Coaches Corner for February 24th: Jared Adreon, Ogden Girls Basketball

Joining us on Coach's Corner here on KWBEG, going to talk Ogden Girls basketball. Bulldogs had postseason come to an end, had to hit the road for... Well, I've driven past Holstein actually way more times than I've wanted to just because Highway 20 is not my best friend.

But I went up to Holstein with Ridgeview and got a chance to see the Raptors and the Bulldogs. I don't think I've ever said that out loud before, Jared. Give me the scouting report coming in.

How do you find out about a team that unless you know more than I do, I don't know if there's ever been history with you guys. I know it was our first match up there and yeah, first match up with the Raptors.

And I really appreciated that picture that you took of their mask out there outside of the school. That was pretty funny to look at. Or neat, I should say. But yeah, solid program up there. They deal with some good competition.

They scheduled a nice non-conference schedule, was able to get back and forth with a few of their opposing coaches up in that area. So they were able to give me some pretty good details on what they're trying to do, what their personnel is.

But they're a pretty young team, but they've been pretty seasoned with their schedule, which I think we were too.

And that's what I tried to sell to our girls is, you know, we had some solid competitions throughout the year in our conference and they scheduled some nice non-conference teams.

So I thought, you know, we had a pretty even match up there coming in with some of their top players being a couple sophomores and a freshman. But they're probably in a spot where they were a little bit more prepared than us.

And we used another consistency in some of our areas to be in a great spot after the first half. And that kind of put us in a hole. But I think some of our stuff is, again, it's getting to where we want it to be.

And now we just got to make sure that we in the offseason work on those shots so that when we're offense is clicking, we do knock down that shot or we get that steal and have that breakaway layup.

That's something that is a guarantee to not where you're wondering if it's going in, you're sure that it's going in. So but all that stuff is created in the offseason. So we just need to have really good buy in this summer and next fall before we get tipped off for next November.

Well, and I know there were two things that we talked about before the game, and I'm pretty sure I jinxed both of them. So I'll go ahead and I'll take credit for these because I talked with you about the first quarter and how it has been not always the best quarter.

You look at some of the other games where it's been one quarter and it's been that first quarter. The other three quarters are, you know, they're not dead even, but they're pretty close where if you have a little bit better of a first quarter, things might be more interesting.

And the second thing that I know we talked about, Jared, was the turnovers. And that was something that early it felt like they were, I don't want to say nervous turnovers, but there were some turnovers that I hadn't seen before.

Some stuff, you know, bouncing passes off people's legs, throwing balls over people's heads that, you know, you guys have played with each other all season. We know everybody's heights, you know, that shouldn't be brand new information.

But there were just some things, Jared, I guess I saw in the first quarter that bled into the second quarter. It makes it darn difficult to come back when there's that kind of a hole, doesn't it? Yeah, for sure.

And we talked with our girls about, you know, you have to walk them through that before the night, probably the night or two before practices. We are at the point now that if we lose, I mean, your season, your journey is done for that for that season.

So I think that does mount up on you a little bit. So we try to preface that a little bit before we take the floor. But it is a reality and that is a tough reality for young teams.

But now they've been through it now, some of them twice, some of them once or, you know, a couple of the other ones have been through three times now. So now it's got to be a point where, you know, you need to be ready for that and be excited for it.

I mean, because the flip side of it, you know, you win a game in the postseason, now you're one and oh, you're starting to build momentum. And that carries over into your next season. So even if it is one game and lose, that is still a positive end to the year.

But you never know what the game of basketball in every sport you play. You get a little run in the postseason, you just you just never know what's going to happen.

I just think of teams over the course of years and all the sports that maybe even below 500 team makes it to the state tournament. Sticking to make sure that you're prepared for that moment. And that happens throughout the offseason.

And then it happens throughout the season with good practices. Jared, the one speech that coaches absolutely never prepare. It's the speech after a loss. What do you talk to the girls about in the locker room?

What's that environment like after knowing that your season has come to an end? Yeah, that one's always a tough one. You can always have a little bit in your head. And I had some notes on my phone just to get myself going.

And then once you get going, it's able to you're able to rip that bandaid off a little bit. But really, we tried to focus on our two seniors and all that they've given to the program. And we did that on senior night too.

But we wanted just to reiterate that the high standard that they left for this program when it comes to off the floor stuff on the floor stuff, showing up every day at practice, ready, ready to be willing and learn.

And then the way that they just carried those younger ones and some of those other categories, and maybe not always points rebounds and assists or the skill type stuff, but the leadership that they brought was definitely unique with this group.

And it reminded me of a group about four or five years ago when I was an assistant that just were hardworking kids that helped build a foundation. And we kind of had that reset where we had a new group come in a young group. And now they've done that for this group.

So where are you going to take those things that you learned from that and build on that? Big in the offseason for sure. Jared, we'll talk about that offseason and season wrap here in a couple of weeks. Thanks for some time here today. Alrighty, no problem. Thank you. You bet.

Jared Adrian again joining us. Ogden girls basketball here in coaches corner.