2016-2017 PN-G Boys Basketball Season

[1989NDN]

I read the PA News online article and the Beaumont Enterprise online article about PN-G v. Nederland. Is anyone else bothered by the fact that the Nederland boys have beaten PN-G 14 straight? Why is PN-G not more competitive in basketball? Let's end the streak and get back to being competitive for a playoff spot. Don Bryson's PN-G teams always competed for playoff spots vs. Lincoln, TJ, Central, WB, WO-S, French, BC-P, Vidor, Nederland, etc. teams. And, we use to beat Nederland like a drum.

Go Indians. Peace.

 

[1989NDN]

Central beat the Indians by a score of 80 - 29. Why are we not more competitive? Losing by 51 points? PN-G does well in football, baseball, soccer, golf, and track and field. Why the big gap in boys' basketball? Lack of interest by the kids? The other teams are that much better?

Go Indians. Peace.

 

[twrpng]

I agree this is sad where is RJ , Riggs, Stansbury, Hughes , Bost they can play basketball

 

[IndianFan]

Even back in the day when PN-G had true stars like Wainwright, Indian teams struggled to win.

 

[1989NDN]

Even back in the day when PN-G had true stars like Wainwright, Indian teams struggled to win.

IndianFan...PN-G may have struggled to win against Lincoln, BC-P, French, and in later years West Brook and Central, but the Indians always competed against those teams and never lost by 51 points. Coaches Vegara and Bryson would have exploded if the Indians lost by 51. In basketball, the Indians always won a fair share vs. Thomas Jefferson, Nederland, WO-S, Vidor, Bridge City, LC-M, and the Baytown schools. PN-G had a competitive program year in and year out. Nederland has now won 22 straight vs. PN-G. That never happened at PN-G when Coaches Vegara and Bryson coached the Indians. I'm not blaming the current coaches. I just want to know why the Indians are more competitive? Did kids in the PN-GISD lose interest in basketball? Back in the seventies, eighties and nineties PN-G routinely beat Nederland...a few years under Don Bryson we beat Nederland like a drum. Coach Bryson could take a team with no one taller than 6'2" and he would win his fair share of games. Give, Vegara and Bryson one or two shooters (e.g., Straface) and one big man (e.g., Jeter), and they would get into the playoffs. Now, the Indians don't seem competitive in the area.

Go Indians. Peace.

 

[IndianFan]

May be a case of not all athletes want to play, or can't because of commitments to soccer or baseball.

 

[1989NDN]

Good points, Indian Fan. Back in the seventies and eighties we did not have soccer, swimming, and video games. For the most part, coaches encouraged kids to play as many sports as possible. I can remember Coach Cobb and Coach Bergeron hustling kids from football, to basketball, to track, to baseball, and over to off-season football. Coach Cobb would drive a bus full of kids to play any sport they wanted to play...I can remember him telling our group, "Just go play." Coach Bergeron wanted everyone to play football, but when the season was over, he wanted kids to stay active and play sports...he would say, "let's go play basketball, run track and play baseball, just do it and play them fast, stay moving, stay fast." I guess today's kids just have too many options and most of them lost interest in playing PN-G basketball. Bummer.

Go Indians. Peace.

 

[indians87]

Most of the kids have lost interest. The coaches on the freshman and JV squads do not have s lot of basketball smarts and they have their select few kid's that can do whatever they want and still play. When the others come in if they make one bad shot, pass or even something good they get pulled. I overheard the JV coach pull a kid because he stoled the balll to slow but the kid knocked it away, dive on the ground recovered the ball tossed it to a teamate and that kid drove down for a layup. Then last night a kid came in shut down Nederlands best shooter for the time he was in there and then made a shot and he was immediately subbed for and most Of the time never see the floor again. That is not encouraging kids to play. They get chewed out for everything. I dont mind my kid getting chewed out if he does something wrong because when he gets home I'll get on him too. But the chosen few can screw up by making bad passes, stupid shots and turn the ball over and they still play. This is what all the kids and parents see and it deters kids from playing.in a program like PNGs you have to draw the interest of the kids and thats not happening.

 

[indians87]

The kids are also told they are not allowed to ask about playing time. So, how does a kid know what he needs to do to get better and play more. In a program like PNG, I as a coach would encourage kids to ask how they can get better to get more playing time.

 

[IndianFan]

Some of the most obvious athletes that might have been pretty good basketball players are:
Preston Riggs (6'2"): playing soccer
Preston Hughes (5'11"): soccer
Noah Riggs (6'3"): soccer
Keynel McZeal (6'4"): quit the basketball team

 

[indians87]

Keynel quit for personal reasons.

 

[IndianFan]

All four have personal reasons not to join or play on the team. The other three made a personal choice\commitment to soccer instead which is terrific for the soccer program.

And there are probably a few impact kids walking the halls that choose to avoid athletics entirely.

Basic point is there are PN-G athletes that could have raised the competitive level of the basketball team, but there are various reasons that they're not there.

And to 1989NDN's point, it's unfortunate that basketball isn't more of a focus sport at PN-G.

But on the positive side, PN-G soccer, golf, volleyball, baseball, softball and football are top notch. Volleyball and golf have arguably been the most successful sports at PN-G over time.

 

[HardInDaPaint]

The varsity boys looked good against Central the other night. It was a 5 point game throughout most of the game. We were in position to pull out a win, which is far better than the position I thought we would be in. Each kid played hard the entire game. They have not had that total team "effort" in most games this year. For those that poo-poo the system, some of what you say, I agree with. Some is the symptom of having a lack of support for the game within the community. Most PNG kids grow up playing 2 months of basketball a year. That 2 months is spent playing each other, with volunteer coaches that do not all coach uniformly, if even correctly. Our competition treats basketball like PNG treats baseball.

 

[IndianFan]

Agree 100%. PN-G just isn't much of a basketball school\town(s).

 

[lu cards]

freshmen team is really good.they sweep Nederland in district,beat memorial and lost close games to central and ozen.if they stay together they should do some good things.