Near-perfect game for Cloquet not enough to top Rapids for title

j l.
03/20/2010 11:26 AM

yet again it comes down to the coach. two 6'10 players a true post center and PF, probably a ten man rotation like the 07-08 season. The coach instead uses a 8 man roataion. Doesn't keep the players fresh. Plays his studs to the point they become ineffective consistently throughout the season. Cloquet should have had again a 20 win season but didn't. last year ok i could see them not winning the section but the 07-08 team and now the 09-10 team both should have had section titles. than throw in the horrible decsions to let rapids stall. it comes down to the coach consistently. I don't think he knew what he had of course when there an 8 seed next year maybe than he'll realize what he had and what he threw away!

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Todd B.
03/19/2010 8:28 PM

The way I see it, Cloquet did not get beat by a better team but by a better coach.

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Mark V.
03/19/2010 7:22 PM

I have followed both of these teams for many years and personally know parents and players on both sides. I spoke with Rapids after the game and they were also puzzled by Cloquet’s coaching decision to stall the game. They couldn’t believe the Cloquet’s stall tactic either, as both Rapids big men had 4 fouls each and Cloquet was in double bonus with almost 5 minutes remaining. Your comment “Grand Rapids played right into Cloquet's hands”? Rapids wins and Cloquet loses, so who played who? I believe Rapids set the bait and Cloquet once again swallowed it. Jeff, you fail to recall last year when your Cloquet coach employed this same tactic against the Rapids squad, Cloquet was again trailing but in that case the “stall” was for over 6 minutes with the same result – a loss for Cloquet. Not the acceptable minute or so as you indicated. The most recent stall was taken down to the 2 min mark in the game (almost a 3 minute stall). Your comment regarding the coaches only regret was to take the clock down longer, but any longer would be down to the 1 minute mark? Does that make any sense to you? In that scenario, the way I see it, the team’s loss would have only been by possibly 4 points rather than by the 6 points, but nonetheless, a loss. I have never witnessed this stall tactic at any level especially when a team is trailing (now twice by the same coach). As a fan of the game, it was again extremely difficult to watch with so much at stake. The Cloquet players were up to the task but unfortunately the Cloquet coach was not….. True, the Cloquet players had an outstanding game but let the game be decided on the court by the players rather than by a controversial coach’s decision. To order your players to stand idle for 3 minutes when they want to continue to play leaves much in doubt after a loss. If a coach pulled this fatal error down in the cities, he’d be watching from the stands the next year. Period. Albert Einstein on Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

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Jeff O.
Cloquet, MN     03/19/2010 8:30 AM

It is obvious that both of you know nothing about the two teams that played and you did not see the game in Grand Rapids two weeks ago. If Cloquet would have come out and chased them around our went man 2 man defense, Grand Rapids would have just dribbled around them and got a layup. Grand Rapids played right into Cloquet's hands, GR is a up and down team and for them to stall it out against a team that wants to slow it down anyways is perfect for them. Just like Coach Battaglia said, only thing to be debated is to stay back longer and wait for a minute or so. I like the decision Cloquet made and we forget the fact that these kids played an awesome game and we should be talking about how these kids played their hearts out and left it all on the floor.

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brad s.
03/18/2010 6:59 PM

I think Rapids was up by one, perhaps coach Steve was token something.

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