Boys basketball: Weather wreaking havoc on practice and game schedules

With cancellations and missed practices piling up like snow mounds on the side of the highway area, coaches have been forced to return to the "Three Rs." No, not those "Three Rs." Instead of reading, writing and arithmetic, teams have been focusing on rest, review and re-evaluation, as they get ready to return to the court for the final few weeks of the regular season. North Ridgeville was coming off a tough home loss at home Friday against Elyria, only to have its Tuesday game against Maple Heights postponed. During the span, the Rangers went three days without practicing. "We had to sit on that loss a little longer than we'd want to, but we're just taking it as we go, and we're gonna control what we can control," North Ridgeville coach Ben Chase said. "After Friday, we gave the kids off Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was a good physical anecdote mental break. We came back Tuesday with a tone of energy and had a great practice."We'd normally come in and watch film on Saturday, but we didn't send them anything on Saturday and Sunday. They had a good two days away from basketball. They got to disconnect, spend time with family and just rest, which is a weird opportunity in late January."The Rangers return to action tonight at Midview. The game against Maple Heights will be made up Feb. 18, giving the team a stretch of three games in four days to end the regular season.Lorain also had its home game against Toledo Rogers postponed Tuesday, but as the days without practice or games piled up, Titans coach Matt Kielian relied heavily on Hudl to send film packages out to the players to review, as they hope to rebound from an 11-game losing streak. "When we're not physically able to be in the gym, we use film to keep everyone mentally involved. That helps with being off due to the weather," Kielian said. "It's tough, there are so many other distractions when the kids are out of school, like gaming systems and social media, but it's something everyone is dealing with." Kielian and his staff are able to use Hudl to break down specific aspects of the game, like turnovers or free throw shooting, and supply the players with targeted film clips to review as they prepare for the final seven games of the regular season."Having this pause was a challenge but its also a chance for everyone to get healthy and refocused," Kielian said. For Kielian, who was an assistant at Lorain under coach John Rositano in 2020-21, nothing that Mother Nature can dish out could be as disruptive as the COVID years. "Not too many people remember that COVID year when we weren't able to get in the gym and we were limited in everything we could do," he said. "It put a lot of things in perceptive, as far as being a coach. I want the guys to be grateful to have a season and not take for granted all of the days we are able to get in the gym."Columbia coach Josh Scharf didn't see his players from the time they left the locker room after last Friday's loss at Firelands until Wednesday night. "It was really good to get back in gym and see everybody," Scharf said after Wednesday's practice. "We did a lot of remote film study. Hudl is a great tool for that. We were able to do a lot of game-planning stuff." The Raiders didn't just use film to correct what might have gone wrong during their first 14 games. Film was also used to involve the players in building scouting reports and re-evaluating what the team could do over the final eight games to get ready for the postseason. "It's really been a good way of raising the basketball IQ, so to speak, and give them some freedom to tell us what they think will work best for us," Scharf said. "It turns out great because it gave the coaching staff some fresh ideas and a fresh perspective from what the players see."Rest will be a rare commodity for Columbia as it begins a stretch of four games in eight days tonight at Keystone. The Raiders will make up Tuesday's postponed game at Vermilion on Feb. 4, a day after they host Oberlin. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.