Fort Greene & Clinton Hill Basketball Teams Pulling Out All The Stops This Season
Looks like the LIU Blackbirds and Saint Joseph’s Bears are all out of bubblegum. Recent reports on the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill teams reveal what a tough time they’re giving to opponents this season, as well as the thought process behind all that hassling.
Earlier this week, neighbor Michael Randazzo published a piece on the Blackbirds’ Coach Gail Striegler, who made no bones about it–her team will do what it takes to win.
“We’re going to press after every made basket and try pressing off some missed baskets, which is something people rarely do,” she tells the Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Patch. “We’re probably going to give up some layups doing that but it will speed the game up and make people take quick shots and hopefully get some easy baskets.”
Coach Streigler’s aggressive strategy this year is inspired by Nolan Richardson, former coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Tulsa Shock.
“When you take a coach that understands the game like [Striegler] does,” Richardson tells the publication of the Blackbirds’ new plan, “sometimes it’s tough to watch because you’re giving players more control of the defense. They’re on the floor and they need to make decisions… all [Streigler] has to do is get her team to do the things they’re doing and not worry about the opponents that they’re playing.”
Coach Streigler, for one, seems amenable to changing her team’s style up.
“You have to figure out a way for them to show up every day and get better,” she says to Patch. “[T]hat’s the key to winning championships.”
Several blocks east, the Saint Joseph’s College Bears beat out the Pratt Institute Cannoneers in their game this past Wednesday, November 19. The team blog says the Bears kept their lead the entire time, with four players reaching double figures in scoring for the third game in a row. Tonight, the Bears will take their 3-0 start to the Eastern Nazarene College Holiday Tournament in Quincy, MA, where they’ll play Maine-Presque Isle at 8pm.
Keep killing it, guys!
Photo via LIU Brooklyn
