Active Community: Message List - Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

jordanshoes — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:51:13 GMT

You play to win and the best players get on the floor. Isn't that a life lesson? If you can't do the job you don't get the pay? I tell my team that practices are their job and playing time in games is their paycheck. They may not like sitting on the bench, but they usually understand why.

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

Onthabench — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:28:58 GMT

Sounds like we have some coaches who've been winning a few games big lately on the thread. We've made the decision to intentionally be put in the situation of being outmatched and/or less experienced this summer AAU season. Our coaches have prepared them mentally and physically, and although the pain of a tale-kicking is sharp and it's embarrassing at times when we are not playing our best, we are still staying the course with our plan. You see that from our perspective, and you need to understand what that is, although we are loosing games and sometimes taking 20-28 point losses, we are still winning in many ways.

A couple of ways we look at it.... and granted everyone looks at it differently. I just saw everyone coming to the defense of the loosers here and you really need to get the perspective of those coaches who make the decision to play these types of games. I also know that in UIL competition sometimes you don't have the luxury of matching your opponent but thats for another thread.

#1 way we are winning. Most of our players are very good players at their level and age, but they facing a situation where they are going to have to compete for a starting roster slot at the high school varsity level. A decision to put these kids up in tournaments where the are facing the same age and experience level will not prepare them fast enough. So, even though we loose on the scoreboard, we win vs those those players fighting for the same positions on those rosters because we are work hardened to that next level of play.

#2 alhough we are going to win maybe 8 games in 30, in most end game situations we are in these games enough to make our goal to win the last 5 minutes of each game. We leave everything on the floor and by the end of each game our players are so into basic fundemental aspects of the game the score does not matter. I am talking about players who are getting better each time out at keepging their opponent from touching the ball, getting an offensive rebound, etc..

#3 it does help our kids become team players and as they fight through this season together, they will look back on what they learned about competing from a much better agle than those players who have been on teams that were not pushed as hard.

bottom line...it's not about how many wins you get today but how many victories you savor in the end when it is far more important whether you are on the court or not.

appreciate the thread...

Coach Dave

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

matrix master — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:44:46 GMT

Well, I guess it depends what kind of event you are involved in. In some competitive tournaments we are in, the first tie-breaker is point spread. If you have a few teams that are evenly matched and a couple that aren't on par with the others, it can get really ugly. We were in a tournament where we need to win by 26 in our final game to get to the championship and were playing a younger and less experienced team, (They had lost every game in the tournament so far). Our coach explained this to the opposing coach and told him that we weren't trying to humiliate them, but that is what we needed to do. He said he understood. It felt bad to be shooting 3 pointers and pressing with 3 minutes to go and up by 23, but we had to do it. A bad situation? You bet. If the event organizers would put a cap on the point spread, (say 15 points), that would be much better. Or better yet, use defensive points allowed as the main tie-breaker, that would have been a much better answer. Did we feel good after the win, (we won by 29)? Not really. Did the other team feel bad? Of course they did, and some parents were really mad. I can't blame them. Some uderstood the situation, but some didn't. And we have been on the other side also, and it ain't a good feeling. In general, if you are up by a comfortable margin, call off the dogs, depending on the age and sport. Humiliation and embarrassment isn't the goal of any REPUTABLE coach or parent.

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

LADYS Inc. — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:19:11 GMT

I agree. In youth sports how many points is enough. There should be a mercy rule in place as to not continue the bleeding when teams are getting beat. However, I blame the coaches. They can really control it if they wanted to.

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

adrharr — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:45:18 GMT

TER23, What wrong with our society is that children think they are entitled. They have to learn to work for what they want. In the old days, if you played ball and was beat by 40 points, you went home cried for an hour and hit the back door to work on your game determined to never allow that to happen again. That's how we learn self discipline; how to work hard for what we want; and we earn respect. Truth be told, if you were beat by 40 points, you need to work on your skills. And that' just may be the motivation you need. As a parent, I will not allow my child to feel bad if he was defeated by 40 points. I ask him 3 questions: Did you play your best? Did you do everything you could and that was asked of you? Did you learn anything from the game? If he answers "yes." I tell him to hold his head up high. That he did his best and there is nothing to be ashamed of. If he says "no," I say then next time try to work harder and watch the outcome improve. They have to learn how to lose graciously no matter what because if they don't what happens when they are turned down and can't go to the college they applied for? Or if they go on 100 job interviews and are continuous told no? What about when they are rejected by someone they like? Children that can lose, and turn it around to benefit them are the ones that are going a long way in life. Children who belly ache over being beat by 40 points will grow up to think they are privileged and kill some poor girl that turned them down. With that being said, I don't think a coach shoule intentionally run up a score. However, sometimes even playing your bench players or running using the time to practice, the score can still get ridiculous. Do you pentalize those children for being better players or for just having been coached better?

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

CoachFromNA — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:47:26 GMT

There is a time and a place for everything. I have been on both sides of the fence as a player and a coach, common sense thing are if you play a lot of man or press drop back into a zone keep it tight hands up be active but don't take advantage, take off the press and play the bench, on the offensive end work the ball around make 5 pass before you shoot.

A few examples I have seen. I coach 3&4 travel team we are beating this team pretty good, we pull the starters and put in the subs, now we are a team of 14 and after player 7 we drop way off in the skill level, I took this many kids because I feel at this age group we are here to teach these kids the basic some will get it some will not. I feel basics are a lost art well that's a whole another story. This other coach keeps his starters in and starts to press our bench and cuts in to the score so at half time we tell the other coach hey if we put in our bench and you press with your starters then guess what we put are starters back in needless to say the press came off and so did his starters.

Another one my son played 7&8 travel team, this one team from another town was so good that would go out of state to find teams to play, but the problem was they would play our local teams and beat them by 30 or more and never pull his starters or take off the press which you know rub me the wrong way! Like someone said before have some class. Well the out come was sweet revenge after taking some good beatings from this team over the winter our 7&8 travel gave them there only loss in county play in 3 or 4 years I told my sons team that's one you will remember the rest of your life.

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

apgarg — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:42:15 GMT

ITS INTERESTING THAT Coachskeet has a formula to put "some of my bench players into the game"--for U-8, an 8 pt lead, etc. I guess that's not a bad way to develop a competitive team and still give young kids a chance to shine when they might not YET be on par with some of the starters.

I started this post thinking that coachskeet was talking about soccer; and, I was not thinking of PRAISE when I read his comment!! Putting "some of the bench" in with an 8 goal lead at the U-8 level would, I suspect, lead to a parental revolt!

I think that using common sense is important when one team has a big lead over another; and, I like coachskeet's analytic and balanced approach. I had a U-10 girls team that was creamed 10-1. Our parents were screaming at the other coach because their 9-10 year olds were better than our girls~~he wasn't running up the score, but that's how they looked at it. His team was just that good. We hung in there and got our one goal right at the end~~an earned goal! The girls were thrilled as they always were. I was happy that they got one and some parents were angry that we got shelled. The other coach did not belittle us: he didn't say "give up" nor did he say, "here, take a few penalty shots without our goalie". He moved his girls around, played them all, but still had them play hard. Our one goal was huge!!!

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

coachskeet — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:49:11 GMT

when the situation arises and I find my team up by a large score (you have to decide on the points ahead and the age group you coach...u8 8 pts, u10 10 pts, u12 12 pts...etc) I get some of my bench players into the game. when the lead is cut in half then I get my starters back in the game. that's just the way I coach and it really pays off in the second half of the season.

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

cprockies — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:57:14 GMT

I think that in some cases, it is ok to keep scoring. I think if you have made all of your substitutions, and are using the opportunity to work on things you normally wouldn't be able to do, it is acceptable. After all, if you are on the losing end of a route, you should really examine the effectiveness of your coaching technique, your gam strategies, and the quality of the opposing team. It is also important to teach "winning and losing with Class".

Re: Thoughts on running up scores in basketball. Winning attitude or poor sportsmanship?

bommermom — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:09:39 GMT

Our junior high team actually had something interesting happen this year regarding running up the score. We were down by a considerable amount of points when the opposing teams coach stated to our coach "this is ridiculous, you are down by 20 pts with 2 minutes left on the clock.......quit pressing". This was said within earshot of our team and coming from the same coach who in a previous game ran the score up by 60 pts on a team without removing his starting lineup. I think it says alot for a coach who would tell a team to quit trying when they are down. Needless to say......we didn't win that game however it lit a fire under our girls that still hasn't been extinguished! They didn't give up their press and he couldn't hold his head up walking out of the gym.