Chapter 54

While Sharon and Ryan were passionately formalizing their status as a couple, Cheryl and Cal were talking quietly on the hide-a-bed in the tiny front room of Maddie and Hector's apartment.

"You seem a little preoccupied, Hon," Cheryl told him.

"Sorry. You know, Dr. Carson, some of the stuff you said last week has been rattling around in my head all week."

"Such as?"

"Well, your comment about significance, for one thing," he said. "I guess I have been a little hung up on that."

"When you're forced into life and death situations at such a young age, that's understandable," she assured him.

"In my mind, I've never thought of sports as anything but my passion, never something that could be my life's work..."

"... because it didn't pass the significance test, right?" she finished the thought for him.

"Right, Doc. Do you know, I've honestly never thought about becoming a coach. Much as I admire Coach Meinert, it never made me think about doing it myself."

"So, you've been watching basketball practice and our games in a different light this week, huh?"

"Good! You've got this all figured out. We can do something more interesting, then," he teased, making a show of rolling on top of her.

"Cal! I don't want to make noise so they can hear us," she protested.

"You mean hear us over the silence coming from the bedroom?" he joked. They both laughed as unmistakable sounds could be heard.

Rolling back to lie beside her, he became serious again. "You're right. I've always loved the strategy and the details of the sports, but because they affected my play and our chances of winning. The other day, watching the basketball scrimmage, I tried to watch as if it was my job to see problems and correct them. I liked it."

"You know enough about volleyball now to see things at our games, too," she said.

"Uh, huh! The way the coach changed the strategy to focus on their back row was brilliant."

"Coach never said a word," Cheryl informed him. "That was all Maddy."

"Wow! She'll probably be a coach before I am. The funny thing is, I started to feel different when I was in the scrimmage. I mean, from Ken's training and everything, I've always tried to be aware of where everyone was on the floor and how they were moving. But all of a sudden, it looks different - more patterned - less random."

"Did it make playing more enjoyable?" she asked.

"Definitely. Oh, and you were right about the coach not being like Coach Hall. He is more than happy to take a break-away basket when we can get it. If I can get some substantial playing time, I think I can convince him to push the ball a lot more."

"Cal, who's the best guard on the team, right now, counting yourself?"

"Talent-wise, probably Pat, but not in impact on the team's success."

"Oh?"

"Because passing is not his first option coming up the court, the other players do not seem as alert and aggressive. At times they seem resigned to having to just watch him shoot."

"And what would you do differently?" she probed.

"I would always pass. If I shoot, it should be because I got open and one of the others passed it to me. If the other guys know that I will pass every time up the floor, I think they will be more on their toes."

"Just so you get plenty of those long swishers," she cooed. "What were you saying about doing something else? I don't think noise from us is an issue any longer."

The football coach must have owed the basketball coach something big. At practice Monday, Cal was told that he was joining the team and suiting up for the away game Tuesday night. That was quite a surprise, given that football practice started up again on Wednesday.

In a further surprise, Cal was put on the first team when scrimmage started, something that Pat had not yet been given a chance at. The supposed starting guard was the one facing certain academic ineligibility, and the coach had apparently decided that he needed to develop a replacement. The looks Cal got from Pat could have blistered Cal's skin, except that he felt too much satisfaction.

Cal remembered his bedtime chat with Cheryl, and he came up-court the first time looking to pass. In one of those first impressions that can mean so much, the small forward broke toward the basket and Cal hit him with a perfect pass for a layup.

On the following defensive sequence, Cal anticipated the rebound and the same forward hit him with a lead pass. Cal broke cleanly up the floor, but one of the guards from the second team had anticipated well. He was faster than Cal and had the angle. In the momentary backward glance that Cal could afford, he caught a flash of a dark jersey moving up fast behind him. The first team wore the dark jerseys in practice.

Using all of the speed he could muster, Cal went for the layup, knowing that the pursuing defender would certainly block the shot. As he lifted his right arm as if to push the ball to the backboard, though, his left hand was bouncing the ball backward, hard enough so that it bounced high.

From playing with the Roberts brothers and Mahmound in high school, Cal knew that few things generated more goodwill with teammates than setting them up for a slam. The man trailing him took the high bounce in stride and rammed it home. Both Cal and the erstwhile defender were carried out of the way by their momentum.

This was practice, and the players generally muted their reactions. However, there was no way to miss the grin that Cal received from his teammate.

On the next offensive sequence, Cal's other guard did a nice circle move and broke right down the circle. Cal got the ball to him, but a defender move into position in time. Cal had moved around the circle and when the other guard was stopped, he saw Cal open for a three. After a nice kickout pass, Cal sank it.

After fifteen minutes, Cal was moved to the second squad and a gloating Pat was put onto the first team as point guard. Cal had to guard Pat and he was looking forward to it. He considered his volatile opponent to be very predictable.

Pat knew that he should have a one-on-one advantage over Cal in both speed and size. Unfortunately, all that was on his mind the first time he brought the ball up was showing up Cal, not managing the team efficiently.

One of the things that Cal had learned in football was to compensate for his comparative lack of speed by never stopping his motion. If he was moving in the proper direction, he could usually be in good defensive position, even against a very speedy opponent. In football, if the opponent got past him, Cal probably would not be able to catch him. In basketball, because he played outside, there was usually help behind him, should Pat or another opponent get past him.

Cal also remembered Pat's shooting motion, and his need to bring the ball up from waist-high for his best shooting rhythm. Thus, Cal's strategy was to stay very close to Pat, never letting him execute his preferred shooting motion, and hoping for a chance to slap the ball away.

Ryan had been put in the second team when Cal was moved. Because Ryan knew Pat's style, Cal told Ryan "I'm playing him close. If he gets by, he's all yours. I'll drop back and cover your man."

It was fun. For the next fifteen minutes, Pat did everything he could to try to embarrass Cal. A couple of times, he got by Cal, and Ryan covered perfectly. On three occasions, Pat went up for outside shots over Cal, but with his rhythm broken, they all missed. Twice, Cal slapped the ball away from Pat, one steal resulting in a breakaway basket.

Pat ended up only passing when Cal had him stymied. The second team outscored the first for the period, and Cal sank two of three wide-open three-pointers. The old cartoon image of steam coming out of a person's ears was almost personified in Pat's demeanor at the end of practice.

The Tuesday night game was a short flight away, and since it was non-conference, the team flew in just in time for warmups and would return that night to avoid missing any more classes. Cal's team was once again a pre-season warmup for a major conference school, and not expected to be very competitive.

During the flight, the coach called Cal up to an empty seat beside him. "What have you seen that you don't like about our style of play?" the coach asked without preamble.

Cal wondered how diplomatic he should be, but decided not to hold anything back. "Well, you know I would prefer to run every time," he said, "but I don't think you would be comfortable with that. It think your offense would work even better if we pushed the ball harder, though. If we walk the ball up, it just gives the defense a chance to get set."

"But I don't have enough depth to keep quality players on the floor if we run their legs off," the coach complained.

"That's not something I would be willing to worry about," Cal stated bluntly. Then "Sorry! I guess getting tired isn't much of a problem to me."

"So I hear," the coach responded. "See anything about using players that I could do better?"

This time, Cal just looked at the coach and said "I'm not sure I should comment on that. I'm the new kid, after all."

With a snort, the coach shot back "Let me be honest with you, Banner. I like this job, but I've stalled out. I've improved things a lot since I got here, but if we don't contend this year or next year, I'll be out. Now, two of my better players are flunking out. I'm not too proud to look for help wherever I can find it. You always seem to be watching everyone. I want your opinion."

"The team plays too much like football," Cal blurted out.

"Huh? We're not that physical," the coach objected.

"That's not what I mean. Both on offense and defense, they seem to set up as if waiting for the snap of the ball before breaking into motion."

"Damn! I never thought of it that way," the coach mused.

"The way I like to play, you're either playing offense or defense every second the ball is in play. That means you're always moving, trying for any little advantage," Cal said.

"But there's my depth problem again."

"I think once the guys see how energizing it is to out-hustle the opponents, they won't feel as tired. Over time, their conditioning will improve."

"Okay. What about individual players?" the coach asked.

"You really want my opinions?"

"I asked, didn't I?"

"Okay," Cal said somewhat reluctantly. "To start with, I think you might as well step up the tempo because you don't have the bigs for a true power game." The coach grunted at that, and Cal went on. "Buck, the center, could score a lot more points than he does."

"He's mainly there for defense, rebounding, and setting picks," the coach explained.

"But have you seen him run? He can really move. Also, if you let him isolate, he has a good drop step. I think he could do a lot of one-on-one."

"Are you saying I've got a potential scorer that I'm not using?" Cal just shrugged. "Interesting," the coach said almost to himself. "I hope you can stand some crap from some teammates. You're starting tonight."

As he watched the host team warming up, Cal wondered what he was really doing there. They were very big and very athletic. He found himself wishing that Cheryl could be there, but that had been impossible. Then he realized exactly what she would have said to him. She would have told him that he had felt outsized and outclassed on the football field but look how that had turned out.

Confidence was seldom a problem for Cal, but he had never been in quite this situation before. He had only been practicing for a few days. Sure, he had been watching the other players, but he did not know their strengths and weaknesses that well. He had only recently decided to play, after having put it out of his mind months earlier. It was just so sudden.

Then, all of his years of training with Ken came back to him. Ken had always stressed that he would never be able to predict what came at him. That was the whole purpose of his intensive training, to be able to react quickly, decisively, instinctively to any situation that arose. Compared to the attempts to kidnap Ismi, the attempted rapes of Cheryl and then Rebecca, the attempted revenge from the three thugs, what was a basketball game that he had practiced too little for?

There was that issue of significance again. This was not a life-threatening situation. It was just a game. It was significant, though, because it could be part of his life's work. There were things that he could do that gave him advantages, even if he was the shortest man on the floor. He could shoot as well as anyone. He could take any kind of physical pounding and give it back in full measure. He could see and feel the flow of the game around him and decide where he could have the most impact. He could keep his emotions under control and focus everything on the play.

Another thought came to him. What had won him the safety job on the football team? It was his ability to hit very hard. On the basketball court, hitting people earned fouls. However, Dex Madison had purposely drawn a charging foul early in every game, and it was always a hard charge that the defender was not likely to forget. As a supposedly non-contact sport, basketball was still a game where intimidation was very valuable. Cal did not plan to spend much time inside, but his opponents did not need to know that.

In the huddle just before the tip-off, Cal made his first move to take control of the team. "Listen, Guys: first time up the floor, clear out the middle. I'm coming through, hard! I hope somebody gets in the way so I can set him on his ass. After that, we play it smart, OK?"

The opponents got the tip-off and scored quite easily. They were looking loose and relaxed as Cal brought the ball up. He passed quickly over to the other guard, signaling clearly that he wanted the ball back. When the return pass came, he went into an obvious shooting motion. His defender charged at him to block the shot, which Cal intended to be just a fake.

Sensing that the defender would never be able to hold up and would foul him, Cal went through with the shot, rather than faking. The shot was smothered, but so was Cal. Since he was outside the three-point line, he got three free throws. In the little mini-huddle at the free throw line that was a team tradition, he told his teammates "I didn't plan to shoot. Next time up, let's run a play. I'll hold the charge for a little later." He made all three free throws.

On the next four possessions, Cal passed off, with two passes ending up as assists, and another triggering a scoring play. They were keeping pace with their opponents, but that was not unusual in the early minutes, even with mismatched teams. At another free throw, Cal told the others "If I come up far left, everyone clear right except Buck and stay away until he shoots." Buck looked at him with surprise, but got a glint in his eye.

It worked on the next possession. Buck set up low, just outside the lane. Cal dribbled down the left side until he appeared squeezed against the sideline by his defender. Turning his back to the defender, Cal faked a move toward the back court, then swung a bounce pass around his defender with his left hand. The pass pulled Buck toward the baseline and he instinctively dropped his right foot out and back, giving him leverage on his defender. The timing was good, and Buck was able to continue his swinging motion and went in for a slam. Cal could not remember a bigger smile since Hector's first sack of the year.

Cal decided to try the same play again, and everyone responded properly. This time, Buck made the basket and a foul shot besides. For the next three possessions, Cal came up the middle and passed off to other players.

When he decided it was time to try Buck again, everything looked the same until the defender dropped to the baseline as Cal released the pass. Buck was thinking. He stepped toward the pass this time, saw Cal breaking through for a classic 'give-and-go', and Cal had a rare layup.

Being a believer in the principle of staying with what works until the opponents stop it, Cal came down the left side again. This time, the opposing power forward dropped off of his man to double down on Buck, leaving Cal's forward on the baseline about eight feet on the opposite side of the basket. It was just too good to resist. Instead of faking to the back court and swinging the pass to Buck, Cal did a double fake, finally turning back to his right while his defender lunged to stop the inlet pass. Cal lofted the ball to the right side of the basket. Eyes big in surprise, his forward was able to collect himself enough to rush in and ram home the dunk.

The other team called time, and Buck fairly danced into the huddle. "I ain't never been doubled before!" he chortled.

The coach talked about defense in the huddle. "We're keeping up with them, but we can't score like this all night. We have to stop them some time," he said sternly - and correctly. A few defensive adjustments were discussed.

Cal was not really surprised when the defender who had started against him was replaced by a 'shirt' - a player who had the quickness to stay very close and disrupt the play of the offensive man. It occurred to Cal that this was a better situation for his hard charge than going down the lane.

On the first time up court, he passed casually over to the other guard, then turned and charged as hard as he could toward the lane. He crashed into his defender, but the man had not established position properly. Cal did not drop his shoulder or do any of the other things that caused a charge, so he ended up at the free throw line.

On the very next possession, Cal repeated the same sequence. This time, the defender drew the charge, but after the force with which Cal hit him, his value as a 'shirt' was greatly diminished. Despite his quickness of foot, the 'shirt' was not a very good dribbler, and Cal was able to steal from him and set up their first breakaway basket of the game.

On the next defensive play, Cal took a chance that his man was not a great shooter. Faking a swipe at the ball, Cal dropped quickly down the lane. He was able to block out an opponent who was trying to charge the basket for the rebound, and they were headed right back up the court.

At the next time out, Cal said "Coach, I don't think we can defend these guys straight up. We need to start trapping and taking some chances."

"I agree," the coach answered. "Here's the way we'll work it..."

The trap worked fairly well, even though they had not practiced it much. At the half, they were down only four, much to the surprise of the other team and the crowd.

Midway through the second half, down by six, the coach called time after seeing some of his players with obvious signs of fatigue. "It's time to slow down for a while," he said in the huddle. "I want the ball kicked out to Banner for some threes. Work it around for at least fifteen or twenty seconds first to run off some time. Clancy, Ulrich, you're in!" Pat fairly leaped from the bench while Ryan stood dumbfounded before recovering enough to pull off his warmups and check in with the scoring table.

Cal was happy that Ryan was getting a chance, but he had to discipline himself to treat Pat as any other teammate. On the first possession, Pat used his speed and quick feet to break down the lane. Not even thinking about who it was, Cal hit Pat with a good lead pass and Pat went right to the basket. His shot was slightly deflected and missed. Ryan, however, had anticipated beautifully and crashed between two defenders to grab the rebound. Unable to get up a shot, Ryan kicked the ball out to another player who in turn passed it to Cal.

So far, the possession had consumed barely eight seconds, so Cal did not try to shoot. Instead, he circled to the left side, waiting for Buck to be isolated one-on-one again. Pat had not been in earlier when the isolation strategy was worked out, so he faked until he again broke free down the lane. He timed it well. Buck took the pass from Cal, saw Pat breaking, and hit him for the layup.

Cal was not all that concerned that he had not gotten the shot, and fifteen seconds had been consumed. On the next time up, though, Pat once again broke free and Cal again hit him. This time, a defender came out to cut Pat off. Pat stopped and took a jumper, which he missed, and the other team rebounded.

Before the other team could inbound the ball, the horn sounded, and the coach sent in a sub for Pat. Cal could just briefly see the coach greeting Pat in a manner that was not at all congratulatory. On the next two possessions, everything went as the coach had wanted, with Cal hitting two threes. Up until that point, he had taken just the opening shot and the one layup, so he was not being defended as a scoring threat.

The next time, once the ball went inside, a big man came out to cover Cal, preventing him from getting free for the trey. Signaling for the ball anyway, Cal saw that it was Ryan mismatched against the guard and got the ball to him. Ryan drove to the basket much more aggressively than Cal had ever seen before from him, getting the layup and a free throw.

A few minutes later, two whistles blew frantically and double fouls were issued to Ryan an his man, surprising Cal once again. On the next two plays, Ryan crashed the defensive board for two rebounds, even though he was giving up several inches to two of the offensive players. A couple of plays later, he gained inside positioned and was fouled over the back. Cal watched Ryan more closely and saw him leaning hard into opponents, throwing elbows, slamming hips, and doing all of the others inside combat things that bigger players usually engaged in. The coach left Ryan in for another eight minutes, and when he came out, he looked exhausted, battered, and pumped.

During the last four minutes of the game, Cal's team was struggling to close a deficit that held at four to eight points. With the others obviously tiring, Cal became the first option. Down the stretch, he managed to drop three of four three-pointers and one two-pointer after a nice fake.

Cal hated the very term 'moral victory', but once again, that was what his first game turned out to be. Coach was beyond happy with Cal's performance and with that of the whole team. Cal tried to act happy about their unexpectedly close loss, but it was a loss and he did not need any more of those.