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What About the Comets Blue Team? (Part 7)
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What About the Comets Blue Team? (Part 5)
What About the Comets Blue Team? (Part 6)
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(KB - 10/03/05) Comets Red forward Briyanna Blair gave her verbal commitment to the University of Miami over the weekend, becoming the first Comets Red player to sign with a big time D1 school. Blair, an original Comet and the daughter of coach Garfield Blair, joins a sterling recruiting class garnered by UM coach Katie Meier. Briyanna will join Florida prospects Brittany Denson(Winter Haven) and Eboni Sadler(Norland) in the Hurricanes lineup after she graduates from Boone High School in 2007.
Blair has served as the Comets top defensive stopper for the past six years. Her quickness and tenacity has frustrated ballhandlers all over the nation as the Comets have compiled a top five national ranking. At 5'9", Briyanna can play small forward or shooting guard for the 'Canes.
This past weekend Briyanna showed off her skills at Premiere One's exposure event in Daytona. Always a slasher, Briyanna broke out her long game and drained a number of three pointers for her high school team.
UM is getting a well rounded player. Congratulations, Brea!!
Highly recruited Comets Red center Krystal Thomas is still considering her college options. She has a stack of letters a mile wide. At 6'5", she has the size and the grades to go anywhere she wants. Krystal is being looked at closely by the Florida Gators and several other SEC teams. She is keeping her selection list a closely guarded secret. The 2006 season will be Krystal's last season playing AAU ball for the Comets. She may be waiting until after AAU Nationals next summer to commit.
The Red team will lose two players to graduation this year and one to injury. Gabby Claxton and Desiree Diaz are seniors at TFA and Pine Ridge respectively. Their AAU careers are over. Like all the Comets, they have the grades to get academic scholarships to college. Gabby is definitely looking at smaller academic schools. Desiree, too, may be looking at smaller colleges after a severe knee injury slowed her after her sophomore season.
Sharece Taft, who joined the Comets Red last year, tore her ACL early in the summer and was unable to help the team at AAU Nationals. Sharece recently had surgery on her injured knee and may have to sit for extended portions of this her senior season at Leesburg.
The Red team has brought on Jordan Coleman as a full time player for the 2006 season. Coleman, a sophomore, played with the Comets Red at Nike events last year but was committed to playing AAU with her 14U team. The Comets developed Coleman's guard skills in 2005, playing her at shooting guard and small forward extensively. As a full time player in 2006, the Comets plan to continue using her in those capacities on the offensive end, but will be forced to play her at power forward on the defensive end. Her leaping and rebounding abilities will be needed on a team that is chronically short on size. (No pun intended).
The Red team is also looking to add two more players in 2006. The team is looking for forwards and centers.
That is an interesting conundrum considering they already have two of the best power forwards in the state playing in their organization. Laquita Curry and Jelana Childs would solve a world of problems for the Red team but they were recruited by and currently are committed to the Comets Blue team. The Red team has 6'4" freshman Lauren Thomas on their roster and plan to continue developing her. She led the team in blocked shots last year as an eighth grader, even though she played limited minutes.
The Red teams feels set at the guard spot. Brooke Thomas, Alexa Deluzio, Tierra Brown and Briyanna Blair have entrenched positions on the team. Deluzio and Thomas are sophomores and will have another full year to play AAU.
The Comets organization has an influx of great guards coming in. Sophomores Brittany Hardy, Kourtney Berry and Jaya Houston have jumped to the Comets from DEBO. Hardy is slated to play for the Comets Blue team in 2006. Berry and Houston are battling for spots on the soon to be announced Comets Red 15U team.
What's that? Another 15U team in 2006?
It seems that Faye Robinson and Kurt Coleman have settled their Miracle differences and have come to terms on the germ of an idea for a consolidated 15U team in 2006. Last year Robinson put together a 14U team composed of several ex-Miracle players. Coleman did the same.
This year all of those players will be brought together under the auspices of the Comets and neither Coleman nor Robinson will coach.
Conceptually, the 15U team will only sign ten players. A great deal more players than that have expressed interest in playing for the Comets Red 15U in 2006. In addition to Berry and Houston, the Red 15U has Jessica Bivins, Ayiesha Vickers, Christeena Bryant, Katie Gordon, Erin Knight, Andrea Smith, Andrell Smith, Antonia Bennett, Ally Harrison and Aislinn Van Buren on tap. The Red team also has several out-of-area probables that are currently being negotiated, including Bianca Lutley, Pearl Johnson, Angela Felton, Wannetta Carlisle and Chelsea Regins.
This is far too many players for a single team.
If the Comets follow past tradition, all of these players will be kept and a second team will be formed. It's also possible that some of these players might join the Comets Blue 16U team. But that team, too, is guard heavy. Regins, Harrison and Van Buren are the only post players on the list of 15U eligibles.
Obtaining a spot on the 15U team is a choice plumb. The Red 15U team will shadow the 16U team at Nike and AAU events in 2006. Most of the team's tournaments will be out of state. The team's focus will be on exposure rather than winning AAU Nationals as was the case in the past. The 15U team will also receive a Nike sponsorship.
The 15U team is still being considered. Leesburg coach Marcus Niblack got in the mix over the weekend by offering his girls and facilities. There was some negotiations over who would coach and who would play. Those negotiations are ongoing.
However things turn out, we will report them here and/or in Milquetoast.
Posted by Kurt Coleman at Sep 20, 2005 5:00PM PDT
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Posted by Kurt Coleman at Aug 23, 2005 5:00PM PDT
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(KB - 08/23/05) The Blue team continued to struggle in championship games at Disney Spring Fling. Undefeated in pool play, the Blue team marched thru the brackets and found themselves facing the South Florida Jaguars in the championship game. The Blue team beat the Jags 62-46 in pool play. But the third place Jags moved thru the brackets with wins over the Jupiter Jags and the Naples Thunder.
Meanwhile, the Blue team faced a local nemesis, Faye Robinson's Next Level. The Next Level was composed of several ex-Orlando Miracle 13U players and some Seminole County 15 year olds. Coached by James Thomas, the Next Level were a gritty, in-your-face, man-to-man defensive team. Next Level had never beaten the Blue team, but they always gave tough battles that led to -- you guessed it -- Comets Blue running out of gas.
Comets Blue beat Next Level in the semi-finals, 59-52.
In the championship game against SF Jags, the Blue team played exactly like a team that psychologically held a 16 point advantage over their opponents. They played over-confidently. They played as if "This team is going to wilt. We killed them last time."
But, if anything, the Jags played harder. And once again, Blue team injuries came back to bite them. Asia Wilson aggravated her nagging ankle injury and pulled herself from a close game with 3 minutes to play. The Blue team lost the Spring Fling championship by one point, 54-53.
At this point one had to wonder: Is the team jinxed? As in 2004, the Blue team came home with a number of silver trophies. But this time they were not losing to the Red team every weekend. Quite frankly, they were losing championship games to teams they should have beaten. Let us correct that. They were CONSISTENTLY losing championship games to teams they should have beaten.
What was interesting at this juncture was the spin doctoring that came about. The Comets Red team is and always has been about the W. It wasn't until very lately that any talk about college "exposure" and scouting came from anyone in the Red team camp.
But the Blue team now latched onto the "exposure" mantra and preached it to all who would listen. "Never mind that championship loss. We impressed the scouts. Look, here. After that game so-and-so received letters from Savannah State, William & Mary AND Wilberforce."
OK.
But what about the original plan? Every team from Peewee League to the WNBA looks over their season schedule and maps out wins. "This is a win. These three games are wins, too. This tournament is a win." No one publishes this pre-season marking, but to say it doesn't happen would be dishonest.
The Blue team mapped out several tournament wins in pre-season and had yet to capture the ring. External observers noted that the probability of losing that many championship games due to injury and exhaustion was low. Snide questions about the coaching circulated, but the Blue team periodically brought in Red team coaches to sit on the bench and achieved the same results.
Criticism of the Blue team flourished. It was felt that the Blue team had all the components of a champion and none of the gel. The Blue team had high school freshman varsity starters at every position. What was up with the Sunday funk? The wags that cover AAU girls basketball in Florida were having a field day.
Meanwhile, a very unusual, but very good thing was happening. Through all the criticism and the championship losses, the Blue team was actually developing some pretty good players. Everyone already knew about Curry, Wilson and Jackson. Gathering known talent is the foundation of any AAU team. But the Blue team uncovered previously unknown diamonds in 6'2" center Jelana Childs and 5'7" guard Lallique Roman. More and more as the 2005 season progressed, Childs and Roman were noted for their hustle and overall outstanding play. Childs in particular grew three inches over the past year and developed a basketball body that had scouts drooling. And Childs came off the bench, too. Noting the Blue team's unspectacular record in championship games, a number of coaches wondered why the Blue team didn't go with a big front line of Curry, Brittany Waters AND Childs--all six footers with speed. Instead, the Blue team went with a starting lineup of Jessica George, Tiara Jackson, Asia Wilson, Curry and Waters.
Childs began to attract attention separately from the Blue team. At the UCF team camp in June, a number of college coaches were overheard saying "Wait until the big girl with the glasses gets into the game. Watch her. She's strong." Blue team observers began to conclude that the Blue team would win more games in direct proportion to Jelana's minutes.
Roman, too, attracted attention. Coaches love hustle players and Lallique accumulated more floorburns than all of the Blue team players combined. She was consistently diving after loose balls and scrambling defensively. While her jumpshot was fair to middlin', her overall passion for the game was the thing that drew the most attention. She, too, came off the Blue team bench.
At this juncture the Blue team made another incomprehensible move. They signed Ally Harrison away from the Hollywood Sun Eagles 14U team. Ally is another six footer who is known for playing best in a structured environment. She's not exceptionally strong in the post, but has a nice stroke and could do some damage as a swingman. The Blue team saw this potential but never capitalized on it. A team that had trouble finding minutes for Jelana Childs found almost no minutes for Ally Harrison. This signing did not help the Blue team one whit, but it severely handicapped the Sun Eagles and directly led to that team's first round loss at AAU 14U Nationals.
In June 2005, the Blue team followed the Red Team to the Nike Garden City City Classic in Augusta, GA. This tournament was the nadir of the Blue team's season. They went 0-3 in pool play, then lost their first bracket game and were eliminated from the tourney. Whereas in prior tournaments the Blue team blasted through pool play and made it to the championship game, at the Garden City Classic they went winless.
No amount of spin could deflect the criticism now. The Blue team's inconsistency during the early season was understandable, but to go winless just three weeks prior to AAU Nationals was something else. The Blue team endured the criticisms and the sidelong glances stoicly. The team had decided to attend AAU 15U Division II Nationals and was placing all their bets on their performance at Nike's Basketball on the Bayou in Louisiana.
Posted by Kurt Coleman at Aug 23, 2005 5:00PM PDT
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Posted by Kurt Coleman at Aug 20, 2005 5:00PM PDT
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(KB - 08/21/05) The 2005 AAU season started promisingly for the Comets Blue team. They had a big front line consisting of Candace Thompson, Brittany Waters, Laquita Curry and Jelana Childs--all six footers. They had an excellent cadre of guards led by Asia Wilson, Tiara Jackson, Jessica George and Lallique Roman. They added Cody Franklin as an assistant coach.
Plus, during the off season, the Comets organization picked up a Nike sponsorship that would guarantee exposure during the competition season to both teams. The Blue team committed to attend the same tournaments as the Red team. The difference between the teams would be that the Red team was now fully committed to the 16U division while the Blue team would have a free hand in the 15U division. The Blue team would be out of the Red team's shadow for the first time.
There was only one slight problem. The Nike sponsorship obligated both teams attend Basketball on the Bayou in New Orleans. Basketball on the Bayou conflicted with AAU 15U nationals. The Blue team would not be able to attend their own national tournament. They brashly decided to attend AAU 16U nationals.
But first the Blue team had to navigate thru the spring season. They mapped out a series of AAU and Nike tournaments designed to give their players maximum exposure and experience.
The Blue team opened the AAU season by competing at the FBVA Miracle Challenge in Orlando. They won all their pool games but eventually lost to the Palm Bay Lady Ice in the semis. What happened? "We were exhausted. We just ran out of gas."
This sequence repeated itself at the Essence Girls Basketball Classic in Tallahassee in late March. Undefeated in pool play, the Blue team lost first bracket game to the Columbus Blazers. What happened? "We were exhausted. We just ran out of gas."
The Blue team competed at the Boo Williams event in mid-April. Both the Blue team and the Red team competed in the 15U division at this event (at Nike's request). The Blue team finished 1-1 in Pool play, then lost their first bracket game to the Tri-State Tarheels, 51-23. Laquita Curry took an elbow in the Blue team's first pool game requiring stitches and did not return for the remainder of the tourney.
The Blue team again played in the 15U division at the SC 76ers Invitational two weeks later. Undefeated in pool play, the Blue team played four games on Saturday and won three of them. The fourth game of the day was first bracket game. What happened? "We were exhausted. We just ran out of gas."
Somehow a pattern was developing.
To be fair, the Blue team suffered several nagging injuries to key players. Asia Wilson had an ankle injury that kept her from performing at peak capacity. Laquita Curry was in and out of games. But the 2005 Comets Blue was fast gaining a reputation for not finishing on Sundays.
The Blue team did little to cast off this reputation at the AAU state tourney in mid-May. On the first day of competition, the Blue team blew out their historical rivals, the Clearwater Heatwave, 54-33. The Blue team dominated the Heatwave in the transition game, forcing their rivals into a number of ill-advised turnovers and capitalizing at the offensive end. Nothing the Heatwave devised could break the Blue team's defensive pressure. It looked as if the Blue team's strategy of competing against top competition at Nike events was paying dividends.
The Blue team sliced thru the competition at states and found themselves in the 15U championship game matched, again, against the Heatwave. But this time the tables had turned. Noting the Comets' pressure tactics, the Heatwave opened up their long game and blistered the Blue team with ten three-pointers in the first half alone. They took a 30 point lead into halftime and won the game 73-44.
This time exhaustion and injuries could not be blamed. The Heatwave were just unconscious from the perimeter that day. For the first time ever a non-Orlando team won the AAU b. 1989 state championship. And the Blue team continued their Sunday winless streak.
