One of the nice things about regular season games for high school basketball teams is if you have a bad game, there is always another one to redeem yourself unless it’s the last game of the season and your team doesn’t advance to the postseason.
But tournaments, beginning with the preliminary rounds, are different.
If you don’t win, your season is over.
That puts pressure on the coaches and the players.
So how do the coaches handle the situation?
They have to try to get the most out of their players and that can require calming them down to try to minimize the impact of nerves. The last thing a coach wants is to have one of their stars get too amped up and commit three fouls in the first six minutes of the game.
Once teams get to the quarterfinals, they go from playing in high school gyms to major venues like the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, the Augusta Civic Center and the Cross Insurance Arena and Expo in Portland.
“The single biggest adjustment I make with respect to the tournament is I pay a lot of attention to the pace of the game because the floor is so much bigger (at the large venues) than it is in the high school gyms,” said Hampden Academy girls coach Nick Winchester.
The court is 94 feet long in the major venues which is 10 feet longer than most high school gyms. The courts can also be wider at the big facilities.
“There is more space to cover so it requires (more) defensive considerations and conditioning. You have to think about your substitution patterns. You may have to sub more frequently,” said Winchester who added that it can prove to be counterproductive for teams that like to press, especially full court.
“Those teams can choke out the floor in the smaller high school gyms. But that’s not as much in play on the bigger floors because there’s more space to cover,” he said. “That’s why we focus on our half-court defense from the hash marks and 3-point line and in.
“It’s much easier to defend that way,” he said.
One of the other differences is the game times.
A lot of tournament games are played in the morning and afternoon which is different from the night games that are predominant during the regular season.
Lee Academy boys coach Randy Harris said he adjusts his practice times to match his game times “to get them used to that time frame.”
Harris will also bring his team to the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor a day or two early so the players can watch some games and get a feel for the venue and the atmosphere.
Adapting to things like the shooting background are also important.
Winchester noted that at the Augusta Civic Center where his Broncos will be involved in the Class A North tournament, there is nothing for 25 yards behind each basket while at high school gyms, there is a wall usually 10 feet from the end line.
He said teams aren’t allowed to practice at the major venues where they will be playing their tournament games so he has been able to secure some practice or scrimmage time at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor to help prepare his team for the shooting background in Augusta since they are similar.
Coaches will also tell their players to get as many shots up as possible during pregame warmups to get used to the shooting background.
Coaches will resort to a variety of methods to calm their players’ nerves.
Dexter High School girls coach Jody Grant uses his sense of humor.
“After we make our first basket, I’ll tell the girls on the bench that at least we won’t get shut out,” said Grant. “You want to alleviate the pressure.”
Ellsworth High School girls coach Andy Pooler said getting ready for a tournament game is a “two-part system.
“You don’t want to go away from what you’ve done all year but you also want to bring a new wrinkle somewhere,” said Pooler. “The tournament is all about matchups. That’s where your focus is. You have to adapt to teams (and their style of play).”
Winchester said they also have to make adjustments pertaining to the officiating.
They use three-person crews during the tournament but virtually all of the regular season games are handled by two-person crews.
Having an extra set of eyes can lead to more fouls being called.
“We talk about how to play defense with the tournament in mind,” said Winchester. “We want to be as fundamentally sound as we can without fouling. We are a ‘no shot blocking’ team because blocked shots in girls basketball can lead to fouls.
“I hate fouls. Free throws are the easiest shots in basketball. Even the worst free throw shooter can make 50 percent of them. I hate giving up easy points from the free throw line,” Winchester said.
