BIGGERSVILLE • Cliff Little can still be seen smiling just as hard as he was around this time a month ago.
That happy feeling hasn't worn off yet, and he doesn't expect it to anytime soon.
“It’s a special thing when it happens. But when you realize how hard it is, it almost gets more special with time,” Little said. “People ask me, ‘Have you come down yet?’ And I don’t know if you ever really do.”
The championship is Little's second in 10 years as Biggersville's boys basketball coach – and third overall, winning a title in 2008 at East Webster. His latest trophy earned him the Daily Journal's 2020-21 Boys Coach of the Year.
This title run, however, was more unique than any of those in the past, after an ice storm derailed the opening round of the playoffs.
Little, who also serves as the girls coach, was forced to coach six games in as many days as both his teams reached the semifinals in Jackson.
“While we were sitting at home for however many days, I started collecting film on everybody we might see from either side. So I had the games and we broke them down, and we were prepared for just about every scenario up until we got to Jackson,” said Little.
The grind of the postseason wasn't Little's only challenge this season. His early season practices featured just three varsity players, as Biggersville's football team wrapped up a state runner-up finish in early December.
The Lions (24-4) played their first game just four days later and began Division 1-1A play six days removed from the conclusion of football season.
It's a challenge that Little learned how to handle back in his days at East Webster, where he saw the football team's success permeate into basketball.
That success followed Biggersville on the hardwood, but not without the controversy that surrounded the ending of the 1A title game. A hustle play from Brooks Brand ended with Cam Smith's heroic 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 47-46 win over Ingomar.
Brand's foot hovered over the baseline as he attempted to throw the ball back in play. The bang-bang play resulted in an instant classic of a finish – one Little believes his team shouldn't apologize for.
“Had they called it, I would’ve been just as upset, saying, 'Hey, you can’t call that right there. You can’t even tell 100% if he was out or not,’” said Little. “We made the play, and you let the kids decide the plays, and that’s kind of what (the referees) started doing down the stretch, was letting the kids decide the end of that game.”
April 11, 2021 at 02:00PM
https://www.djournal.com/sports/high-school/boys-coach-of-the-year-cliff-little-leads-lions-to-top-of-1a/article_9d2abf48-82ef-5795-a211-3915bf9e3d59.html
Boys Coach of the Year: Cliff Little leads Lions to top of 1A - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment