Jason Joyce
La Follette coach Curtrel Robinson, center: ‘We’re gonna be tough.’
For many, the COVID-19 pandemic officially began on March 11, 2020, when the NBA suspended play after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus. During a week of uncertainty, the basketball league’s shutdown signaled to the world that our lives were about to change.
At the same time, high school basketball players on Madison’s east side were focused on sectionals, the playoffs that determine which teams get to play in the WIAA state tournament at the Kohl Center. Semi-finals scheduled for March 14 were played as scheduled, with the teams from Madison East and Madison La Follette high schools winning.
The teams had split their two regular season games, each winning a game as visitors. The sectional final was set for Sun Prairie, a neutral gym. East had put together a 20-4 record, with two losses to teams from other states. La Follette was the conference champion and top-ranked team in the state with a 23-1 record, its only loss to East.
For kids who have played against each other since they learned how to dribble, in middle school and community center gyms throughout the east side, the stakes were enormous. La Follette coach Curtrel Robinson, who played at La Follette in the early 2000s, replies with a heavy and sustained “Yeahhhhh” when I bring it up during a phone interview.
“That was always in my mind, and we would talk about it, that it would be really cool to have East and La Follette play in a sectional final game, knowing what it would mean to the city and to our kids,” Robinson says. “Then to actually be in a position where we were one and two in the conference, top team in the state, we had split during the year, third time’s the charm for whoever wins to punch their ticket to state. It was a dream come true for the kids.”
But in the hours after East and La Follette won their semi-final games, the WIAA canceled the tournament.
“I just remember that night, getting back to La Follette, I said, ‘Hey guys, we’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. We’re where we wanted to be against who we wanted to be against, ready to go,” Robinson says. “Then you wake up and the season’s over with.”
COVID-19 restrictions shut down the 2020-21 season for athletes in Madison high schools. And while many players competed in tournaments on traveling teams, the experience of playing against city rivals in school gyms packed with frenzied fans was unavailable for a year. They need to get back to playing what Robinson calls “Lancer basketball.”
“We’re gonna be tough, we’re gonna be athletic and quick, we’re going to get down the court offensively,” he says. “We’re going to pressure you on defense, push the ball in transition and share the ball.”
Will Green, who coaches the girls team at La Follette, has a similar approach to the game: “Our philosophy is to never let a team walk the ball up the court. I just refuse to watch basketball in that way. You’ve got to survive pressure from us for the majority of the game.”
The La Follette girls started in the last week of November, a week before the boys, and Green, who is also the executive director of the nonprofit agency Mentoring Positives, admits to having a hard time getting to sleep in the days leading up to the first games.
“Some of these girls I’ve been coaching since kindergarten, so I know they’re going to be pretty tough players,” he says. “But I’m trying to get back into the swing of it, after not being on the sideline for a long time, making those game coaching decisions. I’m excited.”
So am I. Watching games in person is the reason I’m a sports fan at all and I rely on the basketball season to help me survive winter. The perfect antidote to a week of sub-zero temperatures is a fast-paced, competitive basketball game in a loud, bright gym and I get to as many games as I can from December through March.
Robinson believes the atmosphere surrounding high school games makes for a richer and more challenging experience that the summer tournaments and AAU circuit can’t match.
“Being in front of your peers, your classmates, teachers, the community, makes a big difference,” he says. “The other big difference is the scouting, the coaching. People know who you are. Even though there’s a lot more talent overall on the AAU scene, depending on where you’re at, I think playing against people who know who you are makes for a different game.”
The first game of La Follette’s 2021-22 boys basketball season is Dec. 2 at East. County policy indicates fans and players must be masked, but gyms can be at full capacity.
