Middletown girls basketball coach Rob Smernoff led the Blue Dragons to an 11-10 record in the regular season this year. Though his team slumped near the end of the season, Middletown finished 8-7 in the CCC South, and matched the school’s highest win total from the past six seasons. The Blue Dragons qualified as the nineteenth seed in the Class LL Tournament and will face off against 14th-seeded Masuk on the road Tuesday night. Smernoff spoke to the Middletown Eye about his young team’s improvement over the season, their struggles in February and their chances for success in the state tournament.
Middletown Eye: In late January your team was 9-4 and playing very well. It looked like you were going to finish with a strong win total. From that point on your team struggled and went 2-6 through the rest of the season. What changed about how your play that caused you to get off track?
Rob Smernoff: In the second half of the season we played some tough teams for the second time and this time on the road. Our schedule was harder and teams were more familiar with us. Our youth and freshness didn’t surprise them as much. We lost a number of close games down the stretch. It wasn’t like we were playing all that worse. The team was just facing a brutal schedule and the close games we were winning early on were not going our way anymore. The things that were going right at the beginning of the year were going wrong.
ME: How has the team responded to the tough stretch you have gone through? What is the player’s mindset right now?
RS: The players are responding great. They are having excellent practices. I can’t remember a team I’ve coached that has shown so much confidence in practice and in their preparation. They will be ready to go on Tuesday (against Masuk).
ME: What do you think has been your team’s biggest strength this season?
RS: They are truly a team. There is amazing chemistry on this team. Every practice and game is a complete group effort.
ME: What would you say is your most significant weakness?
RS: That would definitely be our height. Often times we struggle rebounding the ball. That’s been a significant problem in our last few losses, particularly against Bristol Eastern. There is a direct correlation between our lack of height and our struggles on the boards. You can’t make your team taller.
ME: Who have been your most important players this year?
RS: DeAsia Lawrence has been our leader and was All-Conference. She can put the ball in the basket and is our best passer. She also leads the team in steals. And Rejenn Mayo has taken on a ton of responsibility playing point guard as a sophomore. She has led us in every game.
ME: How did your offense improve, or not improve, over the course of the season?
RS: We improved a lot playing in a half-court offense. We’re more effective getting out and running, but as the year went on we learned to play in the half-court effectively and how to be patient and get good looks.
ME: Asking the same question, how did you change on defense?
RS: Our press got stronger and more aggressive over time.
ME: How did the regular season live up to your overall expectations?
RS: I would have liked to end the season better. But overall I am very happy with how our season went. We’re a young team that lost a lot of players, and yet we had the most victories for our school in a number of years. It was a satisfying season. All the credit for our performance goes to our kids.
ME: Your first round game in the Class L Tournament is at Masuk on Tuesday night. How well do you believe your team matches up to Masuk, and what do you think your team’s chances are of winning this game?
RS: I think our teams are very evenly matched. I feel like if we played them ten times we would win five games and lose five games. It should be a close game against a tough team. The tough games we’ve had have made us ready for this.
ME: If you defeat Masuk, what do you believe your chances are of making a good run in the tournament?
RS: In Class L there are two teams at the top in E.O. Smith and Pomperaug that are in a class by themselves. After that I feel like there are 16 teams that can all beat each other. If we beat Masuk we would face Bacon Academy, who’s the third seed. That would be another tight game, but I could definitely see us beating them. After that anything could happen.
Showing posts with label middletown girls basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middletown girls basketball. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
MHS Girls Basketball Young But Talented
Coming into the 2011-12 girls basketball season, Middletown Head Coach Rob Smernoff wasn’t really sure how his team would fare in the CCC South. The Blue Dragons were a young and largely inexperienced squad with a starting lineup that featured only one returning player. Would the Blue Dragons be able to play together as a team? Would every player be able to contribute despite their inexperience? And would Middletown be ready and able to respond in close games and pressure situations when the time came? These were the questions facing MHS in November, and the team has answered them with a resounding yes.
After defeating Platt 37-29 at home Tuesday night, MHS is 8-4 on the season. With the victory, the team qualified for the Class L playoffs and are on their way to earning the most wins of Smernoff’s five-year tenure. The Blue Dragons have won six of seven, with their only loss coming at Plainville two weeks ago. At 5-2 in the CCC South, MHS is behind only Plainville and undefeated Berlin in the division.
“We’re on track to being the team we hoped we’d be,” said Smernoff. “The best thing is that all 12 of our players have contributed in their own way.”
At the beginning of the season Smernoff saw an inexperienced team that struggled to play together and was easily intimidated by formidable opponents. He doesn’t see that team anymore.
“Early on we were intimidated when we played New Britain and Berlin and lost,” said Smernoff. “Until you go through the pressure of playing an opponent like that you don’t know what it takes to handle it and win. Since then our players have matured and improved a lot. They understand how to handle close games and trust each other as a team.”
The coach cited the Blue Dragons win at Malony on January 10th, which he called his favorite game of the year, as one in which his team showed toughness and poise. Middletown used full-court pressure to outscore Maloney 20-7 in the fourth quarter, coming back to win 49-39.
“Nothing was going right for most of that game,” said Smernoff. “The kids got past it and stepped up huge at the end to get a big road win. They showed their maturation that night.”
Smernoff has had to do a lot of coaching with this squad, which started only one senior versus Platt along with two sophomores and two juniors. Zenobia Adgers is the lone senior who plays regularly for the Blue Dragons alongside a regular rotation that mostly features sophomores. While some coaches would be endlessly frustrated beginning the season with such a green team, Smernoff has embraced the opportunity to lead fresh faces.
“The great thing about having a young team is that they’re willing to learn and listen,” he said. “When a player’s coached by the same person for all four years there might come a few points where they zone a coach out and ignore their instructions, but that isn’t happening on this team. These players try extremely hard and are very coachable.”
MHS has relied heavily on junior captain DeAsia Lawrence. In a breakout season, the speedy guard has been a force on defense and especially on offense. Lawrence has been the team’s go-to player all year and scored 78 points in the last four games. She’s also the team’s floor leader.
“DeAsia is a really good player,” stated Smernoff. “We focus on trying to get her a lot of good looks on offense. We want her to take over games, and she’s finally starting to recognize how to do that.”
Smernoff also praised senior guard/forward Zenobia Adgers and sophomore guard Mikaela Cody, calling them glue players who can contribute in every facet of the game.
Their Head Coach still believes the Blue Dragons need to improve in a number of areas. While he says that MHS has great team speed and should always be quicker at all five positions to opponents, rebounding is a huge concern for a team that lacks much height. And Smernoff is concerned about his squad’s ball-handling and still well aware of their lack of experience. But with Middletown steadily improving and having already qualified for the state tournament, Smernoff can look ahead and see his team making a strong showing in the Class L tournament.
“E.O. Smith is a huge favorite, but Class L is wide open,” he said. “I could see 25 teams that can all beat each other. It’s going to be based on the draw. But if we can avoid E.O. Smith early and get a favorable draw, I can definitely see our team winning a few games. I just hope we finish the season strong enough to earn a home game in the tournament. Our team and especially our supporters would really deserve it.”
After defeating Platt 37-29 at home Tuesday night, MHS is 8-4 on the season. With the victory, the team qualified for the Class L playoffs and are on their way to earning the most wins of Smernoff’s five-year tenure. The Blue Dragons have won six of seven, with their only loss coming at Plainville two weeks ago. At 5-2 in the CCC South, MHS is behind only Plainville and undefeated Berlin in the division.
“We’re on track to being the team we hoped we’d be,” said Smernoff. “The best thing is that all 12 of our players have contributed in their own way.”
At the beginning of the season Smernoff saw an inexperienced team that struggled to play together and was easily intimidated by formidable opponents. He doesn’t see that team anymore.
“Early on we were intimidated when we played New Britain and Berlin and lost,” said Smernoff. “Until you go through the pressure of playing an opponent like that you don’t know what it takes to handle it and win. Since then our players have matured and improved a lot. They understand how to handle close games and trust each other as a team.”
The coach cited the Blue Dragons win at Malony on January 10th, which he called his favorite game of the year, as one in which his team showed toughness and poise. Middletown used full-court pressure to outscore Maloney 20-7 in the fourth quarter, coming back to win 49-39.
“Nothing was going right for most of that game,” said Smernoff. “The kids got past it and stepped up huge at the end to get a big road win. They showed their maturation that night.”
Smernoff has had to do a lot of coaching with this squad, which started only one senior versus Platt along with two sophomores and two juniors. Zenobia Adgers is the lone senior who plays regularly for the Blue Dragons alongside a regular rotation that mostly features sophomores. While some coaches would be endlessly frustrated beginning the season with such a green team, Smernoff has embraced the opportunity to lead fresh faces.
“The great thing about having a young team is that they’re willing to learn and listen,” he said. “When a player’s coached by the same person for all four years there might come a few points where they zone a coach out and ignore their instructions, but that isn’t happening on this team. These players try extremely hard and are very coachable.”
MHS has relied heavily on junior captain DeAsia Lawrence. In a breakout season, the speedy guard has been a force on defense and especially on offense. Lawrence has been the team’s go-to player all year and scored 78 points in the last four games. She’s also the team’s floor leader.
“DeAsia is a really good player,” stated Smernoff. “We focus on trying to get her a lot of good looks on offense. We want her to take over games, and she’s finally starting to recognize how to do that.”
Smernoff also praised senior guard/forward Zenobia Adgers and sophomore guard Mikaela Cody, calling them glue players who can contribute in every facet of the game.
Their Head Coach still believes the Blue Dragons need to improve in a number of areas. While he says that MHS has great team speed and should always be quicker at all five positions to opponents, rebounding is a huge concern for a team that lacks much height. And Smernoff is concerned about his squad’s ball-handling and still well aware of their lack of experience. But with Middletown steadily improving and having already qualified for the state tournament, Smernoff can look ahead and see his team making a strong showing in the Class L tournament.
“E.O. Smith is a huge favorite, but Class L is wide open,” he said. “I could see 25 teams that can all beat each other. It’s going to be based on the draw. But if we can avoid E.O. Smith early and get a favorable draw, I can definitely see our team winning a few games. I just hope we finish the season strong enough to earn a home game in the tournament. Our team and especially our supporters would really deserve it.”
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