Wisdom Withstanding
Wisdom basketball team win their first district game with four players
Edward McFarland
Feb 15, 2018, 12:39 pm
Wisdom boy’s basketball team. vype.com
Originally appeared on Vype.com
On February 10, 2018 Wisdom Boy’s Basketball Team took a giant leap in the right direction.
All year long the team has struggled to play together as a team, but unfortunate circumstances in their recent game against Waltrip left them with no choice but to count on each other.
In the game, Wisdom trailed nearly the entire game before finally tying the game in the fourth quarter.
They did well in the fourth by outscoring Waltrip 10-7 but that wouldn’t be enough to get the win, instead the game was extended into overtime.
4-ON-5
The Generals did well in overtime as they were leading 43-41, but when two of their players fouled out Wisdom was only left with 4 players who could finish the game.
“I felt like we had a shot,” Mike Todd, Wisdom’s head coach said. “I told them this may be the one right here if they keep doing what we’ve been going over.”
With 20 seconds left Wisdom had to inbound the ball with only a 43-41 lead.
With only four players on the court, Wisdom’s inbounder only had three options to pass it to and since Waltrip had the advantage in numbers they covered up a good portion of the court.
COURT AWARENESS
However, though it appeared that Waltrip had the advantage in numbers, them loading up on one side of the court cost them.
“When we were inbounding the ball I saw everybody over to one side and it was just one side open,” sophomore Justin Jones said. “I ran to the open side and caught the ball because I knew nobody was going to get to me in time.”
Once Jones caught the ball he got fouled with only 3 seconds remaining. He went to the foul line and hit the first free-throw then missed the second one. Before Waltrip could get a hold of the ball to launch up a shot, the clock had expired and Wisdom had won 44-41.
LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR
“It was heart-pounding and a really cool experience to have to seal the deal and won the game,” Jones said.
Jones led the team with a double-double, he had 15 points and a least 10 rebounds.
Getting the win gave Wisdom their first district victory of the season, but most importantly, Todd thinks winning the way they did boosted the players confidence which will cause them to have a better season next year.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
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