Televised High School Hoops

I like being able to hear these huddles.

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Huron is 3-13 at the line in a 7 point game. Brutal.

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more like Huroff

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Thatā€™s brutal. If thereā€™s one thing you expect HS players to do reasonably well, itā€™s FT shooting.

Careful there, partner! :slight_smile:

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If Iā€™m not mistaken, Grand Blancā€™s coach, Mike Thomas, has a pretty successful coaching career. He was the Kalamazoo Central coach when they won a state title or two, went to Albion College (his alma mater), and now has won a state championship at Grand Blanc. It seems that heā€™d be in line for at least an assistant position at a fairly high-level college program. Goodness knows there have been people hired as assistants with a lesser resume.

Not all of them; heā€™s still got Julius.

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Yes, this is Mikeā€™s third state championship, two at Kalamazoo Central and now this one at Grand Blanc. Yes, heā€™s been Blessed with talent but he has certainly done a GREAT job with, putting them in positions to win and expecting nothing but their very best efforts.

Mike was a stand out player at Saginaw high and a four year starter and three time All MIAA First Team selection at Albion. He is Albionā€™s second leading all time scorer.

An excellent motivator, I love the passion he brings to coaching his kids. I loved his demeanor on the sidelines though, as a result of that passion I spoke of, perhaps, he was once suspended from the state tournament for ā€œmaking contact with a referee.ā€ It is said that that suspension is part of the reason he left K Central and joined the staff at his alma mater, working as the assistant coach at Albion College for five years. He credits his experience at Albion with helping him to grow as both a man and a coach.

Coach Thomas is an outstanding man, a great guy, and and a wonderful role model for his kidsā€¦AND he is passionate, too, about helping them be the best they can be as people and as players. All of his players will return next year so perhaps he can win back to back state titles at two different high schools. I sure wouldnā€™t count him out, or the young men of that state championship Grand Blanc team!

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When you want to know anything about coaching or state HS coaches @silverblue is the man to ask.:wink: By the way Ernie did you know Al Schaefer who coached at Grand Haven in the 70s into the 80s? He took a head job in LA Cal and then I lost track of him. I believe the court of GH is named after him. I know heā€™s still living.

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Not so much any more but I DO know who to ask and I know a little bit about Mike Thomas, and a little about Saginaw High, well, from the old days, and about Albion College and the MIAA. I LOVE it when an MIAA assistant coach has SO much success! I really like good people, too, and Mike Thomas is good people.

Look back at my last comment. I added to it and it may not hav been showing yet when you saw it.

Al was revered as a coach in Michigan. I didnā€™t know him personally as he was WAY out of my league, but he was a president of the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan and he is a member of the BCAM Hall of Fame and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was one of those guys you just looked up to with awe.

He left Grand Haven in 1987 to coach and teach in California, the year after the high school team my mentor and the man for whom I worked as an assistant and the JV coach, took Flint Beecher down to the wire at the 1987 State Finals at Crisler. Al continued to have a terrific continuation of his coaching career at, I believe, Romona High School where he, again, became an institution. I believe he did some college coaching when he retired from Romona(?).

I believe Grand Haven did honor him with naming of the new(?) gym after him and with a plaque commemorating all of his successes at Grand Haven. I believe he coached football and track(?) there, too.

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I just knew I could count on you for Info. FYI Coach Al lived a block from my mom and dad in GH. My wife and I moved from GH to TC in 1974. TC and GH were in the same conference back then the old LMAC along with the big Muskegon area schools, Holland HS ,W Ottawa and Benton Harbor. So I seen GH play alot when he coached there. Good memories. By the way former Mich Capt Jon Hall preceded Schaefer at GH when I was in HS.

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Ann Arbor Huron let this alum down. But the high school down the street from me got the ā€˜ship. Anyone on Detroit Douglass I should know about?

EDIT: Ah, I see thatā€™s Pierre Brooksā€™s team.

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Also, every 3 they took was seemingly from NBA-range or beyond. I think they made one from that 24-foot distance.

Was only following the updates on mlive, but after a hot-shooting opening stretch it seemed like both teams completely lost their composure? There was something in the live update about the Huron coach screaming at his kids that they were NOT panicking down three in the home stretch. Did both teams just clutch up with Grand Blanc proving a bit more resilient? Halting games like that where both teams eke their way to the finish. . .

The Huron coach wasnā€™t screaming but he did try to urge his team to remain calm. There was a combination of bad shooting and good defense by both teams. Huron however had a cold stretch (with those awful 3ā€™s I mentioned) that made Michiganā€™s last few minutes vs. UCLA look like a pale imitation. I think they scored 4 points in the final 7 minutes of the game.

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With apologies for asking a question that may better fit in his recruitment thread, but if weā€™re recruiting Rodgers hard, and dad is U-M fan, and MSU isnā€™t in the picture for various reasons, what will it take to get him in the class? Is he a threat to leave the state? Does he want to take visits? Is he worried about depth chart? I guess with the fact pattern as presented in this thread, Iā€™d think it would seem more like a ā€œwhen not ifā€ situation but that doesnā€™t seem to be the vibe.

These are all good questions. My hubristic answer is that Juwanā€™s hardest job moving forward will be finding spots for guys outside the top-40. When we are in good position with so many elite 22 wings, keeping Rodgers in the fold and ready to drop will be a delicate balancing act.

high school super league

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