Humble continues to roll away from home. Vype
Originally appeared on Vype.com
HOUSTON – When teams start to game plan for an opponent identifying the top scoring threats is first and foremost and how to stop them.
Put the tape of Humble men’s basketball on and a coach’s list of players to stop defensively isn’t short.
“I think defending our team that would be tough because there’s not a weak link out on the court at any given time,” Humble coach Lair Crawford said. “I would say it would make a tough cover for teams. A lot of that is based on making shots.”
As any season goes there are ups and downs.
Humble opened the season at 5-6 in its first 11 games before winning eight-straight heading into a short holiday break.
The Wildcats came out of that and played in the Kingwood Holiday Classic, where they went 2-2 – losses to Atascocita and Cy Lakes and victories against Oak Ridge and Kinkaid.
At that time, Crawford admits they were dealing with some internal issues but after some meetings the team came together.
Since those team meetings, all this Humble has done is win.
The Wildcats have won 10-straight games to push its District 21-5A record to a perfect 15-0 heading into Tuesday’s meeting with Crosby, which is 14-1.
“We’re just trying to play our game,” Crawford said. “Play fast and get the ball up the court. We seem to knock down more shots on the road. But when we’re hitting shots we look pretty good and when we’re not we struggle a little bit.”
Despite winning all of their games, the Wildcats have played noticeably better away from their home court.
In eight home games, Humble has averaged 66.1 points per game. The Wildcats’ margins of victory have averaged right at 15 points per game. Humble’s biggest win at home was a 38-point victory against Caney Creek on January 12. The smallest was by three against Barbers Hill on January 30.
On the road, in one less game, Humble has averaged 76.5 points per game, a clip of 10.4 better than at home. The Wildcats’ margins of victory have been by 27.57, a 12.57 uptick from home contests. Finally, the biggest win was by 46 against Dayton on January 23. The smallest was by six against Baytown Lee on January 16.
At home, the Wildcats have won only one game by 20 or more points, on the road it has been four by 30 or more and two by 40 or more.
“It shows they can hit shots in different gyms,” Crawford said about the team playing better on the road. “A lot of teams only play well at home in their own gym. Of course we want to play well in our own gym but when we get going in the playoffs we’re not going to be playing in our own gym."
“Our guys are kind of locked in wherever we’re at just knocking shots down.”
So who has been the key to success this season?
According to Crawford just start rattling off names – Jaylon Alsanders, Kendrick Washington, Justin Lawson and just keep going.
“This team there’s nobody that you can take away,” Crawford said. “If you try to take away guys inside we’ve got guys outside that can hit shots. We’ve got guys that can take you off the dribble. We’ve got guys that can spot up and shoot. There is no doubt it makes it tough.”
On any given night, Crawford said this team has five or six players in double figures. Usually no one scores more than 18 and about nine to 10 players can score at any given time for this team.
Alsanders has picked it up lately, Crawford said, while Lawson has averaged around 18 points per game the last few games and Washington has been Mr. Consistent averaging 12 to 15 a night.
Having a bench full of scoring options is something Crawford didn’t have the luxury of a year ago and that could be a major difference come playoff time.
“I think it helps as you get into some bigger games and especially the playoffs,” Crawford said. “Like last year, guys keyed on Kevin (Dawson). It forced other guys to step up and it just wasn’t there.”
With an experienced group of guys playing for him, Crawford said they will continue to just take it “one game at a time” down the stretch.
Humble is looking to win its second-straight District 21-5A Championship and complete a perfect district campaign in doing so.
The Wildcats have won 18-straight district contests heading into Tuesday’s meeting with Crosby, whom they beat 75-40 at their place earlier this year.
After Crosby, Humble will close out district play at home against Kingwood Park on Friday and then next Tuesday at Caney Creek for the regular season finale before the playoffs.
Humble’s history in the playoffs has been up and down at times.
Last season the Wildcats made it to the second round, prior to that Humble hadn’t made it past the first round since 2016. The last time the Wildcats made a deep runs in the playoffs came in 2015 and 2011 making it to the third round both seasons.
So can this scoring machine carry over to the postseason?
“If we get hot at the right time, if we’re making shots, the way we rebound and that sort of thing and play together we could make a run,” Crawford said. “The playoffs you never know. It’s about matchups.”
Being around the team every single day, Crawford said it is hard to think of just one way to describe this group.
For people that haven’t seen the team in a while, Crawford uses two words to tell the story of the 2017-2018 Wildcats – maximum effort.
“They play so hard,” he said. “I think that’s why we rebound the ball so well. We get on the loose ball, they really get after it for four quarters. That’s what we’ve been preaching lately. Some teams have been staying close for a quarter or a half. They have to play four quarters. Our conditioning this fall has paid off."
“This team really plays hard.”
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The Astros have already been swept in four series this season. They were swept in four series all of last season. As Mexico City says bienvenidos to the Astros this weekend, there are certainly more than a few folks fretting that the Astros are already close to saying adios to playoff hopes. The Astros are not at the point of no return, though one can see it out there on the horizon. It wouldn’t take another month of their garbage level 7-19 performance for the season to be essentially down the drain.
If the Astros were in the American League East, they’d already be ten games out of second place. But they’re not! If in the AL Central they’d be eleven and a half games back of Cleveland. But they’re not! Dozens of teams have rebounded to win divisions from larger deficits much later in the season than the Astros face presently. The Seattle Mariners lead the thus far weak AL West at 13-12. The Astros being six and a half games in arrears of the M’s and six back of the Texas Rangers in late April is far from optimal but nowhere near devastating.
Multiple media outlets have noted how few teams historically have started a season in as stumblebum a fashion as the 2024 Astros and wound up making the playoffs. What every outlet I have seen noting that failed to include: this is just the third season since Major League Baseball added a third Wild Card to each league’s postseason field. So, while 7-19 out of the gate is indisputably awful, it is not the death knell to the extent it has been over generations of MLB.
The issue isn’t where the Astros sit in the standings, it’s that they have played atrocious baseball and aren’t providing reason for optimism that a stark turnaround is imminent. The starting rotation is the best hope. Justin Verlander has made two starts. Framber Valdez rejoins the rotation Sunday. Cristian Javier should be a week or so away. Obviously, Ronel Blanco isn’t going to continue pitching as well as he has through his first four starts. But if he is a good number four starter, that’s fine if the top three coming into the season pitch to reasonably hoped for form.
Hunter Brown simply is not a good big league pitcher. Maybe he someday fulfills his potential, but the data at this point are clear. What can Brown do for you? Not much. Spencer Arrighetti needs better command to be a good big league starter. J.P. France was a revelation over his first 17 starts last season, but since has looked like the guy who posted underwhelming numbers when in the minor leagues. If the Astros wind up with 50-plus starts from Brown/Arrighetti/France their goose will probably be cooked.
The only MLB teams with worse staff earned run averages than the Astros’ horrific 5.07 are the Chicago White Sox (Wait! They have Martin Maldonado!) and Colorado Rockies. At 3-22 the White Sox are on an early pace to post the worst record in the history of Major League Baseball. The Rockies never have a chance to post good pitching stats because of the mile high offensive freak show environment in Denver.
Way to go, Joe
Props to Joe Espada for his conviction in making what he believed to be the right call in pulling Verlander after four and a third innings Thursday at Wrigley Field. Verlander allowed no runs but had reached 95 pitches in just the second outing of the injury-delayed start to his season. Not easy for a rookie manager skippering what has been a Titanic journey thus far to pull a surefire Hall of Famer who was two outs away from qualifying for a win. Many were no doubt poised to destroy Espada had Rafael Montero given up the lead in the fifth. Verlander was angry at being pulled from any chance at his 259th career win. Understood, but the manager’s job is to make the decisions he thinks are in the ballclub’s overall best interest. That Montero and Bryan Abreu combined to blow the lead in the sixth is immaterial.
Then there's the offense…
Six runs total the last four games. Scored more than four runs in just one of the last nine games. Timely hitting largely non-existent.
At last check Alex Bregman still hawks that “Breggy Bomb” salsa. At the plate, he’s been mostly stuck in “Breggy Bum” mode, including zero bombs (home runs). 23 games played without a homer is Bregman’s longest drought since 2017 when he had separate 35 and 27 game stretches between dingers. Bregman has a history of slow first months of the season, but never anything as inept as he’s posted thus far. A litany of lazy fly balls, infield pops, and routine grounders add up to a .216 batting average and feeble .566 OPS. Reference point: Martin Maldonado’s worst OPS season with the Astros was .573. If Bregman was a young guy handed a starting job coming out of spring training, if a viable alternative were available, there’s a chance he’d be a Sugar Land Space Cowboy right now. Bregman’s track record makes it a decent bet that he winds up with decent numbers, but nothing special. Certainly nothing remotely worth the 10 years 300 million dollars or whatever Bregman and agent Scott Boras intend(ed) to seek on the free agent market this coming offseason. Two hits Thursday did get Bregman to the 1000 hit plateau for his career.
Despite arriving south of the border with his batting average at .346, even Jose Altuve has his warts. With runners in scoring position, Altuve has one hit this season. One. In 16 at bats. Small sample size, but it counts. That’s .063. Yordan Alvarez has been no great shakes either, five for 24 (.208) with RISP.
One wonders what would happen if the Astros got a hold of and “lost” Jose Abreu’s passport/visa this weekend in Mexico City and Abreu couldn’t get back into the U.S. after the two-game set with the Rockies.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.