Leadership a big key for the Patriots (03/13/06)

Growing up in Indiana, you inevitably become a part of the basketball culture. Like it or not, most Hoosiers have a better understanding of the game than most of their counterparts in the rest of America.

Ask any Hoosier, for example, what defines a good, well-coached basketball team, and he or she will be able to cite a number of specifics:

•A good, well-coached basketball team is able to come from behind to win. It wins more close games than its loses.

•A good, well-coached basketball team isn’t reliant upon the performance of just one or two players. Its strength runs beyond any five players on the floor and well into the bench.

•A good, well-coached basketball team is confident but never cocky.

•A good, well-coached basketball team plays all four quarters of the game, never coasting and never getting rattled.

•A good, well-coached basketball team hits most of its free-throws, the higher the percentage the better.

If all of this sounds familiar, it ought to.

It’s pretty much a working definition of this year’s edition of the Jay County High School boys’ basketball team, winners Saturday night of the first regional championship in the school’s history.

If the Hoosier is thoughtful, he might also offer the opinion that a good basketball team is defined by its character and that character is instilled by its head coach.

That’s the person who sets the standard and gets the most out of a bunch of kids. In this case, it’s Craig Teagle, a low-key, tough as nails guy who deserves enormous credit for taking Jay County basketball to its current level.

Teagle deserves credit, as well, for not letting the usual carpers and second-guessers who are part of the basketball environment all over Indiana get to him.

Not so long ago Jay County was developing a reputation as a community that was rough on coaches, but Teagle refused to be chewed up and spit out by that nasty process.

He dug in, did his job, and did it well.

Saturday’s regional title belongs to lots of people. Most of all, of course, it belongs to the players.

But we suspect that if you asked them, the first person they’d mention — along with Mom and Dad — as the key to their success is Coach Teagle.

Any basketball-wise Hoosier would tell you the same thing. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]