[NZcoachParticipant]

 So I didn’t get time to post about day 2 when I got home so I will put both days into one post.

Day 2. 

Got down to the arena a little late, about half way through the second quarter of Rangitoto’s game. The game was very close against Rotorua. Tai Wynard and Rangitoto’s other bigs were getting pressured alot and looked like they had been forced into some turnovers, although the reffing looked a bit iffy aswell. The most good I saw from Tai was he collected an offensive rebound, early in the 3rd I think, took one bounce and spun off the defender for the dunk. Unfortunatly very soon after this, Tai caught a very hard elbow to the nose. He left the game with blood gushing from his nose and I later heard he might have broken it in two places, although this is unconfirmed. He sat the game later that day. After this happened Rangitoto went on to win by 14.

The other game I paid close attention to was Westlake vs Hamilton, most of my attention aimed at Westlake. They have a very strong team with nearly everyone on their team throwing down some nice dunks in warmups, including one ox who threw down a windmill on his first run at the basket. But their notable players are Matt Freeman F (Addidas Nations), Jackson Stent G/F (Addidas Nations), Yannis Wetzell F, Jaylen Gerrand G.

For this game Jaylen, who is probably their top scorer, sat out. 

Matt Freeman. Moves very well, runs like a deer with big strides, and guards any position in their zone defense. Started the game by hitting a 3 with a nice stroke, stole it off the opposing point guard at half court and finished with a dunk that had his elbows at the rim,then stole another pass at half court and finished, all in the first 5min. He showed he is confident shooting 3s and has a reasonably smooth stroke aswell with a high release. Moves well on defense aswell. He is confident with his handle aswell, often driving down the lane. Has shown ability to pass well aswell. While he does have good athleticism and is tall, he can have trouble getting rebounds as he is quite slim, and with this he also finds it hard to finish through contact or against more physical defenders. On defensive rebounds he can get moved out of position and doesn’t try to block as many shots as one would expect from him. He is still young however and by the look of it will be a stretch 4 with ability to play some 3. Should wind up in USA for college but needs to add weight.

Yannis Wetzell. Yannis apparently is in his first year of top grade basketball and was previously a tennis player, which could help explain why he aswell moves quite well. He has the same mentioned limitations as Freeman, but unfortunatly less of the offensive polish. Brings the ball down quite low when he goes to finish and gets it ripped frequently. Does not have the range Freeman does but shows a couple of nice post moves. As I said he moves very well and also plays any position in their zone defense, but also like Freeman is quite slim and gets moved around alot. I think he may actually be slimmer then Freeman and has even more trouble finishing through contact. Doesn’t have much of a handle either. Would say he would definatly be a 4, needs to look to add weight, but has some skill. Not sure how far he will go, especially since he is in his last year of college and only just made the top basketball team for his school, but in his defense Westlake always has a stacked team. Is looking to be recruited by a US college and has some highlight tapes on youtube. 

Jackson Stent. Starts at the 3 for Westlake but can play the 4 to 1 at nationals. Moves extremly well, always on his toes. Great defensive stance and is the best perimiter defender on his team. Active hands aswell getting fingers on the ball a lot. Has a strong handle and turned his defender in this game. While he is very slim, and has the kind of body that will be hard to add weight, he is not afraid to get physical and is very athletic. He has good body control finishing on the break and can change his shot in the air and still get it to fall. Has good form at the freethrow line and his jumper is a quick release. Not at the top of his jump but it still works for him. The other great thing I loved about him is his attitude, not cocky but compeditive and gets well hyped up. Loves to play the game and always wants to be on the court.

Day 3. 

Tai Wynard sat out both games again todaybut his team pulled out wins regardless, however they did get some more pressure. Its unknown if Tai will come back and play, however I can see him sitting out of the bigger games. Last year he played in the finals on a badly sprained ankle so I dont think his nose would keep him out.

Westlake vs Hastings.

Stent, Freeman and Wetzell all battled foul trouble in this game, with the first two picking up their first two fouls before halfway through the first quarter. They would continue to battle foul trouble throughout the game and in the end the subs won it for them. Hastings had some strong boys, including one that looked like a rugby prop but had some game. So it was easy to see that even players that gave up maybe 6 or more inches in height still bother these slimmer Westlake boys. Wetzell played the most out of these 3 and did ok, unfortunatly his inexperience showed when he dropped the ball down low and got stripped 3 times in a row, and many more during the game, Hastings showed good, quick hands. Freeman did show good form in his shot hitting some 3’s including two very deep ones, and hustled hard diving on the ground to keep the ball at one point, but ultimatly fouls kept these boys from showing too much. This Westlake team is well balanced in how they run the game however and the subs know their job, which they got done for the win. A surprise was seeing Jaylen Gerrand playing though. Apparently he had played in their morning game which I missed, but not sure why he had sat out the day before or why he showed up so late to this game and ended up coming off the bench because he missed tipoff. 

Jaylen Gerrand. A big time scoring guard and a bit undersized. Can run the point well and showed some fantastic no look passes, that at some times his teammates got surprised by. The game was close and you could tell Jaylen wanted the ball in his hands when it came down to it. While the regular subs did get the job done, Jaylen was the one who determined the game for them in the end. Hit big 3’s, 6+ in the game, and drew multiple shooting fouls which he converted most of at the line. He is very quick on offense and keeps the ball alive well. Even when he is pressured he does not give up his dribble. When his team took the lead in the 4th, it was because Jaylen gave up his ok shot to get his teammate a great open look, which shows he trusts his team and would rather have the win than look like the man, which he did anyway. Can cross his man and uses his body very well to get past his defender and into the lane. Kept his composure well against the more physical team even when other players got pushy with him. On defense he keeps infront of his man well with his quickness and has good hands to force steals. While he may be undersized, he is a bigtime scorer and and underrated allaround player who should be able to play basketball somewhere after highschool.

Westlake won 98-87.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

[festar35Participant]

I was there for the entire game and it was fantastic basketball.

Here is what I saw:

Hastings: They genuinely wanted the game more than Westlake and they came out playing like that. They took advantage of their speed and ability to attack in transition. They have a great ability on make or miss to get a quick inbound and get on the break. Westlakes bigger guys were totally outmatched by the speed of the game.

Westlake: They struggled for most of the game, there was a brief patch where their coach went to a 3-guard line-up and started to claw it back. However he insisted on going with Freeman and Stent who had time and time again proven themselves ineffective, they genuinely got too emotional and caught up with going back at their guy.
They went back to that guard line-up and were then more capable of matching Hastings in the open court and it allowed them to close the gap and eventually take the lead. Gerrand also played with a demeanour that was unwavering and didn’t get swept up in the situation.

Sidenote: Westlake did way too much dribbling in the paint, every time they put it on the floor for more than two dribbles it was taken away, they need to hold the ball high and square to the hoop. They continued it the entire game and I am still not sure they have learnt their lesson.

Takeaways:
1) Hastings is a fantastic team, they have three rugby players who have only joined the team in last couple of weeks as if you play rugby you can not play other winter sports at that school, two of them being very key contributors.

2) Freeman and Stent have some growing up to do. They are young so they will learn, Hastings did a terrific job getting under their skin.

3) Westlake need to look after the ball better if they want to be the Champs again.

[festar35Participant]

I was there for the entire game and it was fantastic basketball.

Here is what I saw:

Hastings: They genuinely wanted the game more than Westlake and they came out playing like that. They took advantage of their speed and ability to attack in transition. They have a great ability on make or miss to get a quick inbound and get on the break. Westlakes bigger guys were totally outmatched by the speed of the game.

Westlake: They struggled for most of the game, there was a brief patch where their coach went to a 3-guard line-up and started to claw it back. However he insisted on going with Freeman and Stent who had time and time again proven themselves ineffective, they genuinely got too emotional and caught up with going back at their guy.
They went back to that guard line-up and were then more capable of matching Hastings in the open court and it allowed them to close the gap and eventually take the lead. Gerrand also played with a demeanour that was unwavering and didn’t get swept up in the situation.

Sidenote: Westlake did way too much dribbling in the paint, every time they put it on the floor for more than two dribbles it was taken away, they need to hold the ball high and square to the hoop. They continued it the entire game and I am still not sure they have learnt their lesson.

Takeaways:
1) Hastings is a fantastic team, they have three rugby players who have only joined the team in last couple of weeks as if you play rugby you can not play other winter sports at that school, two of them being very key contributors.

2) Freeman and Stent have some growing up to do. They are young so they will learn, Hastings did a terrific job getting under their skin.

3) Westlake need to look after the ball better if they want to be the Champs again.

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

Live NZ nationals stream

http://new.livestream.com/NZSportwebcasts/events/3427850

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

Live NZ nationals stream

http://new.livestream.com/NZSportwebcasts/events/3427850

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