I continue to go through a bunch of cassette tapes of my broadcasts on WFTM radio. One tape I recently listened to was of a pregame show with Mason County coach Allen Feldhaus and Maysville coach Doug Hines. The Royals and Bulldogs were meeting in the championship game of the 1990 39th District Tournament.
Mason County drew an upper bracket first round bye and defeated Fleming County 64-60 in the semifinals.
Maysville had to win two games to reach the championship game.
The Bulldogs defeated Tollesboro 68-52 in the first round and St. Patrick 70-66 in the semifinals. I have transcribed the interview. The tape started with Coach Feldhaus' comments.
Feldhaus: I think Fleming had six seniors. You know going into the year when you only have two seniors, unless you just have a great group of juniors, that you know, you're not going to have a good year. But David Mitchell and Bryan Tolliver have been great youngsters, and, you know, the whole thing was to give them an opportunity to play in the regional tournament, and this was what was so pleasing about it, and I was really pleased with some play of some of our juniors too, and especially Shane Morgan in the fourth quarter, he really went to war on offense, and it was a lot of fun, And I think it's the first time I've ever seen this group of kids become excited after a ballgame, and that's what it's all about.
Weddle: And tonight, Maysville. We've heard Coach Pitino talk about athleticism this year, and I guess that's where you start with Maysville,
Feldhaus: Well, yes, There's one thing about it, the only good thing I can say about us playing Maysville, we have probably had worse match ups in 85 percent of our games this year in what we do against Maysville. But, here again, Maysville is quicker than us and of course, they shoot the ball better than we do from out on the perimeter. So, you know, it's not any difference for us going into this ballgame because we know that, you know, most facets of the game, they are stronger than we are. But still, it's tournament time and you know, if you can do the things the proper way, you have a good opportunity to maybe stay in the ballgame. And, of course, I think a lot depends on if Maysville shoots the ball real well from outside, Danny, it's really going to make it tough for us because we're not big enough to establish a strong perimeter defense and then good defense on the blocks also. You know, with our size, at the best, our block defense is not real good; our inside defense is not real good because of the size factor. But, you know, you never know. It's like with Fleming the other night, just because I think our kids give that little extra effort inside- Jason (Goodwin), Robbie Knox and some of the youngsters that played in on the blocks and we forced them to have to step off the block and we knocked them off the boards and we didn't let them get that many offensive rebounds, and that's a big facet for us if we're going to win this type of ballgame.
Weddle: We've talked about teams pressing you this year, and no doubt, Maysville will press some, maybe most of the game tonight.
With their quickness again, their press is a little bit different.
Feldhaus: Yeah, I'll tell you something else, Danny, we're either good against the press or we're bad, there's not much mediocre for us. And with our size, this is what really hurts us, our guards are not big enough to see over the pressure, They know what to do with the basketball and they know where we want to go with the basketball, but if we let the other team make the double-team on us, we're always in trouble. If you'll notice, we very seldom get the ball, throw the ball into the corners. But what happens to us, we get forced down the 10-second line and then they trap us there and then we can't see to pass out of that. Of course, with Maysville's quickness and they've all got the long arms too, it's going to cause us a lot of problems. It's just a matter I think of us being aggressive. We're not going to go out, or I don't want to go out, I hope our players feel the same way, we' don't want to go out and be real patient against their press because we can't this way, Danny. If do, we're inviting these double-team situations, We want to be aggressive maybe and try to dribble through the traps or go ahead and take the ball on to the basket. So, you know, it's a hit or miss thing, but still, I think the big secret is the first quarter, trying to get off to a decent start with 'em, plus they've got a strong bench too,
Weddle: Thanks a lot. Good luck.
Feldhaus: Thank you.
(Commercial break)
Weddle: We continue our pregame show now with Coach Doug Hines of the Maysville Bulldogs. Coach, you told us heading into this tournament that with your draw, you were going to have two tough games to get to the finals, and that's pretty much the way it's shaped up, especially the other night against St. Patrick.
Hines: I'll tell you, the worst draw you could get would be to play two games. Coach Feldhaus agrees with that. Playing one game is a lot better. And especially the way the two teams that we played. I think Tollesboro is a fine basketball team, of course, got the state's leading scorer. We had to beat them and that's not an easy chore. Fortunately, we did that. And then we had to beat a St. Patrick team that Coach Lex Turner has really brought a long way in the last two years. Since I came here two years ago, that's the most improved basketball team in the 39th District. Those kids grew some, they jump well, they shoot well, they just do so many things well. They gave us a tough battle here Thursday night. So the Bulldogs know, we know that we're fortunate to be here, and we're looking forward to this and the regional because we could have easily lost either one of those ballgames.
Weddle: Mason County tonight. We talked before the regular season match up, it seems like when you all got together, always somebody is out. That's not the case tonight.
Hines: No. Everybody is here and that's going to make a better game. We had a game like that last year when we had a couple of guys out, so did Coach Feldhaus. This year we had a couple out. This will be really about the first time or second time that we've played where everybody was healthy, their team against ours.
But, you know, I've talked to a lot of people in Mason County and Maysville about this matchup and they told me that down through the years, regardless of what either team had, that it's always a great basketball team, a basketball game, because they come after each other real hard. I expect that tonight. I was most impressed with Coach Feldhaus' game plan against Fleming County and how hard those young people played. If he gets them up to play that hard tonight, you're going to see a great basketball team right in this fieldhouse.
Weddle: Thanks a lot, coach. Good luck.
Hines: My pleasure, Danny.
Bryan Tolliver scored 31 points to lead Mason County to a 77-67 victory. Jerome Turner led Maysville in scoring with 23 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment