The Up and Down Portsmouth Trojans

trojandave · Post by **trojandave** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:29 pm

Being a passionate Trojan fan, I love watching the kids play, but quite honestly it is driving me crazy seeing this team play with such inconsistency.

Watching them game in game out, you just don't know what team will show up. I don't think in my 37 years of watching Portsmouth that I've seen such a team with such fluctuations in level of play. This past weekend probably defined this team as much as any. We score our highest point total this season, 95, vs. Athens, and then turn around the next night and score our lowest total, 41, vs. Wheelersburg. Granted, the Burg was a much better team than Athens, but still it makes one wonder how PHS can be so good on one night and so bad the very next night?

The last 3 weeks have seen the Trojans climb to .500, only to lose the very next game 3 times to fall below that mark. Portsmouth hasn't been above .500 in the second half of the season in 6 years, and last night vs. the Burg started the second half of the 2007-2008 campaign.

4 times this year Portsmouth has scored at least 79 points, and 5 times they have scored less than 60. Their longest losing streak is 3 games, and their longest winning streak is 2. Of their 5 wins, none have come against teams with winning records, yet in 4 of their 6 losses the deficit was single digits with just a couple of minutes remaining.

I do believe that the Trojans have talent, and the consensus on SEOPS seems to be that they do. But I don't think there is a more up and down team in SE Ohio than Portsmouth. On game day, the most pertinent question is......Which team will show up?

Portsmouth played better vs. Chillicothe than they did vs. Wheelersburg, and CHS easily beat WHS at the Burg.......and the Cavaliers are pretty much the unanimous pick as the best team in the SE district.

One thing that is evident in watching Portsmouth.....they are much more comfortable playing full court basketball than half court.....something that the Trojans will have to improve on as they head down the stretch and toward the postseason.

Coach Josh Shoemaker and his staff have done a good job of bringing these kids along, and starting a talented freshman and sophomore has brought hope for the future, along with most of the team coming back next year. He and his assistants have put in hours after hours of hard work, trying to figure out how to get these kids to play more consistent basketball.

My hope is that we can finally get over that elusive .500, and possibly get to 10 wins for the first time since 2002.....we can do it, IF WE CAN PLAY WITH MORE CONSISTENCY!! If we continue to play up and down, those goals will be difficult to reach, because the final 5 games of the regular season are challenging......@Warren, H with Chillicothe, @Zanesville, @Ironton, and the H game Day of Champions, probably vs. Warren or Marietta.

But it wouldn't surprise me if we pull off an upset or two, we have the talent to, and it wouldn't surprise me if we could make a tourney run.....simply because right now we are the most unpredictable team in SE Ohio.....impossible to handicap at this point.

It should be a very interesting run these last 9 games for the UP AND DOWN PORTSMOUTH TROJANS!!!

GO TROJANS!!!

Burg_Grad_77 · Post by **Burg_Grad_77** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:08 pm

Granted, the Burg was a much better team than Athens, but still it makes one wonder how PHS can be so good on one night and so bad the very next night?

Dave, you answered your own question with the first statement in this sentence. Athens isn't very good this year and almost anyone that plays them will look like world beaters, while the Burg plays awesome defense and is head and shoulders above Athens talent wise. That is one reason why the Trojans looked so good Friday and that bad Saturday.

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:29 pm

dave,
you also answered your own question about consistency when you stated they start a freshman and a sophomore. hard to get consistency with young players especially if they are in prominent roles like point guard, shooting guard, or best inside post presence.

biggdowgg · Post by **biggdowgg** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:40 pm

I said befor. Burg is good..no question,,,but we played Terrible....we looked liked it was the first time we played a game at times.

example, Burg beat us by 32....we got beat by Chilly , by 28 points..and chilly beats Burg by 26 points...all due respect to Burg , I dont think they are as good as Chilly,,,but GOOD.

the Portsmouth team that played this game, is not what we have seen the last couple of games...maybe p[laying Athens, befor playing a team as good as Burg the night befor was not good for us?

1fan1 · Post by **1fan1** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:45 pm

I know the Trojans must be a little better than what they played last night. But, vs Chillicothe, the Burg didn't play very well, either. It happens. It is sometimes a matter of match-ups and style.

biggdowgg · Post by **biggdowgg** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:50 pm

Exactly......

I always say it,,great thing about basketball...you still have a chance to Improve and play in post season, no matter what hapens in regular season

drrabbit · Post by **drrabbit** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:35 pm

When you compare the Chillicothe scores, remember that Wheelersburg was just two weeks from football and made some major changes to their starting line up after that game. The starting additions added 24 points to last night's tally, not to mention some tough defense. And Wheelersburg's depth did a lot of damage. An improving bench proved a 25 to 6 edge.

But to me the key to the 'inconsistency' lies in Trojandave's fact that Portsmouth does well against teams with losing records but loses to teams with winning records. That is their consistency.

Take hope, there is still a lot of basketball left and young teams do tend to improve.

biggdowgg · Post by **biggdowgg** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:51 pm

yeah, we had a bad day ...thats what I was saying :lol:

another thing to consider,,,,we was with out..our leading scorer,,and rebounder 6 ft 5 "Anthony Williams"...agaisnt Burg and Chilly.

Hitchbone64 · Post by **Hitchbone64** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:24 pm

trojandave,

I started saying last year, the young Trojans reminded me of the Cavs from 2 years ago. We went through the same thing. One night lose to a 2-14 Pick Central team, and then come back and knock off a league undefeated power in Grove City. Young kids bring inconsistency.

I agree on running the offense and not just getting up and down the floor. In the big games and the tourney, you have to be able to run your offense. Chilly learned that and is still going through it.

I think the young Trojans are fine, but I still thing they have to go through the big man down low. He needs to be more consistent and stay out of foul trouble. With his size (height and bulk) he can be a force. With Williams coming back, the Trojans can learn from the tough stretch they get at the end of the year. Nobody likes losses, but they could have some good quality losses that get them ready for a tourney run.

As for the Burg game, I was surprised by the score differetial. I don't believe P-town is that bad. Still thing they are the second best team in the SEOAL South.

GO CAVS!!!!

Ironman92 · Post by **Ironman92** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:35 pm

If I'm a coach of a team in their sectional....I'm trying to avoid them.

Their talent will be hard for a lowly seeded team to deal with and knock off and yes they could lose by 20 to a top seeded squad....they are also the most likley to knock off from the underdog role..

THe frosh and sop are very good and will get better facing the tough SEOAL teams.....are they getting a big guy back from injury.

They are going to be the most dangerous #7-#9 seed around.

biggdowgg · Post by **biggdowgg** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:34 pm

Ironman92 wrote:If I'm a coach of a team in their sectional....I'm trying to avoid them.

Their talent will be hard for a lowly seeded team to deal with and knock off and yes they could lose by 20 to a top seeded squad....they are also the most likley to knock off from the underdog role..

THe frosh and sop are very good and will get better facing the tough SEOAL teams.....are they getting a big guy back from injury.

They are going to be the most dangerous #7-#9 seed around.

our leading scorer, and rebounder...6'''6 Williams is supposed to be back in a couple of weeks.

I think he was averaging 17 or 18 a game, befor he went down.

Army · Post by **Army** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:19 am

Trojan dave,

Two things......

1. Portsmouth and Chillicothe is a rival game, at least for the CAVS.
Has been for decades.

2. Your team is the next one up-coming to be the team to beat in the SE-District.

Respectfully

ARMY

trojandave · Post by **trojandave** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:29 pm

Good suggestions and thoughts by all posters.

When we get Anthony Williams back on Jan.17, then we will have a better idea of what the Trojans will be like, and could very well see more consistent play. Against the Burg, the first time Nate touched the ball, they doubled down low on him. With Williams in the lineup, they would not have been as likely to do such a thing.......Anthony was averaging 19 ppg and 15 rpg when he went down......and even though we have won some games without him, against the better teams.......WE DIDN'T, AND IT SHOWED THAT WE NEED HIM!!!

Anthony has yet to play in Portsmouth's more uptempo style of play which was implemented after the first 4 games.

Also, the last 4 games have featured wild differences in margin of defeat/victory. Portsmouth beat Gallia Academy by 26, then lost to Chillicothe by 28, beat Athens by 38, then lost to the Burg by 32. Portsmouth's other 3 wins have come by 20, 32, and 7 points. PHS has had just one game come down to the buzzer, and that was the first game vs. Minford, which the Trojans won in OT after scoring the tying bucket with 3 seconds to play.

Yes, youth and level of competition certainly have affected Portsmouth's up and down season, but it has taken on almost a bizarre turn. Normally by the 11th game you see pretty much what your team is like. But the Trojans are quite different. I really don't think we know what we've exactly got, and as Ironman92 said, we could be the most dangerous #7-#9 seed as a result.

I do think that we have not peaked yet.......but then I'm wondering if we will have any kind of momentum going into the postseason.

trojandave · Post by **trojandave** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:43 pm

Biggdowgg brought up an interesting point. When you play a team that you roll over the night before, and then play a good team the next night, there can sometimes be an adjustment problem, especially at the beginning of the game. Your focus may not be as sharp as it needs to be....the Burg did jump out to a big lead....And with the special ceremonies at Wheelersburg that night, it made the game even more difficult for PHS to win.

But Portsmouth still should have been much more competitive.....South Point is undefeated, with 2 very good players, Beau Weed and Todd Mayo, and the Trojans had the lead at halftime @SP. The third quarter proved to be our doom in that game, but PHS showed that they are very capable of playing GOOD basketball against GOOD teams. And that game was also without Anthony Williams.

TheMalteseFalcon · Post by **TheMalteseFalcon** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:15 pm

Posted on 1/06 at 10:30 PM by BiggDowgg:

biggdowgg wrote:our leading scorer, and rebounder...6'''6 Williams is supposed to be back in a couple of weeks.
.

The following was Posted 1 1/2 hours earlier on 1/06 at 8:51 PM by BiggDowgg:

"another thing to consider,,,,we was with out..our leading scorer,,and rebounder 6'5" Anthony Williams against the burg and chilly."

----------------------------------------------

If he continues to grow at a rate of 1" every 1 1'2 hours as he did here, he should be tough come tourney time. :lol:

TheMalteseFalcon · Post by **TheMalteseFalcon** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:25 pm

trojandave wrote:Also, the last 4 games have featured wild differences in margin of defeat/victory. Portsmouth beat Gallia Academy by 26, then lost to Chillicothe by 28, beat Athens by 38, then lost to the Burg by 32.

TD,

You're yet to reconcile yourself to the fact that MOST everybody has beaten Gallia by approx 26 and Chillicothe has beaten MOST everybody by approx 28, etc. It seems to me to be just mostly the difference in quality of the competition. JMO

ManitouDan · Post by **ManitouDan** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:05 am

lots of good points ---A Williams is difference maker , regardless of whether is is 6'5 or 6'7 with a wingspan like that young man has he might as well be 6'10. Without him in the lineup when Cadogan is in foul trouble or resting the Trojans are really really small. Can't rebound w/o big Nate in there.

I'm also not sold that this team is that inconstitent. They are pretty predictable at this point w/o Williams. IF they can take the ball away in the full court press they may smash you. If they don't take the ball away from you they lose. The 2 huge wins against Athens and GA almost need to be thrown out , or at least not given priority when trying to figure out this team. Their guard play was so terrible , at least on those 2 nights, that you really can't deduct anything from those 2 games. The GA game looked like a life center pickup game only with MORE turnovers.

To get on a tourney run or pull some upsets the 1/2 court D and 1/2 court O needs to be stabilzed somehow. Against teams with ballhandling and some quickness you can't rely so heavily on turnovers for points. Getting big A Williams back will help a bunch , but the guards have to value every possesion more. Somehow they need an identity in the 1/2 court. Know what type shot they are after before they start the set. Not easy trying to coach young guards. I hope they make progress and show improvement . Good Luck to the Trojans. MD

Landstuhl78 · Post by **Landstuhl78** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:22 am

Portsmouth comes up to Logan this Friday. How do you guys think they will do? I think it will be a close game but Logans playmakers are to much to handle for the Trojans and Logan will get a decent lead in the third or fourth quarter. Logan wins.

trojandave · Post by **trojandave** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 7:50 pm

ManitouDan is right....so much of tournament success is related to guard play....they handle the ball the bulk of the time........and the O must execute in the half court.

Making a run in the postseason is very much related to how consistent your guards play.....at both ends of the floor.

The guards feed the post.....and are the ones responsible for pushing the ball up the court, and being the first line of defense.

How our guards play will determine our success the rest of the year.