Last Chance U: Basketball (2021) s02e08 Episode Script
Everything Goes Away
1
You ain't got no trash can?
There are trash bags underneath the,
um
Right behind the refrigerator.
You ready?
Yeah.
Have you touched
all the 48 states yet so far?
Pretty close.
I can probably name
the ones I haven't touched better.
Minnesota, Maine,
Connecticut, Rhode Island.
Just that patch up there
in that top corner?
Pretty much.
I've pretty much hit the rest of 'em.
That's my dad.
Right now, he's a truck driver.
Just drives a truck around the country,
dropping off loads.
But before that, my dad played basketball.
He coached at Pasadena City,
West LA, Mount SAC, and Oxnard.
During season,
he's working out with me,
no matter what team it is,
trying to help me,
giving me tips and pointers,
just making sure I can be
the best player I can be.
Oh, he did ask me
about Cal Poly Pomona today.
- What about it?
- Just asked me how do I like it.
Cal Poly's got a good program.
They got a good program.
That's what he said.
He was like, "It's not so much"
He said that it's not always
about going D1 and stuff like that.
I was like, "Coach, I understand."
That's why I chose to go D2
the first time.
Everything you trying to do,
civil engineering,
that's a perfect school for that.
I know. I already
There's me coaching.
He was just always around in the gym.
That's my little road dog,
my little buddy.
But then when everything happened
between me and his mom,
he came with me.
They did a good job hiding
the problems they had
'cause I didn't know
no problems was going on literally until
middle of the night,
my dad came into my room,
and I just woke up,
and my dad was standing there.
He just told me everything
was gonna be all right, and he loved me,
and just to go back to sleep.
And he was gone in the morning.
I had no clue what was going on.
I mean, I didn't realize
until later on that day or the next day.
I went looking on my bike
just around the neighborhood.
I was a kid.
I didn't know what I was doing.
But just riding my bike looking for him,
thinking like I would find him.
My mom still had the house,
but, even to this day,
that house never has felt the same.
It just felt empty.
It just never felt right.
Something missing.
Was it your choice
to live with your dad?
It was my choice.
He was my best friend,
like, out of everybody.
When stuff started going south,
he was the only person I found comfort in.
Me and my little sister
were joint custody.
After it first happened,
he moved somewhere.
He medically retired,
like, eighth, ninth-grade year.
We got evicted junior year.
We wasn't getting
his full retirement check
that he was supposed to get.
We had no place.
So I was at my teammates', or
And he was in his car,
or sleeping in the gym
at one of the schools in the office.
I was like, "I'm gonna do whatever I can
to make sure I'm there for my kids."
Um, so if that meant
you know, a lot of hotel stays
If that meant, like, "Okay, you go here,
or you stay with this friend,
or you stay with this relative,
and I'm in a car,"
I did what I had to do
to make sure I was around.
So I never felt like I had a home.
That's pretty much it.
Sorry.
I mean, on my mom's side,
they still had the house,
but like I said, it felt empty, and then
my dad, bouncing around
between house to house,
trying to get back on his feet.
Just living with him,
there was a few times where
we found apartments
and stuff like that, but
nothing ever consistently for a long time.
My 24-hour gym membership was my shower.
The basketball court was
where I worked out.
Used the shower to shower some days,
and just sleep in my car.
My parents thought
I was staying with my teammate,
but one thing they always taught me
was, "Don't overstay your welcome."
There would be days
where, yeah, I'm over here,
but, you know, I'm going
to the 24-hour parking lot.
I'm working out for hours,
and at nighttime,
till, you know, time to shower,
get a couple hours in of sleep,
and then pop back up
for school the next morning.
When I'm playing basketball,
everything goes away.
Everything.
It's peaceful out there, like,
it takes my focus off of
everything I have in life.
I think that's why I love it so much.
I think that's why it's my therapy.
Did you take a trip
before you went to Portland?
Nah, Portland kinda pressured me
into "don't take no visits."
- How'd that work?
- They wanted me to decide on the spot.
- Right.
- They said, "Oh yeah."
- "Two weeks, the offer might be gone."
- Right.
But I got kinda rushed into it, I guess.
Made a bad decision.
- That's business.
- Yeah.
You know, they try to talk all this
"We care about the kids" stuff.
- They're competing for talent.
- Yeah.
And do you have a clearer picture of
what you want this time versus last time?
Yeah. Learning more about that.
How many years they got?
What type of role?
- Who's coming off this next year?
- Right.
- How long this coach about to be here?
- There you go.
Or is this coming
from a style of play too?
Mm-hmm. It's just not like,
"I'm so happy to be here."
Yeah, "I'm so happy to be here.
Oh my God, I'm going D1."
Right.
I think Bryan might've said
something similar happened to him
like that at SC.
- Yeah.
- Season is not over yet.
Still wheeling and dealing
that needs to take place.
Trying to just close it out.
We're almost done, so
Couple weeks left,
just trying to stay positive.
'Cause, like, honestly, I know
none of us here really want to lose that,
just because of what we've been through
over this past year.
We know no other team
has done what we've done. So, like
Kinda got that chip on the shoulder a bit,
so I'm excited to go into this next week.
I was on the phone with Rutgers yesterday
and Drexel the day before that.
So I'm just looking at my options
right now,
trying to get these visits set up
for after the season, so
I'm trying to get right on it.
As soon as the season ends,
I'm about to start going on visits, so
'Cause all my classes are online,
so I got all this time.
You feel
you're gonna be comfortable with
the opportunities you have?
Oh yeah, definitely.
I'm happy with the options
I have right now, so
Looking good. They're only gonna go up
when we close the season,
so it's gonna look a lot better.
- What's up?
- What's up, Coach?
Coaches will be coming in,
and then we'll go from there, man.
Yeah, there's a lot of people
that like you, but it's up and down.
And then, right when you started
getting going, then you tweaked your leg,
right when it was a big role
was starting to be carved out.
So, where do you want to go?
I want to go
Like, realistically right now,
where do you wanna go?
Well, I don't have
any specific colleges I want.
But I definitely want somewhere
where I'mma have a big role.
- I mean
- Like what? Give me a conference, school.
- If I was to call a school
- Pac-12.
Who would you want me
to call right now, that's realistic?
- Like, if I call
- Pac-12.
If I call UCLA,
they're not listening to me.
- I don't care who I got on my roster.
- Yeah.
Give me realistic.
If you say I need to do my job
and call these schools and say,
"Demetrius Calip is available."
"He played at Taft.
He played at Illinois Chicago."
"He played here,
and this is what I think of him."
"What do you think of him,
and do you guys have
an opportunity for him?"
Is that what should happen?
Them to get their eyes on me?
Yes.
Them to think about me.
'Cause if nobody thinks about me,
then I can't go nowhere.
- What's up, bro? What's the latest?
- Just chillin'.
Let's see
what you looking like, bro.
So I mean, it ain't You're not too bad.
I mean, you 35% from three.
52% from the floor, which is good.
I talk with There's a bunch of guys
that have shown interest.
You just gotta make sure
that you finish the academic stuff.
That's my biggest concern right now.
March 13th discussion,
April 3rd discussion due.
That's two classes I looked at. You got
I'm doing it.
I just missed some.
You in a desperate situation
where you can't miss nothing.
You trying to go Division I,
even Division II,
you gotta pass this stuff.
I'mma get it done.
Don't worry. I'm getting on that.
I'mma get it done.
I heard that before, Dez. Come on.
I'm not thinking about trying
to win to get to the state championship.
I need to win Saturday
so that I can communicate more.
And what better time than right now,
when there's one game and you're done,
and I have their undivided attention?
I can make
a big impression on 'em right now.
Us coaches can speak into
their lives right now.
I only got a couple days to do it.
You coming. You here.
With that part, I give you credit for.
You show up.
I can see in your face every day
what you looking like.
I just want some minutes.
I'm trying to get some minutes.
I mean,
it's hard to just come in here
and be like You feel me?
I know you feel me. I still
I can't help but see
the desperation and see the fear
that they're gonna be left out,
and I can't help but do what I need
to do to help 'em get a scholarship.
At times, bro, I do be sitting
on that bench like,
"Damn, why didn't I just go
to this school and score 30?"
But then I be thinking, "No,
maybe God trying to teach me something."
But you just gotta make it work, bruh,
'cause ain't no point to stop now.
All I want is
a good scholarship for me.
That's been my focus the whole time.
I want to get out of ELAC,
not look back, go to a winning school.
It's concerning 'cause, like,
am I gonna get something out of this?
If I do somewhere like,
in fucking New York or, like, Florida,
when I have to be out here for my son,
I gotta make something happen.
At the beginning,
I was sitting there crying
whether or not
I was gonna play again or not.
But now, it's whether or not
I can get to the next school.
A lot of my life
has been filled with work,
but just not translatable work.
You know what I mean?
Like, it doesn't go anywhere.
With things starting
to fall into place more,
it's easier to look back on the work
that you've put in and be proud of it.
'Cause now you see the reason for it.
I'm looking in your eyes.
I still don't believe you think
you know that you can play.
If I didn't think I had a future in this,
I would've quit basketball
a long time ago.
You gotta trust,
and if you can finish, bro,
you got a you got a legit shot.
Coming here before the season started,
I was like,
"This is only gonna be a one-year trip."
So I do not plan on coming back.
I plan on going to a D1.
High major. I mid major.
I just want to go to a school
that wants me.
I'm not really concerned
with personal stats
'cause they've gotten people off
that average four points.
I average eight.
If you don't win, you don't go nowhere.
You can average 30.
If you don't win,
you don't get to a good school.
As the playoffs go by
and we keep winning games,
it's definitely gonna open up
a lot of opportunities for everybody.
That's what we working to, for real.
Shit. Win so everybody can eat.
I believe in us.
Everybody wants to see
other people succeed,
which, you don't
find that on a lot of teams.
It's a little bit different
than it was two years ago.
It's even worse
in terms of the scholarship situation.
There is a hair chance
that you get a scholarship.
All right, I've been doing this
for 20 years. I was a Division I coach.
There's a language
that needs to be spoken.
Coach Ken's got it. I got it. Coach Rob.
And, if there's not communication there,
you can mess it all up.
Anybody calls you, you talk to
and act like you want to go there.
It could be a Division 30 school,
Division whatever.
The lowest of lowest,
you know what I'm saying?
It could be whatever.
You talk to 'em, and you make them
want you, and you let us know.
Yeah, it's a big deal.
We want to win State.
I want to say
that I'm a state championship coach,
and we're a state championship program,
and raise the banner,
but I'mma have another chance
to win a state championship.
I'mma still be coaching.
Some of the guys,
their careers will be done.
But guess what? If we win a game,
I have more time
that their eyes are wide open,
and I can speak more life into 'em.
They still need
more direction and instruction.
They're gonna listen right now
because there's this desperation
that we have to win against West LA.
It's one game and done.
That's a steal, man!
Rebound!
- You got me!
- Good rebound!
Hey! Good pass, good cut!
Listen to me. I'm not gonna get all deep,
but put it in perspective.
This potentially could be
the last time you ever do this drill.
For some of you guys, y'all gonna move on.
For some of you guys are gonna stay.
But for this season,
all the work that you've done,
it is March.
It's now March.
We shouldn't be talking about energy.
We shouldn't be talking about intensity.
We shouldn't be talking about
what this game means for us.
Get active. Be a leader.
Get active! Get active! Get active!
Get in somebody's face.
Set the tone defensively.
Set the tone defensively.
I would consider
our program elite.
We're winning over 20 games a year.
We're in the top 10 in the state.
It's like seeing your vision
come to light.
You know, you win a big game,
or you start winning some playoff games,
and then you make a little bit of noise,
and it's, um
You know, it's like, okay, all right,
this is exactly what we planned on.
We gotta rebound
every freaking possession!
Everything matters!
I've always been known for being
a program starter or a program changer.
When I took this job as a head coach,
I'm looking through archives,
trying to find
when did they have good seasons.
I got here in 2015.
You know, year by year, it's slowly been
this slow grind, this slow process.
And now I think we're where we wanna be.
Coach Mosley and myself, I've known him
from when I was a Division II coach,
and he was at Cal State Bakersfield.
No one can ever understand
what we go through
as far as a college coach
or a younger, you know, Black male coach.
Just the pressure we put on ourselves,
what we're trying
to get out of our students.
What we see with our vision.
It's so many emotions
that you can't explain.
There's a handful of us, you know,
African-American coaches.
West LA coach, we call him "Truck,"
being one of 'em.
But just like myself, Truck had
a situation where he's part-time.
They gave him this part-time job.
There's not as much support as you need.
It's just kind of a mirror
of what I've gone through myself.
He went in and fought and clawed and said,
"We gonna do whatever it takes to win."
And he has the same vision to see
those young men be successful,
whatever it takes.
Let's talk about ball pressure.
We wanna be in pressure.
We wanna be in people's faces.
I didn't come
to this program to say,
"I just roll out the balls
and let me do my time."
I came here to start a program
and to actually win.
So this game is
it's gonna be one for the ages.
Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. This is
the difference between winning and losing.
- Call Press O.
- O. O.
Right there. That's where we lose.
Right? You're not gonna beat anybody
from here on out.
Like, it's gotta be locked.
It's gotta be like this.
- So, if you call Press O Call Press
- O! Press O!
Wait. Now pop. Boom.
Okay? So, your urgency
every single time. All right?
Playoffs, man. I mean, I don't know.
Everything has to be sense of urgency
to get the separation. Here we go.
- Come on!
- Let's go!
- C'mon.
- Corey!
It's gonna be a good one. If they
win this game, a lot of dreams come true.
Yeah. This is huge.
This would be
the toughest game they got left.
- Right.
- I don't care who else we play.
This'll be the toughest game we got left.
- This is the state championship.
- This is state championship, so
Good.
Good job, DC!
Cut!
Stay behind me! Stay behind me!
Fellas, this is what
we didn't do against Cerritos.
When we had them dudes
on the rope, we got sloppy.
We can't get sloppy
because they're going to make a run.
They are going to make a run.
But when they make the run,
okay, make it run,
and we still up nine or ten. Okay?
Not, make your run,
and now the game is a one-point game.
I'm telling you.
Let me tell you something.
If you don't make a shot,
just rebound the hell out of the ball
and get stops,
and then, all of a sudden,
shots will start going into the basket.
Trust me. Dez knows.
Dez knows. You know what I'm saying?
At the beginning, Dez started rebounding.
All of a sudden, this fool is wet,
making threes and doing all that.
Rebound the ball.
Rebound the ball. Rebound.
You cannot take our life away
and give them life by allowing them
to get putbacks and all that kinda stuff.
Play how we need to play
to win the state championship.
We have to win. We have to win
to get to that state championship.
We gotta be in the state championship.
There's no other option.
All right? That's just what we do.
We're going tonight, when we finish,
they gonna send me the email tonight
with the hotel so I can book our hotel
so we can be ready to go.
Everybody pursue rebounds
and let our length lead it back.
Here we go. Let's go.
We got food in there. Here we go.
- "Family" on three! 1, 2, 3!
- Family!
Let's go eat.
Eat it all, guys!
One, two, three, four ♪
Hello and welcome
to Culver City, California,
on the campus of West Los Angeles College.
Tonight, it's the Sweet 16
with round three
of the SoCal Regional Final.
This game will determine who goes
to West Hills Lemoore
for the state championship tournament.
So many people in here
that want us to lose.
I agree. You can feel it.
So many people in here
want us to lose, man.
It's a hood game right here.
This is a hood game.
Let's get it! Let's get it!
Let's get it! Almost showtime.
Let's get it. Let's get it.
With roughly ten minutes
to go till tip-off,
we want to welcome everybody again
to West LA College
Let's go!
You feel me? Yeah.
- Come on, man.
- They know we here.
They know we here.
I don't want to talk too much.
The biggest thing tonight is playing hard.
Don't get caught into the highs and lows,
and let them be rah-rah, they rah-rah.
Let them scream and holler
and all that kinda stuff.
But we gotta play hard, and you guys
gotta rebound the hell out of the ball.
I'm just telling you, you gotta rebound.
If you miss, that might be
the rebound that puts us in trouble.
Yesterday after shootaround,
I kind of, um
I got to the point where I started
to have to turn my phone off
because everybody wanted to put
their own little story line.
They're talking about the best recruiter
we got at West LA versus
the best recruiter they got at East LA.
Myself versus Coach Mosley,
who I've known for a long time.
East versus West.
Y'all don't owe me nothing.
You guys have already done your work.
You guys played a heck of a season.
You guys are third round of playoffs,
Sweet 16.
You guys don't owe me anything.
You guys owe it to yourselves.
Let's go out there
and have a fucking hell of a game.
My expectation is,
I'm preparing in my mind for next week.
We gonna take care of business tonight.
Bring it in.
- "Family" on three. One, two, three!
- Family!
Let's go!
Our AD
has already got your rooms.
I have already packed
my underwear and packed my discipline.
You guys can pack, do the same tonight.
What is left to do?
Destroy ELAC.
"West" on 3, "Dubs" on 6!
- 1, 2, 3!
- West!
- Four, five, six!
- Dubs!
Yes, sir!
Thankful and grateful
you could join us
as we are about
two and a half minutes away from tip-off.
The battle for Los Angeles
will be tonight.
The road to State
runs through Culver City.
Let's lock in. Let's lock in.
Everybody came here for an opportunity,
right?
- Be on a big motherfucking stage, right?
- Yep.
It don't get no motherfucking bigger.
We the king of LA. They say they run LA.
They full of shit. They full of shit.
Top foot up, help your brother.
Help your brother.
They get one fucking shot,
and we going the other way. We executing.
And we playing grown man ball.
We in the paint all fucking game.
All fucking game. Let's go.
C'mon, all right?
Don't go until I go, all right?
Don't go until I go. Get it!
We are under way!
Round three fight!
Whitlock passes it left side to Cofield.
Cofield to the corner to Whitlock.
Whitlock will dribble out of the corner.
Kicks it to the corner Cofield.
Cofield, three, way off.
Rebound, Wildcats.
Wildcats sprinting the other way.
It's Williams from the wing to the lane.
Cofield comes from behind,
but a putback attempt
by the center, Elijah Charles.
- Heads up! Trap!
- Trap!
- Trap!
- Trap!
Here's Whitlock.
Throws a football pass way into the front.
- It goes out of bounds.
- Here we go!
Poor pass.
Get it back, Damani!
That's on me! I'm going!
Let's go, Damani!
D! Guard your man!
Stay! Guard!
Coming, Tyrelle! Shuffle, Tyrelle!
Back screen!
Right wing behind the arc,
it's Davis back on top to Clarke.
Clarke launches a three.
That's good.
Seven to two, West LA.
Can the Huskies survive on the road
and keep the season alive?
Williams is pure from three-point land.
Ten to four now.
Let's go, Damani!
Huskies got numbers, a five-on-four.
Whitlock stops at the elbow, will pop.
What the fuck is he doing, dawg?
What the hell is he doing?!
- Oh my God.
- Oh my God.
Come on, guys!
Mani Hey. Come here, come here.
I want you to push it,
but, remember, get it back spaced.
- Yeah.
- And make 'em chase us.
You know what I'm sayin'? Have a seat.
Stay in your lane.
You going in the middle, nothing there.
You gotta stay lane, keep it side.
Good shot, Relle!
My bad. My bad. My bad.
Just play disciplined.
I'm telling you, it'll open up later
if you play disciplined now.
Then that'll be there.
number 33, Elijah Charles!
Defense! Defense!
Defense! Defense
X, Dez! X! X, Dez!
- Williams to the corner, Mayes.
- Post up!
He's off the mark.
Washington with the rebound.
Quickly over the logo,
left to right is Washington.
Washington, runner off the glass!
Yeah, Dez!
Huskies into the frontcourt.
They go down low to Phillips.
Phillips, against the double team,
gets rejected.
Hunt goes up, left hand. Does that count?
It does.
So Hunt cuts the deficit to four.
- B.
- Yep?
- Joshy?
- Yeah.
Sub! Sub! Sub! Sub! Sub! Sub!
Let's go, Bryan!
Young on top against Gladney,
pushes it left side.
Dribbling down the baseline,
it's Muhammad.
- Muhammad will lose the dribble.
- Travel! Ah!
And will be charged with a walk.
Turnover.
Langston back to Gladney.
In the corner, it's Sanders.
That is good from three-point land.
- 16 to 14, 11:45 left.
- Defense! Defense!
There's Gladney attacking
on the baseline to Langston.
Langston on the left side,
gets an easy layup.
Tie ball game, 16 all.
- 11:10 left.
- Lock up, guys! Lock up, guys!
- First half.
- Let's go!
Defense! Defense!
- Push off.
- Yeah.
Offensive foul called
against the Wildcats.
Gladney on the far sideline.
It's out.
Attacks the lane,
runner bouncing around everywhere.
Gladney gets it,
right in front of the cup.
- ELAC, 21, Wildcats, 18.
- Defense! Defense! Defense!
9:15 to go.
Husky faithful chanting, "Defense!"
Sideline, Young,
getting locked down in the corner.
Rejected!
Shemar for who?
Gotta be, uh, Jon.
He's been out there the longest.
- It's you.
- One shot.
- Let's go, Mar!
- Let's go, Mar-Mar!
He's gotta defend.
Shemar, you gotta guard.
- Jon!
- In for East LA, number three!
- Huskies 23, Wildcats 20.
- Stack! Stack! Stack!
7:50 left.
Gladney will dribble around the arc.
- He's on the right wing. On top to Morrow.
- Five, four
Five seconds on the shot clock.
- Shoot it!
- Gladney, corner, lifts for three.
Barely grazes the rim.
Poor shot there.
Into the hands of Clarke.
Clarke right to left.
He'll attack from the wing to the lane,
tries to tomahawk it.
Ref,
how you can't call that one?
- He You can't do this stuff!
- Hey!
- DC!
- Gotta get by him.
Fucking block, baby!
And going up with that weak shit!
You good?
He grabbed my arm I was gonna Oh my God.
Next time,
kick that motherfucker in the face.
Pick it up, folks, for your
Wildcats number two, Justin Williams!
- No, Mar!
- A steal in the backcourt!
And a slam by Roy Clarke!
Two-hand flush off the steal.
Washington on top to Phillips.
Phillips nearly gets the ball stripped
he does!
Into the hands of Mayes.
From the wing to the lane.
Euro step gets blocked,
but the putback attempt
right side by Clarke.
Separate! We need to separate!
Hey, bring Jon back!
- Hey! Hey!
- Bring Jon back for, uh
- Shemar.
- Shemar.
Down low left side, good!
Jon. Jon.
Five-point lead in favor of West LA.
5:35 left.
28-23.
Morrow left alone in the corner,
way too strong.
Airballs it
straight into the hands of Mitchell.
- Mitchell right to left, attacks the lane.
- Hey! Ref! No way! No way!
Can't get the friendly roll.
Just looking at Coach Mosley.
Still looks calm, collected,
as the first free throw
by Mitchell sunk in.
Shemar fucked
this entire game up, man.
Eight-point lead now, 37-29.
- Wildcats in control.
- What the fuck?!
That brings us to halftime
as the Wildcats are in control, 42 to 31.
Don't get outside of
what you're good at.
Don't get outside That whole
Your whole mentality messed us up, Damani.
You got outside of what you're good at.
Ain't nobody making
those type of passes and doing that.
You feel heat, what do you do?
- Jump stop and pivot.
- Just jump stop and pivot, man.
The key is we turned the ball over.
Y'all know what to do.
We know what to do to come back.
We do the right things,
we'll be fine. We'll win.
We just can't turn the ball over,
and we have to rebound when we get stops.
We go little by little and whittle away.
You got plenty of time.
You don't have to rush nothing.
I wanna play fast, but I don't wanna rush.
Attack the glass, get on two feet,
and we freaking finish the play!
Freaking finish the play!
Finish the play! Finish the play!
Here we go. C'mon.
"Finish" on three! One, two, three!
- Finish!
- Let's go!
West!
- Four, five, six!
- Ubuntu!
Let's go, y'all!
We got 20 minutes guaranteed!
And a steal by Mayes.
Mayes tomahawks it down.
Wildcats, 44, East LA, 31.
Two-hand push pass to Washington.
Washington to Phillips.
Phillips puts it on the floor
with one hand, runner way off the mark.
Charles comes down with the rebound,
gets it into the hands of Davis.
Turnaround jumper no.
Saved, into the hands of Charles.
- Charles gets fouled.
- Bryan, sub!
I need you, Joshy!
Yeah.
Second free throw whips the net.
Wildcats, 46.
- ELAC, 31.18:25 to go.
- Let's go.
Wildcats running away with this one.
Here's Jon Sanders lobbing it up,
throws it out of bounds.
Penn-Johnson, miscommunication.
Defense! Defense
Here's Davis
pushing it on top to Mayes.
Mayes to the left side to Williams.
Three-pointer is good.
Let's go, Justin!
Defense!
Here's Penn-Johnson.
Jump ball!
Oh, a jump-ball possession arrow
in favor of West LA.
Everything going in the direction
of the Wildcats.
Same fucking play.
It's a Wildcat ball.
Defense! Defense!
Here!
Good ball distribution
by the Wildcats.
They swing it around,
and another three-pointer!
Roy Clarke extends the lead.
Coach John Mosley calls time-out
with 17:38.
Wildcats, 52, Huskies, 31.
Don't do a disservice
to yourself and let the foot off the gas.
Do not let off the gas right now!
Keep that energy the whole damn game!
Keep that shit going! Do not relax!
How much time we got? 17 minutes.
Little by little, we get stops.
We gotta get one stop at a time.
Come down, don't rush the shot.
Don't rush our shots. Finish.
All right, here we go.
- "Finish" on three. One, two, three!
- Finish!
We'll come back.
There's a lot of time.
Huskies trail.
Is the deficit too big
for the Huskies to return?
Short! Short!
Rich Wilson, three off the mark.
Sanders, rebound.
Enoch, your father's just detoxed
My callin' is right on time ♪
If there's one game
where Penn-Johnson will have to step up
and take over, it's here this evening.
as myself, I'm a demigod ♪
Every thought is creative
Sometimes I'm afraid of my open mind ♪
Shit on my mind ♪
Lob into the hands
of Penn-Johnson for a slam.
My diamonds, the choker is heavy ♪
Gladney, three-point attempt,
no good.
Putback. Penn-Johnson with the slam.
Who gotta heal 'em all?
Us, us ♪
Mani.
Wilson will go to the bench
as Whitlock checks in.
If it ain't 'bout the business
Shut the door now ♪
- Get on him!
- Stay in front, Damani!
And an offensive foul
called on Clarke.
Steppin' out when ♪
Coast-to-coast.
He's called for a charge.
We going the other way!
Float, float ♪
Steppin' out when the weight lifts ♪
East LA! East LA!
East LA! East LA!
Uzzi, your father's in deep meditation ♪
My spirit's awakened
My brain is asleep ♪
Whitlock, rebound.
Whitlock running.
Into the hands of Cofield.
Cofield, reverse lay-in.
Good! Left to right.
As Coach Mosley
and the Huskies call time-out.
5:27 left.
Wildcats, 73.
East LA down, 59
here on the Huskies
basketball radio network.
Listen, we gotta get stops,
and we gotta rebound.
Listen! The game is about to turn over.
Just make sure we rebound the ball.
Hey, because we small, we gotta make sure
all the guys gotta be down there
rebounding the ball.
Get to the free-throw line
every possession, every possession.
Get more buckets!
All right, here we go.
Ready. "Finish" on three. One, two, three!
- Finish!
- East LA! East LA!
Justin, get taller!
Poor pass stolen by Sanders.
Sanders on the two-on-two.
Here's Washington
from the wing to the lane.
- Good block there!
- That's goaltend!
Wide open!
Jackhammer!
Be ready! Be ready!
Hey, bro! Response!
We need to be ready!
Be ready, Dezmond!
Be ready, your response, baby!
Sanders on the right side.
Loses the dribble, falls down, slips.
Turnover against East LA
with 4:29 to go.
- Near steal. Mayes.
- Get a rebound!
To the left side of Williams.
Williams against Rich Wilson.
Three-point attempt by Clarke.
It's good!
That might be the dagger!
number 5,
Kalique Mitchell!
The last time the Huskies
made the state championship
was in the 2014-15 season,
as the Huskies turn it over
right in front of their bench.
In for East LA
I just scored six in a row
for what?
How many points in a row?
No fucking reason. Goddamn!
Fuck!
83 for the Wildcats,
67 for East LA,
as the Wildcats
will try to milk the clock.
Tick, tick, tick goes the clock
on East Los Angeles.
Here's Young, step back.
No. Mitchell, putback!
To the frontcourt is Young.
Young will try to run out the clock
as the West LA faithful will stand up.
It's y'all!
- Thirty seconds to go.
- It's for y'all up there!
All y'all!
West LA
wins the Battle of Los Angeles.
They will travel
to West Hills, Lemoore, California.
Wildcats win it, 85-73.
East LA, their season is now over.
- Nice show. Credit, bro.
- I appreciate it.
Their 17-game win streak
comes to an end.
The road to State finishes here
in Culver City, California.
We wish the West LA Wildcats
the best of luck up north.
Fuck!
Hold your heads.
Y'all had a good year. We okay?
Hold your head, bro.
- I don't wanna hear that.
- We ain't no motherfucking losers in here.
You ain't gotta hear it,
but you gonna hear it.
- Had a good year, you serious?
- Going at it.
- We don't have shit unless we win.
- We won.
- We lost to bum-ass niggas.
- We gonna get scholarships
and get dudes out.
We might not win a championship,
but we winning.
You're good.
Ain't nothing about it. Be straight.
Take it easy.
Coach Rob talking. Come on.
Come on.
Come on. Come on. Stand up, yo. We good.
Fuck, man!
You should remember
this type of hurt.
You should remember this type of hurt
and not want to feel it again
wherever you at next.
What are you doing? Don't do that
Now you gotta pick yourself up.
You gotta get up right now. Come on.
Come on. We don't stay down.
We don't ever fuckin' stay down.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
It's a hard lesson.
It hurts, but it wasn't our night
to be the better team.
On the wrong night, it wasn't our night.
And so, whatever lesson
comes out of that, it's
I don't know.
I don't know.
Hey, your effort was real
for seven straight months.
Seven straight months,
sacrifice, being here six days a week.
Hey, man, y'all worked hard.
That's that's why it hurts.
And I learned a lot from
Hey, from all of you.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you.
We are blessed to play this game, fellas.
It's a blessing to play it. And I'm just
I'm honored and happy
to be a part of it with all of you.
That don't mean I ain't gonna miss
the hell out of Dez though, 'cause I am.
Dez was like the first kid I saw
when I came in that first day.
Gotta get up, man, and bounce back.
Some days, I don't even want to get up.
I'm in so much pain.
But I get up.
Y'all motivate me to get up, man.
Then watching y'all
motivates me to get up.
It ain't one quitter in here.
Not one quitter in here,
and that's the most important part to life
is to just keep bouncing back.
Keep bouncing back. Keep bouncing back.
Keep bouncing back.
I'm sorry, Coach.
Appreciate you, Coach.
Fuck!
I'm sorry
Keep your heads up.
Don't let nobody see y'all down, bro.
- Come on, y'all.
- Last time, bring this family in.
Let's go, Chris.
Last time.
- Loud.
- C'mon.
One last time,
make it the loudest.
- Who got us?
- I got it.
- "Family" on three, man! One, two, three!
- Family!
Yeah.
We gonna meet at the bus right now.
I saw my love ♪
Let's clear out so I can clean up.
Put this thing back together.
Let's go, Mani!
And as he passed me by ♪
He turned to me ♪
And gave me a smile ♪
Then the preacher ♪
Then the preacher ♪
The preacher joined their hands ♪
And all the people ♪
The people began to stand ♪
Welcome, everybody,
to West Hills College
in Lemoore, California
for the CCCAA Semifinals.
West Valley wins it, 67-63.
"Baby, how can you do this to me?" ♪
Mmm ♪
"You made a promise
That we'd never part" ♪
"Then you turned around
And you broke, no, my heart" ♪
"Now you're standing there
Saying 'I do'" ♪
"Holding hands with somebody new" ♪
"When you know
That it should have been me" ♪
San Francisco has done it.
They win it 91 to 66 over West Valley
to conclude a tremendous season.
"Oh, it should have been me" ♪
"Baby, how can you do this to me?" ♪
Then the preacher ♪
Whoa, yeah ♪
The preacher asked
That there be silence please ♪
"If any objections to this wedding" ♪
"Speak now or forever
Forever hold your peace" ♪
And I stood up and said
"It should have been me" ♪
Tough game. Execution was off.
I feel like we just kinda got outplayed.
Like, they were a better team,
honestly, so.
Kind of disappointed about my recruitment,
'cause I don't really know
where I'm going.
I'm kinda still up in the air.
If I go below D1,
I'm gonna be disappointed.
'Cause I know I can play at that level.
What schools are interested?
Alabama State.
Uh talked to Lamar.
Um
Another school in Houston,
but it's nothing like out here, so.
It's really It's pretty much,
I don't really know yet.
We were special this year.
I felt like we should've done it all.
I mean, you want to say that
about every team you've been on, but
Nah. We should've got it done.
Me personally, I felt
I didn't hold up to my end.
Everybody had what they needed to do.
I felt like, for me personally,
I just didn't show up the way I needed to.
So my dad was reiterating on it.
He said, "It's special to get up there,
just to be in that Elite Eight,
no matter how you guys do."
You lookin' at coaches across the country
who are all in the gym.
I mean, out of those eight teams,
they taking their picking from them.
It hurts that
we don't get there for exposure-wise.
Never like feeling like a failure.
I think I Let me see.
I need a better comb than this.
- You want me to braid it or twist it?
- Ma, which one you think look raw?
- That's why I'm asking.
- I dunno.
Ahh!
How many times
have you been back here?
- Since sixth grade?
- Yep.
Literally twice.
She ain't never even
really seen me hoop, for real.
Like, live. She just seen videos.
Yeah, I've seen the videos.
And that one time.
- You seen me play one time?
- Yeah.
- She came Yeah.
- When I came to California. Yeah.
I have not lost
too many important basketball games.
I was sad we didn't get to finish
how we were supposed to.
That wasn't how it was supposed to end.
This morning, he told me
the coach wasn't letting him play at all.
I was like, "Why?"
And he said he don't know. He was like,
they had some words or something,
and I'm like
I told him,
"In the end, it'll get better, Shemar."
It has to.
Well, he never talks to me about it.
Oh God, honestly, bruh,
I didn't even, like
I didn't tell her nothing
that was going on.
I'll be feeling, at the end of the day,
I got myself in that position,
so like, shit,
I gotta figure it out myself anyway.
Yeah, but you still can call and talk
to me about it. I wanna know everything.
I'mma have to leave, bro.
That's just what it is.
Like, I love the whole organization.
I love Coach Mo.
They did a lot for me,
but I can't do that again.
I'm not no nigga
that's just gonna sit on the bench
and score five points for you,
when I could go to another JUCO,
score 30, and get gone.
Like, I'm not finna do that, bro.
And I respectfully tell him that.
To have that feeling
when it's gonna be over
is, like, the sickest feeling ever.
You just feel like
you have no control of anything.
You have You've lost total control.
It's just an indescribable feeling,
and it's sickening,
and you go home and you can't sleep,
and your stomach is
You're sick.
You feel like you got a stomach flu.
And you're hot, and you feel doubted.
I mean, you literally Every time
the season ends this way for me,
I say, "I don't think
I want to coach ever again."
Every time.
And maybe the only thing
that can keep me going is,
"Well, you know what? I
still gotta feed my family."
Hello?
So then,
how Leah gonna do a birthday party thing?
Is it organized?
Yes.
I already have people coming and stuff.
Let me see your list of who's coming.
- Why?
- I wanna see.
I didn't put their names down.
I just put the amount of people.
You said you had a list of people.
- What'd you say one person, two persons?
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh, I know what we could do.
- What?
Bam! Slideshow.
Why?
- It's not
- That just kills time.
- Y'all ain't gonna dance. I'm tellin'
- All right.
- We ain't gonna dance for five hours.
- Y'all gonna be on the phone like this.
You gonna have a party. Everybody gonna be
on the wall with they phone.
And then, you don't wanna be
like the movies,
the girl that goes in the back and cries.
My party was a bomb
"There's no one having fun!"
And you go like a Disney movie.
- You go like, "No one's having fun!"
- "Just hate my life!"
And then you gonna be
And then your friends will say,
"Hey, guys, come on!"
- "Moriah's not having fun!"
- Shut
- "Let's all dance!" Then you come back.
- "Let's go get her from the bathroom."
Like a Hallmark movie.
And then you wipe your eyes and be like
"My party's amazing! Thank you, Daddy!"
No.
I think most important right now
is to make sure my family's okay.
I feel like, man, I'm tired.
I'm tired of pressing and making.
And I think, you know what?
Maybe this is the year to kinda hang up
pouring out all of this
and just pouring and pouring and pouring.
Every year, you evolve,
you change, you do different things, so
I'm sure there'll be changes.
Every year you don't win, you'll change.
Look, dawg! Look!
See, I can do it now!
Yeah! Hey! Yup!
- All I gotta do is
- Yeah!
Whoo!
- Moriah, he got it! That's it!
- I told you! I told you!
- He got it!
- I told you! Look!
We take a breath to get physical.
Now two.
If he's there, I go that way.
Boom. Take your drive.
Boom. Ah, now push off,
and then you want to do that
You want to do the exact opposite
out of the back screen.
Talk to me. Let's go.
There you go. Go get your shot.
Go get your shot.
I've decided to take
the head coaching position
at MiraCosta College
in Oceanside, California.
So it's a, um it's an exciting move.
When I go, use that left hand
to make sure I get away from you.
Thinking about not being
at ELAC next year is sad.
It's a sadness. It's a sadness to it
because usually when you're like,
"I'm gonna leave that place."
'Cause you're like,
"Eff that place. I'm outta here."
That's not even the case at all.
I absolutely love
going to that office
and talking to Mo every day.
It's not very often, like,
when you get to our age,
you know, you get to half 100,
to where you meet somebody and become
real good friends with like that.
Me and Mo have become really good friends.
He's like my friend for life.
It's part of the reason
why I was kind of sad
walking to that locker room
that last night,
is because a piece of me, like,
knew that'd probably be the last time.
- Ooh! Hot, babe.
- Yeah, it is hot out today.
It's muggy. I mean,
it's always muggy, but it's like
When it gets over 80,
it's a different feel here.
We come here every year
for vacation. We were here last year.
Walking around, I was like, "Wouldn't it
be great if you got a job here?"
When he called, he was like, "Hey,
MiraCosta," and I'm like, "Oh my gosh."
"We talked about this last year." So
It's just crazy how you have this idea
of how your life's gonna work out.
Like, you're gonna get married,
you're gonna have kids, do this, do that.
And then when it doesn't work out,
and 20 years later, you look,
and you're like, "Oh, I get it now."
It just wasn't supposed to happen then.
Watching it happen now is
It's almost sweeter.
It would come out over there.
Like where that sailboat's going in.
I'm not stressed.
I'm not worried.
I have a I have a solid job.
My kids are grown.
You know? Um, I feel like
the first 20 years were my turn almost,
and he sacrificed.
And now the next 20 are are his.
I'm so proud of him,
and I really do believe that
we will end up where he intends to be,
and we'll be in a better place
with our family first when we get there.
It's a cycle.
It's, like, 12 years now.
There's a new crop of guys come in, and
They may come with a bigger chest,
stuck out or whatever,
but they look the same to me.
It's a baby! It's a baby! It's a baby!
- Hey!
- Can I get a stop, yo?
I definitely didn't think
I was gonna come back, but like,
I just don't want to give up like that
'cause, like, you feel me?
We just been grinding it out for
some months together and it'd just be
You feel me?
I ain't just trying to up and leave.
This season gonna be
a good opportunity for me
to do what I need
'cause I know the system already.
I already know how he trying to rock, so.
That's all that's needed, for real.
And then after that,
you just go from there.
You behind, bro.
Niggas working, bro. You behind!
You gotta get your shit together.
I expected, when I saw you,
for you to look a certain way.
With what food?
That mean you ain't been doing nothing.
With what supply of food
am I gonna get bigger with?
You're killing me right now.
I love you to death,
but that's some bullshit.
- This is why everybody
- Listen.
This is why
everybody went crazy last time.
- Y'all was worrying 'bout
- We want to win.
- We don't want to be regular.
- I I wanna win!
Okay, but you're not acting
like you wanna win.
- I wanna win When you see me
- Look at
When you see me on the court,
you're gonna see I wanna win every time.
I'm gonna I'm definitely gonna see.
You right.
These guys are here
at the junior colleges.
They're still trying to figure that out.
It's not a part-time job,
even at the junior college level.
It's not a part-time job.
You gotta come in and
pretend like you at a university.
And so DC's still learning that.
And Shemar is still learning that.
I'm trying, bro.
Like, I'm not trying to just be that nigga
that be like,
"Damn, this don't work. Let me skate."
I'm trying to show
I'm not trying to be that nigga.
I'm trying to work it out. You feel me?
Definitely hard to be optimistic,
but at the end of the day, nigga,
like, "Shit. I been through all this."
"Why not? Why can't I still make it?"
I feel like this is what I was here to do.
I have nothing to lose,
and I need everything
that I can get from here.
You know what you can do,
and you know what you can't do.
And if you can do something
to a special level,
you can't let nobody take that from you.
At high school,
the goals that counselors had for me
were being a janitor
or a flight attendant.
Sayin' I shouldn't play basketball.
Shouldn't do this.
Shouldn't even aim for
getting my high school diploma.
I like proving people wrong.
I can play.
I can do this, like, every game.
If you trust me, I could do this.
I know it's in me,
so I don't think about nothing else.
It's just who I am.
Honestly, some days, I think
that some of the little voids I have
probably is what I feel like
could fix it in the future.
I can at least route myself
back into basketball.
It's been an avenue for me to
express what I'm going through
and express what my life has been.
Everybody's got a gift, man.
I have a gift.
And I guess my gift is trying
to inspire and speak to others.
I think that's probably what I wanna do
for the rest of my life.
It just so happens that it's basketball.
The game I played, and the game I love.
I just want to be
where God wants me to be.
At times, I can visualize myself
at a Division I.
At times, I can visualize myself,
heck, in a
maybe in a pulpit
preaching for the rest of my life.
This is where I'm at.
This is where I'll be.
Nothing fancy, man. Nothing fancy.
I've tried it.
Tried to be fancy. I've tried to
live a life that wasn't real.
Now I just gotta live real, man.
We in this little house.
East LA.
I'm just a JUCO coach, man.
Just a JUCO coach.
I don't want nothing more.
People say, "Why are you doing this?"
"You just trying to be a"
I don't want to be a star.
You won't find me on TV no more.
I don't want no part of none of that.
All I want to do is
just be where God wants me to be.
Minister to others.
That's it.
If I fall short ♪
If I don't make the grade ♪
If your expectations aren't met
In me today ♪
There's always tomorrow ♪
Or tomorrow night ♪
Hang in there, baby ♪
Sooner or later ♪
I know I'll get it right ♪
Please don't give up on me ♪
Oh, please don't give up on me ♪
I know it's late ♪
Late in the game ♪
But my feelings, my true feelings ♪
Haven't changed ♪
Here in my heart ♪
I know, I know
I was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong ♪
I'd like to make amends ♪
For the love
That I've never ever, ever, ever shown ♪
Just don't give up on me ♪
Every word is true ♪
I'll give you my everything ♪
All of my love, all of my love ♪
All of my love, love, love, love, love
To you ♪
Just don't give up on me ♪
Oh, please ♪
Please, please ♪
Don't give up on me ♪
I don't want you to ♪
I know it's late, but wait ♪
Please, please, please, please ♪
Don't give up on me ♪
Promise ♪
Will you promise me? ♪
Will you promise me? ♪
Please don't give up on me ♪
We can make it if we try ♪
I'm gonna hold on
Hold on with me ♪
And don't give up on me ♪
Oh ♪
Oh, baby ♪
Oh, baby ♪
Oh, baby, please ♪
Don't give up on me ♪
Whatever you do ♪
We gon' make it
We'll make it through ♪
Don't you give up on me ♪
Please, please, please ♪
Promise me ♪
Don't give up on me ♪
You ain't got no trash can?
There are trash bags underneath the,
um
Right behind the refrigerator.
You ready?
Yeah.
Have you touched
all the 48 states yet so far?
Pretty close.
I can probably name
the ones I haven't touched better.
Minnesota, Maine,
Connecticut, Rhode Island.
Just that patch up there
in that top corner?
Pretty much.
I've pretty much hit the rest of 'em.
That's my dad.
Right now, he's a truck driver.
Just drives a truck around the country,
dropping off loads.
But before that, my dad played basketball.
He coached at Pasadena City,
West LA, Mount SAC, and Oxnard.
During season,
he's working out with me,
no matter what team it is,
trying to help me,
giving me tips and pointers,
just making sure I can be
the best player I can be.
Oh, he did ask me
about Cal Poly Pomona today.
- What about it?
- Just asked me how do I like it.
Cal Poly's got a good program.
They got a good program.
That's what he said.
He was like, "It's not so much"
He said that it's not always
about going D1 and stuff like that.
I was like, "Coach, I understand."
That's why I chose to go D2
the first time.
Everything you trying to do,
civil engineering,
that's a perfect school for that.
I know. I already
There's me coaching.
He was just always around in the gym.
That's my little road dog,
my little buddy.
But then when everything happened
between me and his mom,
he came with me.
They did a good job hiding
the problems they had
'cause I didn't know
no problems was going on literally until
middle of the night,
my dad came into my room,
and I just woke up,
and my dad was standing there.
He just told me everything
was gonna be all right, and he loved me,
and just to go back to sleep.
And he was gone in the morning.
I had no clue what was going on.
I mean, I didn't realize
until later on that day or the next day.
I went looking on my bike
just around the neighborhood.
I was a kid.
I didn't know what I was doing.
But just riding my bike looking for him,
thinking like I would find him.
My mom still had the house,
but, even to this day,
that house never has felt the same.
It just felt empty.
It just never felt right.
Something missing.
Was it your choice
to live with your dad?
It was my choice.
He was my best friend,
like, out of everybody.
When stuff started going south,
he was the only person I found comfort in.
Me and my little sister
were joint custody.
After it first happened,
he moved somewhere.
He medically retired,
like, eighth, ninth-grade year.
We got evicted junior year.
We wasn't getting
his full retirement check
that he was supposed to get.
We had no place.
So I was at my teammates', or
And he was in his car,
or sleeping in the gym
at one of the schools in the office.
I was like, "I'm gonna do whatever I can
to make sure I'm there for my kids."
Um, so if that meant
you know, a lot of hotel stays
If that meant, like, "Okay, you go here,
or you stay with this friend,
or you stay with this relative,
and I'm in a car,"
I did what I had to do
to make sure I was around.
So I never felt like I had a home.
That's pretty much it.
Sorry.
I mean, on my mom's side,
they still had the house,
but like I said, it felt empty, and then
my dad, bouncing around
between house to house,
trying to get back on his feet.
Just living with him,
there was a few times where
we found apartments
and stuff like that, but
nothing ever consistently for a long time.
My 24-hour gym membership was my shower.
The basketball court was
where I worked out.
Used the shower to shower some days,
and just sleep in my car.
My parents thought
I was staying with my teammate,
but one thing they always taught me
was, "Don't overstay your welcome."
There would be days
where, yeah, I'm over here,
but, you know, I'm going
to the 24-hour parking lot.
I'm working out for hours,
and at nighttime,
till, you know, time to shower,
get a couple hours in of sleep,
and then pop back up
for school the next morning.
When I'm playing basketball,
everything goes away.
Everything.
It's peaceful out there, like,
it takes my focus off of
everything I have in life.
I think that's why I love it so much.
I think that's why it's my therapy.
Did you take a trip
before you went to Portland?
Nah, Portland kinda pressured me
into "don't take no visits."
- How'd that work?
- They wanted me to decide on the spot.
- Right.
- They said, "Oh yeah."
- "Two weeks, the offer might be gone."
- Right.
But I got kinda rushed into it, I guess.
Made a bad decision.
- That's business.
- Yeah.
You know, they try to talk all this
"We care about the kids" stuff.
- They're competing for talent.
- Yeah.
And do you have a clearer picture of
what you want this time versus last time?
Yeah. Learning more about that.
How many years they got?
What type of role?
- Who's coming off this next year?
- Right.
- How long this coach about to be here?
- There you go.
Or is this coming
from a style of play too?
Mm-hmm. It's just not like,
"I'm so happy to be here."
Yeah, "I'm so happy to be here.
Oh my God, I'm going D1."
Right.
I think Bryan might've said
something similar happened to him
like that at SC.
- Yeah.
- Season is not over yet.
Still wheeling and dealing
that needs to take place.
Trying to just close it out.
We're almost done, so
Couple weeks left,
just trying to stay positive.
'Cause, like, honestly, I know
none of us here really want to lose that,
just because of what we've been through
over this past year.
We know no other team
has done what we've done. So, like
Kinda got that chip on the shoulder a bit,
so I'm excited to go into this next week.
I was on the phone with Rutgers yesterday
and Drexel the day before that.
So I'm just looking at my options
right now,
trying to get these visits set up
for after the season, so
I'm trying to get right on it.
As soon as the season ends,
I'm about to start going on visits, so
'Cause all my classes are online,
so I got all this time.
You feel
you're gonna be comfortable with
the opportunities you have?
Oh yeah, definitely.
I'm happy with the options
I have right now, so
Looking good. They're only gonna go up
when we close the season,
so it's gonna look a lot better.
- What's up?
- What's up, Coach?
Coaches will be coming in,
and then we'll go from there, man.
Yeah, there's a lot of people
that like you, but it's up and down.
And then, right when you started
getting going, then you tweaked your leg,
right when it was a big role
was starting to be carved out.
So, where do you want to go?
I want to go
Like, realistically right now,
where do you wanna go?
Well, I don't have
any specific colleges I want.
But I definitely want somewhere
where I'mma have a big role.
- I mean
- Like what? Give me a conference, school.
- If I was to call a school
- Pac-12.
Who would you want me
to call right now, that's realistic?
- Like, if I call
- Pac-12.
If I call UCLA,
they're not listening to me.
- I don't care who I got on my roster.
- Yeah.
Give me realistic.
If you say I need to do my job
and call these schools and say,
"Demetrius Calip is available."
"He played at Taft.
He played at Illinois Chicago."
"He played here,
and this is what I think of him."
"What do you think of him,
and do you guys have
an opportunity for him?"
Is that what should happen?
Them to get their eyes on me?
Yes.
Them to think about me.
'Cause if nobody thinks about me,
then I can't go nowhere.
- What's up, bro? What's the latest?
- Just chillin'.
Let's see
what you looking like, bro.
So I mean, it ain't You're not too bad.
I mean, you 35% from three.
52% from the floor, which is good.
I talk with There's a bunch of guys
that have shown interest.
You just gotta make sure
that you finish the academic stuff.
That's my biggest concern right now.
March 13th discussion,
April 3rd discussion due.
That's two classes I looked at. You got
I'm doing it.
I just missed some.
You in a desperate situation
where you can't miss nothing.
You trying to go Division I,
even Division II,
you gotta pass this stuff.
I'mma get it done.
Don't worry. I'm getting on that.
I'mma get it done.
I heard that before, Dez. Come on.
I'm not thinking about trying
to win to get to the state championship.
I need to win Saturday
so that I can communicate more.
And what better time than right now,
when there's one game and you're done,
and I have their undivided attention?
I can make
a big impression on 'em right now.
Us coaches can speak into
their lives right now.
I only got a couple days to do it.
You coming. You here.
With that part, I give you credit for.
You show up.
I can see in your face every day
what you looking like.
I just want some minutes.
I'm trying to get some minutes.
I mean,
it's hard to just come in here
and be like You feel me?
I know you feel me. I still
I can't help but see
the desperation and see the fear
that they're gonna be left out,
and I can't help but do what I need
to do to help 'em get a scholarship.
At times, bro, I do be sitting
on that bench like,
"Damn, why didn't I just go
to this school and score 30?"
But then I be thinking, "No,
maybe God trying to teach me something."
But you just gotta make it work, bruh,
'cause ain't no point to stop now.
All I want is
a good scholarship for me.
That's been my focus the whole time.
I want to get out of ELAC,
not look back, go to a winning school.
It's concerning 'cause, like,
am I gonna get something out of this?
If I do somewhere like,
in fucking New York or, like, Florida,
when I have to be out here for my son,
I gotta make something happen.
At the beginning,
I was sitting there crying
whether or not
I was gonna play again or not.
But now, it's whether or not
I can get to the next school.
A lot of my life
has been filled with work,
but just not translatable work.
You know what I mean?
Like, it doesn't go anywhere.
With things starting
to fall into place more,
it's easier to look back on the work
that you've put in and be proud of it.
'Cause now you see the reason for it.
I'm looking in your eyes.
I still don't believe you think
you know that you can play.
If I didn't think I had a future in this,
I would've quit basketball
a long time ago.
You gotta trust,
and if you can finish, bro,
you got a you got a legit shot.
Coming here before the season started,
I was like,
"This is only gonna be a one-year trip."
So I do not plan on coming back.
I plan on going to a D1.
High major. I mid major.
I just want to go to a school
that wants me.
I'm not really concerned
with personal stats
'cause they've gotten people off
that average four points.
I average eight.
If you don't win, you don't go nowhere.
You can average 30.
If you don't win,
you don't get to a good school.
As the playoffs go by
and we keep winning games,
it's definitely gonna open up
a lot of opportunities for everybody.
That's what we working to, for real.
Shit. Win so everybody can eat.
I believe in us.
Everybody wants to see
other people succeed,
which, you don't
find that on a lot of teams.
It's a little bit different
than it was two years ago.
It's even worse
in terms of the scholarship situation.
There is a hair chance
that you get a scholarship.
All right, I've been doing this
for 20 years. I was a Division I coach.
There's a language
that needs to be spoken.
Coach Ken's got it. I got it. Coach Rob.
And, if there's not communication there,
you can mess it all up.
Anybody calls you, you talk to
and act like you want to go there.
It could be a Division 30 school,
Division whatever.
The lowest of lowest,
you know what I'm saying?
It could be whatever.
You talk to 'em, and you make them
want you, and you let us know.
Yeah, it's a big deal.
We want to win State.
I want to say
that I'm a state championship coach,
and we're a state championship program,
and raise the banner,
but I'mma have another chance
to win a state championship.
I'mma still be coaching.
Some of the guys,
their careers will be done.
But guess what? If we win a game,
I have more time
that their eyes are wide open,
and I can speak more life into 'em.
They still need
more direction and instruction.
They're gonna listen right now
because there's this desperation
that we have to win against West LA.
It's one game and done.
That's a steal, man!
Rebound!
- You got me!
- Good rebound!
Hey! Good pass, good cut!
Listen to me. I'm not gonna get all deep,
but put it in perspective.
This potentially could be
the last time you ever do this drill.
For some of you guys, y'all gonna move on.
For some of you guys are gonna stay.
But for this season,
all the work that you've done,
it is March.
It's now March.
We shouldn't be talking about energy.
We shouldn't be talking about intensity.
We shouldn't be talking about
what this game means for us.
Get active. Be a leader.
Get active! Get active! Get active!
Get in somebody's face.
Set the tone defensively.
Set the tone defensively.
I would consider
our program elite.
We're winning over 20 games a year.
We're in the top 10 in the state.
It's like seeing your vision
come to light.
You know, you win a big game,
or you start winning some playoff games,
and then you make a little bit of noise,
and it's, um
You know, it's like, okay, all right,
this is exactly what we planned on.
We gotta rebound
every freaking possession!
Everything matters!
I've always been known for being
a program starter or a program changer.
When I took this job as a head coach,
I'm looking through archives,
trying to find
when did they have good seasons.
I got here in 2015.
You know, year by year, it's slowly been
this slow grind, this slow process.
And now I think we're where we wanna be.
Coach Mosley and myself, I've known him
from when I was a Division II coach,
and he was at Cal State Bakersfield.
No one can ever understand
what we go through
as far as a college coach
or a younger, you know, Black male coach.
Just the pressure we put on ourselves,
what we're trying
to get out of our students.
What we see with our vision.
It's so many emotions
that you can't explain.
There's a handful of us, you know,
African-American coaches.
West LA coach, we call him "Truck,"
being one of 'em.
But just like myself, Truck had
a situation where he's part-time.
They gave him this part-time job.
There's not as much support as you need.
It's just kind of a mirror
of what I've gone through myself.
He went in and fought and clawed and said,
"We gonna do whatever it takes to win."
And he has the same vision to see
those young men be successful,
whatever it takes.
Let's talk about ball pressure.
We wanna be in pressure.
We wanna be in people's faces.
I didn't come
to this program to say,
"I just roll out the balls
and let me do my time."
I came here to start a program
and to actually win.
So this game is
it's gonna be one for the ages.
Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. This is
the difference between winning and losing.
- Call Press O.
- O. O.
Right there. That's where we lose.
Right? You're not gonna beat anybody
from here on out.
Like, it's gotta be locked.
It's gotta be like this.
- So, if you call Press O Call Press
- O! Press O!
Wait. Now pop. Boom.
Okay? So, your urgency
every single time. All right?
Playoffs, man. I mean, I don't know.
Everything has to be sense of urgency
to get the separation. Here we go.
- Come on!
- Let's go!
- C'mon.
- Corey!
It's gonna be a good one. If they
win this game, a lot of dreams come true.
Yeah. This is huge.
This would be
the toughest game they got left.
- Right.
- I don't care who else we play.
This'll be the toughest game we got left.
- This is the state championship.
- This is state championship, so
Good.
Good job, DC!
Cut!
Stay behind me! Stay behind me!
Fellas, this is what
we didn't do against Cerritos.
When we had them dudes
on the rope, we got sloppy.
We can't get sloppy
because they're going to make a run.
They are going to make a run.
But when they make the run,
okay, make it run,
and we still up nine or ten. Okay?
Not, make your run,
and now the game is a one-point game.
I'm telling you.
Let me tell you something.
If you don't make a shot,
just rebound the hell out of the ball
and get stops,
and then, all of a sudden,
shots will start going into the basket.
Trust me. Dez knows.
Dez knows. You know what I'm saying?
At the beginning, Dez started rebounding.
All of a sudden, this fool is wet,
making threes and doing all that.
Rebound the ball.
Rebound the ball. Rebound.
You cannot take our life away
and give them life by allowing them
to get putbacks and all that kinda stuff.
Play how we need to play
to win the state championship.
We have to win. We have to win
to get to that state championship.
We gotta be in the state championship.
There's no other option.
All right? That's just what we do.
We're going tonight, when we finish,
they gonna send me the email tonight
with the hotel so I can book our hotel
so we can be ready to go.
Everybody pursue rebounds
and let our length lead it back.
Here we go. Let's go.
We got food in there. Here we go.
- "Family" on three! 1, 2, 3!
- Family!
Let's go eat.
Eat it all, guys!
One, two, three, four ♪
Hello and welcome
to Culver City, California,
on the campus of West Los Angeles College.
Tonight, it's the Sweet 16
with round three
of the SoCal Regional Final.
This game will determine who goes
to West Hills Lemoore
for the state championship tournament.
So many people in here
that want us to lose.
I agree. You can feel it.
So many people in here
want us to lose, man.
It's a hood game right here.
This is a hood game.
Let's get it! Let's get it!
Let's get it! Almost showtime.
Let's get it. Let's get it.
With roughly ten minutes
to go till tip-off,
we want to welcome everybody again
to West LA College
Let's go!
You feel me? Yeah.
- Come on, man.
- They know we here.
They know we here.
I don't want to talk too much.
The biggest thing tonight is playing hard.
Don't get caught into the highs and lows,
and let them be rah-rah, they rah-rah.
Let them scream and holler
and all that kinda stuff.
But we gotta play hard, and you guys
gotta rebound the hell out of the ball.
I'm just telling you, you gotta rebound.
If you miss, that might be
the rebound that puts us in trouble.
Yesterday after shootaround,
I kind of, um
I got to the point where I started
to have to turn my phone off
because everybody wanted to put
their own little story line.
They're talking about the best recruiter
we got at West LA versus
the best recruiter they got at East LA.
Myself versus Coach Mosley,
who I've known for a long time.
East versus West.
Y'all don't owe me nothing.
You guys have already done your work.
You guys played a heck of a season.
You guys are third round of playoffs,
Sweet 16.
You guys don't owe me anything.
You guys owe it to yourselves.
Let's go out there
and have a fucking hell of a game.
My expectation is,
I'm preparing in my mind for next week.
We gonna take care of business tonight.
Bring it in.
- "Family" on three. One, two, three!
- Family!
Let's go!
Our AD
has already got your rooms.
I have already packed
my underwear and packed my discipline.
You guys can pack, do the same tonight.
What is left to do?
Destroy ELAC.
"West" on 3, "Dubs" on 6!
- 1, 2, 3!
- West!
- Four, five, six!
- Dubs!
Yes, sir!
Thankful and grateful
you could join us
as we are about
two and a half minutes away from tip-off.
The battle for Los Angeles
will be tonight.
The road to State
runs through Culver City.
Let's lock in. Let's lock in.
Everybody came here for an opportunity,
right?
- Be on a big motherfucking stage, right?
- Yep.
It don't get no motherfucking bigger.
We the king of LA. They say they run LA.
They full of shit. They full of shit.
Top foot up, help your brother.
Help your brother.
They get one fucking shot,
and we going the other way. We executing.
And we playing grown man ball.
We in the paint all fucking game.
All fucking game. Let's go.
C'mon, all right?
Don't go until I go, all right?
Don't go until I go. Get it!
We are under way!
Round three fight!
Whitlock passes it left side to Cofield.
Cofield to the corner to Whitlock.
Whitlock will dribble out of the corner.
Kicks it to the corner Cofield.
Cofield, three, way off.
Rebound, Wildcats.
Wildcats sprinting the other way.
It's Williams from the wing to the lane.
Cofield comes from behind,
but a putback attempt
by the center, Elijah Charles.
- Heads up! Trap!
- Trap!
- Trap!
- Trap!
Here's Whitlock.
Throws a football pass way into the front.
- It goes out of bounds.
- Here we go!
Poor pass.
Get it back, Damani!
That's on me! I'm going!
Let's go, Damani!
D! Guard your man!
Stay! Guard!
Coming, Tyrelle! Shuffle, Tyrelle!
Back screen!
Right wing behind the arc,
it's Davis back on top to Clarke.
Clarke launches a three.
That's good.
Seven to two, West LA.
Can the Huskies survive on the road
and keep the season alive?
Williams is pure from three-point land.
Ten to four now.
Let's go, Damani!
Huskies got numbers, a five-on-four.
Whitlock stops at the elbow, will pop.
What the fuck is he doing, dawg?
What the hell is he doing?!
- Oh my God.
- Oh my God.
Come on, guys!
Mani Hey. Come here, come here.
I want you to push it,
but, remember, get it back spaced.
- Yeah.
- And make 'em chase us.
You know what I'm sayin'? Have a seat.
Stay in your lane.
You going in the middle, nothing there.
You gotta stay lane, keep it side.
Good shot, Relle!
My bad. My bad. My bad.
Just play disciplined.
I'm telling you, it'll open up later
if you play disciplined now.
Then that'll be there.
number 33, Elijah Charles!
Defense! Defense!
Defense! Defense
X, Dez! X! X, Dez!
- Williams to the corner, Mayes.
- Post up!
He's off the mark.
Washington with the rebound.
Quickly over the logo,
left to right is Washington.
Washington, runner off the glass!
Yeah, Dez!
Huskies into the frontcourt.
They go down low to Phillips.
Phillips, against the double team,
gets rejected.
Hunt goes up, left hand. Does that count?
It does.
So Hunt cuts the deficit to four.
- B.
- Yep?
- Joshy?
- Yeah.
Sub! Sub! Sub! Sub! Sub! Sub!
Let's go, Bryan!
Young on top against Gladney,
pushes it left side.
Dribbling down the baseline,
it's Muhammad.
- Muhammad will lose the dribble.
- Travel! Ah!
And will be charged with a walk.
Turnover.
Langston back to Gladney.
In the corner, it's Sanders.
That is good from three-point land.
- 16 to 14, 11:45 left.
- Defense! Defense!
There's Gladney attacking
on the baseline to Langston.
Langston on the left side,
gets an easy layup.
Tie ball game, 16 all.
- 11:10 left.
- Lock up, guys! Lock up, guys!
- First half.
- Let's go!
Defense! Defense!
- Push off.
- Yeah.
Offensive foul called
against the Wildcats.
Gladney on the far sideline.
It's out.
Attacks the lane,
runner bouncing around everywhere.
Gladney gets it,
right in front of the cup.
- ELAC, 21, Wildcats, 18.
- Defense! Defense! Defense!
9:15 to go.
Husky faithful chanting, "Defense!"
Sideline, Young,
getting locked down in the corner.
Rejected!
Shemar for who?
Gotta be, uh, Jon.
He's been out there the longest.
- It's you.
- One shot.
- Let's go, Mar!
- Let's go, Mar-Mar!
He's gotta defend.
Shemar, you gotta guard.
- Jon!
- In for East LA, number three!
- Huskies 23, Wildcats 20.
- Stack! Stack! Stack!
7:50 left.
Gladney will dribble around the arc.
- He's on the right wing. On top to Morrow.
- Five, four
Five seconds on the shot clock.
- Shoot it!
- Gladney, corner, lifts for three.
Barely grazes the rim.
Poor shot there.
Into the hands of Clarke.
Clarke right to left.
He'll attack from the wing to the lane,
tries to tomahawk it.
Ref,
how you can't call that one?
- He You can't do this stuff!
- Hey!
- DC!
- Gotta get by him.
Fucking block, baby!
And going up with that weak shit!
You good?
He grabbed my arm I was gonna Oh my God.
Next time,
kick that motherfucker in the face.
Pick it up, folks, for your
Wildcats number two, Justin Williams!
- No, Mar!
- A steal in the backcourt!
And a slam by Roy Clarke!
Two-hand flush off the steal.
Washington on top to Phillips.
Phillips nearly gets the ball stripped
he does!
Into the hands of Mayes.
From the wing to the lane.
Euro step gets blocked,
but the putback attempt
right side by Clarke.
Separate! We need to separate!
Hey, bring Jon back!
- Hey! Hey!
- Bring Jon back for, uh
- Shemar.
- Shemar.
Down low left side, good!
Jon. Jon.
Five-point lead in favor of West LA.
5:35 left.
28-23.
Morrow left alone in the corner,
way too strong.
Airballs it
straight into the hands of Mitchell.
- Mitchell right to left, attacks the lane.
- Hey! Ref! No way! No way!
Can't get the friendly roll.
Just looking at Coach Mosley.
Still looks calm, collected,
as the first free throw
by Mitchell sunk in.
Shemar fucked
this entire game up, man.
Eight-point lead now, 37-29.
- Wildcats in control.
- What the fuck?!
That brings us to halftime
as the Wildcats are in control, 42 to 31.
Don't get outside of
what you're good at.
Don't get outside That whole
Your whole mentality messed us up, Damani.
You got outside of what you're good at.
Ain't nobody making
those type of passes and doing that.
You feel heat, what do you do?
- Jump stop and pivot.
- Just jump stop and pivot, man.
The key is we turned the ball over.
Y'all know what to do.
We know what to do to come back.
We do the right things,
we'll be fine. We'll win.
We just can't turn the ball over,
and we have to rebound when we get stops.
We go little by little and whittle away.
You got plenty of time.
You don't have to rush nothing.
I wanna play fast, but I don't wanna rush.
Attack the glass, get on two feet,
and we freaking finish the play!
Freaking finish the play!
Finish the play! Finish the play!
Here we go. C'mon.
"Finish" on three! One, two, three!
- Finish!
- Let's go!
West!
- Four, five, six!
- Ubuntu!
Let's go, y'all!
We got 20 minutes guaranteed!
And a steal by Mayes.
Mayes tomahawks it down.
Wildcats, 44, East LA, 31.
Two-hand push pass to Washington.
Washington to Phillips.
Phillips puts it on the floor
with one hand, runner way off the mark.
Charles comes down with the rebound,
gets it into the hands of Davis.
Turnaround jumper no.
Saved, into the hands of Charles.
- Charles gets fouled.
- Bryan, sub!
I need you, Joshy!
Yeah.
Second free throw whips the net.
Wildcats, 46.
- ELAC, 31.18:25 to go.
- Let's go.
Wildcats running away with this one.
Here's Jon Sanders lobbing it up,
throws it out of bounds.
Penn-Johnson, miscommunication.
Defense! Defense
Here's Davis
pushing it on top to Mayes.
Mayes to the left side to Williams.
Three-pointer is good.
Let's go, Justin!
Defense!
Here's Penn-Johnson.
Jump ball!
Oh, a jump-ball possession arrow
in favor of West LA.
Everything going in the direction
of the Wildcats.
Same fucking play.
It's a Wildcat ball.
Defense! Defense!
Here!
Good ball distribution
by the Wildcats.
They swing it around,
and another three-pointer!
Roy Clarke extends the lead.
Coach John Mosley calls time-out
with 17:38.
Wildcats, 52, Huskies, 31.
Don't do a disservice
to yourself and let the foot off the gas.
Do not let off the gas right now!
Keep that energy the whole damn game!
Keep that shit going! Do not relax!
How much time we got? 17 minutes.
Little by little, we get stops.
We gotta get one stop at a time.
Come down, don't rush the shot.
Don't rush our shots. Finish.
All right, here we go.
- "Finish" on three. One, two, three!
- Finish!
We'll come back.
There's a lot of time.
Huskies trail.
Is the deficit too big
for the Huskies to return?
Short! Short!
Rich Wilson, three off the mark.
Sanders, rebound.
Enoch, your father's just detoxed
My callin' is right on time ♪
If there's one game
where Penn-Johnson will have to step up
and take over, it's here this evening.
as myself, I'm a demigod ♪
Every thought is creative
Sometimes I'm afraid of my open mind ♪
Shit on my mind ♪
Lob into the hands
of Penn-Johnson for a slam.
My diamonds, the choker is heavy ♪
Gladney, three-point attempt,
no good.
Putback. Penn-Johnson with the slam.
Who gotta heal 'em all?
Us, us ♪
Mani.
Wilson will go to the bench
as Whitlock checks in.
If it ain't 'bout the business
Shut the door now ♪
- Get on him!
- Stay in front, Damani!
And an offensive foul
called on Clarke.
Steppin' out when ♪
Coast-to-coast.
He's called for a charge.
We going the other way!
Float, float ♪
Steppin' out when the weight lifts ♪
East LA! East LA!
East LA! East LA!
Uzzi, your father's in deep meditation ♪
My spirit's awakened
My brain is asleep ♪
Whitlock, rebound.
Whitlock running.
Into the hands of Cofield.
Cofield, reverse lay-in.
Good! Left to right.
As Coach Mosley
and the Huskies call time-out.
5:27 left.
Wildcats, 73.
East LA down, 59
here on the Huskies
basketball radio network.
Listen, we gotta get stops,
and we gotta rebound.
Listen! The game is about to turn over.
Just make sure we rebound the ball.
Hey, because we small, we gotta make sure
all the guys gotta be down there
rebounding the ball.
Get to the free-throw line
every possession, every possession.
Get more buckets!
All right, here we go.
Ready. "Finish" on three. One, two, three!
- Finish!
- East LA! East LA!
Justin, get taller!
Poor pass stolen by Sanders.
Sanders on the two-on-two.
Here's Washington
from the wing to the lane.
- Good block there!
- That's goaltend!
Wide open!
Jackhammer!
Be ready! Be ready!
Hey, bro! Response!
We need to be ready!
Be ready, Dezmond!
Be ready, your response, baby!
Sanders on the right side.
Loses the dribble, falls down, slips.
Turnover against East LA
with 4:29 to go.
- Near steal. Mayes.
- Get a rebound!
To the left side of Williams.
Williams against Rich Wilson.
Three-point attempt by Clarke.
It's good!
That might be the dagger!
number 5,
Kalique Mitchell!
The last time the Huskies
made the state championship
was in the 2014-15 season,
as the Huskies turn it over
right in front of their bench.
In for East LA
I just scored six in a row
for what?
How many points in a row?
No fucking reason. Goddamn!
Fuck!
83 for the Wildcats,
67 for East LA,
as the Wildcats
will try to milk the clock.
Tick, tick, tick goes the clock
on East Los Angeles.
Here's Young, step back.
No. Mitchell, putback!
To the frontcourt is Young.
Young will try to run out the clock
as the West LA faithful will stand up.
It's y'all!
- Thirty seconds to go.
- It's for y'all up there!
All y'all!
West LA
wins the Battle of Los Angeles.
They will travel
to West Hills, Lemoore, California.
Wildcats win it, 85-73.
East LA, their season is now over.
- Nice show. Credit, bro.
- I appreciate it.
Their 17-game win streak
comes to an end.
The road to State finishes here
in Culver City, California.
We wish the West LA Wildcats
the best of luck up north.
Fuck!
Hold your heads.
Y'all had a good year. We okay?
Hold your head, bro.
- I don't wanna hear that.
- We ain't no motherfucking losers in here.
You ain't gotta hear it,
but you gonna hear it.
- Had a good year, you serious?
- Going at it.
- We don't have shit unless we win.
- We won.
- We lost to bum-ass niggas.
- We gonna get scholarships
and get dudes out.
We might not win a championship,
but we winning.
You're good.
Ain't nothing about it. Be straight.
Take it easy.
Coach Rob talking. Come on.
Come on.
Come on. Come on. Stand up, yo. We good.
Fuck, man!
You should remember
this type of hurt.
You should remember this type of hurt
and not want to feel it again
wherever you at next.
What are you doing? Don't do that
Now you gotta pick yourself up.
You gotta get up right now. Come on.
Come on. We don't stay down.
We don't ever fuckin' stay down.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
It's a hard lesson.
It hurts, but it wasn't our night
to be the better team.
On the wrong night, it wasn't our night.
And so, whatever lesson
comes out of that, it's
I don't know.
I don't know.
Hey, your effort was real
for seven straight months.
Seven straight months,
sacrifice, being here six days a week.
Hey, man, y'all worked hard.
That's that's why it hurts.
And I learned a lot from
Hey, from all of you.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you.
We are blessed to play this game, fellas.
It's a blessing to play it. And I'm just
I'm honored and happy
to be a part of it with all of you.
That don't mean I ain't gonna miss
the hell out of Dez though, 'cause I am.
Dez was like the first kid I saw
when I came in that first day.
Gotta get up, man, and bounce back.
Some days, I don't even want to get up.
I'm in so much pain.
But I get up.
Y'all motivate me to get up, man.
Then watching y'all
motivates me to get up.
It ain't one quitter in here.
Not one quitter in here,
and that's the most important part to life
is to just keep bouncing back.
Keep bouncing back. Keep bouncing back.
Keep bouncing back.
I'm sorry, Coach.
Appreciate you, Coach.
Fuck!
I'm sorry
Keep your heads up.
Don't let nobody see y'all down, bro.
- Come on, y'all.
- Last time, bring this family in.
Let's go, Chris.
Last time.
- Loud.
- C'mon.
One last time,
make it the loudest.
- Who got us?
- I got it.
- "Family" on three, man! One, two, three!
- Family!
Yeah.
We gonna meet at the bus right now.
I saw my love ♪
Let's clear out so I can clean up.
Put this thing back together.
Let's go, Mani!
And as he passed me by ♪
He turned to me ♪
And gave me a smile ♪
Then the preacher ♪
Then the preacher ♪
The preacher joined their hands ♪
And all the people ♪
The people began to stand ♪
Welcome, everybody,
to West Hills College
in Lemoore, California
for the CCCAA Semifinals.
West Valley wins it, 67-63.
"Baby, how can you do this to me?" ♪
Mmm ♪
"You made a promise
That we'd never part" ♪
"Then you turned around
And you broke, no, my heart" ♪
"Now you're standing there
Saying 'I do'" ♪
"Holding hands with somebody new" ♪
"When you know
That it should have been me" ♪
San Francisco has done it.
They win it 91 to 66 over West Valley
to conclude a tremendous season.
"Oh, it should have been me" ♪
"Baby, how can you do this to me?" ♪
Then the preacher ♪
Whoa, yeah ♪
The preacher asked
That there be silence please ♪
"If any objections to this wedding" ♪
"Speak now or forever
Forever hold your peace" ♪
And I stood up and said
"It should have been me" ♪
Tough game. Execution was off.
I feel like we just kinda got outplayed.
Like, they were a better team,
honestly, so.
Kind of disappointed about my recruitment,
'cause I don't really know
where I'm going.
I'm kinda still up in the air.
If I go below D1,
I'm gonna be disappointed.
'Cause I know I can play at that level.
What schools are interested?
Alabama State.
Uh talked to Lamar.
Um
Another school in Houston,
but it's nothing like out here, so.
It's really It's pretty much,
I don't really know yet.
We were special this year.
I felt like we should've done it all.
I mean, you want to say that
about every team you've been on, but
Nah. We should've got it done.
Me personally, I felt
I didn't hold up to my end.
Everybody had what they needed to do.
I felt like, for me personally,
I just didn't show up the way I needed to.
So my dad was reiterating on it.
He said, "It's special to get up there,
just to be in that Elite Eight,
no matter how you guys do."
You lookin' at coaches across the country
who are all in the gym.
I mean, out of those eight teams,
they taking their picking from them.
It hurts that
we don't get there for exposure-wise.
Never like feeling like a failure.
I think I Let me see.
I need a better comb than this.
- You want me to braid it or twist it?
- Ma, which one you think look raw?
- That's why I'm asking.
- I dunno.
Ahh!
How many times
have you been back here?
- Since sixth grade?
- Yep.
Literally twice.
She ain't never even
really seen me hoop, for real.
Like, live. She just seen videos.
Yeah, I've seen the videos.
And that one time.
- You seen me play one time?
- Yeah.
- She came Yeah.
- When I came to California. Yeah.
I have not lost
too many important basketball games.
I was sad we didn't get to finish
how we were supposed to.
That wasn't how it was supposed to end.
This morning, he told me
the coach wasn't letting him play at all.
I was like, "Why?"
And he said he don't know. He was like,
they had some words or something,
and I'm like
I told him,
"In the end, it'll get better, Shemar."
It has to.
Well, he never talks to me about it.
Oh God, honestly, bruh,
I didn't even, like
I didn't tell her nothing
that was going on.
I'll be feeling, at the end of the day,
I got myself in that position,
so like, shit,
I gotta figure it out myself anyway.
Yeah, but you still can call and talk
to me about it. I wanna know everything.
I'mma have to leave, bro.
That's just what it is.
Like, I love the whole organization.
I love Coach Mo.
They did a lot for me,
but I can't do that again.
I'm not no nigga
that's just gonna sit on the bench
and score five points for you,
when I could go to another JUCO,
score 30, and get gone.
Like, I'm not finna do that, bro.
And I respectfully tell him that.
To have that feeling
when it's gonna be over
is, like, the sickest feeling ever.
You just feel like
you have no control of anything.
You have You've lost total control.
It's just an indescribable feeling,
and it's sickening,
and you go home and you can't sleep,
and your stomach is
You're sick.
You feel like you got a stomach flu.
And you're hot, and you feel doubted.
I mean, you literally Every time
the season ends this way for me,
I say, "I don't think
I want to coach ever again."
Every time.
And maybe the only thing
that can keep me going is,
"Well, you know what? I
still gotta feed my family."
Hello?
So then,
how Leah gonna do a birthday party thing?
Is it organized?
Yes.
I already have people coming and stuff.
Let me see your list of who's coming.
- Why?
- I wanna see.
I didn't put their names down.
I just put the amount of people.
You said you had a list of people.
- What'd you say one person, two persons?
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh, I know what we could do.
- What?
Bam! Slideshow.
Why?
- It's not
- That just kills time.
- Y'all ain't gonna dance. I'm tellin'
- All right.
- We ain't gonna dance for five hours.
- Y'all gonna be on the phone like this.
You gonna have a party. Everybody gonna be
on the wall with they phone.
And then, you don't wanna be
like the movies,
the girl that goes in the back and cries.
My party was a bomb
"There's no one having fun!"
And you go like a Disney movie.
- You go like, "No one's having fun!"
- "Just hate my life!"
And then you gonna be
And then your friends will say,
"Hey, guys, come on!"
- "Moriah's not having fun!"
- Shut
- "Let's all dance!" Then you come back.
- "Let's go get her from the bathroom."
Like a Hallmark movie.
And then you wipe your eyes and be like
"My party's amazing! Thank you, Daddy!"
No.
I think most important right now
is to make sure my family's okay.
I feel like, man, I'm tired.
I'm tired of pressing and making.
And I think, you know what?
Maybe this is the year to kinda hang up
pouring out all of this
and just pouring and pouring and pouring.
Every year, you evolve,
you change, you do different things, so
I'm sure there'll be changes.
Every year you don't win, you'll change.
Look, dawg! Look!
See, I can do it now!
Yeah! Hey! Yup!
- All I gotta do is
- Yeah!
Whoo!
- Moriah, he got it! That's it!
- I told you! I told you!
- He got it!
- I told you! Look!
We take a breath to get physical.
Now two.
If he's there, I go that way.
Boom. Take your drive.
Boom. Ah, now push off,
and then you want to do that
You want to do the exact opposite
out of the back screen.
Talk to me. Let's go.
There you go. Go get your shot.
Go get your shot.
I've decided to take
the head coaching position
at MiraCosta College
in Oceanside, California.
So it's a, um it's an exciting move.
When I go, use that left hand
to make sure I get away from you.
Thinking about not being
at ELAC next year is sad.
It's a sadness. It's a sadness to it
because usually when you're like,
"I'm gonna leave that place."
'Cause you're like,
"Eff that place. I'm outta here."
That's not even the case at all.
I absolutely love
going to that office
and talking to Mo every day.
It's not very often, like,
when you get to our age,
you know, you get to half 100,
to where you meet somebody and become
real good friends with like that.
Me and Mo have become really good friends.
He's like my friend for life.
It's part of the reason
why I was kind of sad
walking to that locker room
that last night,
is because a piece of me, like,
knew that'd probably be the last time.
- Ooh! Hot, babe.
- Yeah, it is hot out today.
It's muggy. I mean,
it's always muggy, but it's like
When it gets over 80,
it's a different feel here.
We come here every year
for vacation. We were here last year.
Walking around, I was like, "Wouldn't it
be great if you got a job here?"
When he called, he was like, "Hey,
MiraCosta," and I'm like, "Oh my gosh."
"We talked about this last year." So
It's just crazy how you have this idea
of how your life's gonna work out.
Like, you're gonna get married,
you're gonna have kids, do this, do that.
And then when it doesn't work out,
and 20 years later, you look,
and you're like, "Oh, I get it now."
It just wasn't supposed to happen then.
Watching it happen now is
It's almost sweeter.
It would come out over there.
Like where that sailboat's going in.
I'm not stressed.
I'm not worried.
I have a I have a solid job.
My kids are grown.
You know? Um, I feel like
the first 20 years were my turn almost,
and he sacrificed.
And now the next 20 are are his.
I'm so proud of him,
and I really do believe that
we will end up where he intends to be,
and we'll be in a better place
with our family first when we get there.
It's a cycle.
It's, like, 12 years now.
There's a new crop of guys come in, and
They may come with a bigger chest,
stuck out or whatever,
but they look the same to me.
It's a baby! It's a baby! It's a baby!
- Hey!
- Can I get a stop, yo?
I definitely didn't think
I was gonna come back, but like,
I just don't want to give up like that
'cause, like, you feel me?
We just been grinding it out for
some months together and it'd just be
You feel me?
I ain't just trying to up and leave.
This season gonna be
a good opportunity for me
to do what I need
'cause I know the system already.
I already know how he trying to rock, so.
That's all that's needed, for real.
And then after that,
you just go from there.
You behind, bro.
Niggas working, bro. You behind!
You gotta get your shit together.
I expected, when I saw you,
for you to look a certain way.
With what food?
That mean you ain't been doing nothing.
With what supply of food
am I gonna get bigger with?
You're killing me right now.
I love you to death,
but that's some bullshit.
- This is why everybody
- Listen.
This is why
everybody went crazy last time.
- Y'all was worrying 'bout
- We want to win.
- We don't want to be regular.
- I I wanna win!
Okay, but you're not acting
like you wanna win.
- I wanna win When you see me
- Look at
When you see me on the court,
you're gonna see I wanna win every time.
I'm gonna I'm definitely gonna see.
You right.
These guys are here
at the junior colleges.
They're still trying to figure that out.
It's not a part-time job,
even at the junior college level.
It's not a part-time job.
You gotta come in and
pretend like you at a university.
And so DC's still learning that.
And Shemar is still learning that.
I'm trying, bro.
Like, I'm not trying to just be that nigga
that be like,
"Damn, this don't work. Let me skate."
I'm trying to show
I'm not trying to be that nigga.
I'm trying to work it out. You feel me?
Definitely hard to be optimistic,
but at the end of the day, nigga,
like, "Shit. I been through all this."
"Why not? Why can't I still make it?"
I feel like this is what I was here to do.
I have nothing to lose,
and I need everything
that I can get from here.
You know what you can do,
and you know what you can't do.
And if you can do something
to a special level,
you can't let nobody take that from you.
At high school,
the goals that counselors had for me
were being a janitor
or a flight attendant.
Sayin' I shouldn't play basketball.
Shouldn't do this.
Shouldn't even aim for
getting my high school diploma.
I like proving people wrong.
I can play.
I can do this, like, every game.
If you trust me, I could do this.
I know it's in me,
so I don't think about nothing else.
It's just who I am.
Honestly, some days, I think
that some of the little voids I have
probably is what I feel like
could fix it in the future.
I can at least route myself
back into basketball.
It's been an avenue for me to
express what I'm going through
and express what my life has been.
Everybody's got a gift, man.
I have a gift.
And I guess my gift is trying
to inspire and speak to others.
I think that's probably what I wanna do
for the rest of my life.
It just so happens that it's basketball.
The game I played, and the game I love.
I just want to be
where God wants me to be.
At times, I can visualize myself
at a Division I.
At times, I can visualize myself,
heck, in a
maybe in a pulpit
preaching for the rest of my life.
This is where I'm at.
This is where I'll be.
Nothing fancy, man. Nothing fancy.
I've tried it.
Tried to be fancy. I've tried to
live a life that wasn't real.
Now I just gotta live real, man.
We in this little house.
East LA.
I'm just a JUCO coach, man.
Just a JUCO coach.
I don't want nothing more.
People say, "Why are you doing this?"
"You just trying to be a"
I don't want to be a star.
You won't find me on TV no more.
I don't want no part of none of that.
All I want to do is
just be where God wants me to be.
Minister to others.
That's it.
If I fall short ♪
If I don't make the grade ♪
If your expectations aren't met
In me today ♪
There's always tomorrow ♪
Or tomorrow night ♪
Hang in there, baby ♪
Sooner or later ♪
I know I'll get it right ♪
Please don't give up on me ♪
Oh, please don't give up on me ♪
I know it's late ♪
Late in the game ♪
But my feelings, my true feelings ♪
Haven't changed ♪
Here in my heart ♪
I know, I know
I was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong ♪
I'd like to make amends ♪
For the love
That I've never ever, ever, ever shown ♪
Just don't give up on me ♪
Every word is true ♪
I'll give you my everything ♪
All of my love, all of my love ♪
All of my love, love, love, love, love
To you ♪
Just don't give up on me ♪
Oh, please ♪
Please, please ♪
Don't give up on me ♪
I don't want you to ♪
I know it's late, but wait ♪
Please, please, please, please ♪
Don't give up on me ♪
Promise ♪
Will you promise me? ♪
Will you promise me? ♪
Please don't give up on me ♪
We can make it if we try ♪
I'm gonna hold on
Hold on with me ♪
And don't give up on me ♪
Oh ♪
Oh, baby ♪
Oh, baby ♪
Oh, baby, please ♪
Don't give up on me ♪
Whatever you do ♪
We gon' make it
We'll make it through ♪
Don't you give up on me ♪
Please, please, please ♪
Promise me ♪
Don't give up on me ♪