Last Chance U: Basketball (2021–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Window - full transcript
A dynamic and intimate look at the lives of the East Los Angeles JUCO players and their coach, John Mosley.
I regret a lot of things.
I regret a lot of things.
Fucked my life up.
I... was supposed to be in the position
to help my family a long time ago,
you know, and I'm here.
So, I mean...
Yeah, it's...
I wish I... wish I did a thing...
a lot of things differently.
Give him the ball.
That's a bucket every time.
Hey!
- No!
- That's not a travel.
- That's not a travel!
- That's a pro move!
- Hey, good move, Joe.
- Good move, Joe!
I want that same contact up there.
That's how we callin' it!
- Hey!
- Hey!
That's a foul! That's a foul, man!
That's us!
- What?
- He can't, that's a foul!
Bro, fuck! Come on, blow y'all whistle.
- Joe, don't get a tech.
- Fuck!
- That's the third time, though. Fuck.
- I know. Don't get a tech.
Give it to him.
Iso Joe. Go on. Iso Joe!
- Move.
- Oh, my God.
What?
- It's rolling! What the...
- Sit down! Sit down, man.
Take me out of the game.
- I... I can't do it.
- Why?
- Take me out.
- Sit down!
Take me out, coach. I can't do it.
Sub. Sub. Sub.
- Malik, sub.
- Subbing in for Long Beach,
number 42, Matthew Smith...
Fuck.
For ELAC, number 33, Malik Muhammad,
replacing...
Fuck!
Fuck!
Fuck!
Fuck, man.
Gotta be serious!
...twice to Long Beach,
and 952 in the second half.
On the last...
Have a seat, have a seat.
They haven't made a bucket
in five minutes!
They haven't scored for five minutes! It's
all free throws, which they shouldn't get.
No free throws!
Don't give 'em nothin' easy that way.
Here we go. "Finish" on three.
- One, two, three!
- Finish!
Basketball builds character?
Not necessarily.
Basketball reveals.
When you're in the heat of the moment,
what do you look like?
What do you look like?
It's an intimate sport.
You can see the emotion
on everybody's face at all times.
If you've never been out there in that,
then you have no idea what that's like.
If you don't wear your feelings
on your sleeve when you play,
you gonna get cut.
Especially in JUCO,
'cause everybody's playing'to get out.
This is nobody's ending point, you know.
So, when things don't go our way,
we tend to...
erupt.
The dynamics
of the basketball playground is crazy.
Where a dude has elbowed him,
tried to trip him,
talking about his mama in his ear,
and then you're goin' at each other.
It's not just X's and O's, man.
That's the easy part.
The tough part is keepin' 'em
emotionally stable.
I mean, one thing can happen to one kid
and your season can just be over.
Do you have the mental capacity,
do you have the toughness
to fight through that?
We gotta help these kids get through it.
I'm willin' to help anybody.
If you have a heart to change,
the door is open here at East LA College.
♪ My life, my life, my life, my life ♪
♪ In the sunshine ♪
When you think of East LA...
♪ Everybody loves the sunshine ♪
...what comes to your mind?
It's not what you would think.
It's not Hollywood, for sure.
Everybody in America, everywhere,
has their own idea
of what Los Angeles is.
East LA isn't about palm trees.
- It's definitely not that.
- ♪ Everybody loves the sunshine ♪
It's a great area. Very diverse.
Large Latino population
that has been there for generations.
It's just a really special community.
It's got a lot of life.
Great food, great culture.
A world that's completely different
than the rest of LA.
♪ Sunshine ♪
East Los Angeles College,
we're the second-largest community
college in the country, 35,000 students.
We're trying to get student-athletes
an AA degree
on a short amount of time, two years.
- East LA is not known for basketball.
- ♪ Folks get round in the sunshine ♪
So, to put a great basketball team
associated with East Los Angeles,
they don't really go together.
Before Coach Mosley,
this basketball program,
I would say, was a disaster.
We expected, you know, okay, 15 wins.
That's a good year.
Sometimes there's nobody in the stands.
People came in, got their hot dogs
and left. Didn't stay for the ball game.
I had to go back
into the history books
and actually look for a winning season.
And that was 2001.
felt that we could be more competitive.
And we interviewed 12 candidates,
state coaches of the year,
guys who had incredible résumés,
and John still looking for his first job.
- ♪ My life, my life... ♪
- But I knew what he was capable of doing.
♪ In the sunshine ♪
East LA College, they said,
"What are you doin'?
Why are you takin' that job?
It's the worst job
in the state of California."
And I didn't see it that way. I was like,
"Well, I'mma be there, so it won't be."
Hell, yeah, K! Hell, yeah.
Break him off, L.
Break him off, L.
- Break him off!
- Ohh!
- Here we go, good.
- That's a good look, Shaun.
- Paint. Make a mistake in the paint.
- Come on. Hey!
- Hey, come here. Let's go! Come on!
- Make a mistake in the paint.
I... I just need motor and energy.
If you got motor and energy,
I don't care about no mistakes.
- You're good, boy.
- As long as you get in there like that.
I don't care!
You just play. If you playin',
I could care less.
Play! Play! Play! Get up! Get up!
I like being a underdog, man.
I'm a underdog.
Rebound! Outlet. Go, Joe, go!
You got to
the community college level,
where you see a lot of kids,
they really are...
They need another opportunity.
Make a play, Jay! Make a play, Jay!
- Coach, we joggin', we joggin', Coach.
- I didn't see it.
Don't have a sense of urgency,
like, we can lose.
You gotta get in there and make a play!
Somebody get in there
and stop these passes!
Run and poke... poke the ball!
Somebody make a play, man!
It's too many layups!
And I'm not talkin' about
goin' and foulin' the dude,
I'm talkin' about when the ball is there,
sprint here and get into that mug.
Get in the frickin' air, man!
Come on! It ain't funny!
It's not funny, dawg!
It's not funny.
That's winnin' and losin'.
And that demoralizes a team.
When you joggin' and they makin' layups.
Them dudes...
Huddle up, whites. Come on. X!
He about to pass out.
Come on.
I'mma coach you hard
and I'mma be truthful, I'mma be honest.
That's what kids are lookin' for.
- Attack it!
- Elevate!
- Give me that!
- Hell, yeah.
- Yeah, Lik. Yeah, Lik!
- Good.
Well, there's an old running gag about
students come to junior colleges
for the three As.
Academics,
they're not so strong academically.
Athletically,
they're not the greatest athletes.
Or they're assholes.
And so, uh, we get those kids.
I would talk
to junior college coaches
and they'd be like, "These kids are
\a nightmare, they're a mess, they suck,
I can't stand this level."
And I would say,
"Man, just build a relationship with 'em,"
I'm like, man, I would feel for 'em,
because I can see me.
I can see that I was that kid.
And I saw it as a... as a challenge.
And so I started lookin' at
community college jobs.
Al Cone called me and said, "Hey, we got
the basketball job open here."
Literally,
it's just a $15,000 stipend just to coach.
And I'm thinkin', like,
"How am I gonna take care of my family?"
I just said, "Well, you know, it's
an opportunity to be a head coach,
I'mma just bet on myself
and see what happens."
He's the best point guard
in school history.
He has a soft spot for East LA.
You know, I'm an alumni,
I'm a Huskie through and through, so, uh...
I'm all for it and excited
about the progress that we've made.
First year,
we had the biggest turnaround,
we won first playoff game
in the school's history.
I always feel like I don't think we can
surpass the year we had previously, and...
the magic always happens.
We have Division I transfers
in the program
and college coaches comin' in here
all the time from high major Division I,
Washington, Oregon.
If you wanna go to that level, we're
a program that can help you get there.
Coach has
an incredible track record.
They'll call him up and be, like,
"What do you got?"
We have three guys
from two years ago
that are playing major
Division I basketball.
Two kids played against each other
last night and it's just amazing.
I watched my kid Frank Bertz
play at UCF against Duke.
And Duke survives, barely.
That's the goal,
that is the ultimate goal, the only goal,
and if we keep that in mind,
all the rest will take care of itself.
So, four years I was here,
not making much money.
And then, John recently was tenured
and got a full-time position.
Because otherwise,
I'm sure with someone of his talent level,
somebody was gonna hire him full-time.
We were going to lose that treasure.
He's done some great things here,
and I'm sure he's not satisfied
not being a state champion.
John's been, like, right there,
to winning it all, like, multiple times.
Just, like, right there.
And so the knock is,
haven't got over that hump.
What does he think, "If I don't win
the championship,
am I considered a failure?"
But that's part of the reason
why he's so successful.
People say there's two things
that are inevitable, death and taxes.
Well, there's three things.
John Mosley also winning 20 games.
That brings us to the end
of the first half.
Number seven East Los Angeles trailing
to the five and five Cerritos Falcons...
We have to win this game!
Win the game.
Don't put on a show.
Freakin' win the game!
Don't put on a show!
You win the game.
Don't put on a show! You win the game!
Don't put on a show!
You freakin' win the game.
You don't put on a show, you win.
You get in the paint
and you finish and you win.
And you defend.
You rebound and you play together.
Come on.
- Let's go. Let's get it.
- Let's go.
- "Win" on three, one, two, three!
- Win!
Coach Mosley giving a pep talk
to the Huskies.
With a nine and one record, currently
ranked number seven in the state.
Trying to get back
to the state title game,
but a poor shooting performance
in the first half.
Highler inside to Muhammad.
Two-hand jam by Muhammad.
Straight to the cup,
Malik Muhammad comes in.
They came out with a lot more energy.
The Huskies take the lead, finally.
In the second half,
they're a different team.
The importance is must win
every single game
because of playoff implications.
Last year, probably should have been
ranked number one,
but they took a loss late in the season.
They were number two seed
and East Los Angeles got caught.
Just 53 seconds remain.
"Finish" on three, one, two, three.
That's been the pattern here
at East Los Angeles.
Make the playoffs, but that's it.
Under 50 seconds to go.
Highler with the runner.
The putback attempt by KJ Allen.
That might be the nail there.
And the Huskies,
they go to ten and one on the season.
♪ Quote me on this
Got a lot more to prove ♪
You freakin' top five in the state
of California, so act like it.
Don't give 'em no air, right away.
Something they never felt before.
- One, two, three...
- No air!
On top to a cutting Muhammad
with the jam inside. Tomahawk!
In the years that I've seen John's teams,
this is the best team I believe he's had.
Allen rejects him.
They're well on pace to surpass
26 victories, most in school history.
- Iverson! Iverson!
- Zeigler, alley-oop to Allen.
I think this is a team
that has enough talent
and the makeup
to win a State Championship.
And the win streak
extends to 11 games.
45... point... victory!
This team in particular, I think,
they like each other more than
we've had groups in the past.
The intentions are right,
so I'm... I'm excited.`
♪ Left us no option, what they expect? ♪
♪ Only thing we knew for sure
Was to bang the set... ♪
We're workin' so hard
to put together all these ingredients,
and we're mixin' it up.
But there's just, like, one thing,
if you put it in there,
just ties it all up and that's Deshaun.
Deshaun Highler,
who bounced back from UTEP.
- Hey! Hey, and one!
- Highler drives, and one! Count it.
Deshaun, man.
I love that kid.
His toughness, his swagger.
- Was that a foul?
- I suggest you back up right now.
Back up.
But... I'm talkin' to you like a captain..
Tell that bitch-ass nigga
to stop talking to me.
If we win State you can cut my dread
and keep it in a frame.
Aaah!
Underneath to
a cutting Muhammad. Reverse layup.
Big Malik, he blocks everything.
He'll have spurts where
he's the most dominant force out there.
And you'll be like, "Wow.
Why don't you just do that all the time?"
Gotta be strong with the ball, man.
- You gotta be strong with the ball!
- You gotta move!
Inside, Allen,
wide-open lane.
And the two-hand slam.
People are always like, "Hey, that
kid's a beast," or "That kid's a beast."
No, KJ's a beast.
Go, K! Go, K!
Polynice to a cutting Allen
with a tomahawk jam.
KJ Allen, the human highlight
continues all season long.
Oh-ho!
Why you keep trying to jump, bro?
You on Netflix, bro.
♪ Don't do this for nothin' ♪
Joe Hampton from Penn State.
Fading away, splashes through.
Oh, my God, he's fucking nasty.
Oh, my God, he's cold!
Hey, I'm a pro. I'm a pro.
Joe could score
in any game at any level.
He could go to the Staples Center
tonight against the Lakers
and get the same buckets that he got
against Cerritos the other day.
Off the court, still things there
that he gotta be able to deal with.
Hampton drives baseline
through the contact.
Oh, he's actually called for a charge.
What's up with you? You having a bad day?
That's awful, Ray.
You saw it the whole time. He was...
Coach Mosley's letting the zebras have it.
It's personal right now,
so I'll make it personal.
Give me the mop. Look out, man.
Watch out. Watch out, I got it.
Coach Mosley,
he'll always walk around
with that chip on his shoulder.
Coach Mosley picks up his 170th victory
and the road to State
continues for the Huskies.
As far as a state title,
they've been heartbroken
every single season
since Mosley's been here,
so I wouldn't say
they're the top dog just yet.
It's hard to get that monkey off his back.
That's what he's known for.
He'll get them there.
But will they finish?
Let's hurry up and get those weights in.
"Family" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Family.
Let's go, let's move.
We got through this
non-conference season with a good record.
But then a new season starts
and we start our conference opponents.
Pick up a weight, man, come on!
We're practicing six days a week,
lifting after our games.
All the commitment that
we wanna be at the top at the end,
and it's gonna pay off for everybody.
We're winnin' not just 'cause
we got good players,
because our kids
are doin' the right thing.
'Cause they really are good kids.
You know?
They really are good kids.
That's how we go.
You see my shit, right?
- Why... why you...
- Relax! Relax, bro.
- Bro, he hit me in the head, bro.
- What?
Come on!
That's so wack.
Is this the first time you guys
have lived away from home?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- How you liking it?
- I love it. Yeah. I love it.
- Yeah.
- Ain't gotta wake up to my parents
- telling me "Go do the dishes, do that."
- Man!
My dad be on my head every morning.
I like my independence.
- We put in a lot of hard work.
- Yeah.
It's State or bust at this point.
- Man.
- yeah.
If you make it to State, that's, like,
your best recruiting opportunity.
So...
And we can't get there by ourselves
so we... we have no choice
but to just trust each other.
What do you think
of Mosley as a coach?
- OD to the max. OD to the max.
- OD!
- Real crazy.
- We'll only get Christmas off.
I don't feel like
nobody practice harder than us.
- No. No.
- Nobody.
Let's go.
Here!
Good, here we go, move! Forwards!
Too slow, too slow. Hold!
Y'all gotta be quicker.
We tryin' to get to a higher level.
I don't care
if it's the second play of the game.
You sprint harder than ever before.
'Cause that play can change the game.
It can change your whole freakin' life.
Mosley, he's crazy.
He's done some things this year that
I haven't seen a coach do before.
Run, put it down. Come on!
When he throws a temper tantrum,
he just starts jumping all over the place.
I ain't never...
Golly, dude, that's a steal and a dunk!
Come on, man. It's the mindset, bro.
He sees perfect in everybody
and he want 'em to live up to that.
And he's going to keep grinding you
until you figure it out.
Go at him. Lik, Lik, Lik. Get the ball!
Every pass is not gonna be perfect.
- He gotta throw a good one...
- Huh? He threw a bad pass,
so go get the ball and then go at it.
The hell, you think it's gonna
be perfect come to you?
- It can't be bullshit, though.
- There you go again. It's his fault?
- There you go again, it's his fault.
- It is.
All right, everybody on the line.
- Oh, my God.
- Everybody on the line.
- Let's go. On the line.
- On the line.
It's everybody's fault.
So everybody running but Malik.
- Here we go.
- What the fuck is that?
- Let's go! Let's go!
- You fucked up.
Let's go.
We runnin' for Malik.
He say everybody's running
but Malik?
He said it was everybody else's fault.
Here we go.
- What the fuck?
- Suicide.
Whoa!
- What the fuck?
- What?
I know, like,
his intentions mean well.
It'll still get to you, though,
'cause of just how intense he is.
It's my fault too, Lik.
- It's our fault.
- That nigga running too?
Yeah, it's our fault.
It ain't his fault, it's our fault.
This man, bro.
It's my fault! It's my fault!
I mean, that man is,
like... really demanding.
We get no days off,
we only get Christmas off,
so I have to see him basically every day
and hearing that every day.
My fault, it's our fault, dawg.
But if you're gonna be that way,
then walk out.
Are you gonna quit or you gonna play?
Y'all know how the game is.
You know what it takes to play, do it!
Ready.
I grew up in the hood.
I grew up in South Central.
And I've seen 'em get out
and I've seen 'em have no way out.
So I'm trying to get 'em out,
I don't care where you come from.
And nobody has given
these kids a way out.
"Well, that's on them,
everybody has an opportunity."
Yeah...
you get a window...
but some of our windows are this small.
And a kid needs to be pushed and forced
through that one window, and maybe...
and maybe there's nobody pushin' 'em
and sayin',
"Hey, that's your only window, go!"
The majority of the kids that I deal with,
they don't have but one door.
And if they make... make a mistake,
that door is closed.
You're gonna call her.
- I gotta call her?
- She's your professor.
- You need this assignment.
- We do need this assignment.
- I can't...
- So we need to show initiative and adult.
I don't...
I don't wanna be an adult yet, though.
You don't wanna?
You have to.
My number one worst enemy
is procrastination.
I'll wait until literally the last minute
to just do a simple assignment.
I don't know what to say.
"I'm sorry for bothering you,
but I need this assignment."
Oh, thank God, she didn't answer.
Hang up.
- He literally was like...
- Let's go!
He was sweating!
I got to avoid confrontation.
Let's go.
I ain't saying he don't work hard,
'cause he will.
But if he can... If he sees
a corner to cut, it's gettin' cut.
- I'll let 'em know.
- Make sure you eat.
If I don't see you,
- be to practice on time.
- Yeah, I don't be...
- Okay?
- I don't be comin' late.
- These guys thought it was 2:30.
- Did they?
- We know Malik, his alarm ain't set till...
- Yeah.
- Till 2:27.
- Yeah, 2:27.
2:27.
Man, get out here! Lik!
He gets here at 2:29 every day
for 2:30 practice.
Don't get me wrong, at 2:30, man,
Malik is runnin', blockin' shots
and he's workin' hard and he does it,
but not necessarily doin' all
the extra stuff that you have to do.
He'll have these lazy spurts where
he's just out there, chillin', roamin'.
But back's against the wall,
that's when he starts performin'.
Coach Mosley looking
for some defensive effort.
Straight to the cup
Malik Muhammad comes in.
With Malik, he's gonna be
one of those kids blockin' shots,
dunkin' the ball,
gettin' extra possessions, reboundin',
playin' with great energy.
Cutting Malik Muhammad, who jams it down.
Tomahawk jam!
He's 6'9", and he can run,
and he's athletic.
Nobody else has that.
You might have an athletic 6'5 ", 6'6" kid,
you might have a 6'9 ", 6'10" kid,
who's big in the post or whatever.
Like, Malik can beat a guard
down the court and block a shot.
His ability translates
to every level of basketball.
He is a high major Division I defender.
It's just kinda the rest of the stuff.
More often than not,
the switch is kinda off.
He does what he needs to do to get by.
That's somethin'
that we really grindin' on him about,
about keepin' that switch on.
Student athletes in general,
they can just kinda flip the switch
on and off a little too much.
Even after death,
Goku's fighting spirit
could not be put to rest.
I don't like to spend
a lot of time in traffic,
so I usually, like, stay
until traffic's gone down.
Peak traffic is like two hours, like,
Friday afternoon, it's closer to three.
So it can be tough.
Where are we? What's up, bro?
I need some Mojos, man,
you over here by yourself.
Got some right there.
You sleep in, you need to sleep in, man.
Sleep in to ten. Like, go to bed at 12.
Go to bed at 12?
I can't...
You know I can't fall asleep at 12.
- Why?
- Sittin' there, starin' at the ceiling.
Staring at the ceiling.
Trust me, I've... I've stared
at the ceiling one too many nights.
What about before everything
went down with Mom?
- Did you have a problem sleeping?
- Yeah, she... No.
Even if I go to sleep early,
I just wake up.
I can tell you how to go to sleep.
You already know what I'm gonna say.
Oh, man.
I'm scared of what you're gonna say.
I had Jackson put on... Which...
- Now I know what you're gonna say!
- Yeah, you know!
- I had Jackson put on...
- I know what you're gonna say.
- Oh, no. It's not happening.
- He would put on the Bible.
He put on scripture.
Part of the unrest is not knowing.
It becomes lack of peace.
So, you... That unsettled...
Yeah, I for sure got a lack of peace.
Lack of peace.
Deshaun lost his mom to cancer.
His dad died a year prior to that.
He's living on his own.
He doesn't... He's living on his own.
He has nobody to guide him.
He had to grow up quick,
but as a player, man, as a person,
he's everything you would want
your kids to be.
Let's go to the cup. We gonna make a
lot of shots and have a lot of fun today.
Deshaun is the alpha of the team.
- "WIn" on three. One, two, three.
- Win!
I'm the captain.
Hold players accountable.
When you're only held accountable
by coaches, it's easy to...
just be like, "Ah, that old guy."
You only got a couple jobs
that you have to do. That you have to do.
But when it's your peer,
when it's the guy right next to you
that wants to win just as badly,
it's a little different.
Deshaun is very passionate,
he's a competitor. Fierce.
He's not afraid of the big moment,
the big shot.
He's not afraid of nothing.
To Highler.
Ties the ball game up.
How long have you been
playing basketball?
Since I was two years old.
I was the littlest kid out there.
People couldn't believe it,
this little light skin kid with cornrows,
wearing an Allen Iverson headband.
Oh, terrific ball fake
from Allen Iverson.
I could see he was different
than everybody in the league
and I was like, "I wanna be
like that guy with the tattoos,"
and the braids and the headband,
I wanna be just like that guy.
It's like a "fuck you" attitude,
but at that age, you don't really
know that that's what it is.
It's more just like, "That's how
he did it, that's how I wanna do it."
Oh! Come on, man!
That's your call, boy.
He's super fiery, super emotional.
That was a dime, you didn't go for it.
- It's gotta be high.
- I didn't go up for nothin'.
- Be ready...
- It's coming for a dime.
- It's coming to you.
- I got you.
- But it's under control...
- I'll pass you the ball. Shut up.
...for the most part.
Whoa!
Oh, he couldn't wait.
He hates us.
Him, too. He's mad that he's ugly, though.
That's a whole different...
You can't console a nigga
that's mad 'cause he ugly, bro.
Deshaun can be a big jerk at times.
Super stubborn.
- Did you say somethin' to him?
- I was...
- You said something. That's what it was.
- I was just... Hey, it don't matter.
- And he watchin' you instead of the play.
- Fuck him, man, it don't matter.
I've never been somebody that
people look to as, like, the good guy.
I've had people tell me
that I'm unapproachable.
I've had people tell me that I'm mean.
People tell me that I'm angry.
Do you think those things
are true about yourself?
No.
I think I'm going through
the hardest part of my life.
Me and Deshaun,
we got a special bond.
His mom told me, she said,
"I'm leaving you my son," and...
I told him he was mine forever.
You know, I think he trusts me.
Assignment one,
- was it chapter quiz or chapter notes?
- Yeah...
- A short response, then questions.
- Questions?
It talks about stuff
that happened in the movie.
All right, in the movie.
Some kids,
you have to sit down with them
and make sure that they actually
even log on to a computer.
Other ones might just need help
with an outline.
- I'm putting it in my own words.
- I want you to talk to me.
How did his father feel
about moving to Guadalupe?
Just talk to me.
- No, come on, just talk to me, KJ.
- Just talk.
Okay, how'd his father feel?
How did he feel about his...
his family moving to Guadalupe?
- He didn't want them to go there.
- How come?
He wanted his kids to follow
in his footsteps.
- There you go. That's your sentence.
- That's what you write.
- That's not cheating.
- Yeah.
- You listened to a chapter...
- Mm-hm.
...you listened to
somebody else's discussion about it,
you put it in your own words, that's you.
We have some kids on the team
where you can...
like, just sit down, and talking to 'em
about their subject matter
for ten, 15, 20 minutes gives them a spark
to where they can write
four or five paragraphs and get that done.
- Three pages for one chapter.
- That's a lot.
I'm finna shoot myself.
I know this is crazy, man. You guys
are actin' like y'all in... college.
I hate this shit, man!
KJ, how does it feel
to be a City Champion?
It feels outstanding right now.
It was a... it was a great experience.
I was here last year...
I started off
at Westchester High School.
We won the City Championship,
and I got a John R. Wooden Award,
basically saying that I was
the best player in LA that year.
That was pretty cool.
A question
I'd really like to ask Allen is,
with such skill,
why did he choose East LA?
What was your grade point average
in high school?
My grade point average was...
It was a... It was a two point...
Two point two.
He struggled
a little bit academically.
Didn't make it as a qualifier.
Kevin Allen, one of the top
prep basketball players
that's still unsigned
in the class of 2019.
It was hard, like, seeing all my friends,
like, going to, like, the next level,
and me knowing
I can't go there because of my grades.
Unfortunate, but fortunate for us,
we get a high major player.
If I just did all this stuff before,
I think I would be playing, like,
Division I right now.
But, yeah. Things turned out otherwise.
Hey... Hey, Dad.
Hey, can you do me a huge favor?
I'm about to go eat
with my teammates.
I ain't got no bread, for real.
Ugh! Stop it!
All right.
All right, thank you.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
That shit smells too good.
Quanto?
- Can I get the number four?
- Yeah.
- You playing, like, basketball?
- Yeah.
NBA.
You play in the NBA?
Ah, not yet. Not yet. One day.
Oh, my God.
Yes, sir.
Phew!
Thank you!
Smack his ass!
Spank his ass!
I didn't think
I was gonna like the caramel,
but all that shit, that shit OC.
This shit gas.
I can't eat this twice.
- I could. I'm doin' it right now.
- I can. I can't lie.
♪ Tryna make me feel
To make me mad ♪
♪ Hell, no! ♪
♪ Pussy, hit your ass
With this gat, bitch ♪
Off the court,
there's less that we can control
in California Community College.
There's no meal plans here.
Livin' at home, we have kids travelin'
an hour and a half to get here every day.
I mean, there's elements that we deal with
that are out of control.
You're not giving them
a scholarship.
We're not at Independence
Community College,
where you have dorms,
you have athletic aid.
They have to find
their own living situations.
That's the meal plan, dawg. Peanut
butter and jelly is the meal plan, dawg.
- That's some rough livin', man.
- The struggle's real.
Three and four of 'em are livin'
in a one-bedroom apartment,
tryin' to make it and goin' to their
classes and remaining eligible, and...
they don't have very much money,
and it's a tough two or three years,
so if they can go on to someplace else
and get a scholarship,
then their world changes significantly.
When they leave practice,
they're going back to their neighborhoods
all over Los Angeles.
And some of them are good neighborhoods,
it's not like it's all bad.
But some of 'em aren't. I'm scared
for these kids, if they didn't have this.
What would they be fighting through
somewhere else,
if they weren't fighting through this?
For us at JUCO, it's all one goal,
we tryin' to get to that next level,
which is D1.
I really wanna play at March Madness.
That's, like... that's my goal.
I wanna be a pro. That's my goal.
Whether it's overseas, NBA G-League,
I just wanna be a pro.
I just wanna be able to take care
of my family, that's it.
Look at your dumb ass.
Let me in the whip, nigga.
I see myself
in every one of these kids.
I see me in Joe Hampton.
I see me in Deshaun.
My life turned around...
and my life was changed...
and I... I just wasn't caught.
Went to Washington High School.
At that time, it was mid-'80s,
it was a lot of crime,
one of the worst campuses in the country.
I mean, I literally watched kids get shot.
We would just stand outside and watch
somebody in a car drive by and shoot.
That was such a norm that it was like,
we just stood out as kids and watched it.
The parents would come outside
and say, "Hey, come inside."
That's all I knew, was those guys,
and so we would walk to school together.
Eventually, I...
you know, I ended up joinin' a gang
and hangin' around with them.
I can remember one day,
there was a drive-by in front of
the school and I was with those guys.
All those guys,
the gangbangers, it was like,
"We know who did it,
we gonna go back and get 'em."
And I'm sittin' up there,
lookin' at myself,
I said, "What the heck am I doin', man?"
I was like,
"Man, I'm not that type of kid."
A week later, I saw a sign that says,
"Basketball tryouts
at Washington High School"
and I ended up trying out for basketball,
and that kind of gave me the separation.
You know, I was just fortunate that God
kind of preserved me through all that,
and to be able to be in this position.
This job's my passion,
it's what I wanna do,
and, my wife, she's had my back.
My prayer for all those guys
is that ultimately,
they have an opportunity
to have what I have.
I ain't gotta go by you,
now you so scared.
No, ain't nobody scared of nothin'.
You not quick enough to get by me.
You doin' high school stuff like pr...
I done been there, done that.
Been there, locked that up already.
- Aah!
- You doing stuff like ain't nobody...
- Like I ain't never seen it before.
- You ain't seen it on me.
Hey, I'm a grown man,
I used to play.
Played for a while.
Played a little pro, college.
And I'm old and I'm mature.
- First possession, I got him.
- I got a gut. Look at that.
I'm 46!
You can't go by me.
It's not a clean go by.
I'm still here. Still here.
Why y'all celebratin' almost?
Damn, all y'all do is celebrate almost.
I'm still here and I contestin'.
Bro, he just gonna foul you.
Excuses, excuses.
Excuses are tools in which incompetent
individuals build monuments of nothing.
Excuses. I'm outta here.
How you sweatin' so much?
Dawg, you way too skinny to even come.
This is too much,
this is man thickness right here.
You way too skinny to see me.
- Yeah!
- I don't know how did y'all fools
let Joe do that little crossover.
Don't nobody know how to stop that?
Little weak crossover, y'all. It's weak.
- My left to right is vicious.
- No!
- I'm older... I'm older than you.
- Maybe fake through... No!
And I've seen players like you. You...
I've seen you, like, 30 times.
- It's like 30 people I've seen like you.
- No! No!
I know exactly how to guard you.
I still can get you with my left to right,
coming downhill, I swear to God.
Huh?
Your God and my God, both,
we got the same God, right?
He know that my left to right
is unstoppable.
- You better sprint on this.
- Oh, you coming at me?
Yeah. Better sprint
on this half-court shot.
- I'll bet a five in a minute.
- You bet.
- I'm runnin' or you runnin'?
- Bet.
- Bet? You ain't making that.
- Shake on it.
- Hell, yeah. Five in a minute. Hell, yeah.
- I'll take that.
- Hey, part the Red Sea.
- He ain't finna make this half-court shot.
Part the Red Sea.
Part the Red Sea.
Get yo ass on the line, nigga!
Get yo ass on the line, nigga!
Get yo ass on the line!
Hey! Where the time at?
Where the time at? Where the time at?
Start your watch,
where the time at?
- Hey, I got you on Thursday, I just...
- He said on Thursday.
- I got you on Thursday, for real.
- Better.
I used to have that one-leg jumper.
- I used to have it.
- I swear to God.
Last time I picked up a basketball...
YouTube Joe, man...
I've seen YouTube Joe.
I had all that shit, man.
I'm gettin' old.
Have you seen Joe on YouTube?
He be movin' around quick.
The championship game
is underway at the Garden.
Can Ben Simmons
lead his team to a threepeat,
or will Oak Hill win
their first ever tournament title?
From the corner, Joe Hampton for three.
So, Joe Hampton
is one of the highest-rated players
that I've had in the program,
in terms of his status in high school.
Joe's had quite the journey.
I mean, it's incredible that
he's even here gettin' buckets for us.
Knew for sure
I was gonna be a basketball player.
Like, I just fell in love
with the game early.
I really would wake up early just to
dribble the basketball on the porch.
I was going to all these different camps,
gettin' recognition
from all these different, uh... coaches.
I'm gettin' all these letters in the mail.
To be able to go online and see
that I'm the 21st-ranked ESPN top 100
recruit, it was... it was pretty dope.
He was four- or five-star
comin' out of high school.
The famous, acclaimed Oak Hill Academy.
Another three try. Oh!
And Joe Hampton has brought
his A-game to New York City.
Oak Hill, a lot of people may know.
Carmelo Anthony went there, Ty Lawson,
Mike Beasley,
KD was even there for a year.
Being on that national stage,
I was known in my city.
At every corner I would turn, there would
be someone, "Oh, look, there's Joe."
It was all fun and games,
like, I was a kid.
For Oak Hill, keep an eye
on Hampton, he's been spectacular...
It didn't really become stressful
until I got older, like, maybe...
maybe when I tore my ACL in high school.
Before the injury, I felt like
I was a top NBA prospect, easily.
And not to play my senior year
at Oak Hill,
when we were supposed to
have the best team in the country,
it really cut deep, it really did.
I ain't gonna lie.
Went to Penn State University.
I'm up there, workin' out one practice,
just... pops.
I tear my meniscus and my LCL.
I was sittin', smoking and eating.
That really put me in a bad head space.
I mean, probably was
one of the worst times in my life.
I started smokin' heavily.
They did everything they could
to keep me from smokin'.
Uh, drug programs. Drug tests.
Chaperone.
Literally, I had a coach followin' me
after hours on campus at one point,
you know, like, it got that bad.
I just couldn't control it.
Like, I was just out of my mind.
Got to the point where
I got suspended a full year
because I failed
more than three drug tests.
And, uh... yeah, so, when I left,
I was almost 300 pounds.
Yeah. I was huge.
I try not to live with regret,
but it haunts me to this day.
After Penn State University,
I sat at home, didn't do shit.
Probably the lowest
I've ever been in my life.
I really just wanted to crawl up
in a ball and die.
I was really at that point, like,
fuck basketball, I was done.
Like, I was sick to my stomach of it.
I don't know where I would be today
if I didn't come to California when I did.
He called me up and said,
"Coach, I heard you got a good reputation,
helpin' students get back on track,
I heard you're a good person."
The reputation that I got
from some previous coaches,
and I said, "Do we really
wanna deal with that?"
So, what I did is I said, "Well, sure,
you're welcome to come in,
but we don't need you.
We don't need you to win."
Talent-wise, he could be a starter,
but unfortunately
he hasn't played in about two years.
We good. You goin' back.
He'd been a former four-star athlete
and been at the Division I level before.
It's a humblin' experience
for a guy like that.
He's going left, bro!
What the fuck, why would you take me out?
If I was him, I... I'd be mad, too.
'Cause he doesn't belong here.
- Fucking annoying.
- Every time. He sees...
Why keep letting this nigga start?
Start me!
God damn. Huh?
Please, Joe. Please, Joe!
A kid like Joe,
he knows how to play.
So I... I have to give him a chance
until he is a detriment
to everybody else in the program.
You know,
there's a difference between
a kid who can play basketball
and a hooper.
You know, a hooper is someone
who can go get a bucket
at any given time for his team.
If somebody just play basketball,
just knows the fundamentals
and just plays basketball the right way,
I guess there's nothing wrong
with that, but...
I just think that
there's a difference between
a basketball player and a hooper,
you know?
And you're a hooper?
I'm a hooper for sure.
For sure!
I'm feelin' pretty good about 'em,
man, I like the group.
Just still get nervous about
all the other variables, man, that...
that can distract 'em.
So, you kinda worry.
A lot of wrong can happen.
I'm... I'm to the brink
almost every single year with a young man.
Yeah, Michael Foster
was a kid I recruited my first year.
I kinda keep this on my desk to remind me,
but he died in 2016, September.
And he was almost outta here, man.
Almost at the next level.
And then he was shot up in a car
prior to finishing up his last season.
The goal was to just
get him outta here, man.
And that's all I'm tryin' to do
with a lot of kids, man,
is just allow 'em to see somethin' else.
Then they say, "Wow, there's
somethin' else out here, and I can...
I can make a choice."
I grew up ten minutes from Watts myself,
I know the elements he's dealin' with.
I can say, "Look, man, I'm not brand new.
Everything you doin', I...
Like, bro, I smell weed on you.
Everything you doin', I know.
But, so... let me tell you
how we gonna get out of that element.
Let me tell you
how I got out of the element."
Once basketball
helped me travel the world,
I see how it can be.
And... we were almost done with him.
And we just didn't make it.
We just didn't make it.
I still keep a voicemail.
Can you give me a call back
on the ASAP, as soon as possible, I just...
He wasn't perfect, man,
but he had the potential.
He had potential, man.
He had potential.
♪ I think it was David that said ♪
♪ That everything that has a breath ♪
- ♪ Whoa ♪
- ♪ Praise the Lord ♪
♪ Can I get a Amen? ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ Let us all join hands ♪
- ♪ Yeah, lead us not ♪
- ♪ Lead us not ♪
♪ Into temptation... ♪
I don't talk to Coach Mosley
before a game,
'cause I feel his intensity
and I feel like I'm gonna bother him.
♪ From evil... ♪
I went over to take over
the sweeping machine.
He was like, "Get away from me, man,
this is my time,
I've done this for seven years now,
and I just don't trust
how anybody sweeps this floor.
So you're not taking this from me."
♪ For ever and ever... ♪
I just want it done right.
I'll never forget,
we had a first round game here,
and... the floor was slippery.
We were just slidin' all over the place,
and I was so pissed.
Created a negative vibe.
Guys were like, "You didn't help,
you're gettin' beat off the dribble."
Guys were slippin' and slidin'.
- ♪ I know... ♪
- Lost in the first round.
We were, like, number one seed,
and I said,
"You know what?
That'll never happen again."
It's one game and out, so...
it's almost bein' perfect
when you get to that playoff stretch.
I mean, you can literally
just sneeze and it's all over.
Going to the Elite 8,
that warrants recruiting attention.
Some of our guys need to be on that
platform to get that scholarship offer.
♪ Who art in Heaven ♪
You know, you never wanna promise,
but I almost promise these kids
that you come here,
you gonna get a scholarship.
Losing in the playoffs,
it's hard to sell that to a college coach.
- And that scares...
- ♪ And the power ♪
- ♪ And the glory... ♪
- That scares me more than anything else.
♪ For ever and ever... ♪
I'm not willin' to lose
'cause there's some dust on the floor.
- ♪ Amen ♪
- ♪ And amen, and amen ♪
♪ Thank you, Lord ♪*
If we get separation,
we need to work on our stuff.
Let's be sharp, let's pretend like
this is a... Like, we gotta do that.
I expect to win the game tonight,
but then, if we get some separation,
we need to make sure we workin' on stuff.
We that much better at every position,
we need to make sure we establish
that tonight.
- All right, here we go.
- Come on.
Lord, we thank you for this opportunity.
Father, we pray for fair officiating.
Father, we pray that we glorify you
in everything we do,
- In your son Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
- Amen.
"Family" on three. One, two, three!
- Family!
- Let's go!
Hello, and welcome to another installment
of East Los Angeles College Huskies
basketball from Monterey Park, California,
as number four, East LA, takes on
the Rio Hondo College Roadrunners.
Some might call this an easy W
for East Los Angeles College,
but it's been 75 days since
the Rio Hondo Roadrunners have won a game.
A team that has nothing to lose.
Hey, it's a blowout.
It's a blowout if we stay detailed.
Every single possession on offense,
be detailed.
I'm talking about 40 again, bro.
If we gonna win by 40 again,
we gotta do everything right. Let's go.
- "Win" on three. One, two, three.
- Win!
We're in a part of our season
where we go into conference opponents.
Now, we are shootin' to win conference.
You can't win conference
unless you win the first game.
Head coach of East LA
in his eighth season
is Professor John Mosley,
already considered the greatest
men's hoops coach in East LA history.
But he'll tell you not so fast,
because he still lacks that state title.
East Los Angeles in their camo uniforms.
Highler on the right wing
dribbles around the arc.
Highler will launch a three
and right off the bat...
There you go, Shaun.
...East Los Angeles opens up the scoreboard.
The Huskies on track
- for another historical season.
- Hand up, Shaun. Don't give it to him!
A three-pointer!
A response by Bryant Howing.
Move, KJ!
Howing once again fires a three
and sinks it.
If 33 has an open look, somebody go.
Close out, bro. Close out.
Muhammad of East LA there.
- Lik!
- Throw it out.
Loses his dribble.
Loose ball still on the floor.
- Oh, fuck.
- Bounce pass.
Williams finishes on the right side,
so super sloppy by East Los Angeles.
Oh, and a steal right at half-court.
It's Howing, pulls up for three...
Yes.
And Rio Hondo takes the lead.
Their first lead of the ball game.
Howing is three of four
from behind the arc.
They only scorin' in transition.
On defense, we standin' up relaxed.
Like we too good
to get down in the stance.
If you're just joining us,
East LA struggling here at home.
- Too comfortable.
- Ball level, you joggin'.
Some might call this an easy W,
but not the case.
Whistle.
Highler is called for a foul, there.
You're holding me, bro. Come on.
- Hey, ref.
- Push!
I wouldn't have to push you
if you don't hold me, you feel me?
No, that was secondary.
No, no, no. I guard hands up.
- Uh-huh.
- I guard hands up.
No, he gon' burn out.
Just trust me. He gon' burn out.
You good. Just make him handle the ball.
Here are the Huskies
struggling as Howing will drive inside.
- What is Malik doin'?
- Beautiful move there.
I'll give him that.
I'll give him that. Show a little love.
Show a little love. That was nice.
Number three East LA
is being threatened here tonight.
Inside to Muhammad,
Muhammad gets ripped.
- Help. Help. Help. Help.
- Howing quickly into the front court,
straight to the cup coast to coast.
Off the glass, the runner good.
- Impressive effort there from Howing.
- Time...
That's what I'm talking about, man.
Timeout.
Coach Mosley livid
at the defensive effort.
Every time they scorin',
it's in transition. We not runnin' back.
We still joggin' back. Stop watchin'.
Joe Hampton makes an appearance.
The bounce back from Penn State.
Baseline, baseline!
Baseline, baseline!
Hampton fading away to his right side,
the lefty, splashes one.
Are you serious?
- Let's go, Money.
- Come on. Go to work!
Into the front court for East LA.
Hampton, aggressive move there.
Finishes with the left hand.
Seven-point lead, East Los Angeles.
Rio Hondo comes in
with a 15-game losing streak,
but Hampton spins around inside the paint,
gets ripped.
Howing comes up with a steal.
Howing coast to coast, left-hand layup,
gently tapped off the glass.
What about the contact, though?
We get a call. Golly.
Wouldn't call this an upset alert
just yet, two-point ball game.
KJ, sub. Get Joe.
Every time
he fucking take me out, bro,
we always start fuckin' up, every time.
- I got you!
- Ball release.
Deep three by Howing splashes in.
Skips away. You could tell
he's confident this evening.
This 33 is lightin' us up.
- What we doin' right now is not working.
- Yeah.
- We tied up with Rio Hondo.
- What the fuck is we doin', man??
Look inside! Look inside!
The drive inside by Deshaun.
- Oh!
- Bro, look at who he has.
- Deshaun loses it.
- Go inside, man!
Straight into the hands of Rio Hondo.
Kicks out to Williams for three.
Yes.
They got ten threes, dawg.
Oh, fuck that!
Watch this shit
happen in playoffs, same thing.
I refuse to lose first round again, bruh.
It is halftime.
A thin two-point lead.
Has not been pretty for East LA.
Should be dominating this ball game,
taking on a three-win team,
so poor display on both ends.
Super sloppy...
It's coming 33's way,
or it's a brick, bro. it's real simple.
It's Rio Hondo, man, come on.
We tied with Rio Hondo, man, you feel me?
We two in the state.
This shit never happen, bro.
I just don't want this shit to bite us
back in the ass in playoffs, you feel me?
We all just gotta lock in, man.
We should kill them.
If you don't have 12 killers,
you're not gonna kill anybody as a team.
We got some people that take
they matchup personal, some people that...
just be out there hoopin'.
Bottom line is that right now,
it's just character.
And it's everybody.
It's nothin' I can do about it.
Nothin' I can do about it.
Because there's no willingness to do it.
If it comes to this, then that's fine.
I'll take it.
You know, "Coach Mosley couldn't do it
with the... with the talent." It's fine.
Get it all... I get that a lot.
So... if that's how we wanna do it,
then that's how we do it.
All it is is just effort.
It's all it is.
Maybe we just don't have the character to...
to be number one in the state,
to win the State Championship.
I mean, I ain't gonna yell or scream,
it's... pretty embarrassing,
they got three wins.
And it's everybody, so...
Whatever, uh... However you guys
wanna finish it out, man.
Here we go.
Your season. However you wanna finish it.
- "Family" on three, one, two, three!
- Family!
Let's go, let's get the win.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Pick up energy, right now.
Welcome back
inside the E-Rena.
Upset alert, possibly?
Well, Rio Hondo has done the majority
of their damage from behind the arc.
Somebody defend somebody.
Guard everything that moves.
- Howing gets rejected.
- What the fuck you thought, nigga?
Ball slapped out of bounds,
Highler smacks it out.
It's over with, it's over with.
All that's over with.
It's over with, bro.
Good run, though. Good run.
There you go, kid. More, Shaun!
And Highler gets a rejection on Howing.
- Yeah, good block!
- I like it, Shaun!
Come here. Come here.
Highler now on top of the key
will launch a three!
Yes!
East LA back on top,
but Rio Hondo quickly into
the front court, a touchdown pass,
- but Muhammad slaps it off the backboard.
- We'll take that.
Highler drives.
- Yep! Yep!
- Layup good.
- ♪ Nobody... ♪
- We gotta execute right here,
- we make a run.
- In you go!
Execute, we make a run.
- ♪ Does it better... ♪
- Muhammad there with his right hand.
- Allen drives, slaps it down.
- ♪ Nobody does it better... ♪
And the Huskies coming out
with so much more aggressiveness.
- Lob pass to Polynice. Ten-point lead.
- Yes! Come on, Jordan!
♪ They can come closer than close... ♪
- Highler...
- Oh!
...drains a three
from the right wing.
Over to Highler, left wing. Three. Yes.
- ♪ Nobody does it better ♪
- ♪ Nobody... ♪
He don't want it, Lik.
He don't want it!
- Hampton comes up with a block.
- ♪ Does it better... ♪
Lay it up. Go lay it up.
Quickly into the front court,
Dez Washington.
♪ Nobody... ♪
Zeigler cuts to the cup and one!
- ♪ Does it better... ♪
- 20-point lead for East LA.
Inside to Hampton.
And one!
He would say "And one."
Zebras always know best.
I got you. I'll talk to him.
You don't need that foul.
What you talking about? Oh, no.
We playin' for the last whistle.
We need all those.
- ♪ Nobody... ♪
- Hampton will launch a three!
Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!
♪ Does it better... ♪
- They can't stop us.
- Joseph Hampton.
- ♪ Nobody does it better... ♪
- Just let 'em eat.
- Yeah, baby!
- The win streak continues.
Keeps getting better
and better for East LA.
Y'all gotta stop
lettin' people come out
and feel like they can play against y'all.
In the playoffs, our last two years
been 'cause of that.
We came out flat, let dudes feel like
they can play against us,
and then, now we gotta battle back.
So y'all gotta get
that part of it together.
I'm glad we got the win, we shoulda won,
based on the talent that we have,
- but everybody sees what we gotta do.
- Gotta make some mistakes.
- Give you something to do.
- Give me something to do. I got a reason
to coach y'all now.
- "Lift" on three. One, two, three.
- Lift!
- Here we go.
- Let's go.
Hey! Hey, "family" on three...
The kids gotta figure out that
this opportunity is not gonna last always,
in terms of bein' in the winning program,
and havin' a lot of people that care,
coaches that care.
This may be it for 'em.
The next stop may be somewhere
that's, you know, not as functional.
But somebody's got to give 'em a chance.
And I gotta remember to give
everybody the same chance
that I gave the kid prior,
and the kid prior.
Remember that first time
I started as a head coach.
The love I have for each player,
no matter what issues they had.
I'm hopin' it results in winning
a State Championship, of course, but...
ultimately, for me in my faith,
I believe whenever God wants it to happen,
it's gonna happen.
They're still learning good habits, man,
they're still gettin' enough
so they can go out and function
a little better, and...
that's what's... that's probably
what's the most important.
That's probably what's most important.
But I wanna win.
I regret a lot of things.
Fucked my life up.
I... was supposed to be in the position
to help my family a long time ago,
you know, and I'm here.
So, I mean...
Yeah, it's...
I wish I... wish I did a thing...
a lot of things differently.
Give him the ball.
That's a bucket every time.
Hey!
- No!
- That's not a travel.
- That's not a travel!
- That's a pro move!
- Hey, good move, Joe.
- Good move, Joe!
I want that same contact up there.
That's how we callin' it!
- Hey!
- Hey!
That's a foul! That's a foul, man!
That's us!
- What?
- He can't, that's a foul!
Bro, fuck! Come on, blow y'all whistle.
- Joe, don't get a tech.
- Fuck!
- That's the third time, though. Fuck.
- I know. Don't get a tech.
Give it to him.
Iso Joe. Go on. Iso Joe!
- Move.
- Oh, my God.
What?
- It's rolling! What the...
- Sit down! Sit down, man.
Take me out of the game.
- I... I can't do it.
- Why?
- Take me out.
- Sit down!
Take me out, coach. I can't do it.
Sub. Sub. Sub.
- Malik, sub.
- Subbing in for Long Beach,
number 42, Matthew Smith...
Fuck.
For ELAC, number 33, Malik Muhammad,
replacing...
Fuck!
Fuck!
Fuck!
Fuck, man.
Gotta be serious!
...twice to Long Beach,
and 952 in the second half.
On the last...
Have a seat, have a seat.
They haven't made a bucket
in five minutes!
They haven't scored for five minutes! It's
all free throws, which they shouldn't get.
No free throws!
Don't give 'em nothin' easy that way.
Here we go. "Finish" on three.
- One, two, three!
- Finish!
Basketball builds character?
Not necessarily.
Basketball reveals.
When you're in the heat of the moment,
what do you look like?
What do you look like?
It's an intimate sport.
You can see the emotion
on everybody's face at all times.
If you've never been out there in that,
then you have no idea what that's like.
If you don't wear your feelings
on your sleeve when you play,
you gonna get cut.
Especially in JUCO,
'cause everybody's playing'to get out.
This is nobody's ending point, you know.
So, when things don't go our way,
we tend to...
erupt.
The dynamics
of the basketball playground is crazy.
Where a dude has elbowed him,
tried to trip him,
talking about his mama in his ear,
and then you're goin' at each other.
It's not just X's and O's, man.
That's the easy part.
The tough part is keepin' 'em
emotionally stable.
I mean, one thing can happen to one kid
and your season can just be over.
Do you have the mental capacity,
do you have the toughness
to fight through that?
We gotta help these kids get through it.
I'm willin' to help anybody.
If you have a heart to change,
the door is open here at East LA College.
♪ My life, my life, my life, my life ♪
♪ In the sunshine ♪
When you think of East LA...
♪ Everybody loves the sunshine ♪
...what comes to your mind?
It's not what you would think.
It's not Hollywood, for sure.
Everybody in America, everywhere,
has their own idea
of what Los Angeles is.
East LA isn't about palm trees.
- It's definitely not that.
- ♪ Everybody loves the sunshine ♪
It's a great area. Very diverse.
Large Latino population
that has been there for generations.
It's just a really special community.
It's got a lot of life.
Great food, great culture.
A world that's completely different
than the rest of LA.
♪ Sunshine ♪
East Los Angeles College,
we're the second-largest community
college in the country, 35,000 students.
We're trying to get student-athletes
an AA degree
on a short amount of time, two years.
- East LA is not known for basketball.
- ♪ Folks get round in the sunshine ♪
So, to put a great basketball team
associated with East Los Angeles,
they don't really go together.
Before Coach Mosley,
this basketball program,
I would say, was a disaster.
We expected, you know, okay, 15 wins.
That's a good year.
Sometimes there's nobody in the stands.
People came in, got their hot dogs
and left. Didn't stay for the ball game.
I had to go back
into the history books
and actually look for a winning season.
And that was 2001.
felt that we could be more competitive.
And we interviewed 12 candidates,
state coaches of the year,
guys who had incredible résumés,
and John still looking for his first job.
- ♪ My life, my life... ♪
- But I knew what he was capable of doing.
♪ In the sunshine ♪
East LA College, they said,
"What are you doin'?
Why are you takin' that job?
It's the worst job
in the state of California."
And I didn't see it that way. I was like,
"Well, I'mma be there, so it won't be."
Hell, yeah, K! Hell, yeah.
Break him off, L.
Break him off, L.
- Break him off!
- Ohh!
- Here we go, good.
- That's a good look, Shaun.
- Paint. Make a mistake in the paint.
- Come on. Hey!
- Hey, come here. Let's go! Come on!
- Make a mistake in the paint.
I... I just need motor and energy.
If you got motor and energy,
I don't care about no mistakes.
- You're good, boy.
- As long as you get in there like that.
I don't care!
You just play. If you playin',
I could care less.
Play! Play! Play! Get up! Get up!
I like being a underdog, man.
I'm a underdog.
Rebound! Outlet. Go, Joe, go!
You got to
the community college level,
where you see a lot of kids,
they really are...
They need another opportunity.
Make a play, Jay! Make a play, Jay!
- Coach, we joggin', we joggin', Coach.
- I didn't see it.
Don't have a sense of urgency,
like, we can lose.
You gotta get in there and make a play!
Somebody get in there
and stop these passes!
Run and poke... poke the ball!
Somebody make a play, man!
It's too many layups!
And I'm not talkin' about
goin' and foulin' the dude,
I'm talkin' about when the ball is there,
sprint here and get into that mug.
Get in the frickin' air, man!
Come on! It ain't funny!
It's not funny, dawg!
It's not funny.
That's winnin' and losin'.
And that demoralizes a team.
When you joggin' and they makin' layups.
Them dudes...
Huddle up, whites. Come on. X!
He about to pass out.
Come on.
I'mma coach you hard
and I'mma be truthful, I'mma be honest.
That's what kids are lookin' for.
- Attack it!
- Elevate!
- Give me that!
- Hell, yeah.
- Yeah, Lik. Yeah, Lik!
- Good.
Well, there's an old running gag about
students come to junior colleges
for the three As.
Academics,
they're not so strong academically.
Athletically,
they're not the greatest athletes.
Or they're assholes.
And so, uh, we get those kids.
I would talk
to junior college coaches
and they'd be like, "These kids are
\a nightmare, they're a mess, they suck,
I can't stand this level."
And I would say,
"Man, just build a relationship with 'em,"
I'm like, man, I would feel for 'em,
because I can see me.
I can see that I was that kid.
And I saw it as a... as a challenge.
And so I started lookin' at
community college jobs.
Al Cone called me and said, "Hey, we got
the basketball job open here."
Literally,
it's just a $15,000 stipend just to coach.
And I'm thinkin', like,
"How am I gonna take care of my family?"
I just said, "Well, you know, it's
an opportunity to be a head coach,
I'mma just bet on myself
and see what happens."
He's the best point guard
in school history.
He has a soft spot for East LA.
You know, I'm an alumni,
I'm a Huskie through and through, so, uh...
I'm all for it and excited
about the progress that we've made.
First year,
we had the biggest turnaround,
we won first playoff game
in the school's history.
I always feel like I don't think we can
surpass the year we had previously, and...
the magic always happens.
We have Division I transfers
in the program
and college coaches comin' in here
all the time from high major Division I,
Washington, Oregon.
If you wanna go to that level, we're
a program that can help you get there.
Coach has
an incredible track record.
They'll call him up and be, like,
"What do you got?"
We have three guys
from two years ago
that are playing major
Division I basketball.
Two kids played against each other
last night and it's just amazing.
I watched my kid Frank Bertz
play at UCF against Duke.
And Duke survives, barely.
That's the goal,
that is the ultimate goal, the only goal,
and if we keep that in mind,
all the rest will take care of itself.
So, four years I was here,
not making much money.
And then, John recently was tenured
and got a full-time position.
Because otherwise,
I'm sure with someone of his talent level,
somebody was gonna hire him full-time.
We were going to lose that treasure.
He's done some great things here,
and I'm sure he's not satisfied
not being a state champion.
John's been, like, right there,
to winning it all, like, multiple times.
Just, like, right there.
And so the knock is,
haven't got over that hump.
What does he think, "If I don't win
the championship,
am I considered a failure?"
But that's part of the reason
why he's so successful.
People say there's two things
that are inevitable, death and taxes.
Well, there's three things.
John Mosley also winning 20 games.
That brings us to the end
of the first half.
Number seven East Los Angeles trailing
to the five and five Cerritos Falcons...
We have to win this game!
Win the game.
Don't put on a show.
Freakin' win the game!
Don't put on a show!
You win the game.
Don't put on a show! You win the game!
Don't put on a show!
You freakin' win the game.
You don't put on a show, you win.
You get in the paint
and you finish and you win.
And you defend.
You rebound and you play together.
Come on.
- Let's go. Let's get it.
- Let's go.
- "Win" on three, one, two, three!
- Win!
Coach Mosley giving a pep talk
to the Huskies.
With a nine and one record, currently
ranked number seven in the state.
Trying to get back
to the state title game,
but a poor shooting performance
in the first half.
Highler inside to Muhammad.
Two-hand jam by Muhammad.
Straight to the cup,
Malik Muhammad comes in.
They came out with a lot more energy.
The Huskies take the lead, finally.
In the second half,
they're a different team.
The importance is must win
every single game
because of playoff implications.
Last year, probably should have been
ranked number one,
but they took a loss late in the season.
They were number two seed
and East Los Angeles got caught.
Just 53 seconds remain.
"Finish" on three, one, two, three.
That's been the pattern here
at East Los Angeles.
Make the playoffs, but that's it.
Under 50 seconds to go.
Highler with the runner.
The putback attempt by KJ Allen.
That might be the nail there.
And the Huskies,
they go to ten and one on the season.
♪ Quote me on this
Got a lot more to prove ♪
You freakin' top five in the state
of California, so act like it.
Don't give 'em no air, right away.
Something they never felt before.
- One, two, three...
- No air!
On top to a cutting Muhammad
with the jam inside. Tomahawk!
In the years that I've seen John's teams,
this is the best team I believe he's had.
Allen rejects him.
They're well on pace to surpass
26 victories, most in school history.
- Iverson! Iverson!
- Zeigler, alley-oop to Allen.
I think this is a team
that has enough talent
and the makeup
to win a State Championship.
And the win streak
extends to 11 games.
45... point... victory!
This team in particular, I think,
they like each other more than
we've had groups in the past.
The intentions are right,
so I'm... I'm excited.`
♪ Left us no option, what they expect? ♪
♪ Only thing we knew for sure
Was to bang the set... ♪
We're workin' so hard
to put together all these ingredients,
and we're mixin' it up.
But there's just, like, one thing,
if you put it in there,
just ties it all up and that's Deshaun.
Deshaun Highler,
who bounced back from UTEP.
- Hey! Hey, and one!
- Highler drives, and one! Count it.
Deshaun, man.
I love that kid.
His toughness, his swagger.
- Was that a foul?
- I suggest you back up right now.
Back up.
But... I'm talkin' to you like a captain..
Tell that bitch-ass nigga
to stop talking to me.
If we win State you can cut my dread
and keep it in a frame.
Aaah!
Underneath to
a cutting Muhammad. Reverse layup.
Big Malik, he blocks everything.
He'll have spurts where
he's the most dominant force out there.
And you'll be like, "Wow.
Why don't you just do that all the time?"
Gotta be strong with the ball, man.
- You gotta be strong with the ball!
- You gotta move!
Inside, Allen,
wide-open lane.
And the two-hand slam.
People are always like, "Hey, that
kid's a beast," or "That kid's a beast."
No, KJ's a beast.
Go, K! Go, K!
Polynice to a cutting Allen
with a tomahawk jam.
KJ Allen, the human highlight
continues all season long.
Oh-ho!
Why you keep trying to jump, bro?
You on Netflix, bro.
♪ Don't do this for nothin' ♪
Joe Hampton from Penn State.
Fading away, splashes through.
Oh, my God, he's fucking nasty.
Oh, my God, he's cold!
Hey, I'm a pro. I'm a pro.
Joe could score
in any game at any level.
He could go to the Staples Center
tonight against the Lakers
and get the same buckets that he got
against Cerritos the other day.
Off the court, still things there
that he gotta be able to deal with.
Hampton drives baseline
through the contact.
Oh, he's actually called for a charge.
What's up with you? You having a bad day?
That's awful, Ray.
You saw it the whole time. He was...
Coach Mosley's letting the zebras have it.
It's personal right now,
so I'll make it personal.
Give me the mop. Look out, man.
Watch out. Watch out, I got it.
Coach Mosley,
he'll always walk around
with that chip on his shoulder.
Coach Mosley picks up his 170th victory
and the road to State
continues for the Huskies.
As far as a state title,
they've been heartbroken
every single season
since Mosley's been here,
so I wouldn't say
they're the top dog just yet.
It's hard to get that monkey off his back.
That's what he's known for.
He'll get them there.
But will they finish?
Let's hurry up and get those weights in.
"Family" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Family.
Let's go, let's move.
We got through this
non-conference season with a good record.
But then a new season starts
and we start our conference opponents.
Pick up a weight, man, come on!
We're practicing six days a week,
lifting after our games.
All the commitment that
we wanna be at the top at the end,
and it's gonna pay off for everybody.
We're winnin' not just 'cause
we got good players,
because our kids
are doin' the right thing.
'Cause they really are good kids.
You know?
They really are good kids.
That's how we go.
You see my shit, right?
- Why... why you...
- Relax! Relax, bro.
- Bro, he hit me in the head, bro.
- What?
Come on!
That's so wack.
Is this the first time you guys
have lived away from home?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- How you liking it?
- I love it. Yeah. I love it.
- Yeah.
- Ain't gotta wake up to my parents
- telling me "Go do the dishes, do that."
- Man!
My dad be on my head every morning.
I like my independence.
- We put in a lot of hard work.
- Yeah.
It's State or bust at this point.
- Man.
- yeah.
If you make it to State, that's, like,
your best recruiting opportunity.
So...
And we can't get there by ourselves
so we... we have no choice
but to just trust each other.
What do you think
of Mosley as a coach?
- OD to the max. OD to the max.
- OD!
- Real crazy.
- We'll only get Christmas off.
I don't feel like
nobody practice harder than us.
- No. No.
- Nobody.
Let's go.
Here!
Good, here we go, move! Forwards!
Too slow, too slow. Hold!
Y'all gotta be quicker.
We tryin' to get to a higher level.
I don't care
if it's the second play of the game.
You sprint harder than ever before.
'Cause that play can change the game.
It can change your whole freakin' life.
Mosley, he's crazy.
He's done some things this year that
I haven't seen a coach do before.
Run, put it down. Come on!
When he throws a temper tantrum,
he just starts jumping all over the place.
I ain't never...
Golly, dude, that's a steal and a dunk!
Come on, man. It's the mindset, bro.
He sees perfect in everybody
and he want 'em to live up to that.
And he's going to keep grinding you
until you figure it out.
Go at him. Lik, Lik, Lik. Get the ball!
Every pass is not gonna be perfect.
- He gotta throw a good one...
- Huh? He threw a bad pass,
so go get the ball and then go at it.
The hell, you think it's gonna
be perfect come to you?
- It can't be bullshit, though.
- There you go again. It's his fault?
- There you go again, it's his fault.
- It is.
All right, everybody on the line.
- Oh, my God.
- Everybody on the line.
- Let's go. On the line.
- On the line.
It's everybody's fault.
So everybody running but Malik.
- Here we go.
- What the fuck is that?
- Let's go! Let's go!
- You fucked up.
Let's go.
We runnin' for Malik.
He say everybody's running
but Malik?
He said it was everybody else's fault.
Here we go.
- What the fuck?
- Suicide.
Whoa!
- What the fuck?
- What?
I know, like,
his intentions mean well.
It'll still get to you, though,
'cause of just how intense he is.
It's my fault too, Lik.
- It's our fault.
- That nigga running too?
Yeah, it's our fault.
It ain't his fault, it's our fault.
This man, bro.
It's my fault! It's my fault!
I mean, that man is,
like... really demanding.
We get no days off,
we only get Christmas off,
so I have to see him basically every day
and hearing that every day.
My fault, it's our fault, dawg.
But if you're gonna be that way,
then walk out.
Are you gonna quit or you gonna play?
Y'all know how the game is.
You know what it takes to play, do it!
Ready.
I grew up in the hood.
I grew up in South Central.
And I've seen 'em get out
and I've seen 'em have no way out.
So I'm trying to get 'em out,
I don't care where you come from.
And nobody has given
these kids a way out.
"Well, that's on them,
everybody has an opportunity."
Yeah...
you get a window...
but some of our windows are this small.
And a kid needs to be pushed and forced
through that one window, and maybe...
and maybe there's nobody pushin' 'em
and sayin',
"Hey, that's your only window, go!"
The majority of the kids that I deal with,
they don't have but one door.
And if they make... make a mistake,
that door is closed.
You're gonna call her.
- I gotta call her?
- She's your professor.
- You need this assignment.
- We do need this assignment.
- I can't...
- So we need to show initiative and adult.
I don't...
I don't wanna be an adult yet, though.
You don't wanna?
You have to.
My number one worst enemy
is procrastination.
I'll wait until literally the last minute
to just do a simple assignment.
I don't know what to say.
"I'm sorry for bothering you,
but I need this assignment."
Oh, thank God, she didn't answer.
Hang up.
- He literally was like...
- Let's go!
He was sweating!
I got to avoid confrontation.
Let's go.
I ain't saying he don't work hard,
'cause he will.
But if he can... If he sees
a corner to cut, it's gettin' cut.
- I'll let 'em know.
- Make sure you eat.
If I don't see you,
- be to practice on time.
- Yeah, I don't be...
- Okay?
- I don't be comin' late.
- These guys thought it was 2:30.
- Did they?
- We know Malik, his alarm ain't set till...
- Yeah.
- Till 2:27.
- Yeah, 2:27.
2:27.
Man, get out here! Lik!
He gets here at 2:29 every day
for 2:30 practice.
Don't get me wrong, at 2:30, man,
Malik is runnin', blockin' shots
and he's workin' hard and he does it,
but not necessarily doin' all
the extra stuff that you have to do.
He'll have these lazy spurts where
he's just out there, chillin', roamin'.
But back's against the wall,
that's when he starts performin'.
Coach Mosley looking
for some defensive effort.
Straight to the cup
Malik Muhammad comes in.
With Malik, he's gonna be
one of those kids blockin' shots,
dunkin' the ball,
gettin' extra possessions, reboundin',
playin' with great energy.
Cutting Malik Muhammad, who jams it down.
Tomahawk jam!
He's 6'9", and he can run,
and he's athletic.
Nobody else has that.
You might have an athletic 6'5 ", 6'6" kid,
you might have a 6'9 ", 6'10" kid,
who's big in the post or whatever.
Like, Malik can beat a guard
down the court and block a shot.
His ability translates
to every level of basketball.
He is a high major Division I defender.
It's just kinda the rest of the stuff.
More often than not,
the switch is kinda off.
He does what he needs to do to get by.
That's somethin'
that we really grindin' on him about,
about keepin' that switch on.
Student athletes in general,
they can just kinda flip the switch
on and off a little too much.
Even after death,
Goku's fighting spirit
could not be put to rest.
I don't like to spend
a lot of time in traffic,
so I usually, like, stay
until traffic's gone down.
Peak traffic is like two hours, like,
Friday afternoon, it's closer to three.
So it can be tough.
Where are we? What's up, bro?
I need some Mojos, man,
you over here by yourself.
Got some right there.
You sleep in, you need to sleep in, man.
Sleep in to ten. Like, go to bed at 12.
Go to bed at 12?
I can't...
You know I can't fall asleep at 12.
- Why?
- Sittin' there, starin' at the ceiling.
Staring at the ceiling.
Trust me, I've... I've stared
at the ceiling one too many nights.
What about before everything
went down with Mom?
- Did you have a problem sleeping?
- Yeah, she... No.
Even if I go to sleep early,
I just wake up.
I can tell you how to go to sleep.
You already know what I'm gonna say.
Oh, man.
I'm scared of what you're gonna say.
I had Jackson put on... Which...
- Now I know what you're gonna say!
- Yeah, you know!
- I had Jackson put on...
- I know what you're gonna say.
- Oh, no. It's not happening.
- He would put on the Bible.
He put on scripture.
Part of the unrest is not knowing.
It becomes lack of peace.
So, you... That unsettled...
Yeah, I for sure got a lack of peace.
Lack of peace.
Deshaun lost his mom to cancer.
His dad died a year prior to that.
He's living on his own.
He doesn't... He's living on his own.
He has nobody to guide him.
He had to grow up quick,
but as a player, man, as a person,
he's everything you would want
your kids to be.
Let's go to the cup. We gonna make a
lot of shots and have a lot of fun today.
Deshaun is the alpha of the team.
- "WIn" on three. One, two, three.
- Win!
I'm the captain.
Hold players accountable.
When you're only held accountable
by coaches, it's easy to...
just be like, "Ah, that old guy."
You only got a couple jobs
that you have to do. That you have to do.
But when it's your peer,
when it's the guy right next to you
that wants to win just as badly,
it's a little different.
Deshaun is very passionate,
he's a competitor. Fierce.
He's not afraid of the big moment,
the big shot.
He's not afraid of nothing.
To Highler.
Ties the ball game up.
How long have you been
playing basketball?
Since I was two years old.
I was the littlest kid out there.
People couldn't believe it,
this little light skin kid with cornrows,
wearing an Allen Iverson headband.
Oh, terrific ball fake
from Allen Iverson.
I could see he was different
than everybody in the league
and I was like, "I wanna be
like that guy with the tattoos,"
and the braids and the headband,
I wanna be just like that guy.
It's like a "fuck you" attitude,
but at that age, you don't really
know that that's what it is.
It's more just like, "That's how
he did it, that's how I wanna do it."
Oh! Come on, man!
That's your call, boy.
He's super fiery, super emotional.
That was a dime, you didn't go for it.
- It's gotta be high.
- I didn't go up for nothin'.
- Be ready...
- It's coming for a dime.
- It's coming to you.
- I got you.
- But it's under control...
- I'll pass you the ball. Shut up.
...for the most part.
Whoa!
Oh, he couldn't wait.
He hates us.
Him, too. He's mad that he's ugly, though.
That's a whole different...
You can't console a nigga
that's mad 'cause he ugly, bro.
Deshaun can be a big jerk at times.
Super stubborn.
- Did you say somethin' to him?
- I was...
- You said something. That's what it was.
- I was just... Hey, it don't matter.
- And he watchin' you instead of the play.
- Fuck him, man, it don't matter.
I've never been somebody that
people look to as, like, the good guy.
I've had people tell me
that I'm unapproachable.
I've had people tell me that I'm mean.
People tell me that I'm angry.
Do you think those things
are true about yourself?
No.
I think I'm going through
the hardest part of my life.
Me and Deshaun,
we got a special bond.
His mom told me, she said,
"I'm leaving you my son," and...
I told him he was mine forever.
You know, I think he trusts me.
Assignment one,
- was it chapter quiz or chapter notes?
- Yeah...
- A short response, then questions.
- Questions?
It talks about stuff
that happened in the movie.
All right, in the movie.
Some kids,
you have to sit down with them
and make sure that they actually
even log on to a computer.
Other ones might just need help
with an outline.
- I'm putting it in my own words.
- I want you to talk to me.
How did his father feel
about moving to Guadalupe?
Just talk to me.
- No, come on, just talk to me, KJ.
- Just talk.
Okay, how'd his father feel?
How did he feel about his...
his family moving to Guadalupe?
- He didn't want them to go there.
- How come?
He wanted his kids to follow
in his footsteps.
- There you go. That's your sentence.
- That's what you write.
- That's not cheating.
- Yeah.
- You listened to a chapter...
- Mm-hm.
...you listened to
somebody else's discussion about it,
you put it in your own words, that's you.
We have some kids on the team
where you can...
like, just sit down, and talking to 'em
about their subject matter
for ten, 15, 20 minutes gives them a spark
to where they can write
four or five paragraphs and get that done.
- Three pages for one chapter.
- That's a lot.
I'm finna shoot myself.
I know this is crazy, man. You guys
are actin' like y'all in... college.
I hate this shit, man!
KJ, how does it feel
to be a City Champion?
It feels outstanding right now.
It was a... it was a great experience.
I was here last year...
I started off
at Westchester High School.
We won the City Championship,
and I got a John R. Wooden Award,
basically saying that I was
the best player in LA that year.
That was pretty cool.
A question
I'd really like to ask Allen is,
with such skill,
why did he choose East LA?
What was your grade point average
in high school?
My grade point average was...
It was a... It was a two point...
Two point two.
He struggled
a little bit academically.
Didn't make it as a qualifier.
Kevin Allen, one of the top
prep basketball players
that's still unsigned
in the class of 2019.
It was hard, like, seeing all my friends,
like, going to, like, the next level,
and me knowing
I can't go there because of my grades.
Unfortunate, but fortunate for us,
we get a high major player.
If I just did all this stuff before,
I think I would be playing, like,
Division I right now.
But, yeah. Things turned out otherwise.
Hey... Hey, Dad.
Hey, can you do me a huge favor?
I'm about to go eat
with my teammates.
I ain't got no bread, for real.
Ugh! Stop it!
All right.
All right, thank you.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
That shit smells too good.
Quanto?
- Can I get the number four?
- Yeah.
- You playing, like, basketball?
- Yeah.
NBA.
You play in the NBA?
Ah, not yet. Not yet. One day.
Oh, my God.
Yes, sir.
Phew!
Thank you!
Smack his ass!
Spank his ass!
I didn't think
I was gonna like the caramel,
but all that shit, that shit OC.
This shit gas.
I can't eat this twice.
- I could. I'm doin' it right now.
- I can. I can't lie.
♪ Tryna make me feel
To make me mad ♪
♪ Hell, no! ♪
♪ Pussy, hit your ass
With this gat, bitch ♪
Off the court,
there's less that we can control
in California Community College.
There's no meal plans here.
Livin' at home, we have kids travelin'
an hour and a half to get here every day.
I mean, there's elements that we deal with
that are out of control.
You're not giving them
a scholarship.
We're not at Independence
Community College,
where you have dorms,
you have athletic aid.
They have to find
their own living situations.
That's the meal plan, dawg. Peanut
butter and jelly is the meal plan, dawg.
- That's some rough livin', man.
- The struggle's real.
Three and four of 'em are livin'
in a one-bedroom apartment,
tryin' to make it and goin' to their
classes and remaining eligible, and...
they don't have very much money,
and it's a tough two or three years,
so if they can go on to someplace else
and get a scholarship,
then their world changes significantly.
When they leave practice,
they're going back to their neighborhoods
all over Los Angeles.
And some of them are good neighborhoods,
it's not like it's all bad.
But some of 'em aren't. I'm scared
for these kids, if they didn't have this.
What would they be fighting through
somewhere else,
if they weren't fighting through this?
For us at JUCO, it's all one goal,
we tryin' to get to that next level,
which is D1.
I really wanna play at March Madness.
That's, like... that's my goal.
I wanna be a pro. That's my goal.
Whether it's overseas, NBA G-League,
I just wanna be a pro.
I just wanna be able to take care
of my family, that's it.
Look at your dumb ass.
Let me in the whip, nigga.
I see myself
in every one of these kids.
I see me in Joe Hampton.
I see me in Deshaun.
My life turned around...
and my life was changed...
and I... I just wasn't caught.
Went to Washington High School.
At that time, it was mid-'80s,
it was a lot of crime,
one of the worst campuses in the country.
I mean, I literally watched kids get shot.
We would just stand outside and watch
somebody in a car drive by and shoot.
That was such a norm that it was like,
we just stood out as kids and watched it.
The parents would come outside
and say, "Hey, come inside."
That's all I knew, was those guys,
and so we would walk to school together.
Eventually, I...
you know, I ended up joinin' a gang
and hangin' around with them.
I can remember one day,
there was a drive-by in front of
the school and I was with those guys.
All those guys,
the gangbangers, it was like,
"We know who did it,
we gonna go back and get 'em."
And I'm sittin' up there,
lookin' at myself,
I said, "What the heck am I doin', man?"
I was like,
"Man, I'm not that type of kid."
A week later, I saw a sign that says,
"Basketball tryouts
at Washington High School"
and I ended up trying out for basketball,
and that kind of gave me the separation.
You know, I was just fortunate that God
kind of preserved me through all that,
and to be able to be in this position.
This job's my passion,
it's what I wanna do,
and, my wife, she's had my back.
My prayer for all those guys
is that ultimately,
they have an opportunity
to have what I have.
I ain't gotta go by you,
now you so scared.
No, ain't nobody scared of nothin'.
You not quick enough to get by me.
You doin' high school stuff like pr...
I done been there, done that.
Been there, locked that up already.
- Aah!
- You doing stuff like ain't nobody...
- Like I ain't never seen it before.
- You ain't seen it on me.
Hey, I'm a grown man,
I used to play.
Played for a while.
Played a little pro, college.
And I'm old and I'm mature.
- First possession, I got him.
- I got a gut. Look at that.
I'm 46!
You can't go by me.
It's not a clean go by.
I'm still here. Still here.
Why y'all celebratin' almost?
Damn, all y'all do is celebrate almost.
I'm still here and I contestin'.
Bro, he just gonna foul you.
Excuses, excuses.
Excuses are tools in which incompetent
individuals build monuments of nothing.
Excuses. I'm outta here.
How you sweatin' so much?
Dawg, you way too skinny to even come.
This is too much,
this is man thickness right here.
You way too skinny to see me.
- Yeah!
- I don't know how did y'all fools
let Joe do that little crossover.
Don't nobody know how to stop that?
Little weak crossover, y'all. It's weak.
- My left to right is vicious.
- No!
- I'm older... I'm older than you.
- Maybe fake through... No!
And I've seen players like you. You...
I've seen you, like, 30 times.
- It's like 30 people I've seen like you.
- No! No!
I know exactly how to guard you.
I still can get you with my left to right,
coming downhill, I swear to God.
Huh?
Your God and my God, both,
we got the same God, right?
He know that my left to right
is unstoppable.
- You better sprint on this.
- Oh, you coming at me?
Yeah. Better sprint
on this half-court shot.
- I'll bet a five in a minute.
- You bet.
- I'm runnin' or you runnin'?
- Bet.
- Bet? You ain't making that.
- Shake on it.
- Hell, yeah. Five in a minute. Hell, yeah.
- I'll take that.
- Hey, part the Red Sea.
- He ain't finna make this half-court shot.
Part the Red Sea.
Part the Red Sea.
Get yo ass on the line, nigga!
Get yo ass on the line, nigga!
Get yo ass on the line!
Hey! Where the time at?
Where the time at? Where the time at?
Start your watch,
where the time at?
- Hey, I got you on Thursday, I just...
- He said on Thursday.
- I got you on Thursday, for real.
- Better.
I used to have that one-leg jumper.
- I used to have it.
- I swear to God.
Last time I picked up a basketball...
YouTube Joe, man...
I've seen YouTube Joe.
I had all that shit, man.
I'm gettin' old.
Have you seen Joe on YouTube?
He be movin' around quick.
The championship game
is underway at the Garden.
Can Ben Simmons
lead his team to a threepeat,
or will Oak Hill win
their first ever tournament title?
From the corner, Joe Hampton for three.
So, Joe Hampton
is one of the highest-rated players
that I've had in the program,
in terms of his status in high school.
Joe's had quite the journey.
I mean, it's incredible that
he's even here gettin' buckets for us.
Knew for sure
I was gonna be a basketball player.
Like, I just fell in love
with the game early.
I really would wake up early just to
dribble the basketball on the porch.
I was going to all these different camps,
gettin' recognition
from all these different, uh... coaches.
I'm gettin' all these letters in the mail.
To be able to go online and see
that I'm the 21st-ranked ESPN top 100
recruit, it was... it was pretty dope.
He was four- or five-star
comin' out of high school.
The famous, acclaimed Oak Hill Academy.
Another three try. Oh!
And Joe Hampton has brought
his A-game to New York City.
Oak Hill, a lot of people may know.
Carmelo Anthony went there, Ty Lawson,
Mike Beasley,
KD was even there for a year.
Being on that national stage,
I was known in my city.
At every corner I would turn, there would
be someone, "Oh, look, there's Joe."
It was all fun and games,
like, I was a kid.
For Oak Hill, keep an eye
on Hampton, he's been spectacular...
It didn't really become stressful
until I got older, like, maybe...
maybe when I tore my ACL in high school.
Before the injury, I felt like
I was a top NBA prospect, easily.
And not to play my senior year
at Oak Hill,
when we were supposed to
have the best team in the country,
it really cut deep, it really did.
I ain't gonna lie.
Went to Penn State University.
I'm up there, workin' out one practice,
just... pops.
I tear my meniscus and my LCL.
I was sittin', smoking and eating.
That really put me in a bad head space.
I mean, probably was
one of the worst times in my life.
I started smokin' heavily.
They did everything they could
to keep me from smokin'.
Uh, drug programs. Drug tests.
Chaperone.
Literally, I had a coach followin' me
after hours on campus at one point,
you know, like, it got that bad.
I just couldn't control it.
Like, I was just out of my mind.
Got to the point where
I got suspended a full year
because I failed
more than three drug tests.
And, uh... yeah, so, when I left,
I was almost 300 pounds.
Yeah. I was huge.
I try not to live with regret,
but it haunts me to this day.
After Penn State University,
I sat at home, didn't do shit.
Probably the lowest
I've ever been in my life.
I really just wanted to crawl up
in a ball and die.
I was really at that point, like,
fuck basketball, I was done.
Like, I was sick to my stomach of it.
I don't know where I would be today
if I didn't come to California when I did.
He called me up and said,
"Coach, I heard you got a good reputation,
helpin' students get back on track,
I heard you're a good person."
The reputation that I got
from some previous coaches,
and I said, "Do we really
wanna deal with that?"
So, what I did is I said, "Well, sure,
you're welcome to come in,
but we don't need you.
We don't need you to win."
Talent-wise, he could be a starter,
but unfortunately
he hasn't played in about two years.
We good. You goin' back.
He'd been a former four-star athlete
and been at the Division I level before.
It's a humblin' experience
for a guy like that.
He's going left, bro!
What the fuck, why would you take me out?
If I was him, I... I'd be mad, too.
'Cause he doesn't belong here.
- Fucking annoying.
- Every time. He sees...
Why keep letting this nigga start?
Start me!
God damn. Huh?
Please, Joe. Please, Joe!
A kid like Joe,
he knows how to play.
So I... I have to give him a chance
until he is a detriment
to everybody else in the program.
You know,
there's a difference between
a kid who can play basketball
and a hooper.
You know, a hooper is someone
who can go get a bucket
at any given time for his team.
If somebody just play basketball,
just knows the fundamentals
and just plays basketball the right way,
I guess there's nothing wrong
with that, but...
I just think that
there's a difference between
a basketball player and a hooper,
you know?
And you're a hooper?
I'm a hooper for sure.
For sure!
I'm feelin' pretty good about 'em,
man, I like the group.
Just still get nervous about
all the other variables, man, that...
that can distract 'em.
So, you kinda worry.
A lot of wrong can happen.
I'm... I'm to the brink
almost every single year with a young man.
Yeah, Michael Foster
was a kid I recruited my first year.
I kinda keep this on my desk to remind me,
but he died in 2016, September.
And he was almost outta here, man.
Almost at the next level.
And then he was shot up in a car
prior to finishing up his last season.
The goal was to just
get him outta here, man.
And that's all I'm tryin' to do
with a lot of kids, man,
is just allow 'em to see somethin' else.
Then they say, "Wow, there's
somethin' else out here, and I can...
I can make a choice."
I grew up ten minutes from Watts myself,
I know the elements he's dealin' with.
I can say, "Look, man, I'm not brand new.
Everything you doin', I...
Like, bro, I smell weed on you.
Everything you doin', I know.
But, so... let me tell you
how we gonna get out of that element.
Let me tell you
how I got out of the element."
Once basketball
helped me travel the world,
I see how it can be.
And... we were almost done with him.
And we just didn't make it.
We just didn't make it.
I still keep a voicemail.
Can you give me a call back
on the ASAP, as soon as possible, I just...
He wasn't perfect, man,
but he had the potential.
He had potential, man.
He had potential.
♪ I think it was David that said ♪
♪ That everything that has a breath ♪
- ♪ Whoa ♪
- ♪ Praise the Lord ♪
♪ Can I get a Amen? ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ Let us all join hands ♪
- ♪ Yeah, lead us not ♪
- ♪ Lead us not ♪
♪ Into temptation... ♪
I don't talk to Coach Mosley
before a game,
'cause I feel his intensity
and I feel like I'm gonna bother him.
♪ From evil... ♪
I went over to take over
the sweeping machine.
He was like, "Get away from me, man,
this is my time,
I've done this for seven years now,
and I just don't trust
how anybody sweeps this floor.
So you're not taking this from me."
♪ For ever and ever... ♪
I just want it done right.
I'll never forget,
we had a first round game here,
and... the floor was slippery.
We were just slidin' all over the place,
and I was so pissed.
Created a negative vibe.
Guys were like, "You didn't help,
you're gettin' beat off the dribble."
Guys were slippin' and slidin'.
- ♪ I know... ♪
- Lost in the first round.
We were, like, number one seed,
and I said,
"You know what?
That'll never happen again."
It's one game and out, so...
it's almost bein' perfect
when you get to that playoff stretch.
I mean, you can literally
just sneeze and it's all over.
Going to the Elite 8,
that warrants recruiting attention.
Some of our guys need to be on that
platform to get that scholarship offer.
♪ Who art in Heaven ♪
You know, you never wanna promise,
but I almost promise these kids
that you come here,
you gonna get a scholarship.
Losing in the playoffs,
it's hard to sell that to a college coach.
- And that scares...
- ♪ And the power ♪
- ♪ And the glory... ♪
- That scares me more than anything else.
♪ For ever and ever... ♪
I'm not willin' to lose
'cause there's some dust on the floor.
- ♪ Amen ♪
- ♪ And amen, and amen ♪
♪ Thank you, Lord ♪*
If we get separation,
we need to work on our stuff.
Let's be sharp, let's pretend like
this is a... Like, we gotta do that.
I expect to win the game tonight,
but then, if we get some separation,
we need to make sure we workin' on stuff.
We that much better at every position,
we need to make sure we establish
that tonight.
- All right, here we go.
- Come on.
Lord, we thank you for this opportunity.
Father, we pray for fair officiating.
Father, we pray that we glorify you
in everything we do,
- In your son Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
- Amen.
"Family" on three. One, two, three!
- Family!
- Let's go!
Hello, and welcome to another installment
of East Los Angeles College Huskies
basketball from Monterey Park, California,
as number four, East LA, takes on
the Rio Hondo College Roadrunners.
Some might call this an easy W
for East Los Angeles College,
but it's been 75 days since
the Rio Hondo Roadrunners have won a game.
A team that has nothing to lose.
Hey, it's a blowout.
It's a blowout if we stay detailed.
Every single possession on offense,
be detailed.
I'm talking about 40 again, bro.
If we gonna win by 40 again,
we gotta do everything right. Let's go.
- "Win" on three. One, two, three.
- Win!
We're in a part of our season
where we go into conference opponents.
Now, we are shootin' to win conference.
You can't win conference
unless you win the first game.
Head coach of East LA
in his eighth season
is Professor John Mosley,
already considered the greatest
men's hoops coach in East LA history.
But he'll tell you not so fast,
because he still lacks that state title.
East Los Angeles in their camo uniforms.
Highler on the right wing
dribbles around the arc.
Highler will launch a three
and right off the bat...
There you go, Shaun.
...East Los Angeles opens up the scoreboard.
The Huskies on track
- for another historical season.
- Hand up, Shaun. Don't give it to him!
A three-pointer!
A response by Bryant Howing.
Move, KJ!
Howing once again fires a three
and sinks it.
If 33 has an open look, somebody go.
Close out, bro. Close out.
Muhammad of East LA there.
- Lik!
- Throw it out.
Loses his dribble.
Loose ball still on the floor.
- Oh, fuck.
- Bounce pass.
Williams finishes on the right side,
so super sloppy by East Los Angeles.
Oh, and a steal right at half-court.
It's Howing, pulls up for three...
Yes.
And Rio Hondo takes the lead.
Their first lead of the ball game.
Howing is three of four
from behind the arc.
They only scorin' in transition.
On defense, we standin' up relaxed.
Like we too good
to get down in the stance.
If you're just joining us,
East LA struggling here at home.
- Too comfortable.
- Ball level, you joggin'.
Some might call this an easy W,
but not the case.
Whistle.
Highler is called for a foul, there.
You're holding me, bro. Come on.
- Hey, ref.
- Push!
I wouldn't have to push you
if you don't hold me, you feel me?
No, that was secondary.
No, no, no. I guard hands up.
- Uh-huh.
- I guard hands up.
No, he gon' burn out.
Just trust me. He gon' burn out.
You good. Just make him handle the ball.
Here are the Huskies
struggling as Howing will drive inside.
- What is Malik doin'?
- Beautiful move there.
I'll give him that.
I'll give him that. Show a little love.
Show a little love. That was nice.
Number three East LA
is being threatened here tonight.
Inside to Muhammad,
Muhammad gets ripped.
- Help. Help. Help. Help.
- Howing quickly into the front court,
straight to the cup coast to coast.
Off the glass, the runner good.
- Impressive effort there from Howing.
- Time...
That's what I'm talking about, man.
Timeout.
Coach Mosley livid
at the defensive effort.
Every time they scorin',
it's in transition. We not runnin' back.
We still joggin' back. Stop watchin'.
Joe Hampton makes an appearance.
The bounce back from Penn State.
Baseline, baseline!
Baseline, baseline!
Hampton fading away to his right side,
the lefty, splashes one.
Are you serious?
- Let's go, Money.
- Come on. Go to work!
Into the front court for East LA.
Hampton, aggressive move there.
Finishes with the left hand.
Seven-point lead, East Los Angeles.
Rio Hondo comes in
with a 15-game losing streak,
but Hampton spins around inside the paint,
gets ripped.
Howing comes up with a steal.
Howing coast to coast, left-hand layup,
gently tapped off the glass.
What about the contact, though?
We get a call. Golly.
Wouldn't call this an upset alert
just yet, two-point ball game.
KJ, sub. Get Joe.
Every time
he fucking take me out, bro,
we always start fuckin' up, every time.
- I got you!
- Ball release.
Deep three by Howing splashes in.
Skips away. You could tell
he's confident this evening.
This 33 is lightin' us up.
- What we doin' right now is not working.
- Yeah.
- We tied up with Rio Hondo.
- What the fuck is we doin', man??
Look inside! Look inside!
The drive inside by Deshaun.
- Oh!
- Bro, look at who he has.
- Deshaun loses it.
- Go inside, man!
Straight into the hands of Rio Hondo.
Kicks out to Williams for three.
Yes.
They got ten threes, dawg.
Oh, fuck that!
Watch this shit
happen in playoffs, same thing.
I refuse to lose first round again, bruh.
It is halftime.
A thin two-point lead.
Has not been pretty for East LA.
Should be dominating this ball game,
taking on a three-win team,
so poor display on both ends.
Super sloppy...
It's coming 33's way,
or it's a brick, bro. it's real simple.
It's Rio Hondo, man, come on.
We tied with Rio Hondo, man, you feel me?
We two in the state.
This shit never happen, bro.
I just don't want this shit to bite us
back in the ass in playoffs, you feel me?
We all just gotta lock in, man.
We should kill them.
If you don't have 12 killers,
you're not gonna kill anybody as a team.
We got some people that take
they matchup personal, some people that...
just be out there hoopin'.
Bottom line is that right now,
it's just character.
And it's everybody.
It's nothin' I can do about it.
Nothin' I can do about it.
Because there's no willingness to do it.
If it comes to this, then that's fine.
I'll take it.
You know, "Coach Mosley couldn't do it
with the... with the talent." It's fine.
Get it all... I get that a lot.
So... if that's how we wanna do it,
then that's how we do it.
All it is is just effort.
It's all it is.
Maybe we just don't have the character to...
to be number one in the state,
to win the State Championship.
I mean, I ain't gonna yell or scream,
it's... pretty embarrassing,
they got three wins.
And it's everybody, so...
Whatever, uh... However you guys
wanna finish it out, man.
Here we go.
Your season. However you wanna finish it.
- "Family" on three, one, two, three!
- Family!
Let's go, let's get the win.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Pick up energy, right now.
Welcome back
inside the E-Rena.
Upset alert, possibly?
Well, Rio Hondo has done the majority
of their damage from behind the arc.
Somebody defend somebody.
Guard everything that moves.
- Howing gets rejected.
- What the fuck you thought, nigga?
Ball slapped out of bounds,
Highler smacks it out.
It's over with, it's over with.
All that's over with.
It's over with, bro.
Good run, though. Good run.
There you go, kid. More, Shaun!
And Highler gets a rejection on Howing.
- Yeah, good block!
- I like it, Shaun!
Come here. Come here.
Highler now on top of the key
will launch a three!
Yes!
East LA back on top,
but Rio Hondo quickly into
the front court, a touchdown pass,
- but Muhammad slaps it off the backboard.
- We'll take that.
Highler drives.
- Yep! Yep!
- Layup good.
- ♪ Nobody... ♪
- We gotta execute right here,
- we make a run.
- In you go!
Execute, we make a run.
- ♪ Does it better... ♪
- Muhammad there with his right hand.
- Allen drives, slaps it down.
- ♪ Nobody does it better... ♪
And the Huskies coming out
with so much more aggressiveness.
- Lob pass to Polynice. Ten-point lead.
- Yes! Come on, Jordan!
♪ They can come closer than close... ♪
- Highler...
- Oh!
...drains a three
from the right wing.
Over to Highler, left wing. Three. Yes.
- ♪ Nobody does it better ♪
- ♪ Nobody... ♪
He don't want it, Lik.
He don't want it!
- Hampton comes up with a block.
- ♪ Does it better... ♪
Lay it up. Go lay it up.
Quickly into the front court,
Dez Washington.
♪ Nobody... ♪
Zeigler cuts to the cup and one!
- ♪ Does it better... ♪
- 20-point lead for East LA.
Inside to Hampton.
And one!
He would say "And one."
Zebras always know best.
I got you. I'll talk to him.
You don't need that foul.
What you talking about? Oh, no.
We playin' for the last whistle.
We need all those.
- ♪ Nobody... ♪
- Hampton will launch a three!
Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!
♪ Does it better... ♪
- They can't stop us.
- Joseph Hampton.
- ♪ Nobody does it better... ♪
- Just let 'em eat.
- Yeah, baby!
- The win streak continues.
Keeps getting better
and better for East LA.
Y'all gotta stop
lettin' people come out
and feel like they can play against y'all.
In the playoffs, our last two years
been 'cause of that.
We came out flat, let dudes feel like
they can play against us,
and then, now we gotta battle back.
So y'all gotta get
that part of it together.
I'm glad we got the win, we shoulda won,
based on the talent that we have,
- but everybody sees what we gotta do.
- Gotta make some mistakes.
- Give you something to do.
- Give me something to do. I got a reason
to coach y'all now.
- "Lift" on three. One, two, three.
- Lift!
- Here we go.
- Let's go.
Hey! Hey, "family" on three...
The kids gotta figure out that
this opportunity is not gonna last always,
in terms of bein' in the winning program,
and havin' a lot of people that care,
coaches that care.
This may be it for 'em.
The next stop may be somewhere
that's, you know, not as functional.
But somebody's got to give 'em a chance.
And I gotta remember to give
everybody the same chance
that I gave the kid prior,
and the kid prior.
Remember that first time
I started as a head coach.
The love I have for each player,
no matter what issues they had.
I'm hopin' it results in winning
a State Championship, of course, but...
ultimately, for me in my faith,
I believe whenever God wants it to happen,
it's gonna happen.
They're still learning good habits, man,
they're still gettin' enough
so they can go out and function
a little better, and...
that's what's... that's probably
what's the most important.
That's probably what's most important.
But I wanna win.