Aggie Athletics has announced that the first ever Men's and Women's Basketball Coaches Show will be held downtown at Woodstock's Tuesday evening beginning at 6 pm. Head Coaches Jen Gross and Jim Les will be there along with Aggie players Rachel Nagel, Pele Gianotti and Chima Moneke. Both teams are riding high at the moment. The unbeaten women are off to their best start ever at 7-0 and the men are coming off an impressive win on the road against the previously unbeaten Washington State Cougars of the PAC12 Conference.
It would be nice if a good number of fans are able to attend. It should be an interesting show.
The show will also be video streamed live on the Aggie Athletics Facebook page:
Ya, feed was a bit inconsistent, but I'll give credit for athletics organizing this kind of event. Really both teams are a class act, and events like this can help build a fan base. Hopefully we can improve quality of streaming and have these regularly, but kudos for organizing this!
It was a fun show with interviews with Jen Gross, Jim Les, Rachel Nagel, Pele Gianotti, Chima Moneke and Siler Schneider. Scott Marsh kept the questions flowing and the players seemed to enjoy themselves.
One thing that came across clearly is the the women players are really tight with Jen Gross and obviously love playing for her. Jen feels like the sky is the limit for this team and she spoke about how much fun they are to coach. Rachel said she plans to apply to medical school and Pele says she would like to play pro ball in Europe. They both talked about what a positive influence Coach Jen has had on their lives.
Coach Les was complementary about his players and how he was pleased he is about how the team is coming together. Chima talked about his circuitous route to playing basketball at Davis. He said Coach Les saw him at a JC combine and offered him quickly. He said he'll always remember a text Les sent him that said Davis is a great school and community and there a lots of beautiful women on campus. That got some laughs and Chima replied that that sealed the deal. Siler talked about relishing the moments to make a critical play. He said it's what he dreamed of as a kid playing ball in the driveway where he would count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and then take a shot and imagining what that would be like to be able to do someday.
The coaches and the players were all classy and articulate just as you would expect from the Aggies.
I too, watched the facebook interviews with coaches and players. Great to see them out in the community... I only wish Athletics would provide more than 24 hours notice..I would have gone downtown and found a place to park!!
Listening to coaches Les and Gross along with the Players speaks well of the BB programs. I have gotten to attend several BB practices over the past several weeks and am extremely impressed with the high level of play! all the coaches have done an outstanding job of getting these teams to play at a high level and I expect these teams to be in March Madness!!
I did watch on the live feed on my Ipad from Woodstocks.. sound was a bit troublesome.... I also am watching my nephew play High school Basketball in Northern Indiana every Friday night for the next 15 weeks.... He is a junior and stands 6'8". The live feed from the local high school is clear and no interruptions and you can auto replay without the commericals...Athletics should take note... live feeds do work if you have the right connections..
I grew up in Indiana and basketball is a high priority there. I remember when we used to play New Castle, a town of about 17,000, and their high school gym seated 9325 fans. Also, 13 of the 15 largest high school gyms in the country are in Indiana. So no surprise that the live feed you get from your nephew's school is so good.
You know, movie, I don't really follow Indiana high school basketball very closely anymore. I left Indiana for good a year a half after I graduated from high school in1964.
Indiana high school basketball was divided into 4 classes in 1998 and the era of the Davids vs Goliaths in the tournament ended. Before that, all of the schools, no matter how large or small, played in one big tournament pool. Of course the big schools were far more likely to win the championship but, once in a blue moon, a small school like tiny Milan would win it all. Milan (of Hoosiers fame) beat perennial power Muncie Central 32-30 in 1954 and Plymouth took down powerful Gary Roosevelt 75-74 in 2 OT in 1981.
Prior to dividing schools by enrollment size, the perennial powers were schools like Muncie Central, Indiana Crispus Attucks (remember Oscar Robertson?), East Chicago Washington, South Bend Central, Evansville Bosse, Indianapolis Washington, Gary Roosevelt, Indianapolis Tech and Anderson. The other thing that has happened is that groups of the smaller, rural schools have since consolidated into single, much larger schools with new names. Lots of the tiny high schools schools in the small towns have closed and students in rural areas now get bused to larger, more modern high schools.