The Exclamation Point at the End of This Headline About The Open Run Is For Real!

So okay, if your attitude toward Coach Holt's New York-styled Open Run is " who cares it some decent kids hooping...lol" just go ahead and skip down to the comments and register that comment and ignore what is happening every Wednesday in your own backyard. The rest of us will be at Memorial Drive Christian Church enjoying one of the newest traditions in recent memory: elite players - Texas ranked kids, Houston All Stars, students from AAU-ranked youth programs - doing their best impressions of "shirts and skins" and playing against the best in the city. Oh yeah all this with coach Holt, throwing out some advice and cheering from time to time.

Boy, these kids are coming out to put in some work. As a whole, the kids are more athletic and talented than most of the kids they will face in the early tournaments, even the Best in the Winter Slam, which is one of the early basket ball tournaments here in Houston. This past Wednesday, you had some perimeter players posting up, which at this level of competition is only going to improve their game inside the paint. (We did have some big post players working on their footwork at both sessions, but these perimeter players have worked on their game over the Summer and are now taking their best shot against some of the best post players in the city). There were some guards who were working on their defensive techniques by constantly hustling after the ball handlers, trying to force turnovers, while others stopped relying on three-pointers and attacked the paint like the greats, who proved they were the best at New York's Rucker Park back in the day. These boys know it will be their opponents who spend all of their time exploiting their physical advantage instead of working on their well-disguised weak parts of their game.

For almost the entire scrimmage, you saw kids doing what they do best and those who are forcing themselves to work on their game. They played with a fun, loose underdog style — these boys are the best on their respective teams. Things did get dicey and exciting, we even saw some 7th graders getting up around the rim. The Open Run, in my humble opinion, is just what Houston needed: the best 2017, 18 and 19 players in the gym going at it. (That's how we all did it to get better...go to practice, leave and meet up on some court and play 5 on 5 against the city's best.) We had players from Gulf Coast Blue Chips, TNBA, Houston Elite, Straight 8 Ballers, Dream Team and our very own RYTES Warriors. They played up and down the court and frankly, it's crazy seeing these kids improve that much since (AAU) Nationals. These boys are bringing their teammates hoping to work on their cohesive play and good chemistry. (And if you ask me, the players we saw were all on the same page, unselfishness-wise basketball.)

I don't think coach got it wrong. With teams in Texas showing well at AAU Nationals, players here have the advantage of going up against the best with game time situations. About that: We know entering the season, the perennial youth basketball favorites will be the teams to go see at the tourneys, but these boys on these "up and coming" teams will bring it simply because they are earning the respect of some of the city's best players by being in the gym right along side them getting better. Alot of these kids are honest, they saw some flaws exposed at Nationals and they are working on it against the best on Wednesday night. They get it, they parents get it. There's suspense in the air, pride on the line, and top-notch youth basketball to be played in Houston. And if that's still not enough for you, this 2011-12 basketball season, in Houston will be better because there are some kids, with no team jerseys showing, some old kicks on, mismatched NIKE Elite socks, balled up $5 dollar bill in hand, getting dropped off so they can... work on their game.

$5 dollars, every Wednesday, Memorial Drive Christian Church.