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  1. #1
    National High School Star Richesly's Avatar
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    Default Who here actually played school ball?

    Pretty much this.

    No bull shit either.


    I played ball in middle school and high school.

    In middle school, I played the point but hardly ever got any playing time because I honestly wasn't good at anything. I don't even wanna talk about it haha.

    The summer after 8th we had summer conditioning at the high school, so we got to lift weights. This is when my game started changing and I was becoming pretty athletic and fast. I also grew a couple inches and was 5'8 by freshmen year.

    Freshmen year I was coming off the bench but grew a close relationship with the defensive coach.

    Our practice was set up like this. You had a coach for footwork, defense, shooting drills, and dribbling.

    You had to go to each coach for atleast 30 minutes, then if we didn't waste time and fool around you could spend rest of practice at the set of your choice.

    I spent most of my time in footwork and defense. Although, I wasnt starting, I can say no one worked as hard as me at practice. I had some very good foot work and was probably the best defender on the team.

    Main struggle my coaches wanted me to correct was my shooting. I never actually had my own form, I always shot differently. Mostly because I had trouble focusing when I had the ball in my hands and didn't focus on my shooting form.

    Annoyed the coaches, so they forced me to spend the extra time at shooting drills. Nothing was working though, I never was able to mimic my form.

    Turns out I had some performance anxiety, and whenever I was taking jumpers I would focus on hoping I don't miss, rather than focusing on the rim and my shot.

    10th grade I finally started because how hard I worked on and off the court. Started on J.V and was always on call for varsity but they never needed me.

    No one could drive by me. But I only ran a 4.8 in the 40 yd dash. So it was definitely me having amazing footwork and positioning.

    11th grade was my best year. Got involved on the offense more and grew another 3 inches and was about 6 foot. Still had a terrible jumper, so I was always being set up on slashing plays.

    I don't remember what the averages I had that season when I saw the post season stat sheet, but I believe it was some where around 7-9 ppg and 11 rebs. They only kept up with assists if you played the 1.

    Senior year I didn't really get any better. I improved my 40 to a 4.55. Was able to start dunking, but it always took me a couple trys.

    Point is, I worked hard as **** but never actually got the skill to play college ball at a D1 level. I was a one trick pony, only good for defense and rebounding. However, I did get a athletic scholarship from a D3 school which is crazy because D3 schools never give them away.

    Wish I had been stronger mentally, because I coulda been a good player.

    What about you guys? Anyone here that was any good and maybe got media recognition?
    Last edited by Richesly; 02-21-2015 at 06:16 PM.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    I did not. The politics at my school were bullshit. Literally every football player was on the basketball team, even the ones who sucked made it over players who were pretty good. I never tried out, and got heavy into rec ball after graduation.

    My brother in law though was #1 recruit out of high school for az back in 02 I believe. He went on to play at Boston College and transferred to Fordham the next season.

  3. #3
    Squirtle Squad PerfectCell's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Played in middle school and freshman year but probably not gonna play varsity ball. My school's one of the best teams in Cali though and If i went to a public school in my area I could confidently be a starter or a key rotation player on most of their squads.

    I could maybe have a slim chance of riding the pine senior year by going to all the workouts summer lifting saturday morning conditioning open gyms etc for the next two years but the return wouldn't be worth the effort.

    Gonna concentrate my time on schoolwork and volleyball which I'm hoping to play at a high d3 level in college, hopefully nyu.

  4. #4
    Not airballing my layups anymore
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Played Middle School and High School ball....
    Played with Sean May and Jared Jeffries :)

  5. #5
    National High School Star Richesly's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by PerfectCell
    Played in middle school and freshman year but probably not gonna play varsity ball. My school's one of the best teams in Cali though and If i went to a public school in my area I could confidently be a starter or a key rotation player on most of their squads.

    I could maybe have a slim chance of riding the pine senior year by going to all the workouts summer lifting saturday morning conditioning open gyms etc for the next two years but the return wouldn't be worth the effort.

    Gonna concentrate my time on schoolwork and volleyball which I'm hoping to play at a high d3 level in college, hopefully nyu.
    What position did you play in freshmen year? I'm interested in hearing the full details like I posted of mine.

  6. #6
    NBA Legend Jailblazers7's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Played organized ball from like 3rd grade through 12th. Started 2 years in HS and was the 6th man my soph year (3 year letterman). I played in a fairly competitive area/level (AAA in PA) but not compared to the national level so it's not really impressive to letter 3-4 times in high school. I did get to play against some really good players in the area like TJ Mconnell, Terrelle Pryor, DeAndre Kane, etc.

    Could have played at the D3 level and maybe a couple D2 schools but I never had a strong work ethic so I decided to go to a D1 school with a partial academic scholarship and just be a student.

  7. #7
    Good college starter Burgz V2's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    played school and select ball from grade 5 until senior year. Only got JUCO offers, all in Michigan. Chose to go the academic route. Weren't a lot of opportunities for Toronto ballers back then without doing a couple of years of HS in the U.S. which was a financial commitment my parents couldn't make at the time.

    spent a year in Qatar after my undergrad and played with a FIBA team there while on a work visa. was an awesome experience.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    In Ireland, there's no varsity teams, there's teams and tournaments for every age group.

    I'm in 3rd year of secondary school (high school freshman in US) and since the system we have here is stupid af, I'm not on the team. We had one tryout at the start of 1st year, and they basically judged our talent off a layup drill, which I ****ed up a few times in because back then, my left-handed layups weren't as good as my right hand. They seperated us into groups and despite me scoring a few times in the matches on our side of the court, the coaches never watched us and they let us go early, so I didn't make the team.

    Then there was a B-team tournament that was coming up, and I got on the team. At the tournament, I dominated and the coach kept telling me to shoot more, despite me scoring the majority of the points for us. A guy on the main team told me that a guy I played against that he was friends with, told him I was really good. What makes this even more annoying was that a player who I played with on the team, who was much worse, got on the main team later because he asked the coach.

    I got the courage to ask the coach in 2nd year after class if I could go to a training and he let me. I was feeling good and hit about 10-15 mid-range shots in a row before practice, which most of the team watched, but the coach didn't see. During practice, for some reason I felt nervous and I was messing up a lot, and not playing as good as I usually do. I was playing so bad and was so unconfident that I skipped the next few practices. And of course, that's when the coach decided to cut some players from the team, and I was cut. I'm still pissed off at how shitty the system is and how a guy who was much worse than me, made the team over me. The funny thing is, with all my complaining about the system, is that my school is one of the basketball schools in Ireland and has one National Championships in different age groups the last few years.

    I'm not too mad though, because after all, in Europe, people focus more on their teams outside of school and that's who the scouts watch.

  9. #9
    NBA rookie of the year Maga_1's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by Shade8780
    In Ireland, there's no varsity teams, there's teams and tournaments for every age group.

    I'm in 3rd year of secondary school (high school freshman in US) and since the system we have here is stupid af, I'm not on the team. We had one tryout at the start of 1st year, and they basically judged our talent off a layup drill, which I ****ed up a few times in because back then, my left-handed layups weren't as good as my right hand. They seperated us into groups and despite me scoring a few times in the matches on our side of the court, the coaches never watched us and they let us go early, so I didn't make the team.

    Then there was a B-team tournament that was coming up, and I got on the team. At the tournament, I dominated and the coach kept telling me to shoot more, despite me scoring the majority of the points for us. A guy on the main team told me that a guy I played against that he was friends with, told him I was really good. What makes this even more annoying was that a player who I played with on the team, who was much worse, got on the main team later because he asked the coach.

    I got the courage to ask the coach in 2nd year after class if I could go to a training and he let me. I was feeling good and hit about 10-15 mid-range shots in a row before practice, which most of the team watched, but the coach didn't see. During practice, for some reason I felt nervous and I was messing up a lot, and not playing as good as I usually do. I was playing so bad and was so unconfident that I skipped the next few practices. And of course, that's when the coach decided to cut some players from the team, and I was cut. I'm still pissed off at how shitty the system is and how a guy who was much worse than me, made the team over me. The funny thing is, with all my complaining about the system, is that my school is one of the basketball schools in Ireland and has one National Championships in different age groups the last few years.

    I'm not too mad though, because after all, in Europe, people focus more on their teams outside of school and that's who the scouts watch.
    Ireland and UK system is really messed up in terms of basketball.
    I know some kids that went to play UK ball after getting "signed" from an international tryout and they say it sucks a lot because there's no real "championship" there.

    They still work hard as hell, because their academy as connection with a BBL team so they are trying to practice in the pro team.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    I had a pretty standard high school career. Played three years of varsity at a class B school in Michigan (class B being 2nd largest division out of four). I made our region's All-County and All-Conference Team my junior and senior years.

    Our program was typically mediocre and underwhelming but I was part of a crew that came through and changed things for a few years. We had a moment where we rampaged my junior year and didn't lose for two or three months. We slowly began gaining media coverage and eventually earned a big regional feature about being road warriors, since the construction of our new gym meant we had to spend all season playing home games in our middle school, essentially not having any true home games (though playing in the middle school was unique enough to be an advantage at times).

    We lost in our district finals my junior year to the eventual state semi-finalist, a club we defeated by 13 earlier in the season (in a game in which I recorded my first 20-point game and first double-double). I planned on being a mediocre bit player over the course of my career so doing neat things and being a top ten scorer in my league was pretty cool and not something I took for granted. It all came together pretty quick, and it was neat. We had three unanimous choice All-Conference players and the Coach of the Year my junior year. Fun stuff.

    I did not opt to play beyond high school. My senior year was actually not as successful as my junior year (our team's record suffered) and most schools interested were smaller NAIA or private institutions. And even then, I had no idea how college basketball worked and figured I wouldn't be able to amount to much, thus figuring playing would not being worth the effort.

    Sometimes by not playing college ball I felt I missed an opportunity to further prove myself. I later had a tryout with a small minor league team (the Holland Blast, formerly of the IBL) and while I didn't make the squad, I took solace in knowing I held my own (one of the final cuts). Further, after playing power forward in high school (almost like a fourth guard), I tried out for the IBL squad as a point guard as a means of proving my ability to myself, so that was kind of therapeutic as well.
    Last edited by Rake2204; 08-09-2014 at 01:00 AM.

  11. #11
    National High School Star Richesly's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rake2204
    I had a pretty standard high school career. Played three years of varsity at a class B school in Michigan (class B being 2nd largest division out of four). I made our region's All-County and All-Conference Team my junior and senior years.

    Our program was typically mediocre and underwhelming but I was part of a crew that came through and changed things for a few years. We had a moment where we rampaged my junior year and didn't lose for two or three months. We slowly began gaining media coverage and eventually earned a big regional feature about being road warriors, since the construction of our new gym meant we had to spend all season playing home games in our middle school, essentially not having any true home games (though playing in the middle school was unique enough to be an advantage at times).

    We lost in our district finals my junior year to the eventual state semi-finalist, a club we defeated by 13 earlier in the season (in a game in which I recorded my first 20-point game and first double-double). I planned on being a mediocre bit player over the course of my career so doing neat things and being a top ten scorer in my league was pretty cool and not something I took for granted. It all came together pretty quick, and it was neat. We had three unanimous choice All-Conference players and the Coach of the Year my junior year. Fun stuff.

    I did not opt to play beyond high school. My senior year was actually not as successful as my junior year (our team's record suffered) and most schools interested were smaller NAIA or private institutions. And even then, I had no idea how college basketball worked and figured I wouldn't be able to amount to much, thus figuring playing would not being worth the effort.

    Sometimes by not playing college ball I felt I missed an opportunity to further prove myself. I later had a tryout with a small minor league team (the Holland Blast, formerly of the IBL) and while I didn't make the squad, I took solace in knowing I held my own (one of the final cuts). Further, after playing power forward in high school (almost like a fourth guard), I tried out for the IBL squad as a point guard as a means of proving my ability to myself, so that was kind of therapeutic as well.
    I feel the same way. I got a partial scholarship to a local college around where I live. It's not a big school, but I just decided to not go to college. Coaches told me I had potential I needed to fulfilled I just needed to get my head in the game and stop thinking about messing up too much.

  12. #12
    Raps Sakkreth's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Played in Sabonis basketball academy from age of 8 to age of 16. Been injured 6 times, injured as if I have to stop playing for atleast a month. So yeah even if we take out injuries I wasn't the most talented player. Still made main team and my age group had over 100 players, there was 5 teams in my age group. Once won lithuanian cup of our age group, but I barely played. Out of that team 3 players turned out to be pros in europe.

  13. #13
    One of the Goodfellas NBAplayoffs2001's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Only middle school team, averaged about 14 points a game. Forgot the rest of my stats. Only reason I didn't play in high school was because our high school team was near impossible to make. Too many "college scholarship" potential type of players.

  14. #14
    Squirtle Squad PerfectCell's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    Quote Originally Posted by Richesly
    What position did you play in freshmen year? I'm interested in hearing the full details like I posted of mine.
    Anywhere from 2-5 actually. We did have a set offense with positions and set plays and also a offensive system liek motion or dribble drive where we had positions but hsd to create based on the defense. However a lot of times we went without true positions and were just "5 basketball players" as my coach liked to say. He wanted 5 guys on the court who could all handle the rock, rebound, play hard and scrap, and shoot and make shots within the system(we had shots scaled 1-4 based on how good of a look it was and how selfish a shot it was).

    Funny thing is in preseason we went 3-1 playing against public school jv teams and the 1 loss was real early in the season and shouldn't have happened. Once our catholic league play was much tougher even though we were only playing against other freshmen. We went 7-7 although and finished 4th out of 8th. There was two teams tied for 1st with 12-2 records although honestly one of them was clearly better in my opinion. The other 12-2 team and the teams in 3rd-6th could all beat each other on any given day.

  15. #15
    NBA All-star Derka's Avatar
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    Default Re: Who here actually played school ball?

    I played for three years. I sprouted up to 5'10" after my freshman year and that is where I have remained. I played on the freshman team my first year and started at the power forward. Sophomore year I played for the JV team and was the sixth man, usually at the forward spot. Junior year I was brought on to the varsity team and played maybe 6-10 minutes a night to spell the starter at the power forward and use up my fouls rebounding and playing generally rough defense. Didn't play senior year, spent the winter in baseball training.

    In MA, I played at what was at the time a Division III school (total student body: 380 students). The catch for us was we played all but a few games of our schedule against Division I and II schools, so we competed against the biggest and best high schools in the Eastern half of the state. Life gets a lot more interesting when you're a tiny private school going up against New Bedford, Durfee and the like.
    Last edited by Derka; 08-14-2014 at 08:26 PM.

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