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Summer hoops circuit shows who's got game
(by Steve Novak - June 24, 2009)
Summer hoops circuit shows who's got game
By STEVE NOVAK
It is the end of June, and it's a good five months away from the start of the 2009-2010 high school basketball season.
However, as of last week, Chagrin Falls already has played neighborhood rival Gilmour Academy, and also has beaten Chagrin Valley Conference rival Perry in a close game. Also, Orange already has faced tough competition from Cleveland John F. Kennedy and from Cleveland Central Catholic.
No, it's not a mistake of the calendar. It's the opening round of games a summer basketball league. Since the Ohio High School Athletic Association began allowing coaches to have 10 supervised sessions with their teams prior to the official beginning of the season, summer leagues have become as much as a tradition as the Grapefruit League and Cactus League in major league exhibition baseball.
Several area teams take part in the summer league. The league holds its games at Euclid High School and at Cleveland St. Ignatius. Up until last year, all the games were held at Euclid.
However, former Euclid coach Sean O'Toole took over the head coaching duties at St. Ignatius last season, and now he helps direct the league at both gymnasiums.
There are 38 schools in the league, including Chagrin Falls, Orange and Gilmour Academy. University School has taken part in the league.
There's a summer atmosphere to these games that is apparent as soon as one walks into the gym. The players aren't the only ones wearing shorts. They are joined in the attire by the referees, the coaches and the fans. The entry doors at both ends of the gym are left open to keep fresh air circulating.
Also, there are a few minor changes in the rules, mainly done in the interest of trying to keep each game running for about an hour. The teams play two halves, both of them only 20 minutes long. The clock usually keeps running except in the case of timeouts or injuries. The halftime break runs less than five minutes.
Teams often play two consecutive games in one night. At Euclid last week, coach Dave Bargar's Chagrin Falls' team played Gilmour Academy first and then Perry.
Meanwhile, over at St. Ignatius last Friday, Orange had back-to-back contests against Cleveland JFK and Cleveland Central Catholic.
Bargar said the summer league is a coach's first time to really look at what kind of a squad he's going to have in November. The graduation of senior players often throws a big monkey wrench into any plans a coach might have of having a smooth transition from season to season.
"We lost six seniors from our team this year," Bargar said. "This whole summer, we've only had three guys with any type of varsity experience. This summer our goal is to get all these kids as much experience as possible. We tell them it's not as much about winning and losing, but it's about developing a winning attitude."
The three Chagrin Falls players with experience that Bargar mentioned are 6-foot-5 Connor Clegg, 6-foot-3 Sam Schiferel and 5-foot-7 Pat Stecker. Stecker and Clegg will be seniors this fall and Schiferel will be a junior.
Orange junior varsity coach Jeff Clingan was directing the Lions, helping out on the overall summer duties with varsity coach Bob Wright. The Lions consisted of a collection of sophomores, juniors and seniors who are all hoping to make the varsity roster.
In Orange's game against JFK, two of the Lions's big men, 6-foot-4 Taylor Wilson and 6-foot-3 Davoughn Wingard, spent a lot of time trying to box out opponents to get position for rebounds. Clingan said there's a clear advantage in playing teams during the summer that the Lions will not face during the regular season.
"In playing certain teams like Cleveland Central, these teams are more aggressive, quicker and have more athleticism," Clingan said. "It shows our kids how to box out on the rebounds. It shows us that winning is always possible."
In Gilmour's game against Chagrin Falls, Lancers coach Dave Pfundstein had his first opportunity to see how his squad would look without seniors who graduated, including three-sport athlete Billy Urban, and other starters Len DeFino and Ricky Kertis. Two of the returning players for Gilmour are Brian Highland and Ricky Layton.
University School head coach Chris Osolin said his team decided to opt out of the Euclid league this summer and to instead play in a predominantly west-side summer league at Padua High School.
In this league, the Preppers have the chance to face schools like Valley Forge and St. Edward, and both of which provide a good challenge for the independent schedule that University School plays during the regular season.
"The biggest thing is to get a head start in getting the new team together and to get them familiar in playing with each other," Osolin said.
In Chagrin Falls' second game last week, Bargar's team faced Perry, which has an old foe and acquaintance as its coach. Chad Frazier, former head coach at West Geauga, leads Perry. Frazier and Bargar used to face each other in Chagrin Valley Conference clashes at least twice each season.
Bargar said he always knows what to expect when he faces a team coached by Frazier.
"They're well-coached. They run and execute well and they play good defense," Bargar said.
"But as Barger adds a friendly reminder, "We were down by something like double digits, but we beat them."
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