All Talk Sports

During the holidays, I always try to check out some high school basketball tournaments.  Yesterday, I went to a high school girl’s basketball tournament. I arrived late to the game I had planned to watch, as it was already halftime.  The game featured a Division IV team which we will call Team Red, facing a Division I team that we’ll call Team Blue.  As I mentioned before, I arrived to the game at half time.  Team Blue was destroying Team Red 46-5.

At the start of the 2nd half, I noticed Team Blue ran a full court press against Team Red and kept some of their starters in.  They continued to run the full court press the entire 2nd half.  When it was all said it done, Team Blue defeated Team Red with a score of 83-16. There seemed to be no ill will between the coaches and the teams as they shook hands at the end of the game, and no words were exchanged.

So here is the question. Was it bad sportsmanship for Team Blue to continue to run a full court press with most of their starters in the game, or should they have taken the full court press off and not run the score up on Team Red?  Some argue that it’s perfectly fine to continue to run the press because it sends a message to other teams in the tournament. Others however, firmly believe that starters should be taken out, and a full court press should no longer be implemented when the game is out of reach. This is something many high school basketball fans, as well as coaches, have continued to disagree on. It’s Your Call