Ryon Kramer

The LeBron/Shai NBA effect

Quality 0-4 start in my bracket

Always thought Underwood was a defensive guy. This team is awful defensively. So non-athletic, don’t help, get beat by 2 guys. X’s & O’s are not a strength of this staff

In all my years of broadcasting, I'd never gotten emotional on air until tonight. It was impossible to hold back the tears. Jack Piccione of Tappan Zee lost his father suddenly last Sept. 1. Matthew Piccione died of a heart attack minutes after playing pickleball with friends. He was 51. Over the last three years, I got to know Matthew Piccione fairly well. One day back in 2023, he asked coach George Gaine for my number so he could call me just to say thank you for calling out Jack's contributions during Tappan Zee's championship run. Jack was a role player who averaged maybe 5 points a game as a freshman. But he started and never came off the court. "I know he doesn't score a lot of points," Matthew Piccione said. "But you are one of the only people who appreciates what he does for the team." Matthew Piccione kept a very low profile at games and reinforced in his son to be the emodiment of all the things that make Tappan Zee basketball different than any other program in the state. Play unselfish. Defend. Be coachable. Defend. Draw charges. Pass. Sacrifice for your teammates. And, of course, defend some more. Nobody in the history of Tappan Zee basketball since I have been covering has ever played that role better than Jack Piccione. He's the best best defensive player in the program and is on an elite level of players I've been around in Section 1. When Matthew died in September, I worried about Jack. I wondered what his senior season might be like. The person most responsible for instilling and reinforcing the values that made Jack great was now tragically gone. Tonight, Jack Piccione scored 5 points in the Section 1 Championship game. FIVE. Yet not only did his team because of his performance, I had the honor of handing him the MVP Trophy to prove it. In the final 90 seconds of the game, I shared the story of Matthew Piccione and his passing. You will hear the emotion in my voice. It's genuine, not because of any relationship I had with him. You just can't be a sports parent and not relate to loving your child and always wanting what's best for them. Because here's what I am going to tell you. And I really want all parents to read this and remember it: Your kids' youth - not just athletics, but all of it - is short and it's precious. You don't get this time back when it's over. It goes way too quick. And some don't even get to see it to the end. You have a choice: You can spend this period of their lives stressing about how many points they score, what awards or accolades they receive, begging people to vote in the online poll for Player of the Week, emailing the coach and complaining about playing time or lamenting the number of shots they get in a game. Go ahead. You can make all of that important for yourself and your child. Trust me, you won't be alone in doing so. Or you can do what Matthew Piccione did. Sit in the stands and enjoy watching your children compete. Teach them that it's team above all else, stress what it means to sacrifice and ensure them that, when you do those things and have success, the feeling of hanging a banner will far exceed any of the personal accolades think are important. And, sadly, God might choose that you won't be around to see it all anyway. Matthew didn't get to give his son a hug after he won tonight. And Jack didn't get to see the pride in his father's face. Think about that. If you are a parent, try to put your child in Jack's shoes. If God forbid your child was confronted with the same tragedy, you'd want them looking back on this sacred period of their lives the way Jack will forever recall them with his dad. Tonight was complete validation for Jack Piccione and all of the things his father always told him. Jack scored 5 points and won the MVP on his way to becoming the most decorated basketball player in Tappan Zee history. Nobody has ever won more in a TZ uniform than the most unselfish player they've ever had. He wouldn't trade his career with anyone, either. Take a moment to listen to myself and Pleasantville coach Nick Bonura from tonight's @SportsEngine broadcast of @TZeeAthletics @TZhoops

A high school basketball program isn’t judged by how many banners are on the gym wall. It’s judged by how many young men and women walk out of that gym with character, leadership, and a willingness to serve others. That’s the real legacy.

Announcer: Izzo stuck with Fears because he believed he could change Bull, Izzo knew he needed Fears to win that game. If they were playing Northwestern tonight, Fears sits

As a school athletic administrator, today’s rhetoric hits me at my core. I often shy away from commenting on politics or sensitive topics, especially in public spaces. But today’s actions by our President, a leader of the free world, cannot be tolerated. My heart breaks that we continue to see language and rhetoric in many forms that dehumanizes others, and that too often this behavior is rationalized or dismissed. This is not who we should be, and it is not what our young people deserve to see modeled. Athletics teaches accountability, respect, and the importance of team over ego. We tell young people that words matter, that character matters, and that leadership carries responsibility. Those lessons don’t stop at the locker room door. My frustration comes from caring deeply about the example we set. We cannot sit back and tolerate attacks on our own brothers and sisters.  We must do better. We must be better. Enough is enough. There is a better way forward, one rooted in dignity, empathy, and courage. I choose to stand for that path and to model it every day for the students and communities we serve.

This is another gem from Matt Painter on how to have Purdue improve the way they talk to each other on the floor “Watch a bunch of has beens at Noon” This dude is awesome (Via @BoilerBurner1 🎥)

@RealCoachHarris And the just play constant games without enough practice. Then you have so many coaches who have no clue how to teach M2M. They can’t teach zone either, but you can hide your deficiencies easier.

I believe Kids struggle playing man to man these days because of the lack of pickup basketball played at the park vs the old heads.

Nebraska plays pretty good half court man defense with no athletes. You don’t have to cop out to zone. Learn to teach man.

If I could change ONE thing about high school athletics it would be for far more players and parents to enjoy the ride where they are and not focus on college so heavily. If that’s meant to be, it will be.

High school basketball doesn’t require a fancy game plan or an all-star lineup. It takes toughness on defense. Unselfishness on offense. And a group of players who are willing to outwork anyone in their way.

@CoachHackGO Worst defense in all of basketball, IMO. So many holes and open shots

I’ve used a 1-3-1 half court trap my entire coaching career… And the offense has tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to make this pass the entire time

Where’s Rome Odunze’s dad tonight?

Watched a rec league game this morning & American basketball needs better leaders. Kids playing zone packed in so kids throwing up threes. Zone has no place in basketball. It has become the defensive easy way out. It’s used by teams that can’t defend & coaches that don’t know how to teach man.

Bears defense is 🐶 💩

Pats vs Bears Super Bowl?

Bears are proof that coaching matters.

Being a Bears fan is the worst

@BleedCubBlue311 Absolutely! Burn out rate is high in all sports

@CoachKramer34 Also playing fatigue for kids is a real thing that I believe is leading to a decline in the number of athletes in small schools

Or maybe stop kids playing year round from the ages of 8-18.