The junior high basketball season is over. It's kind of a sad day. It was a great season. I dont know the exact final record without looking it up, but not counting tournaments, Bidwell only lost to Marsh twice and Chico once. They had a few more losses in tournaments....lost to Marsh once, Chico twice, and Mountain View twice. I think you can say that it was a successful season.
The one thing I wish was better in youth sports would be more EVEN teams....which I know is impossible, but most ALL of the games this year were either blow outs where Bidwell played "easy" teams...or games against Mt View the first time or Marsh all three times, which were blow out losses. The really close games were the best....and there were very few of them.
Bradley had a great season. If you could go back and watch the first game of the season, then fast forward and watch yesterday's game, you would be amazed. Bradley's form improved, his free throws were almost automatic by the end, his positioning, his boxing out, his timing on rebounds, EVERYTHING, especially his confidence. He learned the game. It will be fun to see how he does next year when all the kids will grow and the AAU kids will have played the whole off season. I hope Bradley will do some basketball training on his own and stick with it, because he really enjoys it, the team, the games, the competition, the excitement, the fun. And I like it too.
Yesterday's game started out great...they won the tip, they scored the first basket, but it went downhill from there. Marsh is just too good. Marsh is able to defend, causing turnovers and not allowing easy shots. Marsh is also good at shooting, so Bidwell didnt have a very good chance. Bidwell's biggest player is Bradley and half of Marsh's team is bigger than Bradley. Also, Marsh's "subs" are all good....when Bidwell does their substitutions, the game quality goes WAY down. And Bidwell's coach is all about the fair playing time for all, which, for jr high sports, is not a bad thing, they all deserve playing time, they are all still learning, they are a team, but it's not the same philosophy as winning games. (Although, Bidwell was probably not going to win this game regardless.)
The final score was 64-35, I think. Which is actually an improvement, since last time they played Marsh beat them by 40. Bradley scored 7, he played really well. He scored three lay ups, one was all net, like an arching, gentle floater, one was kind of an reverse layup in that he went under the basket and had to throw the ball up from down below and past the basket, with three guys on him, and he was fouled, but missed that "and 1" shot, another time he got a simple laid off the glass basket....and he had two other free throws, which I think he made, so he may have had 9 points, I'll have to ask him when he gets home. He didnt get as much playing time as he (or Scott and I) would like, but that's because he has to share his playing time with two other centers. I think against a big team like Marsh, Bradley needs to be in there because of his size and defense and ability to draw fouls. But there was a game last week where there was a replacement coach, and one of the players did not get in the game at all, he sat the bench the WHOLE game, and the real coach found out about that, so I think he was even more conscious to let every one play in this last game.
I am adding a lot of the photos again, even though half are fuzzy.
Basketball is so fun to watch, even when our team loses! (It's better when they win...and it's better when the game is close.)
Bradley and Andrew's team lost today 6-4. It was a good game, but the Explosion is just sooooo bad on defense and putting away perfect crosses. Bradley also missed a few...one was a header that went just wide on a play he set up himself, one was a rocket shot against the wind that went over the top, and one was on a nice low cross from Andrew that Bradley headed again just barely wide. NUMEROUS times Bradley would dribble up the sideline and send a perfect cross across the goal mouth and no one could tap it in, that has happened all season and he gets very frustrated....but two times today a teammate DID get the cross in, one other time a player randomly kicked the ball pretty much straight up in the air in the wind and that one luckily sailed over the goalie's head, and for the very first goal of the game, Bradley took the ball down the field and scored easily. That was right at the beginning of the game, making it seem like it was going to be an easy game....but their team really does not know how to defend. They dont go to the ball, they back up. They dont CLEAR the ball, they lightly tap it. And lots of the shots went over the goalie's head, ones he should have tried to punch over, instead of trying to make the save. Lots of defensive breakdowns, they dont cover the opponents. Simple as that! 
