CAVS 13U Win EYB Basketball/Jr. Hoops Tourney

Okay, folks....we REALLY have to apologize on this one. Talk about amnesia and just plain being busy with other things! So now, we will have to rewind the tape back. WAY back. We apologize for missing the post of this win, which was merely saved as a draft and never published.


Crack is real!


Anyway.....here we go.

CAVS 16U won their championship in this tourney, too, but we’ll stick to the subject at hand. 

CAVS 13U took things to the Rancho Cucamonga/Corona area during the weekend of May 5^th-6^th, 2012 for the EYB/Jr. Hoops Tourney and returned with the championship win.

First of all, I’d just like to say that there ought to be a law against how many freeways one should be forced to take just to get to one location.  Five different freeways to get to the Player’s Edge gym location REALLY WAS NOT CUTE. It was a nice day, though! Wait---and speaking of Player’s Edge, this location was merely comprised of OMG--converted ex-office space. There was only four courts!

BINGO!!!

If I could convert office space in the SAN FERNANDO VALLEY AREA to the court facilities we so DESPERATELY need in the Valley (to prevent its youth basketball inhabitants from driving ACROSS EARTH to get to tournaments) I would have done so yesterday. Can someone please do that? Anyway…..

Let’s get on with it, shall we? 

So, Saturday was a joy because the first game was not until 1:00pm...IN Rancho Cucamonga. It wasn’t that bad getting there. 

BLESS the schedule makers.

CAVS 13U met the Corona Lakers on center court (remember…there were only four) and won 38-16. The next game was at 5pm.

Wait.....

5pm?

From 1:00pm? The Schedule Makers lost their street cred on this one. BOOOOOO!!!!

What were they thinking?

So, four hours later (which seemed like fourteen, as there is only SO MUCH eating, going to the bank and perusing the grocery store--for items YOU KNOW you have at home and don’t really need ANY more of--you can DO in Rancho Cucamonga) CAVS 13U played Impact and won, 74-14.

On Sunday, it was off to Corona.

Corona is NOT as easy to get to as Rancho Cucamonga is (by a LONGSHOT) hence the five different freeways and that childlike question that probably rang in all of our heads, “Are we there yet?”

Nevertheless, at 10:15am, CAVS 13U met up with EYB and scored that victory, 60-19, which launched them into the Semi-Final game at 12:15pm.

MUCH better scheduling occurred on Sunday!

CAVS 13U battled it out with O.C. Premier and won the Semi-Final game, 44-35. Time for the Championship Game!

At 2:00 (or 2:15….can’t really remember for certain) CAVS 13U battled it out with O3 Elite.

Let’s just say…this team came with quite an “interesting” set of parents. One asked one of our parents to “move to the other side” of the seating areas because, after all, “weren’t most of our team members on the other side?” and another actually told one of our most “cool-until-messed-with-then-all-heck-breaks-loose” parents to SHUT UP—when that parent was only talking to his  OWN kid!

OMG. What did they do that for?

That little action most definitely brought on an INSTANT VERBAL LASHING that probably won’t be forgotten for months to come.

In fact, I’d be willing to bet that parent won’t EVER tell our parent to shut up EVER again!

Despite that….CAVS 13U won the championship, 55-21.

CO CAVS 13U!!!!

WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS AIN’T STAYIN’ IN VEGAS

Oh you thought I forgot, huh? You THOUGHT this was over just because it's LATE? Not hardly!! I TOLD you it was coming, so strap yourself in for this one. Better late than never.

Wait….I need a WOOOSAH moment, first.

Wait for it….

Wait for it…

Okay---I’m good.

So, you know the mighty CAVS divisions skipped off to Vegas for the Vegas Elite Invitational, April 28^th-29^th, 2012. 

Let’s get this straight right now. NO ONE likes to lose…however; it is all in the game. The best players in the NBA lose. We are no different sometimes. As my favorite coach of the #1 Team in the Country said it best:

"It's not always about winning. It's about getting better."

So here it is: NONE of our divisions won in this Vegas Elite tournament….and we are not mad at anyone else for it! Things went down how they went down. Heck, we aren’t the ONLY youth basketball organization to have that happen---you know what I’m saying?

PUH-LEEEZE!!! 

However, we are not happy with the ARRANGEMENT of events that LED to some of the losing. 

It all began great for most of our divisions (so we hear). For CAVS 13U, the tourney started OFF in the paint. The very FIRST game for CAVS 13U was against Team Bibby. 

Btw…did I mention Team Bibby actually WON the championship? Yeah. I am getting to that.

So, CAVS 13U won the first game vs. Team Bibby by four points. It would have been more (because the initial lead was more) but turnovers and mistakes brought it to just a +4. I wouldn’t say this was a well-played weekend for CAVS 13U because…NO, honey…it wasn’t! The very NEXT game was vs. Vegas Elite. 

So you SEE where this is going, right? Guess who Team Bibby and Vegas Elite both got to play for their initial games? JD Select, no doubt. Now, I am not taking anything away from JD Select--it's all love---but all I have to say is…folks KNEW what they were doing when this went down.

The CAVS 13U vs. Vegas Elite game was just CHAOS. Did I say it was just chaos? Our players simply breathed in and fouls were called on them…until two of our main players (that never really foul out) fouled completely OUT. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Vegas players actually HAD 8-10 documented fouls on the books, yet were still on the floor. 

Next time, I will call a couple of optical companies so they can donate product, because obviously, a few folks needed glasses.

I’m just sayin’.

Throughout all that mud-muck and all that drama, CAVS 13U was still ahead. However, LAST-MINUTE turnovers and mistakes cost CAVS 13U the game by 5 points. BOOOOOO!!! 
Yeah, I know. That part was on us. Hey—it was what it was! Yet, we thought we still had a shot at the championship the next day. You would think so, right?

Wrong.

SO wrong.

CAVS 13U played JD Select on Sunday, won by 15, but it meant nothing, because JD Select didn’t win either game against Team Bibby or Vegas Elite. 

Um....yeah.

The score was about as useless as a pork sandwich at a Vegan picnic. Bottom line? 

CAVS 13U was ousted by ONE MEASLEY POINT.

Luck?

Arrangement?

Who knows?

All we know, is…there were a LOT of folks ecstatic that CAVS 13U was out, because if they were not…..who KNOWS what would have happened?

Well, actually, I think everyone knows what could have been a very real possibility.

WHATEVER, DUDE!!!

It happens, right? Can’t cry over spilled (and very spoiled) milk. Congrats to Team Bibby, who DID win the championship in our absence (Seriously--I am not being funny. I LIKE Team Bibby). We can only look forward to the next round-up…and there will be some very different round-ups coming up….

…and quite a few surprises!

All we can say now is: GAME ON!!!!

P.S. Just not in Vegas...for now.