Sacred Heart Coach Suspended for Running up Score (merged)

[the Q]

It's a little bit of an issue on the men's side, sure. But still, the best team in the state this year is a public school. And they are playing Division II, lol.

Windsor might be the favorite in Division 1 and Bristol Central in D2.

I'd hate to give up big games like Windsor vs. NW Catholic tonight because we're segregating the powerhouse publics and privates.

Some public school programs are really good (helps when you get a 7'1" UConn recruit). Idk what the answer is.

At the very least every boy on the teams town counts toward the private school size.

So basically they’re all playing LL

 

[JonathanXIV]

So the coach is supposed to tell his players to stop playing?? This is ridiculous.

The coach pressed throughout the first half. He played tight man-to-man for the entire game. Ran the entire game and jacked 3’s, even when up 80-0 after 3 quarters.

His performance was disgraceful. This is high school sports. It supposed to be part of the learning experience. Coaches are teachers. What lesson was taught that game?

 

[Carnac]

No, that's why I asked in the opening post.
The fact that he's been suspended would seem to indicate that the coach wasn't cooperative.
But we don't know for sure from the article.

I agree with the suggestion that the game should not have been scheduled or played. It’s not fair to either team, and neither one can possibly benefit from playing it. No coach should have to tell or make his team stand down.

Under no circumstances do you embarrass another team like that either. I also think that the suspended coach should not be put in that position in the first place. In this case an error in judgment was made.

If there’s no way for him/her to avoid it, bite the bullet, only play your subs, only take 3 point shots (most subs can’t shoot that well, that’s why they’re subs), don’t take a shot with more than 5 seconds on the shot clock, and all five players keep one foot in the key at all times while on defense. You don’t play any defense or challenge an opposing player in the back court. By all means, play with a running clock.

 

[pk1234]

I agree with the suggestion that the game should not have been scheduled or played. It’s not fair to either team, and neither one can possibly benefit from playing it. No coach should have to tell or make his team stand down.

Under no circumstances do you embarrass another team like that either. I also think that the suspended coach should not be put in that position in the first place. In this case an error in judgment was made.

If there’s no way for him/her to avoid it, bite the bullet, only play your subs, only take 3 point shots (most subs can’t shoot that well, that’s why they’re subs), don’t take a shot with more than 5 seconds on the shot clock, and all five players keep one foot in the key at all times while on defense. You don’t play any defense or challenge an opposing player in the back court. By all means, play with a running clock.

I guarantee there are double-digit games scheduled every night in CT Girls Basketball where one team could be another team by a margin like this if they wanted to. It happens, especially on the girls side where numbers aren't as consistent.

This was a conference game, Lyman Hall is a Class L school who is historically competitive. The whole point of conferences is to keep schools that are relatively competitive with each other playing each other. You can't expect the SCC to look at the schedule every year and say "Oh well, Lyman Hall might not be that good this year so let's not schedule them to play SHA, Hand or Mercy".

This should have been a 60-15 beatdown. You don't need to "only take 3 point shots" to do that, just take the pressure defense off and no fast breaks. Play a tight zone, or "token" man-to-man.

 

[Kaizen]

Seems relevant here: In 1990 Lisa Leslie in a high school game scored 101 points....in the first half!
The other coach simply took his/her team off the court and left the building at half-time.
That is not the high school record [for a full game]. Several others have topped that number...including
Epiphanny Prince who scored 113 in a complete game. As in Epiphanny of Murry Bergtraum High fame in NYC...as in Rutgers player, WNBA player etc. I remember a fan of hers [Oh Yeah] posting on the Boneyard frequently during her high school years.

I went to Glens Falls to watch some NY State tournament play...mainly to see UConn targets. In her soph year year Pip led Bergtraum to a close win over Tina Charles and her Christ The King team. Prince had 38 points and was as good as Oh Yeah touted. [Tina had 16/16 and looked to have the potential to be what she turned out to be.] Prince's
performance was one of the 2 or 3 best I have ever seen in person.

Did they suspend Lisa Leslie school's coach? Just curious.

 

[Carnac]

I guarantee there are double-digit games scheduled every night in CT Girls Basketball where one team could be another team by a margin like this if they wanted to. It happens, especially on the girls side where numbers aren't as consistent.

This was a conference game, Lyman Hall is a Class L school who is historically competitive. The whole point of conferences is to keep schools that are relatively competitive with each other playing each other. You can't expect the SCC to look at the schedule every year and say "Oh well, Lyman Hall might not be that good this year so let's not schedule them to play SHA, Hand or Mercy".

This should have been a 60-15 beatdown. You don't need to "only take 3 point shots" to do that, just take the pressure defense off and no fast breaks. Play a tight zone, or "token" man-to-man.

Agreed, there are a number of things the coach could/ should have done to prevent a situation like this from occurring. I’d bet the farm that the coach was under 30. An older mature coach would not feel the need to do this. He embarrassed him/her self and the school.

This incident went viral. I’m in California and I heard about it already from another source. You don’t take out whatever issues or grievances you may have on the players. If I’m a parent of a player on the winning team, I’d have a hard time rooting and cheering her on.

The coach was suspended, good. The suspension should be for the remainder the school year for exercising poor and egregious behavior. That’s not how you want your athletic teams/program to be perceived.

Isn’t it also the goal of school athletic competition to promote and exhibit good sportsmanship? Where’s the good sportsmanship here?

 

[Carnac]

Did they suspend Lisa Leslie school's coach? Just curious.

Cheryl Miller and Epiphany Prince also had 100+ point games in high school.

 

[pk1234]

Agreed, there are a number of things the coach could/ should have done to prevent a situation like this from occurring. I’d bet the farm that the coach was under 30. An older mature coach would not feel the need to do this. He embarrassed him/her self and the school. This incident went viral. I’m in California and I heard about it already from another source. You don’t take out whatever issues or grievances you may have on the players.

The coach was suspended, good. The suspension should be for the remainder the school year for exercising poor and egregious behavior. That’s not how you want your athletic teams/program to be perceived. Isn’t it also the goal of school athletic competition to promote and exhibit good sportsmanship? Where’s the good sportsmanship here?

The coach is in his 40s I think, well known in the AAU circuit, used to coach a boys team. I think the one game suspension is enough for a first time offense (it's a big game tonight that he's missing too, Hamden is good). We don't need to go over the top. There's a lot of worse things he as a HS coach could do (and have done). I'm glad that it was the school that intervened and made it clear that it was against their mission and values and handed the suspension themselves. This isn't something the CIAC should get involved with unless it's a repeat offender.

 

[Blakeon18]

Kaizen: no mention of any punishment...for Lisa's coach or for the other team's coach for
pulling his team out after one half. Leslie was quoted at the time that she was disappointed
that she did not break the standing record. Much later she said she regretted her 'accomplishment'.

BTW: an article said she took 57 shots in the 16 minutes of play. She also had a bunch of foul shots.
Any missed field goal when you get fouled does not count as a shot. So..she probably took at least 64 attempts from the field. That would be one every 15 seconds...yikes!

 

[Horatio]

Last night, the same Sacred Heart team won against Hamden by three points. Hamden was down one starter and their 6th man.

 

[garddog]

A lot of you did not read the whole article.

He played everyone, top scorer only had 13. You don't change your offense or defense up based on who you put in or play.

A lot of folks in this post really need to realize they are being condescending to young women by saying girls this, girls that. Amateur sports should be treated equally in all ways for all athletes.

If the coach played everyone, and ran the teams offense and defense then he didn't deserve a suspension.

 

[JonathanXIV]

A lot of you did not read the whole article.

He played everyone, top scorer only had 13. You don't change your offense or defense up based on who you put in or play.

A lot of folks in this post really need to realize they are being condescending to young women by saying girls this, girls that. Amateur sports should be treated equally in all ways for all athletes.

If the coach played everyone, and ran the teams offense and defense then he didn't deserve a suspension.

Sorry. I read the entire article(s). Respectfully disagree. No need to fast break when up 80-0. It’s not condescending - for men or women - to suggest that sportsmanship has a place in amateur sports for 14-17 year olds.

 

[topogigio]

The score was 59-0 at half, and 80-0 at the end of 3 quarters! The Wallingford team was totally outmanned by even the 2nd and 3rd team of Sacred Heart (ironic school name). Walk the damn ball up court, run a multi -pass offense and run some time off the clock. Play a loose passive zone, There was absolutely no need for this total embarrassing beatdown. The one-day suspension was equally absurd; this big headed clown has no business coaching girls' basketball anywhere.

 

[pk1234]

Sacred Heart lost to Hand yesterday in a game where neither team scored 40 points.

Maybe SHA running a few half-court sets in the Lyman Hall game would have helped them win that game rather than fast breaking the whole time, which they clearly couldn't do against a team as quality as Hand.

 

[CL82]

The score was 59-0 at half, and 80-0 at the end of 3 quarters! The Wallingford team was totally outmanned by even the 2nd and 3rd team of Sacred Heart (ironic school name). Walk the damn ball up court, run a multi -pass offense and run some time off the clock. Play a loose passive zone, There was absolutely no need for this total embarrassing beatdown. The one-day suspension was equally absurd; this big headed clown has no business coaching girls' basketball anywhere.

Agree with walking the ball up and running down the clock, disagree with “playing a passive zone”. If you want to drop in to a zone, by all means feel free, but I can’t see ever telling kids not to play their hardest especially your bench players who are getting an opportunity to play more minutes. I suspect that LH would have struggled to score over it though. I also suspect that Sacred Heart would’ve gotten a lot of steals out of it.

 

[sun]

I came across this about about Epiphany Prince who went to high school in NYC and ended up playing for Rutgers and as a pro.

She is best known for scoring 113 points for Murry Bergtraum in a high school game in 2006, breaking a girls' national prep record previously held by Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller.

Epiphanny Prince - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org