Quote:

Playing better teams doesn't make you better?



Again, I'm interpreting and may be off base, but I think what BD is trying to say is that playing top-notch teams in one preseason tournament doesn't make as much difference in team development as consistently playing strong teams throughout the season and maintaining good year-round conditioning and competition.

I also suspect a team's success in a strong preseason tournament like the VC may also be related to the number of players who are coming off of a fall club season of strong competition...which, again, would make the VC a great indicator of developed talent, but not necessarily the developer.

Still, it would be the first opportunity for players returning to a high school team from separate clubs to learn to gel together again in a high-pressure situation, which could actually benefit them in the first games of the regular season--although most teams start their seasons with out-of-region matches for this very reason, so that unity is achieved by the time region play and playoff seedings become an issue anyway.

At any rate, it seems logical that a team that starts out winning in the VC (such as the earlier example of Wando) has already achieved a superior level of development from the get-go. If you want to talk about how the VC can MAKE teams better, let's talk about teams who do "fair to middlin'" in the VC and use it as a growth tool to get stronger as the regular season develops.

I've got good news and bad news...