Second day of practice.
"By the way, do you have a starting position? Just curious." (Madelyn)
Leonz clutched his chest dramatically.
"Don't remind me." (Leonz)
"What? We're you benched? After talking about trying to bring a Championship to the school, you got benched? That's hilarious!" (Madelyn)
Madelyn started laughing.
"How about you then?" (Leonz)
"Starting Shooting Guard. I even got my number!" (Madelyn)
They were making their way towards the gym, having yet to change.
"I'm getting that starting position someday." (Leonz)
"Good luck with that. I'm guessing As-ter got a starting position?" (Madelyn)
"Yeah, he did." (Leonz)
Madelyn patted him on the back before they split in the gym.
"Well, good luck with that." (Madelyn)
Leonz sighed and walked towards the changing room to put on his jersey.
When he got out, most of them were already there, even Asher stood there, not speaking to anyone.
"Lovehart, hurry up." (Coach Dom)
Leonz quickened his pace, jogging to where the group was. Coach Dom stood in front of them, speaking.
"Y'all know the game plan, yeah? This is mostly for the freshmen duo. Step forward, the two of you." (Coach Dom)
Asher and Leonz stepped to the front.
Coach Dom hid his clipboard from the both of them and started talking.
"What playstyle did your middle school team have? Defence? Offence?" (Coach Dom)
Leonz answered first.
"We mostly play a 3-2 offensive formation, then man-to-man defence." (Leonz)
Coach Dom turned to face Asher.
"They just passed the ball to me." (Asher)
"And? Formations?" (Coach Dom)
"Isolation plays. Man-to-man Defence." (Asher)
Coach Dom nodded before he pointed at Leonz.
"Your coach is pretty textbook." (Coach Dom)
Coach Dom then pointed at Asher.
"Your coach sucked ass." (Coach Dom)
There were a few laughs in the background.
Coach Dom showed his clipboard.
"I have three basic formations I need you all to pay attention to. Depending on the lineup, we will be switching between formations, get it?" (Coach Dom)
"Yes?" (Leonz)
Coach Dom showed a picture of a half court, the numbers 1 to 5 written on it. It showed the number 1 on the top of the three-point line. Number 2 and 3 on either corners.
In the middle, on either sides of the paint, we're numbers 4 and 5.
"One of them will be the 3-2 offence, basic, I know. This is the formation we will be taking when playing with our starting lineup of Quinn, Hatchet, Monegotomy, Garland Jr and Devonte." (Coach Dom)
Coach Dom signalled to their big men.
"The two big men can't shoot, so y'all gotta dominate the paint. I'm expecting the three shooters, minus Joseph, to spread the floor and shoot when required to. The paint will be quite crowded, so make sure nobody drives in thoughtlessly." (Coach Dom)
He flipped the piece of paper.
This time, it showed the numbers 1 through 4 outside the three-point line. Number 2 was in the right corner, number four was in the other. Number 5 remained in the paint.
"Next. If we need more three-point shooting, Garland Jr or Devonte will be subbed out for Lovehart. Lovehart will be playing the 2, Hatchet the 3 and Monegotomy the 4. It's a smaller lineup, but this is when we sub out one of our big men." (Coach Dom)
He then flipped the paper again, revealing a third picture.
The picture showed numbers 1 through 5 outside the three-point line. This time, instead of number 1 being at the top of the three-point line, it was number 5.
"If we ever need to sub all our big men out for defensive reasons, we'll be playing small ball. Someone, I honestly don't care who, will be playing the 5. This is the isolation play for when I eventually find out their defensive weak link. It's a five-out, and everyone needs to be able to shoot, so Topac will likely be subbed in." (Coach Dom)
Leonz tried to register the information.
"Now that that's settled, I just gotta drop this on y'all real quick." (Coach Dom)
"Are you getting fired?" (Joseph)
"I'm taking you off the starting lineup." (Coach Dom)
"I mean, Wooo! Go Coach! You're the best!" (Joseph)
Coach Dom looked away from the team captain, the team laughing.
"The practice game against the Jesters is next week. I don't want y'all to get clowned on by clowns, so we'll be reviewing footage before going off to practice. We don't got much, but we can see what their players from last year can do." (Coach Dom)
"Everyone to the video room!" (Joseph)
Joseph had sounded much more enthusiastic than Leonz thought someone would when told to watch film instead of playing the sport.
Leonz simply followed the group to a room in the gym.
On the way, Coach Dom was talking to Joseph.
"Has your three-point shot improved at all?" (Coach Dom)
"A little? Not too much though. I'm not even a primary scorer." (Joseph)
"That's been a real problem, y'know?" (Coach Dom)
"I'm working on it, coach." (Joseph)
"Doesn't seem like it." (Coach Dom)
Leonz walked into the video room, where a projector was set up. It was a nice place, air conditioned, carpet, nice seats.
It was a relatively good school after all.
Joseph walked up to the computer which was connected to the projector, Coach Dom closing the door soon after.
"We'll, I googled highlights from the Jester from last season, and there's barely any content." (Joseph)
"But there's still content. Hurry and show it." (Coach Dom)
"Film number one. This guy's gonna be a sophomore this year, their Center." (Joseph)
On the projector, it showed a guy that was relatively shorter than most of the other Centers on the floor.
"He's 6'9, a smaller Center compared to most schools. He's got strength, but Devonte got about two inches on him." (Coach Dom)
The clip played.
The one of the Jesters shot the ball, the ball missing off the back rim. The Center for the Jesters jumped for the rebound, reaching higher than the taller opponent. He landed and went up for a dunk which had someone slamming into him, fouling, but the basket counted.
"#8, Thomas Crowell. He's lanky, got long arms and legs and surprisingly athletic. He's a hustle player, so all of y'all better be careful not to get injured." (Coach Dom)
The second clip played, and it showed Thomas on defence. The guy shifted his feet constantly, denying the person he was guarding from getting to the rim.
The guy ended up stealing the ball.
The next clip showed Thomas defending a bigger Center on a post play. The big guy which was relatively well built tried pushing, barely able to make much progress. Eventually, the guy had to force up a shot that went out of bounds.
"He's a tough defender, so I doubt Devonte will be able to do much. When we play the Jesters, we'll have to enforce our rebounding and paint offence." (Coach Dom)
Coach Dom signalled for Joseph to change the clip.
"Next person we need to take note of." (Coach Dom)
"Aight, this guy's be a senior this year, I think. He ain't much good, he's the Sixth man on their team. He's the PG, textbook if I say so myself." (Joseph)
The clip showed someone taking a few shots and draining them.
"The guy ain't much, but if we slack with our defence, he can definitely knock down shots. Other than that, we just need to focus on their star player, Thomas Crowell." (Coach Dom)
Joseph turned the projector off.
"We'll be playing the Jesters next week. It's going to be on a Monday afternoon, so this'll be the last practice we have before facing them. To be honest, we're severely underprepared, but so are they. We're going to get the two freshmen to practice the formations, get used to it as much as possible." (Coach Dom)
"Yes Coach!" (Team)
"It's a practice game, we're there to test out the team chemistry. It's gonna be a long season, this'll give us a rough estimate as to how well we'll do in the season. We'll take it one game at a time, got it?" (Coach Dom)
"Yes Coach!" (Team)
"We'll start with our usual drills. Joseph, go and get the freshmen adjusted into the formations. As for Devonte, I'll speak with you privately." (Coach Dom)
According to Coach Dom, Leonz knew that the best freshmen the Jesters were able to get was ranked No. 66. If even Leonz was ranked higher than that guy, it gave Leonz some confidence in himself.
Especially since they got No. 1.
Everything was set, practice went on as per usual. Leonz went home in pain once again and spent the weekend hyping himself up.
It was going to be his first game of his high school basketball career, and he wanted to do well. Against a team as comically bad as the Jesters, it somehow felt like he could do it.
Leonz planned to go and show off his skills, he was going to change the starting lineup and make himself a starter on the first game they play.