The high school basketball season doesn’t begin until fall, but the groundwork for the upcoming season can be found in the summer team camps.
Seventy varsity, junior varsity and freshmen teams are in Albuquerque this week laying the foundation for their upcoming seasons at the UNM Men’s Basketball Team Camp.
The camp, which began on Sunday, includes teams from New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Arizona. The squads are playing at least 10 games in a four-day span. Large and small schools are divided into divisions at the varsity, junior varsity and freshmen levels. The scrimmages are taking place at Johnson Center and Highland and Albuquerque High Schools.
UNM assistant coach Grant Farmer, the camp coordinator, said the camp gives teams the opportunity to compete against other teams they wouldn’t normally face in the regular season. That makes for more competitive scrimmages. He also said the camp’ ability to draw teams from outside New Mexico has made it popular.
“The team camp here at New Mexico has been very good for the last 15 years, and what made it good was that they drew from out of state,” Farmer said. “Team camps that only get local teams, those teams aren’t as excited to do it because they are playing teams they are going to see during the regular season.”
Steve Hyatt, head coach of Bear Creek (Colo.) High School, has been bringing his team to UNM since the 1980s, when they were conducted under former coach Gary Colson. Hyatt said a key element to the camp is the tight quarters his players stay in, which can make them a tight-knit group. He also said the camp gives coaching staffs a chance to develop better relationships with their players, assess the team’s strengths and weaknesses, and play good teams outside of Colorado.
Hyatt said he’s noticed a different basketball philosophy in New Mexico than in Colorado. New Mexican teams tend to play more aggressively and use pressure defenses, he said, while Colorado teams tend to focus on inside play and kicking the ball out to the perimeter for jump shots.
Hyatt said his Bears controlled the game’s pace and held an edge in rebounding edge in Bear Creek’s 40-31 win against Highland High School Wednesday afternoon.
“We controlled the tempo, which was the main thing,” Hyatt said. “With their style, whoever controlled the tempo was going to win.”
In contrast, this year is Del Norte (Albuquerque) High School’s first time playing at the UNM camp. The Knights, who also participated in Cibola High School’s summer camp earlier this summer, played in Arizona State University’s camp last year.
Assistant coach Adrian Ortega said Ortega said the summer camps are vital to high school programs and added that he found the 10 guaranteed games each team plays helped players learn how to handle different game situations.
“For example, we’ll be in a game with a five-point lead and a minute left, and one of our guys will shoot a three,” Ortega said. “If we can learn from that now for this season, that will help us immensely.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The Knights improved their camp record to 6-3 by defeating Green Mountain (Colo.) High School 30-29 in a scrimmage Wednesday afternoon. Ortega said the team did a good job with its man-to-man defense, especially from the perimeter, and on the offensive boards where they contained the taller Rams.
So far, Albuquerque’s Valley High School leads the large school division with a 9-0 record. Rio Rancho High School is in second with an 8-1 record, followed by Eldorado (Albuq.) High School’s 7-2 mark. Another local school, Hope Christian High School, has dominated the small school division with a 9-0 record. Hot Springs High School, from Truth or Consequences, N.M., was second at 7-3 and Santa Fe Indian School grabbed third at 6-3 with games still to be played on Thursday.
Farmer said the camp has gone very smoothly so far, with the only problems being some referees arriving a few minutes late to games. With as many as 13 games being played at one time, he said it takes a good staff to keep the event moving almost seamlessly from one game to the next. Farmer said his biggest goal is to represent new head coach Ritchie McKay and the UNM basketball program as best he can.
“If things go well and people have a perception of our basketball program and our University that will be positive, then that makes me feel good,” Farmer said. “That’s where I get my satisfaction from.”
