Can Johnstown Be Beaten Again?

[LHAC Titan]

Tomorrow will be a good test to see were the Trojans will end up this year. If they struggle against CH it could turn out to be a long season. If they lose to CH I don't believe they will have enough to turn the season around starting off 1-3 with the high expectation they had coming into the season.

If they can finish the week atleast 2-1 then they should pull through and be above .500. They should handle CH tomorrow night.

[Crimson09Crazy]

Is Vescovi playing? Johnstown doesnt have an answer for his size.

[jimmychickenshackface]

vescovi is playing..... after watching the altoona game.. i believe tussey will handle them easily friday night... they could be 1-5 easily

[WPIAL~Titan]

This is the worst Altoona team in recent memory in terms of talent. I know Hasson knows his basketball, but he's been out of it for a decade or so. It looks like they will be holding the ball, trying to keep scores low, and trying to stay in the game.

[I wear stripes]

This is the worst Altoona team in recent memory in terms of talent. I know Hasson knows his basketball, but he's been out of it for a decade or so. It looks like they will be holding the ball, trying to keep scores low, and trying to stay in the game.

So let me translate this for BC. Correct me if I'm wrong Titan. A team that is by no means as talented as Johnstown, and they have a coach who hasn't been coaching for over 10 years, and he didn't even have a summer to work with the team because he was a late hire, was able to beat an extremely talented Johnstown team.

If I'm not mistaking coaching does play a big role in basketball. So even an outdated coach, but good coach can figure out for his non talented team to win a game against a talented team with no coaching.

I get what your saying!!!!!!

[Muddlehuddle]

At the level of basketball in our area good coaching can make an average team very good and a good team appear to be great. There is alot to be said for game planning and preparation. Obviously there are game time adjustmets, switches and just basic overall awareness and recognition. No doubt a good coach can find a way to win.

[Crimson09Crazy]

I agree teams like McCort and Westmont have an advantage every night in coaching, and when those schools arent as talented, Roman and Hollern always make them competitive.

Johnstown didnt do much of anything over the summer and didnt have any sort of workouts for non football players in the fall, now with a new head coach with no head coaching experience....ehh things like rough now.


IMO Basketball teams need to play over the summer.That is where you build your team. Work outs, summer leagues, open gyms, college shootouts all play big roles in the development of a good team. When Westmont was 29-1 a few years back, they already played probably over 30 games that summer and that helped them tremendously during their run.

I think by the new coach seeing that they are struggling greatly right off the bat because of lack of preparation, he will definitely make summer basketball and fall open gyms a priority next time around. And if this group of players is as good as everyone says they are, it will help them down the road. It isnt freshmen basketball anymore. You cant just walk on to a court in December and expect to be the best. And they might have the very common problem that a lot of HS basketball teams have, and that is they are not in Basketball shape yet. Football shape and Basketball shape are two different things.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Good coaching can make a difference anywhere, much less in District 5/6 where the talent on the boys' teams is anything to write home about. Knoweldge of Xs and Os and preparation can be the difference between a win and a loss, given similar talent. Given a lack of talent, good coaching can mean the difference between being competitive and getting mercy ruled.

There simply are not many quality coaches in that area. Roman from Westmont and Frank from State College are two who immediately come to mind. For that matter, there are not many coaches who I'd consider to be high quality in the WPIAL either. It just seems as though this entire Western PA area is void of significant HS coaching talent.

[usatf oldguy]

I think there are a few quality guys in district 5 coaching.Crawford at NBC does a good job at a small school,and Bailey at tussey (while contraversial) is a guy with alot of knowledge and alot of years and wins under his belt.

[sportsfan1000]

Is Vescovi playing? Johnstown doesnt have an answer for his size.

It looked like they had more than one answer for him.