[formerwildcat22]

Well, tonight wasn't the prettiest game to watch, but a win is a win for Valley. Truthfully, I did not think Betsy Layne didn't have much to bring to the table (this was before I watched them play for the first time tonight), but I thought they played solid and held their own. There were quite too many unforced turnovers on both teams' part, as well as countless opportunities of easy baskets not taken. As for those discussing Elisha's shoulder, I believe after watching him play tonight that the injury is no longer there and he will eventually become his old self again.

As far as defense goes for Valley, I am not very impressed at all. Yes, Betsy Layne had over 20 turnovers. However, Valley's zone defense seems to fall asleep and allow their opponents to get open jumpers on the perimeter as well as jumpers around the free-throw line. In my opinion, when you have pesky defenders like Justice and Bryant to handle the guards and bigger bodies like Adams, Newsome, Hatfield, and Tackett, there should be no reason why the zone should give up these types of shots. I would like to see them play more man-on-man defense since most of those seeing playing time play decent on-ball defense.

There were way too many lob passes in the paint tonight against a zone defense. I also didn't think Valley was even looking where they were passing. If it's not there, don't force it in there. Keep moving the ball around and eventually you will get the shot you want. Also, when you get the ball down on the block in a zone, the defenders will crash down to get you to force you to kick the ball back out. There were several times tonight that our big men put the ball on the floor when this happened that led to a turnover and eventually a basket on the other end. I've played quite a bit of basketball against these boys in pick-up games to know that they are alot better players than they showed tonight.

Some of the players for Valley do not seem to have confidence in their shots at the moment. Quite a few times I saw wide open shots passed up. Betsy Layne was even backing off of the shooters because they weren't taking advantage of the freebies. Take the shot boys, you only have three other guys 6'4" and over down under to grab the rebound. Remember this saying: You always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

It will be interesting how these two teams play when they meet again in the first round of the All A Classic.