All things considered, yesterday was a really good day for the Tucson Basketball League. Technically, it was a holiday weekend, although with the Fourth of July landing on a Thursday, that weekend designation is tenuous. Then, our morning games got bumped by yet another club sports thing. Don't get me started. This will sound pretentious, so I apologize in advance. A couple publishers have been bugging me to write a humorous and/or caustic book about sports. I've resisted thus far, but if I ever do get around to doing one, I know what my target will be. People had to pay $15 each to get into the building! For the price they charged and the product they delivered, it should have included Rihanna singing at halftime.
Then, to top things off, in order to get in as many games as possible, we had three games that started at 9:00 p.m. And, with all that going on, we had ZERO forfeits. Everybody showed up, everybody played, almost everybody had a good time. (There were a couple blowouts.)
I am VERY pleased with the 9:00 p.m. games. Teams actually seem to enjoy them. In a much earlier time in the history of the Tucson Basketball League, we had our games at one of the local Boys and Girls Clubs. We only had the one court, so we had to stretch the schedule out. For one season, we went from 8:00 a.m. until MIDNIGHT! Yes, we had teams showing up to play at 11:00 at night. It was bizarre.
Last night's 9:00 p.m. games were decided by 11, seven (in overtime), and two points. All really good games. On Court 1, Storm (formerly White Men Can Jump) beat ATG, 83-81, in a game that went down to the wire. Vince Edwards had a double-double (26 and 10) and Marcus Valdez had 22 points to lead Storm. Isaiah Smith and Silas Arvisu each had 21 points for ATG.
On Court 2, Scout Team and Crew 2.0 battled back and forth the entire way, with Crew 2.0 hitting an improbable three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. And then they didn't score a point in overtime.
Dominick Balsino had 34 points, including 26 in the second half, for Shoot Your Shot, but it wasn't enough as The Bullockz held on for a 64-54 win.
JAK handed the previously undefeated Average Joes their first loss of the season in a low-scoring affair. We're just past the halfway point of the regular season and we have only five undefeated teams left. We also have only six teams that are winless. What's amazing is that nearly half of all of our teams are within one game of .500 (e.g 3-2, 2-2, 2-3) this late in the race. The playoffs in August are going to be incredible!
Junior Martinez had 40 points, including 10 three-pointers, in the Saints' 73-45 win over The Other Guys. His outburst will boost the Saints up to a significantly higher division for the next couple games. We'll see if he can duplicate the feat against the Basketball Junkies.
IMPORTANT NOTE: We've still got a lot of the regular season and all of the playoffs to go, but we also have just eight or nine weeks before the start of the Fall 2024 season. And remember, all teams playing in the TBL from now until forever must have matching jerseys. Again, they don't have to be fancy, but they must be of the exact same color and must have a number on them. (I would recommend that teams get an extra one or two just in case somebody joins the team midseason. That might be easier and cheaper than having to order one more jersey.) A couple more teams unveiled their new unis last night and I must say that they are exceeding my expectations. It's going to be great! It's not enough for us to be the biggest; we also want to be the best.