THIS IS THE WEEK THAT I ALWAYS FEEL BAD FOR

the kids that get cut from their high school basketball teams.Dreams are dashed,hopes are crushed,spirits are saddened.Of all the sports in NH I feel hoops is the most competitive when it comes to making a team.All those years of hard work and practice to be told your not quite good enough must suck.I realize we blog about alot of the studs on teams,I just wanted to take a moment to give a tip of the hat to the kid's who put in as much time {and sometimes more},then the kid's already on the team,but just fall short for one reason or another.I know there is a life lesson in there,but for some poor kids this will be one of the worst weeks in their young lives.

Yea it's tough. Having been in the situation of putting together a Varsity Hoops team it's very hard to tell kids, sorry, you're just not one of the best 15 kids in your school.

In my experience, the majority of kids that get cut have not put in the time, and just don't understand the level of commitment it takes to compete at the varsity level. There is however, those times where the kid has done everything the coach has asked, and more, but skill-wise is just not there. It's tough, but at the end of the day, the coach has to decide who will give him the best chance to get better in practice, and ultimately win games. Sometimes that means taking a kid with potential, over a kid who may be a bit better, but is a senior and likely won't contribute.

Very tough situations all around. Good luck coaches, while I miss coaching, I don't miss tryout week and dashing what are some young men and women's high school dreams.

On the flip side - there is NOTHING better than opening up tryout week finding out one of the kids that was cut, or demoted to JV the previous year, has put in the extra work and time over the summer to get better, bought into the system, etc. and you realize you NEED this kid on your team. It happens, and for those players that don't make varsity as a Sophomore or even Junior, I've seen it happen many times, with a little work, heart and commitment a spot on that Varsity team come next year is always attainable.

Excellant point,I didn't want to be a downer it's just something I think about this week.Great insight asst. on having been there done that.I am sure there are many coaches who feel the same way.

The greatest "cut" story I ever heard was when Herbie Brooks was the last cut on the 1960 Men's USA Olympic hockey team. That team won the gold medal at the Olympics at Squaw Valley. I think Herbie Brooks tells the story on the extras from the Miracle On Ice DVD movie.

I believe I can top that T@F.How about the round mound of rebound being cut by The General in 1984 for the Olympic team.

I know of this decent player who really never became anything much in basketball but i will share his story with you. His name is Mike and here is his highschool story.
Jordan at first had trouble standing out on the school team. In fact, only a year after joining the team, as a tenth grader, he was cut from the varsity team.

Read more: Michael Jordan - Cut From His High School Team - Brother, Web, Hard, James, Basketball, and Carolina http://sports.jrank.org/pages/2387/Jordan-Michael-Cut-from-His-High-School-Team.html#ixzz16llJW8YH

Good luck trying to top that one.

good answer basketballtime,good answer.Can't top that.

Russell... Bill Russell

In the second semester of his junior year at McClymonds High School in Oakland, Russell was cut from the junior varsity. As a senior, Russell started on the varsity and helped McClymonds win the league title. In a conference of only six teams, Russell did not even make third team all-league.
Russell graduated from McClymonds in midyear, and toured the Pacific Northwest with a group of California schoolboy all-stars. On this trip, he became a more accomplished player and after returning to Oakland he received his only scholarship offer, from San Francisco.

Think about that arguably the greatest defensive center ever and a champion of champions was not even third team all league. A league of 6 teams and he was not even third team all league? How could that have happened and to see that he didn't settle and went on to be one our greatest legends ever.

Maybe an equal to Jordans story. Jordan did become an McDonalds All American his senior year. Russell was barely recruited as a senior.

Sorry Basketball time I think I topped you.. lol

holy smokes, looks like he topped you basketballtime.Great work chikid,as johnny carson used to say "i did not know that".Russell was one of my favorites,he could influence a game and not even score in double digits.He used to block shots not into the third row,but to a teamate.In my opinion the best celtic ever{and i LOVED bird}

Actually GNG what made Russell one of the greatest shot blockers was his ability to block a shot and keep it in play and even sometimes deflect it over to a team mate to start the break. I am from Indiana so I cannot say anything bad about Larry but I will always be Jordan first. The name may have given that one away.

Sorry guys i thought this topic was about being cut from your high school team? Bill Russell was cut from his Junior high team and not his high school team as chikid said. Here is part of that information that can be found on the web. He was not a natural star. In junior high, he was cut from tryouts for the basketball team. In high school he barely made the junior varsity squad as a sophomore. But he worked at it ceaselessly, eventually making the varsity team as a junior, and he joined the starting line-up as a senior. I think we would all have to agree being cut from your high school team hurts a lot more then your Junior high team.

Think you're right bballtime. I will preface my comments saying that Jordan is my all time favorite player (thus the avatar) and I think, by far, the greatest player to step foot on hardwood (which is an entirely different discussion but had to throw that in there). But, it's always perplexed me - Jorday was cut from his Varsity team as a Sophommore. So. MOST Sophs get cut from their Varsity teams. Now most McDonalds AA's don't, but so what if he did? I don't see it as that big a deal. I assume he played JV? or maybe not? Anybody know?

Actually the article says he was "Russell was cut from the junior varsity" JV... not Junior High.
However these are two different situations as Jordan was put on the JV and was a star often filling the gym and leading his team in scoring at over 30 a game. He just happened to be on a team with many upper class men and had to bide his time. The coaches already knew he would be a very good player. One added note to this was his sudden growth of 4-5 inches in his junior and senior year... How does that happen? His dad was about 6ft, mom very small and no sibling was even close to his 6'6" frame. I still shake my head thinking about that. Of course I am the father of a sub six footer. lol

This is from several different sites and they all say the same about Russell being cut in Junior high and not High school.

In his early years, Russell struggled to develop his skills as a basketball player. Although Russell was a good runner and jumper and had extremely large hands,[4] he simply did not understand the game and was cut from the team in junior high school. As a sophomore at McClymonds High School, Russell was almost cut again.[6] However, coach George Powles saw Russell's raw athletic potential and encouraged him to work on his fundamentals.[

Remarkably, basketball had not always come so easy to Bill Russell. It was something he had had to work at in high school and was not even successful at it until his senior year. He had been cut from tryouts for his junior high school team in Oakland and barely made a junior varsity squad as a high school sophomore.

None of these articles say he was cut from his JV high school team they all say he was cut from his Junior high team and was almost cut from his JV high school team as a sophmore.

All details. So both of them were on JV as a soph. Both are great stories of hard work and determination. Both can be used as a great will to win story. Jordan is the one everyone talks about but no as many know about Russell. I just wanted to add to the discussion one no one thinks about. As a senior he had little interest in even playing college ball and now is considered one of the greatest winners of the game. He also earns a ton of respect from me on how he has always carried himself and mentored the young guys of the league. Truly one we should all use as a story of not only basketball greatness but also a truly great human being.