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SWHS Basketball
- Thread starter Here4Good
- Start date
30A Skunkape
Skunky
Here4Good
Beach Fanatic
Hard to explain, that's why I was hoping someone was there. Here's the article from the Sun:
Fans sizzle while Seahawks twiddle their thumbs on court
Commentary by Richard Owen
richard_owen@link.freedom.com
Basketball fans were stunned and angered by a stall offense that lasted for more than 12 minutes in the Walton-South Walton District 1-3A game on Tuesday.
The 12-minute span produced only three points between the two teams (on a three-point shot by Walton to open the third period) and irritated fans, both South Walton and Walton.
South Walton head coach Mark Cozzie, who started the game with his team in a spread offense that was fun to watch, went into the stall when his team fell behind by six points midway through the second quarter.
(This offense is usually used by a team that is leading to slow down the pace of a game and preserve a lead while running time off the clock.) Walton coach Jerry Hester, rather than trying to force play by pressing the ball, decided he would sit on the six-point lead and packed his defense inside. The result? Nine prep basketball players standing around on the court, talking with each other while one South Walton player held the ball near midcourt.
The tactic shocked and angered many fans.
One South Walton parent, when she saw her son just standing on the court, asked, “What is he doing?”
Walton fans used the stall as an excuse to taunt Cozzie and to chant jeers that called Cozzie a “coward.” The fans wanted to see their high-powered Walton offense running up and down the court not stand around exchanging pleasantries with its opponent.
After the game, Cozzie refused to comment on his strategy but went to the locker room with assistant principal Tripp Hope keeping out the press.
While most of the taunting was directed at Cozzie, Hester shares the blame for the slowdown by not at least putting some pressure on the ball to get a fi ve-count.
(In basketball, if a defensive player presses a player with the ball close enough, the referee begins a fi vesecond count. If the player with the ball does not pass to another player or shoot within that fi ve-second count, the ball is turned over to the opposing team.)
Calling his coaching stipend a “pittance,” Hester said he gets “paid to win games and that won the game” when asked why he stayed in the packed-in defense.
It was understandable when Cozzie slowed the pace down and had his guards walk the ball upcourt after a Walton score and work the spread offense to get the open shot.
Urging his players to be patient in the early going produced several easy baskets in the ball game. After falling behind 12-6, the Seahawks’ patience was rewarded when they tied the game at 12 in the second period.
But Cozzie changed his strategy during a time out when South Walton fell behind by six points.
Cozzie’s change was designed to draw out the defense thereby opening the area down near the basket for easy baskets.
That strategy will not usually work when the team with the ball is trailing.
A game that had been fun to watch turned into a boring mess.
To stop the long periods of inactivity in college and professional games, governing bodies of the sport instituted a time clock. A team is now required to shoot the ball within the allotted time (24 seconds for pro games and 45 seconds for college games) or the ball is turned over to the opposing team.
This is a good rule to keep the game moving but probably not a viable option at the prep level.
Costs for additional equipment and the shorter playing time (eight-minute quarters versus 20-minute halves) might make a time clock cost prohibitive and somewhat unnecessary at the prep level since most teams like to run in transition.
Walton is still the basketball power in Walton County and would, in all likelihood, have won the game without the stall. But it would have been interesting to see how often Hester would have needed to send in relief for his starters as they tried to keep up a patient South Walton spread offense.
It is a shame Tuesday night’s game will not be remembered for the competitiveness in the early going but for the 12 minutes 10 players spent standing around.
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Fans sizzle while Seahawks twiddle their thumbs on court
Commentary by Richard Owen
richard_owen@link.freedom.com
Basketball fans were stunned and angered by a stall offense that lasted for more than 12 minutes in the Walton-South Walton District 1-3A game on Tuesday.
The 12-minute span produced only three points between the two teams (on a three-point shot by Walton to open the third period) and irritated fans, both South Walton and Walton.
South Walton head coach Mark Cozzie, who started the game with his team in a spread offense that was fun to watch, went into the stall when his team fell behind by six points midway through the second quarter.
(This offense is usually used by a team that is leading to slow down the pace of a game and preserve a lead while running time off the clock.) Walton coach Jerry Hester, rather than trying to force play by pressing the ball, decided he would sit on the six-point lead and packed his defense inside. The result? Nine prep basketball players standing around on the court, talking with each other while one South Walton player held the ball near midcourt.
The tactic shocked and angered many fans.
One South Walton parent, when she saw her son just standing on the court, asked, “What is he doing?”
Walton fans used the stall as an excuse to taunt Cozzie and to chant jeers that called Cozzie a “coward.” The fans wanted to see their high-powered Walton offense running up and down the court not stand around exchanging pleasantries with its opponent.
After the game, Cozzie refused to comment on his strategy but went to the locker room with assistant principal Tripp Hope keeping out the press.
While most of the taunting was directed at Cozzie, Hester shares the blame for the slowdown by not at least putting some pressure on the ball to get a fi ve-count.
(In basketball, if a defensive player presses a player with the ball close enough, the referee begins a fi vesecond count. If the player with the ball does not pass to another player or shoot within that fi ve-second count, the ball is turned over to the opposing team.)
Calling his coaching stipend a “pittance,” Hester said he gets “paid to win games and that won the game” when asked why he stayed in the packed-in defense.
It was understandable when Cozzie slowed the pace down and had his guards walk the ball upcourt after a Walton score and work the spread offense to get the open shot.
Urging his players to be patient in the early going produced several easy baskets in the ball game. After falling behind 12-6, the Seahawks’ patience was rewarded when they tied the game at 12 in the second period.
But Cozzie changed his strategy during a time out when South Walton fell behind by six points.
Cozzie’s change was designed to draw out the defense thereby opening the area down near the basket for easy baskets.
That strategy will not usually work when the team with the ball is trailing.
A game that had been fun to watch turned into a boring mess.
To stop the long periods of inactivity in college and professional games, governing bodies of the sport instituted a time clock. A team is now required to shoot the ball within the allotted time (24 seconds for pro games and 45 seconds for college games) or the ball is turned over to the opposing team.
This is a good rule to keep the game moving but probably not a viable option at the prep level.
Costs for additional equipment and the shorter playing time (eight-minute quarters versus 20-minute halves) might make a time clock cost prohibitive and somewhat unnecessary at the prep level since most teams like to run in transition.
Walton is still the basketball power in Walton County and would, in all likelihood, have won the game without the stall. But it would have been interesting to see how often Hester would have needed to send in relief for his starters as they tried to keep up a patient South Walton spread offense.
It is a shame Tuesday night’s game will not be remembered for the competitiveness in the early going but for the 12 minutes 10 players spent standing around.
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