Grab Bag: Perspective and Mercy

#5 posting 3.19.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

GRAB BAG
VERBALS
Indiana State's women's basketball team has secured oral commitments from:
Megan Burton, 6-1, Bedford North Lawrence, IN, for 2008; and
Andrea Rademacher, 6-2, Scottsburg, IN for 2009.
Burton is the 28th player from the Indiana 2008 class to verbal a D1 school and 34th overall
Rademacher is the 4th player from the Indiana 2009 class to verbal a D1 school.

COACHING
The St. Louis Park girls basketball position is listed as open.
Mora has a girls basketball position open.

PERSPECTIVE
Here is a message from Columbia Heights Coach Chris Buerman on the birth of his daughter and the complications involved.
Dear Friends and Family,

Jordan Christine was born December 26th, 2007. While labor and delivery went well, we knew immediately that there were many complications with little Jordan. She was transferred to the N.I.C.U. at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis the day after she was born. While there, she was diagnosed with Goltz syndrome. Goltz syndrome is a rare chromosome abnormality that results in multiple birth defects. It is so rare that most of the doctors we’ve talked to have never even heard of it. The list of possible problems associated with this condition seems endless. In Jordan’s case, the most significant problems at this time involve her eyes, skin, left foot, and kidneys. Her eyes are severely underdeveloped. She has already seen 3 different pediatric eye specialists. At this point we don’t know what she can see or how severely her vision will be impaired in the future. Jordan’s skin is very thin and sensitive. The “baby warmer” in the hospital burned her skin, but it is healing over now and hopefully we can avoid any more skin eruptions. Jordan was born without a left foot. She will have to be fitted for a prosthetic when she is about 6 months old. She also will have her kidney function monitored. Fifteen percent of Goltz cases involve mental retardation. So far, we don’t know if this will be the case for Jordan. We have to wait and see how she develops as she grows up.

Thankfully all of the major issues that Jordan is facing right now are not life threatening. Many infants with Goltz syndrome don’t make it as long as she has because their organs don’t function properly. We are relieved and thankful that Jordan is stable, her main organs seem to be functioning properly, and she is eating and gaining weight as a newborn should.
Sorry this announcement came so late. Jordan's website is

http://Caringbridge.org/visit/jordanbuerman

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support as we learn more about our Jordan and her special needs

Coach Chris Buerman, Columbia Heights

IOWA ALL AREA
The Burlington Hawkeye has published their all area team.

The Golden Triangle News Service out of Washington, IA has named their all area team.

ALL CONFERNCE
The Cascades conference in Michigan has named their All Conference team. From the Manchester Enterprise.

Romeo, MI has passed out their end of the year awards.

The All Thumb team has been released by the Huron Daily Tribune.

Three Belding players made the OK Silver All Conference team. From the Greenville Daily News.

VINCENT VIDEO
There is video of the Milwaukee Vincent celebration back at school with interviews and comments from players and coaches from WTMJ.

SUPERIOR CONNECTION
UW Superior had connections to two state tournaments with Colfax, WI coach Joe Doucette and Hayfield, MN coach Fred Kindschy. Greg Granlund, an assistant at Totino-Grace is from Northwestern HS, WI. From the Superior Daily Telegram.

AWARDS
Western Michigan's Tiera DeLaHoussaye (Detroit Country Day) was named Mid-American Conference Female Scholar Athlete of the Week.

WBCA
D1
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was named Region 6 coach of the year and Kristi Smith was on the Region 6 All America Team.
Also making the All American Region 6 team: Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson (South Shore, WI) and Illinois' Jenna Smith (Bloomington Kennedy).

D3
D3Hoops has released their All West Region team. Making the list is Buena Vista's Margo Muhlbauer (IKM, IA); Gustavus' Jess Vadnais (Hudson, WI). St. Thomas' Carrie Embree (Waukee, IA) made the second team.

Vadnais is also one of 40 up for the 2008 Kodak/WBCA All-America Basketball Team for D3.

NAIA
Missouri Valley's Bonnie Johnson (Osseo) made 1st team Heart of America All-Conference and 3rd team All-American in the NAIA

Also Jolene Christensen has been named the new coach at Missouri Valley. She replaces Keith Lindahl.

MERCY RULE
Here is Columbia Heights coach Buerman again with his thoughts on the Mercy Rule

Just some thoughts about a suggested rule change. When I was at Champlin we were 23-5 and had many opportunities to extend huge leads and took great pride on utilizing leads as teaching time. Now at Columbia Heights I find that time even more valuable and don't want to lose it.

As a coach of a program that is fighting hard to rebuild itself, I am terrified the 35 point mercy rule might be established. Our program would NOT benefit from this rule. For my team, playing against the other program's second and third string allows us to teach more effectively. Success against their second and third team is much different than beating up on our second team in practice. Not to mention practices make more sense to the girls when they had some success executing against the second and third string of the other team plus film sessions become far more educational. It has always been my belief it is our responsibility as coaches to use large leads as an opportunity to teach whether you are ahead or behind. The winning team can work with players that typically are backups and only get limited time or allow that hard working individual from practice the opportunity to score their first or only points in a varsity game. In my time as a coach I have never had nor seen a second string that was so good they didn't need to work on good offensive positioning and quality possessions.

Thanks to all who help supply the basketball community with news & information. It has been a busy month or so. If I haven't thanked you properly I apologize. It takes a team to get this site done.

Next up: Tomorrow.