Building for a big finish
Holiday tournaments are perfectly placed in the middle of the basketball season to serve as a natural opportunity for teams to find out what they truely are made of.
Some programs use tournaments to just get some games under their belts to stay sharp before the stretch drive to district and postseason tournaments. Others aim to go against more worthwhile opponents in order to better themselves for the rest of the season.
The latter has been the case for the programs at Island Coast and Mariner for years. Both are looking for just that in tournament appearances next week.
Island Coast starts out in the three-day Great 8 Tournament at Ocoee, facing powerhouse Pleasure Ridge Park of Louisville, Ky., in the first round on Monday. The Gators (8-5) will face either Union City of Memphis or Leesburg on Tuesday.
“It’s our first time to play this tournament and will be good for us and make us better if we allow it to make us better,” said Gators coach Greg Coleman.
Other teams participating in the eight-team bracketed event include host Ocoee, Colonial, Timber Creek and Lakeland Kathleen.
“Even if we come out of it 8-8 it will benefit us to get through, but two or three wins would be fantastic,” said Coleman. “We have to improve our defense. I’ve never had a team that averages 72 points through the first 13 games and have five losses.”
After the calendar flips to the new year, the Gators head to Venice for the one-day Battle of the Beach Shootout involving eight teams. One of those other teams is undefeated Mariner (13-0).
The Tritons square off against Palmetto at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 2 with the Gators taking on host Venice at 4:30.
“We developed a good rivalry with Venice (6-5) the last two years when they were in our district,” said Coleman. “When their coach called to ask if we’d like to play them it was a good chance for us to kind of get back at the team that ended our season the last two years.”
Fort Myers, Lehigh, Port Charlotte, Seminole and Auburndale are the teams participating.
“Between the Great 8 and the Battle of the Beach we will play four quality opponents to get ready for the stretch run,” said Coleman.
The Tritons will be coming off a two-week layoff when they tip off against Palmetto. They just finished winning two games in their own holiday tournament last weekend.
“This will help get us back in stride for the district run to start the new year,” said Tritons coach James Harris. “It’s a really good test for us coming off a long break.”
The Tritons typically play several tournament games during the holiday break, but cut back to two tourneys this time.
“We usually play more tourney games during the break, but we play every Saturday night in January.” said Harris. “Those games over the break have become our Saturday games.”
Regular season play fires up again on Jan. 4.