Antelope Valley College lost last night to a better team. Mt. Sac College beat AVC 73-64. If I had to chose players for basketball talent at every position…except for point guard…AVC has more just plain talent all the way down to the 10th player than Mt. Sac. That didn’t make a difference in the two loses against Mt. Sac. When two teams, very close in talent, play basketball, the team who plays team basketball will win 9 times out of 10. That’s what happened last night.
Nick Bennett, sophomore 2 guard said it all after the game. “We just got to play it hard the whole time.”Egos got in the way and headcases and stuff like that, we just got to play as a team the whole time.” Its tough to beat the best JUCO team in California when your best player can’t make it to walk through before the biggest game of the year so far and is held out of the starting line up. Its tough to win the biggest game of the year so far when your 6th man is more interested in what the crowd thinks of his “style points” on dunks than team defense. It tough to win the biggest game of the year when your back up guys are carping about the above and their playing time.
The pre-season is half done and it is clear what needs to be done to make AVC a team that can beat the best. Coach Chelette is quoted in the AV Press that the current team is not mentally and emotionally tough. Chelette said, “That is something that can be corrected and we will start correcting that.”
In four days AVC heads into the toughest tournament of the year. Can a team become mentally and emotionally tough in 96 hours? We will see this week end won’t we!
player who makes the team at AVC wants to play basketball at the next level. What most of them do not understand is that recruiters from the next level not only are looking for individual talent but maturity, team play, and coachability. Few player are
Newton Chelette was quoted in the AV Press
Antelope Valley College Men's Basketball 
All of the above is true, That’s why it’s often said, “there is no I in t-e-a-m. Unfortunately, it’s apparent that several players on this team do not understand there roles nor their position. We must get better leadership from our point guard. Talent is not the issue in that respect, understanding who to get the ball to in critical situations is. How can you have two of the best player in the entire State who can out jump anyone, who can dunk on anyone, and not put the ball in their hands when they are working hard to establish position in low block. That defies comprehension. How can you not find one of the States best 3pt shooters in critical situations when you need a 3? This too defies comprehension. But most of all, how can a team come together after beating themselves…this they must figure out for themselves to a man. It’s time to put down the ego’s and put on the uniform as a collective. When you play for AVC you play for the Community, you play for the hard work and effort that your Coaches dedicate to teaching you the game. You play for the blood, sweat, and tears, that your parents sacrifice to get you a good education. AVC has one of the most talented teams ever…I hope that each person realized this soon, very soon, or else years later they will look back and wonder how lesser talented teams were able to subdue them. From now on they need to come out with a more focused intent on the task at hand, each game of this tournament we got glimpes of how good they could be, but they were never able to but together a full 40 minutes of TEAM basketball. Let’s hope they figure it out. Let’s hope that we get better refs who won’t carry personal vendettas as AVC was the victim of several dubious calls at critical points in the game. I’m so tired of poor refs. Is to difficult to get “professional” refs? These amateurs that allow constant hand checking, arm barring, and flagrant fouls just don’t get it. One ball headed ref had the guall to eye ball me during a time out as he smiled at me while drinking a cup of water from the Mt. Sac water cooler – it was unspoken communication; he was saying, I’m going to make sure that AVC won’t win this game. He should never be allowed to ref another college game.