We have 2 trips coming up as a team: one to Eastern PA to play perennial powers Desales University and Misercordia University. The other trip is to the Bluffton University Tournament out in Ohio where we open up with #23 in the nation Ohio Wesleyan.
Ummm yeh, we kind of have our work cut out for us!! Who the heck put this schedule together?! haha Just kidding. That's what's fun about playing college basketball...playing some of the best teams in the nation and seeing where you stack up!
The best thing about the trips for me is that we will be in Bluffton and see one of our former assistants, Cody Hartzler, who is Bluffton's assistant coach. Will be fun for myself and the older guys to see Cody again. He was great for our program and I'm sure he is doing the same thing for Bluffton.
Anyway, I will make sure we blog on these trips and have some pictures put on here. I promise!!!!
Your in Hoops,
Coach Strick
Friday, December 14, 2012
Blue-Gold Day
Just like the "big" Pitt, we like to have our own Blue-Gold Day here at Pitt-Greensburg for our basketball program. We have a 3-point competition, a dunk competition, and then a 20 minute Blue-Gold scrimmage. The basketball stuff is then followed by a nice dinner with the team and family and friends.
3-POINT COMPETITION
So we started the day with a 3-point competition. And it came down to our defending champion, Brian Heinle, vs the new challenger, Jerell Figeuroa. In Brian's senior year he led the WPIAL in 3-point shooting and as a freshman ended up being our shooting champ for Blue-Gold Day. Jerell comes from the furthest away and his mom and sister were in the stands, so he was determined to make their trip worth it. The final was unreal as both guys netted almost all of the possible 20 shots they took. Really, it was unreal and definitely was a "clash of the titans" in the final. In the end Jerell hit one more shot and scored a 21 of a possible 25 points to take home the title. Was definitely worth the trip for the family and mom's photos came in handy.
DUNK COMPETITION
We then went to the dunk competition. And of course Coach wasn't smart enough to do videos or photos of the dunk competition, but you are just going to have to trust my account of what happened. The finals of the dunk competition were 6'8 Steve Hearty from North Hills, and 6'3 Rocco Contristano out of Keystone Oaks. Steve impressed with some thunderous dunks. Kind of ironic since he wasn't allowed to dunk for his high school team, but he showed during this competition he could throw it down. But Rocco was the pre-contest favorite. He made it easily thru the first round and saved the winning dunk for the final. He was going to need a perfect dunk to beat out Steve. Sure enough, one 360 dunk later, Rocco was walking away with the title. He is definitely going to be tough to beat over the next few years here. The good thing is after pulling out a 360 dunk, I think that will raise the level of creativity for next year as people try and knock him off.
BLUE-GOLD SCRIMMAGE
After 2 close contests it set the tone for what to expect in the actual Blue-Gold Game. Sure enough a back and forth contest came down to a 1-point finish. Blue hit the shot with 6 seconds left and Gold's final shot came up just short to win it. Although there was some dispute because the clock operator, my oldest daughter Taryn, possibly (ok she definitely did!!) started the clock early which caused Gold to shoot the final shot quicker than they thought they had to. Either way, it can't get any closer than a 1-point game and the fans were thrilled.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS DINNER
Speaking of the fans, it was the largest Blue-Gold event we have ever had with close to 100 people coming for the day's festivities and food. At the dinner afterwards all the players introduced the people that came to the event, which I like to do because it creates that family atmosphere I want to promote. We are together so much that we are a family. And we want parents and friends to feel like they are a part of that also. That's why this event is so important to us and our program.
All in all, it was a great day of fun, food, family, and friends. And days like that are what these guys will remember the most once their playing days are long gone. This program is about much more than wins and losses. This program is about creating the best experience we can for our student-athletes and preparing them for life. We hope when they leave here that they leave here ready to take on the world, while also having a close group of friends to experience life with them!
Yours in Hoops,
Coach Strick
3-POINT COMPETITION
So we started the day with a 3-point competition. And it came down to our defending champion, Brian Heinle, vs the new challenger, Jerell Figeuroa. In Brian's senior year he led the WPIAL in 3-point shooting and as a freshman ended up being our shooting champ for Blue-Gold Day. Jerell comes from the furthest away and his mom and sister were in the stands, so he was determined to make their trip worth it. The final was unreal as both guys netted almost all of the possible 20 shots they took. Really, it was unreal and definitely was a "clash of the titans" in the final. In the end Jerell hit one more shot and scored a 21 of a possible 25 points to take home the title. Was definitely worth the trip for the family and mom's photos came in handy.
DUNK COMPETITION
We then went to the dunk competition. And of course Coach wasn't smart enough to do videos or photos of the dunk competition, but you are just going to have to trust my account of what happened. The finals of the dunk competition were 6'8 Steve Hearty from North Hills, and 6'3 Rocco Contristano out of Keystone Oaks. Steve impressed with some thunderous dunks. Kind of ironic since he wasn't allowed to dunk for his high school team, but he showed during this competition he could throw it down. But Rocco was the pre-contest favorite. He made it easily thru the first round and saved the winning dunk for the final. He was going to need a perfect dunk to beat out Steve. Sure enough, one 360 dunk later, Rocco was walking away with the title. He is definitely going to be tough to beat over the next few years here. The good thing is after pulling out a 360 dunk, I think that will raise the level of creativity for next year as people try and knock him off.
BLUE-GOLD SCRIMMAGE
After 2 close contests it set the tone for what to expect in the actual Blue-Gold Game. Sure enough a back and forth contest came down to a 1-point finish. Blue hit the shot with 6 seconds left and Gold's final shot came up just short to win it. Although there was some dispute because the clock operator, my oldest daughter Taryn, possibly (ok she definitely did!!) started the clock early which caused Gold to shoot the final shot quicker than they thought they had to. Either way, it can't get any closer than a 1-point game and the fans were thrilled.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS DINNER
Speaking of the fans, it was the largest Blue-Gold event we have ever had with close to 100 people coming for the day's festivities and food. At the dinner afterwards all the players introduced the people that came to the event, which I like to do because it creates that family atmosphere I want to promote. We are together so much that we are a family. And we want parents and friends to feel like they are a part of that also. That's why this event is so important to us and our program.
All in all, it was a great day of fun, food, family, and friends. And days like that are what these guys will remember the most once their playing days are long gone. This program is about much more than wins and losses. This program is about creating the best experience we can for our student-athletes and preparing them for life. We hope when they leave here that they leave here ready to take on the world, while also having a close group of friends to experience life with them!
Yours in Hoops,
Coach Strick
Preseason stuff.....yeah, I know....little late......
Ok, Ok, I know we are 1/3 of the way into our season and I'm WAAAYYYYY behind on this Blog!! But I'm still gonna try and catch up a little, so I have to get some credit for that, right??
Our preseason consisted of some fun stuff and some cool stuff. We started it out the first weekend with some bowling fun. Now, we had some guys that were bad bowlers.....some guys that were bad bowlers, but talked like they were good bowlers.....and some guys that just talked about bowling. haha Overall, it was definitely a fun time and something we will do again!
Not sure if the videos will come out right, but you will get the gist of who the bowlers were and who the talkers were. Pearson seems to fit both molds......
Our preseason consisted of some fun stuff and some cool stuff. We started it out the first weekend with some bowling fun. Now, we had some guys that were bad bowlers.....some guys that were bad bowlers, but talked like they were good bowlers.....and some guys that just talked about bowling. haha Overall, it was definitely a fun time and something we will do again!
Not sure if the videos will come out right, but you will get the gist of who the bowlers were and who the talkers were. Pearson seems to fit both molds......
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