5 Weeks to Nationals

As Nationals quickly approaches we have decided to create this coaches blog to make sure we can get you important information. There will be a lot of information that you will need in order to make your team’s “Nationals Experience” complete.

1) Assistant Coaches – sometimes my e-mails get filtered into junk mail so if you have an assistant or two that you want to add to my coaches list to make sure between you that you get all the e-mails just send me their e-mail addresses.
2) The cutoff for holding spots for unpaid teams is Feb10th after that we will begin closing off divisions as they get to a number that we can close off. If you haven’t paid but are sending a check let me know.
3) All Americans – Varsity age only – please get your nomination post marked by 2/10 and e-mail me so we can make sure none get lost in snail mail without us knowing it. More on All Americans below.
4) Player Registration – Please remember all players must register individually to play at Nationals. The form is on line at http://www.homeschoolbasketball.com/ As of today we have 1450 players registered. Last year we had 2500 pre-registered. The deadline for pre-registration is Feb 15th, so please get the word out to your team it will save them money and eliminate an extra step during Nationals.
5) Team USA – if you have siblings of your team members coming to Nationals you might want to recommend to them that they play on a Team USA. This is great fun and an awesome way to hook those kids in for next year.
6) Seeding Questionnaire is available on line at http://www.homeschoolbasketball.com/team_seeding-08.htm please have them filled out by Feb 20th. Please wait until Monday before filling the form out as we are still fine tuning it.
7) Rooms at the Clarion – I still have some rooms available at the Clarion if you want to stay at the host hotel let me know.

I have had numerous questions about All Americans and the All Star game. Let me take a few minutes and go through the process.

All American Selection –
1) We are currently accepting nominations from coaches through 2/10 (postmarked).
2) The first step will be to work through an initial process that will narrow the field to no more than 90 players.
3) At that point the list of players will be sent to the selection committee (24 individuals from around the country). Each member will divide players into 5 categories of 18 players. 1-5 (5 being the highest and receiving 5 points for this vote).
4) The votes will be totaled.
5) The DVD’s will be used when there are hard decisions for 1st, 2nd or 3rd team.
6) The 1st, 2nd and 3rd team will be finalized and the Pete Maravich Winner will be voted on Saturday morning by the committee after watching the six 1st All Americans play.

All Star Game
1) There will be four quarters of boys and girls basketball. Two quarters will be played by the first and second team and two by the third team.
2) Teams will be divided the first week of March.
3) Coaches will be chosen to coach each of the four teams.
4) Players will play no more than 10 minutes each, so it shouldn’t wear anyone out.