the game and put a new official in, so that they can get instant feedback. This is great for the officials (they supposedly get better), great for the tournament (they don't have to pay officials) and great for the training company (each of the officials pay them to be here). However, this system allows for absolutely no consistency during games and the teams pay the price. Other than that, this tourney is great and we'll be back.
Finally, just a quick note to the fans and even some of the coaches and players. Please, when you are yelling and trash talking on behalf of your kids, players, whatever, know the meaning of what you are saying. Yelling "And 1!" after every foul is not necessary or accurate, especially if no foul was called. And 1 means that you have made a basket, got fouled on the shot and will be allowed to shoot an additional free throw. It is not a chant to be yelled at the official because you feel that someone was fouled. To that, I believe the correct thing to say is "ref, are you blind!? He/she was fouled!" But I'll check with the trainers on that one...