February 9, 2023
Chat with Coach Biehl #5
by Brother Neal Golden, S.C. (CJ ’57)
"The Crusaders have certainly had an up and down week.
The up came last Friday night against Karr in the Conlin Gym. After a nip and tuck first half that ended with the Saders leading by only two, 22-20, the Crimson put together one of their best halves of the season to defeat the Cougars 60-46. Eli Pichon led the scoring with 20 points with Kevin Marinello a distant second at nine.
Would that momentum carry over to the meeting with the Rummel Raiders at their gym Tuesday night? The Crusaders won the first round game at home 54-36.
But this was a different Rummel team as the Raiders won 52-44 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates.
Pichon was held to 13 points, but that was still tops on the team. DJ Fowler and Troy Santa Marina added 10 each.
Coach Chris Biehl says, “I didn’t like the way our Monday practice ended. I was waiting for that exclamation point, and the next thing I know, it’s 20 minutes later, and we’re not competing the way I want them to compete.
“Tuesday during the walkthrough and film and even before the game in the locker room, they were real quiet. They didn’t have that ‘it’ factor you want as a coach going into a district game, especially after two incredible wins against Curtis and Karr.”
Biehl was 37-1 against Rummel, his alma mater. “You have a little extra umph when you go against your high school team. 2017 was the last time they beat a Brother Martin team. We had beaten them 35 out of 36 times going back 15-16 years. But they came out, they wanted it, but I don’t think we put up our best fight.”
One high point is that DJ Fowler, the team’s leading scorer for the season, is getting back to his old self after an ankle injury. “He’s not 100%, but he’s closer to 100% than he’s been in a month. He doesn’t complain. He just goes out and does what he’s supposed to do.
“We’ve got three regular season games left. With 32 teams in Select Division I now, playoffs aren’t guaranteed this year. I’m so excited we’re back to 24 teams. The last thing I want is to make the playoffs and have to play a Catholic League team again.
“If you look at the teams we’ve beaten-Sophie B. Wright, Zachary, Terrebonne–they’re all top five teams in the power rankings. If we can get ourselves back to playing the way we were playing, we can make a run.
“We know we’re not going to physically intimidate anyone, but when we play as a solid unit and play exceptionally hard and do our rotations right, we’ve proven we can beat almost anyone in the state. But some of our losses make you scratch your head. As a coach, you look for consistency. But it’s late in the year to be looking for consistency.
“We knew coming into the season that Eli and DJ are our two scorers. When you take your primary scorer and put him at the point, you’ve taken 33% of his offense out of his hands. As Rummel did Tuesday night, they make him give up the ball and then make him work hard to get it back.
“The most disappointing thing about Tuesday night is that Rummel came out like, ‘We’re winning this game,’ and we said, ‘Oh shoot, they want to win the game.’ We didn’t compete on their level.
“What this team is made of is grit, determination, getting the loose ball, outworking the other team. That’s who we’ve been the whole year. Then Tuesday night happens, and you sit there and scratch your head.”
The Crusaders now focus on Jesuit at their gym Friday night. The Blue Jays won 68-55 in the first round matchup in the Conlin Gym.
“Their shooting was lights out. Coach Jennings said that was the best they’ve shot all season. They know who they are. They’re gonna run their system. We know their system really well. So it’s good for us to game plan. There are no real surprises in what they do. What they’re banking on is penetrate, pitch, and hit the open shooter. They do some impressive stuff that opens up shooters on the weak side.
“Our defensive concept is to shrink the floor and make it as narrow as possible. Against Rummel, we did a terrible job of shrinking the floor. Once you shrink the floor, there’s only a couple of options. But in the middle of the floor, the opponent can do anything they want.
“I’m running more zone than I’ve ever run. The idea of the zone is to run people off the three-point line. But against Jesuit, you run one boy off the line, and they replace him with another, and then a third, and this one’s knocked down three three’s, this one two three’s, and this one two three’s. In any zone defense, you have to let one opponent loose. Otherwise, you’re giving up the rim.
“They capitalize so well on your mistakes. The matchups are bad for us. Our quicker kids are the ones that are limping right now.
“Jesuit is dealing with injury issues too. They lost a senior to a knee injury that has him out for the season, like our Jordan West.”
Calling all Crusaders! Fill the visitors’ side of the Jesuit gym Friday night and root the Crusaders to a much needed victory."
