Mr. Basketball Ch. 15

"It's good to be back," I smiled.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Much better than I was a few weeks ago. I'm ready to get back into the groove of things."

"What are we working on today?"

"I'm just here to watch you girls shoot. You girls are still taking orders from the boss over there for the time being."

"I think you can handle it from here, Jake," Teagan offered. "Just don't push yourself too hard."

"For today, I just want you girls to shoot around, maybe play some and then do some conditioning drills. I can't run with you just yet. I'm still a little sore."

"Sounds good to me," Tracy smiled.

One by one the girls that I had coached last year came over and hugged me. We talked for a while about how I was feeling and what we were going to do today. It brought a smile to my face at how much they said they had missed me and how happy they were that I was back.

"Hey TT?" I called.

"Yes sir?"

"You are the senior and the leader of this team now. I want you to get them organized, warm them up and get things started. Can you handle that?"

"Yes sir," she smiled confidently.

"Alright girls," I called. "I'm here to watch. Taylor is in charge today. Line up, start half court warmups then move onto shooting and conditioning. If you are new this year, ask questions and learn. We won't learn any plays or anything like that. This is just to practice and get a feel for Friday and Saturday."

I turned to Taylor. "They're all yours TT. Lead the way."

"Two lines," she called. "Half court layups to start. I'll call out the change as we run through the drills."

I smiled as she confidently led the twenty five other girls through the warmup drills before she moved them to free throws and conditioning. The signup sheet had about fifty names on it so I knew there would be more on Friday. The open gym wasn't mandatory and I didn't favor any of them if they were here or not. This was solely to benefit them by learning from the upperclassmen as to what they could expect during the tryouts.

I watched them and took mental notes on them. Taylor was as impressive as always. She practiced with confidence and gave them direction when needed. I could tell she was only going about half speed today but she was still the standout. Tessa played steady as usual. Her rebounding looked crisp and her passes were right on the mark. Tracy, Cali, Bree, and Jamie had also improved a bunch over the summer.

The two surprise players that caught my eye were Lane and Eva. Lane was a sophomore this season and had improved over the course of the season in her freshman year. She looked even better now and must have really worked her game to improve over the offseason. Eva was a freshman and had a defensive talent. I had seen her in the youth league and noticed how good she was on defense. Her offense was timid but her play on defense might just be enough to get her a spot on varsity. Only time would tell.

They practiced informally for the better part of an hour before I released them. The gym would be open every day for the rest of the week until Friday. Then I would hold the tryouts and figure out which ones would make it.

Teagan and I left the school and headed home to get changed before dinner. Then it was on to Thom's house to have dinner with the family. We had just climbed in the car when my phone started ringing.

"Sammy," I cheered. "How is my favorite cousin?"

"So freaking happy right now," she cheered back. "Guess what happened to me last night at dinner?"

"I don't know?"

"Randy asked me to marry him!"

"He did?" I laughed. "Did you say yes?"

"Yes you idiot," she laughed. "About ten times."

"How many times did he ask?" I joked still.

She was laughing so hard right now she couldn't even answer. It was the happiest I could remember her being. I had to pull the phone away from my ear it was so loud. Teagan gave me a questioning look so I put the phone on speaker and let her listen to Sam laugh.

"What is she laughing about?"

"I'm getting married," Sam cried. "Randy asked me last night."

"Congratulations Sammy. I'm so happy for you."

"Me too," she giggled still.

"Have you picked a date yet?" Teagan asked.

"Tentatively," she cheered. "April or May. I want it outside so I have to do it before it gets too hot."

"Like this coming year?" I asked.

"Yeah. Can you make it?"

"I'm assuming Randy will need me there," I offered.

"Yes, he will. And act surprised when he calls you too. I was supposed to wait but I couldn't keep it any longer. I knew you would've wanted to know."

"I'll put on an Oscar winning performance," I laughed. "And congrats Sammy. You deserve to be happy."

"Thank you. I am, I'm so happy. I only hope I'm as happy as the two of you guys are."

"You will be," Teagan smiled.

"Hey, I just pulled up to the house so I have to go," Sam said. "Don't forget to act surprised."

"I won't," I chuckled. "Love you and miss you Sammy."

"I love you guys too," she cheered.

"I'm so happy for her," Teagan smiled. "She deserves to be happy."

"Yeah," I smiled at her. "Randy will be good to her."

We had a quiet dinner and a quiet next couple of days. It was just Teagan and I relaxing and recovering from the stress filled events over the past couple of weeks. It was good to have this time with her. We had worked out our issues and were probably the happiest we had been since we had gotten married.

*

I ran tryouts just the same as I had always done when I had run them. I grouped them into fives by name and let them play the eight minute blocks. After I rotated them through twice, I switched things up and drilled them for a while before moving on to conditioning drills. The only thing I did differently this time around was call them all back the next day to run them again.

I switched the groups up the following day. I tried to mix underclassmen with upperclassmen to see how they reacted to playing with unfamiliar players. After I ran them through various drills again I sat down with Teagan, Rob and Rob's assistant coach, Amber, to figure out which ones I would take.

I had four seniors, Taylor, April, Sarah, and Erika and six juniors, Tracy, Cali, Bree, Jamie, Tessa, and Lexi. Unfortunately, the rest of the upperclassmen would have to be cut since they couldn't play JV. That left five spots to fill with underclassmen.

"Kacey was impressive and I am taking her from you Rob. Sorry buddy."

"You are the star attraction," he offered. "I'm just there to get them ready for the big show."

"I want Eva too. She has a knack for the ball on defense. Lindsey was a good passer and did the small things that will pay off in a big game so I'm taking her. Bella is another name that caught my eye. I'll take her as well."

"That leaves just one more," Teagan said.

"Yeah, I know. I don't know who though."

"What about Lane?" Rob questioned. "She was really good both days."

"Yes, but.... I don't really need another ball handler. I have Taylor and she will get ninety five percent of the minutes in the games. Jamie will probably be her partner in the backcourt. Cali will fill in when Jamie gets tired. Tracy can handle the ball too, she just isn't the best at it but she will do for a couple of minutes at a time."

"What's wrong with her?" Amber asked.

"There's nothing wrong with her....she's just.....slow when she handles the ball. She can do it but she just doesn't think two steps ahead of what she is doing. You clear her out on the wing and let her shoot and she will hit five in a row. Ask her to run the pick and roll and she struggles a little."

"That's why Lane would be perfect," Rob offered.

"But you need somebody on JV to handle the load."

"Jake," he sighed. "You need somebody just in case. Take Lane up for a couple of games and see how she does. If she doesn't get time you can send her back down."

"But you can't have more than fifteen on the roster," I sighed.

"I can make one or two of them coaches and call them if I need them," he replied.

"I hate doing that. They practice and practice but never get into the game. Kind of a shitty way to be on the team. How about I do this? I'll leave Bella on JV with you and take Lane and run with fourteen. If I don't use Lane I can send her back down in exchange for Bella."

"I'll go with that," Rob smiled.

"Let's go out there and deliver the good and the bad," I sighed. "I hate this part."

We walked back into the gym as the girls sat around and waited on their fate.

"Thank you all for trying out. I'd love to keep you all here but rules are rules and I can't take all of you. When I call you, come on down and get your jersey."

I started listing off names in no particular order until I had my roster filled out. Rob listed off his names and handed out the JV jerseys. The rest were told that we were sorry once again and that I hoped they would try again next year. If any of them were interested in practicing they were more than welcome to come down.

*

I started my first day of work at the dealership with Thom that Monday. I spent half the day following him around and seeing how the place ran. I had a business background since my dad and Gus owned their own business. I had some idea how things worked but Thom had his own way of doing things so I was learning on the fly. Teagan and I left around 330 to head home and rest before we had to be in the gym at 430 for the first day of practice. We were a week behind from where I normally was before the season started. I hoped having a strong group of seniors and juniors would make the task of preparing for the first game of the season easier.

"Who is going to be starting?" Tracy asked.

"Nobody yet," I replied.

"Oh," she sighed.

"It's the same as it is every year. Just because you played varsity last year doesn't mean you are going to be a starter this year."

"What about Taylor and Tessa?" she questioned.

"They have to earn it just like everybody else. Go sit down and let me talk first. Then we will get started."

"Alright," I started. Fourteen girls sat there and looked at me as I started to speak. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Jake Tillman. Congratulations on making it this far. I'll start by telling a little bit about myself. If you've heard this before, pretend you are interested." They chuckled a little.

"I grew up in a little town in Texas. I started playing basketball when I was three years old. I started varsity all four years I was in high school. We were the state runner up my junior year and the state champions my senior year. I was recruited to play in college and went to Duke. I was a scholarship player at Duke for three years. I played two seasons until I suffered a serious knee injury and had my scholarship pulled since it didn't look like I was going to ever be able to play again."

"I moved back home and finished college at Texas where I got my degree in physical therapy that specialized in sports injuries. I spent a couple of years there until I moved up here to take a job at a doctor's office. My cousin was the former coach of this team. I inherited it from her when she had to leave for home on personal reasons."

"It was during that time that I met the lovely and very beautiful woman I call my wife." Teagan gave a soft smile as I looked over at her.

"I've been coaching for five seasons now. I've had a pretty good run in that time and have coached the teams deep into the playoffs each season. I was lucky enough to have had the privilege of coaching one of those teams to a state title. Last season we almost made it all the way. For those of you who were there, I'm still very proud of us making it that far. Judging by the talent we have sitting in the gym right now we should go deep into this again."

"I say that I'm lucky and privileged because it's not a given to make the playoffs. You can have all the talent in the world but if you girls don't play together as a team you won't win very many games. I try to promote that and give you the tools to succeed as a team and win games as a team. I want you girls to buy into that notion and put individual stats on the back burner and focus on playing for the greater good of the team."

"The way I coach leans towards the total team effort. I'm going to demand a lot out of each of you and I hope you will respond to that. We have twelve days before the first game of the season. We have a lot of things to cover in that twelve days. For some, it's going to be a review of what you already know. For the rest of you, it's going to be the first time you've seen this. Don't let it overwhelm you. Listen and follow directions. I know that you are going to mess it up a few times. That's ok. Work through the mistakes and focus on learning what I'm trying to get across. That's all I'm asking for."

"All I ask is that you follow two simple rules when we are together as a team. The first rule is simple but it goes a long way. Be respectful. Respect each other and respect your coaches. My decision making might not make sense to you at the time but I've got a long term goal in mind when I do things. If you've got concerns, don't be afraid to come to me after the games or practices and let me know. I've always got an open door and an open mind."

"The second thing I want from all of you is to always have a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude will make my job and your time here that much better. Not to single anyone out but Taylor is getting some looks from colleges. There will be scouts here to watch the games this season. They may see something in one of you while they are here. You just never know. Always being positive could make the difference between somebody giving you a second look and somebody saying she's good but she had a bad attitude."

"I want you girls to keep a smile on your face, encourage your teammates, and always find something good to build on even if we are losing. Can we do that?"

"Yes sir," the two Tilly girls responded. The rest quickly followed.

"Alright," I smiled. "For today, we are going to start off by learning Georgia. The girls that have played for me last year should know this. For you girls that played for Coach Rob last year, you might know it a little. Rob runs his own offense at the JV level. I want the girls who don't know Georgia to step out onto the floor."

Five girls walked out onto the floor.

"You five are a little behind. But don't let that discourage you. As of right now, I have nobody named to the starting five. It's wide open and anyone can get it. Let's learn today, practice hard for the next twelve days and make our mistakes here so we don't make them in the game. This is the time to learn so don't get flustered if you do make a mistake. That's why we are here, to learn."

"For the rest of you, go to the far end with Teagan and Amber and review Georgia so it's fresh in your minds. It's been a long time since we have been in here together. Let's get to work."

I started working with my group and had them walking through it slowly for the first couple of minutes until it started to stick with them. Once they got a feel for it we picked up the pace and went faster. They made some mistakes but overall they were getting it. We ran for twenty minutes before I called the whole team down and did a few conditioning drills.

"Alright," I called. "Taylor, myself, Teagan, Rob, and Tessa will play defense. I want my five new girls to come out here and run Georgia a few times against us. Run it slow and get a good shot. We will play soft to start then pick it up after a few runs. After we run it through a few times we will rotate people through."

They did what I expected them to do. They worked it around and made mistakes that I had to stop and correct them on. I let it go on for about ten minutes and was pleased they were getting it down. It was slow but they were learning.

"Alright, let's switch it up. Taylor, Lane, Tracy, Kacey, and Bree on offense. Tessa, Eva, Jamie, Cali, and April on defense. Full speed this time."

I watched as Eva followed Taylor through the play and denied her the ball through the first rotation. Taylor worked harder the second time through and got the ball. She worked quickly to break Eva down and take the clean look. Eva played her pretty well despite the shot and left little doubt in my mind that I had made the right choice to call her up to varsity as a freshman.

I let them run through the play five times before making them do various conditioning drills. After that I rotated more players in and let them run. Then it was more conditioning drills. That's how the whole practice went. We ran Georgia and conditioned. We ended with free throws and running before I released them.

Taylor was a gym rat so she stuck around for the extra stuff I always did after the fact. Tessa stayed too along with Tracy and Bree. The rest of them started to pack up their stuff and hit the road.

"Can I be dismissed?" Eva asked shyly.

"Yeah," I said. "You are free to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok. What's going on with the others?"

"Who? TT and Tessa?"

"Yes sir."

"They stick around and do extra just because. It's not required but they like to get a little extra. The gym is always open. Sometimes the guys show up and drill with them too."

"Am I allowed to maybe stay too?" she asked.

"Of course," I smiled. "My door is always open."

"What do you guys do?"

"Drill, condition, work with a weight ball, workout, work on single aspects that I can't fully focus on during practice. Sometimes we just sit around and talk, sometimes we watch film. It all depends on the night really."

"Can I come tomorrow?"

"You can come anytime, Eva. If you are sitting at home and you are bored you can call me. I live ten minutes away. I'm always willing to help. It's only going to help you out in the long run. Take Taylor for example. She has put in countless hours and its getting her some serious looks from colleges."

"Hey TT?" I called.

"Yes sir?"

"Who has been looking at you so far?"

"State, Stanford, Texas, umm..... a few others but I'm going big or I'm going home."

"You never know," I said looking at Eva. "Even if it's a D2 school it's a free ride."

"I'll be here tomorrow. I just have to let my dad know I'm going to be home late."

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Thank you sir."

"What shall we work on tonight?" I asked the rest of them.

"Me and you, one on one," Taylor called.

"I'll see how long I can go," I smiled.

I spent fifteen minutes playing Taylor before we stopped and worked on other thing with everyone.

The next day we reviewed Georgia before moving onto Michigan. Michigan was easier to learn than Georgia since it didn't have a set way to run things. It was just a mix of cuts and screens that moved players into a general area where the ball would swing to them. I had a few girls stay after and work on a few extras that night. The next day we reviewed then worked on Texas.

By the end of the first week I knew who my starters were going to be but I kept that to myself. We continued to improve and come together more and more as a team. I thought we looked more than ready by the time I let them out of the last practice before the first game of the season. Only time would tell.

*

I had been waking up early the past couple of days. Today was no different. I woke up and lay there for a minute watching Teagan sleep peacefully there next to my side. I finally pushed myself out of bed and quietly walked downstairs to the workout room. I started a quick morning circuit of pushups, pull-ups, and lunges before jumping rope for a solid minute. Each day I pushed myself a little harder and felt a little better about how I was progressing. I was still in good shape, just taking the time off while being hurt had set me back. The one lingering side effect I did have was getting migraines if I pushed myself to hard. I had made that mistake after I played Taylor in that one on one match after practice.