Reading 77 Holy Name 40

The Reading Red Knights captured the Reading Holiday tournament championship with a thrashing at the hands of the Blue Jays from Holy Name. Here are my thoughts on the win:

1. This was probably the best effort we have seen from this team since the Chester win. It will be interesting to see how we handle ourselves going into the next game. The one thing that has come really clear is that this team plays it's best when it feels threatened.
2. Kudos to Coach Redding for showing some fire in a timeout when we were down and it really had an impact as our intensity level raised immediately. Also, I thought he had a brilliant strategy of making the game a full court game tonight and seeing that Holy Name would wear down with playing such a short bench plus also playing on back to back nights.
3. Marcus Dawkins was clearly the best player on the court tonight and really had s solid all around game with 21 points 12 boards and 7 assists.
4. Trenity Burdine also had a nice game with 19 points, but more importantly he got some of his offense in the paint and really attacked the basket. When Burdine and Dawkins come to play Reading is a very dangerous team.
5. I was really impressed with Marco Laureano tonight as he played some solid defense and chipped in with some nice play on the offense side of the ball as well.

Reading 65 Central 60

Reading won their opening round game of their Christmas tournament over Central High School tonight. With the win they advance to tomorrow's championship game tomorrows night against Holy Name. Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. Plain and simple this team plays to the level of its competition. While this is good in games against top competition, it will come back to bite us somewhere down the line.
2. Someone has got to corral Delvon Brown out their and limit the dribbling. I like the kid and think he is going to be a player but he had way too many turnovers and a lot of the turnovers game from him over dribbling.
3. I'm glad to see us weed out some of the guys who were on their own agenda and I'm glad we did it before the new year and should pay dividends down the line as some of these younger players develop.
4. I think the one thing om offense that tonight really pointed out to me was this team as no low post option and every thing on offense comes from the perimeter. But I liked what I saw from the Weiglinski kid and I think the more he plays he could develop into a nice low post player in time.
5. Just wanted to point out that if we win tomorrow night we will still lose points in the district rankings for playing a AA school.

District 3 AAAA Rankings as of 12/28

HARRISBURG
8.857
YORK
8.818
ELIZABETHTOWN
8.571
PENN MANOR
8.286
MANHEIM TOWNSHIP
8.286
HEMPFIELD
8.000
READING
7.777
SOLANCO
7.777
RED LION
7.714
CD EAST
7.571
CEDAR CLIFF
7.555
CENTRAL YORK
7.200
DANIEL BOONE
7.111
GETTYSBURG
7.111
WILSON
7.000
RED LAND
7.000
COCALICO
6.625
CENTRAL DAUPHIN
6.571
LOWER DAUPHIN
6.429
CONESTOGA VALLEY
6.333
MECHANICSBURG
6.200
WARWICK
6.143
EXETER
6.000
WAYNESBORO
6.000
GOVERNOR MIFFLIN
6.000
CHAMBERSBURG
6.000
CEDAR CREST
5.750
MCCASKEY
5.667
DALLASTOWN
5.625
TWIN VALLEY
5.571
SPRING GROVE
5.444
DOVER
5.400
CUMBERLAND VALLEY
5.200
LEBANON
5.143
EPHRATA
4.750
SOUTHWESTERN
4.250
GARDEN SPOT
4.250
CARLISLE
4.125
YORK VO-TECH
4.000
MANHEIM CENTRAL
3.889
LAMPETER-STRASBURG
3.375

Reading 61 Governor Mifflin 53

The Reading Red Knights got back on the winning track with a dull and uninspiring win tonight at the Geigle. Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. I support the coach's decision in trying to instill some discipline in this team, but I think it time over the holiday break to lay down the gauntlet and keep the guys who want to play and let the guys go who are only out for themselves.
   
2. Delvon Brown really played a sub par game tonight. I realize that he is going to have games where he has some growing pains this year but he took way too many bad shots and didn't get the team into the offense.
   
3. The one think to take solace out of tonight is that we really played terrible for about 3 and a half quarters and still won.
   
4. To me tonight the one player who really acted like he cared was Yamit Echevarria and he brings that effort every game.

District 3 AAAA Rankings as of 12/20

YORK
8.875
HARRISBURG
8.833
ELIZABETHTOWN
8.600
PENN MANOR
8.167
MANHEIM TOWNSHIP
8.167
HEMPFIELD
7.833
READING
7.625
RED LION
7.500
CEDAR CLIFF
7.429
SOLANCO
7.429
CD EAST
7.333
CENTRAL YORK
7.286
WAYNESBORO
7.000
RED LAND
6.875
GETTYSBURG
6.875
WILSON
6.857
DANIEL BOONE
6.857
COCALICO
6.833
WARWICK
6.500
LOWER DAUPHIN
6.429
CONESTOGA VALLEY
6.429
TWIN VALLEY
6.400
MECHANICSBURG
6.375
GOVERNOR MIFFLIN
6.333
CEDAR CREST
6.000
DOVER
5.875
DALLASTOWN
5.857
SPRING GROVE
5.857
CENTRAL DAUPHIN
5.800
CUMBERLAND VALLEY
5.714
MCCASKEY
5.667
CHAMBERSBURG
5.600
EXETER
5.167
EPHRATA
4.857
LEBANON
4.500
CARLISLE
4.429
MANHEIM CENTRAL
4.400
SOUTHWESTERN
4.286
YORK VO-TECH
4.250
GARDEN SPOT
3.500
LAMPETER-STRASBURG
2.600

Harrisburg 74 Reading 67

The Reading Red Knights fell to defeat this afternoon in Harrisburg against the Cougars of Harrisburg High by the score of 74-67. Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. I loved the effort that we played with today and I truly felt like we fought to the end. But in the second half the execution just wasn't there to beat Harrisburg. I sort of expected a let down today and I don't really think there was one but I think we will grow from this loss.
2. Xavier Mumford had a solid game today with his 11 points and 16 boards and really answered some doubters including myself. I still think he can tend to be inconsistent but at least he has really come to play in the big games this season.
3. Delvon Brown had a nice game today with his 14 points and really has settled in at the point guard and I think when you have him at your point guard it allows Marcus Dawkins to play off the ball where he is more effective.
4. I have been a big supporter of Coach Redding and thought he did a decent job of coaching today but I was scratching my head wondering if we would have thrown a zone at Harrisburg while they were making their big run in the 2nd half it would of at least slowed them down.
5. I echo what others have said about the facility at Harrisburg in that it is a first class facility and is definitely one of the nicer gyms in District III to watch a game. But can we please find a PA announcer who is capable of reading players names. If you don't know how to pronounce them go to the coaching staff and ask the way it is correctly pronounced.
6. Memo to the officials: We had two championship quality teams out their too bad your level of officiating didn't match the level of play on the court. The technicals called on both teams were overreactions and had no business being called.
7. I feel like after this game we have a much better sense of what this team is and what it can be. I strongly believe Reading has just as much talent as Harrisburg and that the Red Knights are still a strong contender in District III along with Harrisburg, York, Wilson and even undefeated dark horse Elizabethtown.

Reading 83 McCaskey 81

The Reading High Red Knights improved to 4-1 on the season with a 83081 win at Mccaksey on Saturday night. Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. I tip my hat to coach Redding for how tonight how he tried to continue to establish discipline on this team with benching 4 guys for a quarter tonight. The only way he is going to get his point across his by taking playing time away. I also like his strategy at the end of the game tonight with holding the ball at the end and diagramming a play to let Delvin Brown create something for himself as he hit the layup at the buzzer to win the game.
2. Xavier Mumford had a solid game tonight and really played hard down low and was a force inside for us tonight. I have been critical of him for being inconsistent, but hopefully this is the sign of better things to come.
3. Marcus Dawkins was probably the best player on the floor for us tonight and showed great leadership that we expected out of him. I believe this was the most aggressive I have seen him in his young career.
4. Ive heard some people complain about the defense and I think it is a concern but I think it will definitely improve as they get more comfortable in the system. But the biggest problem on defense tonight was that are transition defense was horrendous and we really need to work on busting it to get back on defense.
5. I think what your seeing on offense is that Coach Redding's offensive mindset is to run even more than we did last year and I think its a mindset that our players will get used to very easily. The thing tonight pointed out to me was that when we attack the basket we are a very productive offense, but when we settle for jumpers that aren't in the rhythm of the offense we are a offense that is easy to defend.

Reading 63 Coatesville 58

The Reading Red Knights opened their home schedule with a sloppy 63-58 win over the visiting Coatesville Indians. Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. Right now this team just doesn't play smart. That is why I think Coach Redding is trying to make them play fast and do things without thinking.
2. While Marcus Dawkins had a solid game he needs to avoid the ball handling errors he made because this team looks to him for leadership and you cant have costly turnovers in the 4th quarter.
3. I really feel like Trenity Burdine needs to get his head into basketball. I have always felt the more aggressive he is the better of a player he is and his mind really seems to wander out their. Burdine and Dawkins have to realize that they are the leaders of this team and it will go as far as they are willing to take it.
4. Yamil Echevarria had a nice game tonight and I really like the intensity he brings to this team because we really don't have anyone else on the squad who plays with this level of intensity. I really hope he gets more minutes as the season goes on.
5. Delvon Brown had a much better game tonight and I think as he gets more comfortable he well become a solid player and will make Reading back court much better.

Williamsport 84 Reading 67

The start to the Reading High basketball season got off to a rocky start with an 84-67 loss to Williamsport in the opener of the Bearcat Basketball Classic. Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. At times I thought we played hard and hustled out there tonight but at other times I thought we lack intensity and looked like we didn't care.
2. The one thing I was really disappointed in was I didn't see much leadership on the court from our returning players. I think this team with experience will get better but we need the Trenity Burdines and the Marcus Dawkins to be the leaders on the court, because this is their team.
3. The biggest negative I saw was that we looked a step slow and we didn't pass the ball with crispness and committed way too many turnovers.
4. My biggest criticism of the coaching staff was that their was no really set offense being run and it looked like we had five guys on the court doing five different things. I think part of this is that he was hired so late and he needs time to get his system down with the players.

I will not be blogging after tonight's game cause I have a prior commitment but I should be their on Tuesday for the game against Coatesville.

Season Preview

Folks I'm back for another season of Reading High Basketball. I must say with the amount of changes in the off season as made me even more excited for the new season as I like many of you probably are saying that we really have not much of a clue of how this season will transpire.

When Coach Reyes retired I was taken aback just because as much criticism he had received from a segment of the fan base I didn't envision him not coming back. As the years go on I think for the most part people will look at the Reyes era as an era where we had some great teams (2 district titles) and some teams who had great talent but just underachieved or didn't come through come playoff time. But I would say the Reyes era was definitely one that he left the program in much better shape than when he took over. Also it should be noted that he did instill a level of discipline on the court to many of his teams.

Now when Coach Reyes left I like many of you had hope for a high profile big name coach but has the days went by and hearing the constant talk of Kirk Singleton coming back, I was needless to say underwhelmed and not excited about the proposition. So when I heard of the hiring of Tim Redding I was at least happy that it was a name who had some credentials as he did cut his teeth as an assistant on the college circuit. So I did more research and I went to the archives and pulled out the Albright program from his senior year and on his profile this is what was said of him as a player:

English major with aim toward coaching and sports management. Walk on who has been a member of the JV and Varsity squads at Albright. Outstanding track athlete at Southwestern High School where he was All-County in football and a member of record-setting 32o00 relay team as a junior and senior. Head coach at the time Ken Tyler said of Redding "Tim is an extremely hard worker, and gives us another coach on the floor".

So with that being said I think he has some good traits as being a hard worker and usually players who aren't the most gifted do become excellent coaches. But I think we as a fan base should expect some bumps in the road this year as he grows into being a head coach. But with that being said I still expect this to be a team that wins the county title and competes on the district and state level.

I will have a blog entry after tomorrow's game but will not be able to attend the game on Saturday.