Last Chance U: Basketball (2021–…): Season 2, Episode 1 - When I'm Playing Basketball - full transcript
When I'm playing basketball,
everything goes away.
Everything.
It's peaceful out there, like,
I think that's why I love it so much.
I think that's why it's my therapy.
It's like
a divine feeling, almost.
I can't really explain it much.
It's one of those things.
If you feel it, you just know.
If you've been there, you know.
When I'm in that type of moment, bro,
I'll be feeling like I could do anything.
Nobody could guard me.
I don't give a fuck who.
Nigga, Bron can't guard me,
like, I be feeling like that.
Like, I'm the coldest nigga here,
on the floor, in the gym.
That's how I feel.
When you really in that moment,
you just feel like you the coldest
anybody has ever seen.
It's kinda that feeling.
It's like, I can play.
I can do this every game
if I got the time, if I got the minutes.
If you trust me, I could do this.
Like, I know it's in me.
You get a vision in your head
of how your life's supposed to go,
and then when it doesn't happen that way,
it feels like your life's been put on hold
until you meet
other people's expectations.
This is that level
where there's nowhere left to go.
The stakes are so high
here at the junior college level
because there's this stigma
about the junior college student athlete.
About, "What's wrong with him?
Why is he there?"
I have this chip on my shoulder
for these student athletes.
I want to partner with all these guys,
so they can have the last laugh,
and teach them
how to harness that motivation.
If somebody abandons you,
if you have trust issues,
here's how you respond to that.
You go out and work. You go out and take
what you do have. The opportunity.
You got this tool
to help you prove others wrong.
It's a mindset
to sacrifice yourself
for the sake of something else.
That's all it is.
We going the other way!
Gotta take a step backward
before I can take two steps forward.
The road I'm on now is
the road I'm supposed to be on.
It's just you and the work.
You have to do it,
and you don't have an option.
You got one door. Gotta go through it.
Every one of these young men are
gonna take a punch. Right in the jaw.
Everybody's gonna take a punch in the jaw.
Are you gonna be ready to take a punch
and then be able to get up and perform
when you got a small window,
a small opportunity?
I'll fuck with you right now!
They're looking for
a better opportunity here at East,
and they're in a panic.
But you can still start right now.
If you do, then I believe you're gonna
have a moment that's gonna get you over.
That's all they need, is just a moment
that flips the switch for their lives.
I just want everybody
to have a moment.
Sometimes, it takes four months
of work for you to have that moment
that's gonna be
the most important of your life.
But, because you know how to work,
because you're poised,
because you're tough,
you are ready for your moment.
We spend all this energy,
all this time, for these moments.
And when it comes together,
it's beautiful.
♪ Welcome back ♪
♪ Your dreams were your ticket out ♪
♪ Welcome back ♪
♪ To that same old place
That you laughed about ♪
♪ Well the names have all changed
Since you hung around ♪
♪ But those dreams have remained
And they've turned around ♪
♪ Who'd have thought they'd lead ya ♪
♪ Back here where we need ya? ♪
♪ Well, we tease him a lot
'Cause we got him on the spot ♪
♪ Welcome back ♪
♪ Welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back ♪
♪ What could ever lead ya ♪
I think it's time
for Coach Rob to have a locker.
That'll be new.
There is a sense of excitement, though,
of putting those names up, man.
There's a real sense of excitement
to watch them compete and build something.
Ain't nothing like having a season
to look forward to, that's for sure.
Can't wait.
She's stepping through the pass.
- You guys have to leave the gym.
- Mr. Turner?
- Are you guys in a class now?
- Yeah.
- Who's the teacher?
- Uh, Turner.
Yeah. No, this is Coach Mosley.
This is Mo. This is different.
- You're in the other gym.
- Oh, okay.
You want five-line warming up?
Want me to get that and stretch out?
How good is this dude?
I'm pretty sure...
If it's the dude I remember...
- Yeah.
- You might be onto something.
You might be onto something, Coach.
Hey. Come here.
Here, fill this out right quick.
- You ever seen that kid hoop, man?
- Yeah, he a monster.
- Yeah, Shemar? He a monster.
- I don't even know who he...
Dude, that kid a four, five-star.
Why is he here?
That's two 6'7" dudes show up today.
How long has it been
since you have a team
ready to play a season?
March 2020, so, you know,
we're talking about 16 to 18 months.
So it's been a while.
So... starting over a little bit.
Sorry, fellas.
Man, they cancelled it, man.
That's it?
It's a wrap.
- They cancelled it?
- Yeah, we're cancelled. We out.
- Fuck!
- Go in the locker room, man.
Just got on the bus, literally.
Y'all was gonna win it, dude, but...
You know what I'm saying?
That's how it goes.
- "Family" on three. One, two, three.
- Family.
The COVID experience didn't change
how I think.
It didn't change
how much I love basketball.
It made me realize that
man, these guys really do need help.
Get a pass earlier, Tyrelle.
Get it ahead of him.
Good passes.
- Jump stop, step to him.
- Jump stop, Justin.
- Rewind.
- Hey!
You guys keep traveling right here.
You going like this.
You traveling. So we gonna keep doing it
till you run fast and hard.
Every time... I'm talking, bro.
How you gonna talk over me?
I'm talking and you talking.
The whole objective is
to run fast and hard.
So we need to get this right. Here we go.
You guys got 20 seconds
to make two down-and-backs. Go!
Sprint. Don't pace yourself. Run!
- Sprint!
- It's not gonna get any easier.
- This is the easiest day of the year.
- Hell yeah.
Right now, we're two years out
from playing basketball.
We're starting from scratch.
Go, go. Quick.
Come on.
That's bullshit, Gary. Pick it up.
How low can you get your butt?
- Come on. Come on, go!
- More!
In terms of recruiting,
I had a couple D2s, D1s talking to my dad.
Get low, Brandon.
Once COVID hit, you know,
and seniors were returning,
there was no more scholarships left
on the table for anything.
So, I was sitting on the couch,
like, really having a conversation
with my parents,
"What am I gonna do next year?"
Fuck!
I was having fun
just being at home, playing all my games,
but I realized I was gonna have
to do something with my life,
so I was like, "All right, cool."
- Go strong!
- Ah! Missed it.
You sure did.
If I'm getting
this opportunity, I have to take it.
I don't want to go to JUCO,
but it's a good option
to get me back to another D1.
I was for sure just
a nigga outside for, like, three months.
It was either do some bad shit,
or nigga, you just broke,
for real, so, it's...
I got back to hooping.
My first impression of Mosley was, like,
I don't know, bro. I definitely thought
that nigga was a demon, for real.
Like, I just thought he was like,
the meanest nigga ever. Like, ever.
All the little pretty balls step back.
Whatever y'all think's gonna happen,
this is us.
Some of them don't want the smoke, Coach.
They find the soft guy,
and they stand next to him.
- It's obvious who's soft.
- It's obvious.
- C'mon, grown man basketball.
- Yeah, man, this ain't Europe, yo.
Gimme that shit! Gimme that shit.
Good block.
With COVID going down and everything,
the option is JUCO, either way I put it.
It's just something I have to go through
until I could get back to D1.
So, I'm just forced to sit and fix.
The path was different, definitely.
It didn't include JUCO.
It definitely did not include John Mosley.
That was definitely not someone
I thought I was gonna be knowing.
One, two, three...
Aw, hell yeah.
I was in Hawaii in Division II.
You let that little goon
do that to you.
My dad had gotten sick
when COVID first happened, March 2020.
I mean, I remember sitting there,
just watching the death toll rise
and stuff.
You all right, Damani?
Just sitting there praying like,
"I hope my dad is not a number."
I flew back out here
to go take care of him.
And after that, I wanted to be around.
So coming to ELAC is...
started back up again.
- Inhaler.
- Where's your inhaler at?
- It's in my backpack.
- Where's your backpack?
- Hanging at the door.
- I got it.
Pretty much here,
all I need to do is perform and get out.
Come on, sprint.
Six, five, four, three, two...
Sebastian Kane, I want to...
Tell me about Sebastian right quick,
before I tell you about
the point guard we probably just lost.
- Who?
- Damani.
What happened?
ER last night. Like, 5 hours, Coach.
EKG came back messed up.
They think he has an enlarged heart
that they missed a couple years ago.
Oh wow.
And so, he's been pretty much told,
until you see the specialist, nothing.
His dad told him he ain't hooping.
It just, I was, like, driving home and
everything, I was talking to my parents.
Just had pain in my chest still,
even after I felt fine.
- Yeah.
- Even now, still there.
- Yes.
- Hard to talk, project myself right now.
It's still feeling like it's still...
- A knot right there.
- Got that tightness?
They gotta take one more test.
- It's, like, an ultrasound of my heart.
- Yeah.
'Cause, right now, they think there's
an enlargement or something inside.
Okay.
I'm glad
you talked to your parents about it.
Because you know your dumb ass
would've went on that track today and run.
Mm-hmm.
Damn.
Sorry, kid.
I'm trying to figure out
how to get to the right group.
The picture you have in your mind
is not the picture at the end.
You'd be like,
"I never thought it'd look like this."
- Nothing you can do...
- Nothing to do about it.
The guy you never thought was gonna
make it, helped you win a playoff game.
- Sure did.
- 'Cause he dove on the floor.
Nah, there's four dudes out there
right now ain't gonna be there.
You just, it's hard to figure out
which, like, what...
- Yeah.
- If this was a business?
Easy today. You could've been like,
"You two, don't come back tomorrow."
That wouldn't have been hard.
But you're talking about
a kid's life, man, that's hard.
I said, "Hey.
I'mma help you with your dream."
That's hard.
I got a thousand people emailing, talkin'
'bout, "Can you help save my life?"
- Yeah.
- I'm just like, "Dude, like..."
- Yeah.
- I just pretend like I didn't see it.
Like, "I can't see..."
You look at the email, like,
want to try to, you know,
reach back out, they like, "Can you help?"
- "You the one for me."
- Yeah.
And so it feels like, man,
I don't want to let nobody down.
♪ One of these lives
I make things right ♪
♪ With the wrongs I've done
That's when I unite ♪
♪ With the Father, Son
Till then I fight ♪
♪ Rain on me
Put the blame on me ♪
♪ Got guilt, got hurt
Got shame on me ♪
♪ Got six magazines that's aimed at me ♪
♪ Done every magazine
What's fame to me? ♪
♪ It's a game to me
Where the bedroom at? ♪
This year, we got 20 guys, man,
that came in that are talented enough
to start for most teams in California.
♪ Think I care too much
Wanna share too much ♪
♪ In my head too much... ♪
We got about 10 kids that definitely
would have been at a Division I
if this was 2018.
♪ Look myself in the mirror ♪
♪ Amityville, ain't seen nothin' scarier ♪
♪ I fought like a pit bull terrier... ♪
The day you walk in,
you're proving something.
If you're not a good shooter,
you better prove it.
You're undersize and think you can play
with bigger guys, you better prove it.
♪ If I didn't learn to love myself
Forgive myself a hundred times, dawg ♪
If you think you're better,
then come and do it.
♪ I love when you count me out ♪
♪ I love when you count me out
I love when you count me out ♪
I've been kinda limited to where
they would think I wasn't gonna do much.
So I put the pressure on.
I gotta make it in basketball,
so I don't think about nothing else.
♪ I love when you count me out ♪
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuckin' it up ♪
The one returner is Dez Washington.
But now he's called upon to be a leader.
That's the challenge for Dez.
Four years, Dez! Come on, man.
Dez is the most likable guy
on every team he's ever played on.
I don't know how efficient
he's going to be when he gets his chance.
He's got a lot of grown-man stuff
he's dealing with.
He slipped up in high school,
and he's got a son.
♪ How you gon' win my trust
When the lies run deep? ♪
How do you make a life for your kid
until you can make a life for yourself?
It's time to get it together
because you have responsibilities.
It's time to be a man.
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuckin' it up ♪
♪ When you was at your lowest
Tell me where the hoes was at? ♪
♪ When you was at your lowest
Tell me where the bros... ♪
You in the SEC,
it's essentially NBA resources.
And two months later, you're here!
Good, come on. Good.
♪ I love when you count me out
I love when you count me out... ♪
The work that I'm putting in here
is going to elevate my career
past what it was before.
I want to say that, like, I went out there
and I did the work and I tried.
Call it favor from the Lord
when a guy like Shemar Morrow shows up.
What does he want to come to junior
college for? He's a pro-level talent.
Run!
When I was in fifth grade,
they were saying I was the next LeBron.
- ♪ Tell you 'bout the woman I know ♪
- ♪ That's my baby ♪
He's out here on his own.
He's 19, in California, playing college
with no high school diploma,
no financial aid, not knowing
where he's going to live next week.
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuck it up ♪
♪ You said I'd feel better
If I just worked hard ♪
♪ Without liftin' my head up ♪
I gotta make it on this hoop shit.
I gotta play at least one NBA game, bro.
Like I got to, bro, like...
I got to.
♪ Then change the story ♪
♪ Good energy in the room
Drop the location, please ♪
I have my life set up for basketball.
My dad played in the NBA.
So it's just like,
everybody kind of expects me to do this.
He's Hollywood, man.
He got the lil' Lawrence Taylor earrings.
He gonna come with the swag.
DC gonna make your blood pressure go up.
Hey. I've done it before.
No one had no problem.
You just do you.
Right now, he doesn't think
there's any way he doesn't play.
He's delusional. He really is.
I need a reason to yell
and scream and discipline.
And so it's always great
to have a guy like Demetrius.
They're going to be running for that guy.
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuckin' it up ♪
Tuck your shirt in.
Have y'all taken team pictures before?
No, they haven't, Coach.
One, two, three, yeah.
DC messed it up with the white leg.
Go get the black one,
'cause that don't look right.
I think we're the most talented team
in the state. No question we are.
But, unfortunately, half of our team's
not gonna see very many minutes.
There's five guys that are gonna
suit up that are never going to play.
Here we go. Let's go.
At community college,
you got kids that are hopeless.
All they wanted to do was,
"Let me go somewhere
where there's a level of hope."
Ready. Let's go!
And they just want help.
They want to get to where they wanna be.
I'm just like,
"Man, I can't help everybody."
♪ This is me, and I'm blessed
This is me, and I'm blessed... ♪
Are we done?
- We done?
- All right, here we go. Let's go!
What time
we got practice tomorrow?
Yeah, it don't matter.
- Man.
- He said it don't matter.
- Gonna be here until he texts us.
- We gonna be in there anyway.
And then we're going to be there.
There's no in-between!
There's no in-between!
- Once we get out of there...
- We gonna be right back in here.
Not gonna lie. I don't call
this place JUCO. I call this place "here."
I can't expose myself
to this reality too much.
Bro.
Bro, I've been craving seafood
so much lately.
- With what money?
- That has nothing to do with my cravings.
- But what brand? That's how...
- Got some expensive cravings!
Just 'cause niggas broke
don't mean niggas can't crave it.
- Can't want better for myself, nigga?
- Oh yeah.
Seafood at our tax bracket,
what's wrong with you?
- We're all broke.
- We here.
I'm like, "I want some seafood for real."
He's like, "Shut up, broke-ass nigga."
What the fuck?!
- Don't let him get to your body.
- Josh!
- Point that!
- Low, Jon!
- He goes by you, we got a problem.
- They going on the track.
Hey! The best defender,
how he play, Pat Bev.
He's sticking his butt out,
and his nose is in there.
It don't sound right,
but his nose is here.
This is where he's at.
He's burning calories.
Coach is getting his work in today, dawg.
Here. If it's like this,
you ain't playing.
That's 'cause he found out
I was seven pounds lighter than him.
He was real disappointed.
The other day. He was real disappointed.
- Aw, he's about to get them seven back.
- Yeah. He was like, "Damn, I'm 205."
Go. Four inside, four outside.
- We're attacking our D. Attack him!
- Ready? Back up. Go!
Yeah, get a hand up.
Attack him, Dez. Yeah, Dez!
- That was a return.
- Yeah, Red!
- That's a returner play.
- Way to go.
Made him turn the ball over.
That's how the returner
should be making that every time.
Go!
Come back, DC!
Get down, DC!
Go, DC, go!
You fill outside the paint if you help.
Or you don't.
And you don't get beat baseline.
You turning your head
like I'm not talking to you?
I'm looking for my man.
Go to the baseline.
Baseline,
baseline, baseline, baseline!
Baseline!
Y'all think I'm playing.
You at East LA College!
Why aren't you,
"Man, I got to get the hell out of here"?
"The freaking walls are dirty!
I gotta get out of here!"
But you all got it figured out!
You don't see this is the play
that earns you a scholarship.
This one. That earns you a scholarship.
Not this.
That don't earn you nothing!
Bro, body language!
Five in a minute!
This is so unwarranted.
I don't care how corny
you think it is. You gonna do it my way.
I have a choice! You don't have a choice!
I have a choice! I got 17 other choices.
You ain't got but one,
and that's my choice.
Don't say shit.
- Why you pushing me?
- 'Cause you about to say something to him.
I'm looking at you
'cause you one of 'em.
The hell you think I'm looking at you for?
'Cause you're one of them
that think you got more than my choice.
You don't have a choice but my choice!
I got 17 choices other than you!
Five in a minute.
Who the hell he think he is?
Going to ask, "Why am I looking at you?"
He said,
"Why the hell am I looking at him?"
Can you believe that?
- Yeah. I can. This fool ain't right.
- He said that for real?
It's not hard
to keep from running.
All you gotta do is work hard
and do what the fuck he says. That's it.
Don't got to say nothing.
Don't got to say
nothing but "Yes, Coach."
We ain't got enough leadership
here to slap the hell out of somebody
who causing me to run.
Things ain't like they used to be.
- I'd have whooped his ass long ago.
- I'd put that shit in check long ago.
Nigga, don't do that.
Stop. I'll fight you.
- No, no, no.
- Here we go.
Now we got fake leadership.
Now we got fake leadership, wow.
Hold that nigga back.
Don't hold me back, nigga.
I don't know why you keep talking.
Shut the fuck up. Damn.
- Shut the fuck up.
- Everybody on the track.
Everybody on the track.
You just stay here then.
Go.
This year,
Coach has a real panic to him.
Somehow, this fool still thinks
he's the underdog.
6:15. DC.
6:19.6:20.
- What the fuck?
- Man.
In his mind,
he really believes it's year one,
and he's just grabbing guys
off the street to play.
Ready, go!
There has never been success here
as far as a state title.
Go.
So, until Coach Mosley
could capture a title,
I think that
chip on his shoulder will never fall off.
I think he's always going to have
that underdog mentality.
He act like
he didn't have no juice.
See, psychologically,
now I know who faking.
Coach feels pressure to have them dudes
almost in mid-season form right away
because he knows
it's a gauntlet waiting on us.
I normally like to take it slow
and kind of build up
and start playing
some of the tougher teams in November.
But, man, the first week is like,
we going up to San Francisco.
It's a suicide mission.
I don't know what I was thinking.
This is the toughest preseason schedule
that we've ever had.
Everybody in America is coming
to watch the JC kids for that weekend.
Coach gotta give 'em
some semblance of looking right.
We're playing three of the best teams
in Northern California.
Santa Rosa, who was in the Elite Eight.
You got Yuba.
We'll play them the second night.
Then you got San Francisco City.
So after we get beat up
by Santa Rosa and Yuba,
then San Francisco's ready to go.
Dunbar's gonna run it out.
Your champion is
City College of San Francisco.
And it's over.
City College of San Francisco completes
the championship run.
How many state championships
has this team won?
We've won three in the last ten years.
We like playing fast.
You'll see we run a motion offense.
And it's kind of positionless basketball.
We just... you know, we want
to be the most aggressive team.
I mean, we want to play the best teams.
They're one of the best teams
and one of the best programs.
It's gonna be a good test for us,
and I think we'll be a good test for them.
There is a sense of nervousness,
but the competitive nature
in our staff is,
"Let's go get it."
So it's not...
it's a great... it's a good nervous.
I like going into
a game knowing we can lose.
These guys been sitting out
almost two years.
So he's asking of himself
and of those guys
almost an impossible task.
Our learning curve has to shrink.
It almost can't be a curve.
Our learning curve has to be straight.
It has to be a learning line.
We gotta go fast.
Y'all should be sprinting through. 6:27.
He's slow as hell.
The year took him out of shape.
Let's go, BP!
Sprint this one through, Bryan. B!
Come on, man. Get them knees across.
- 8:16. Get over there.
- 8:16.
All right. Hey, let's walk it out.
Damn, my knee hurt.
I've been playing basketball
for about eight years now.
I started playing end of eighth grade,
freshman year of high school.
It kinda came easy to me.
I was very excited for
the trajectory that I was at,
and it kind of just... crashed really fast.
Going into my senior year of high school,
I had the offers I wanted.
I had the offers
that I didn't even know I was gonna get.
I was busting my ass at U-Dub,
and nothing came of it.
I decided that it was better off if
I transfer schools and ended up at LSU.
The trouble with LSU
kind of came off the court.
I ended up failing my math final,
and I was ineligible.
And they were like, "If you can't play,
then you kinda just have to go home."
Put yourself in a position to where,
like, last year you're in the SEC
on a top-20 team with pros on it.
That's what you're a part of.
You're in that locker room,
on that plane ride.
You're on ESPN.
All these things are happening,
and now Bryan's
in this locker room at East LA.
I wouldn't say
it felt like failure coming here.
It felt like a punishment,
almost, you know what I mean?
But no one's forcing me to be here.
No one's gonna think less of me
if I don't want to play basketball.
But I have this opportunity,
and it would be selfish of me
not to at least seize it and try my best.
So I got JUCO stuff happening, man.
But we gonna go running time.
I really don't even want to...
I just got to do something today.
- That's cool.
- Yeah.
Do not start this game missing threes.
You can take a bad shot
if it's within his offense.
- Just gotta be his way. Got that concept?
- Yeah.
Let's execute. Do what we did this week.
- One, two, three.
- Play hard.
- Let's go.
- We got this.
Gotta be able to make plays.
- Grab it!
- I think we can execute today.
This is where
the sausage is really made.
In September and October.
Man, they were short as hell.
For a coach, it's a stressful time
trying to piece it together.
Figuring out who's going to play,
or who's going to make the team.
- Yeah!
- Start running, JT!
- Yeah, Dez!
- Good finish, boy!
This is also the time when you figure out
what your new players are capable of,
physically and mentally.
That's what we're working on.
God! Why are we waiting so long?
Hey, that's what I'm saying!
You gotta be better passers, man.
These next three weeks gonna be
real crucial for them.
See who's up for it,
who can still play when they beat down.
Then we want to see
what kind of teammate you are.
Fuck! Ooh!
Mm.
Ah!
You got Tourette's out here.
- You can't be passionate now?
- No, that's the rules.
I know it's the rules but
it's like, sometimes you just passionate.
Like...
...that's what makes basketball fun.
Kids aren't stupid, and they'll see,
"Yo, this dude is better than me,
and Coach likes him. He plays more."
They're starting to figure out,
especially when I put
a green-and-white jersey on them.
Then the competition becomes crazy.
- Oh yeah, DC. Oh yeah.
- Thank you.
The physicality kicks it up a notch.
Don't do that, DC.
'Cause I'm just fucking...
- Don't do that, DC.
- Hey. It's basketball. Let's do it.
Now you really start to see
personalities conflict,
and things start to boil over.
Come to center, DC.
They're getting a crash course
in getting to know each other,
because now they're competing
against one another.
- You need to play some D, Shemar.
- I got you.
Can I get a rebound? You ain't got
a rebound, You been playing six minutes.
Don't let him run his offense, Shemar.
There we go. I like that.
Good job.
Shemar Morrow is the...
He's the most talented
basketball player we have on the squad.
I was for sure, like, I was gonna
do one year of college, like,
and up to the league, for real.
That's always been the plan.
I've always thought
that's what I was gonna do.
Oh sh...
Cause chaos, Shemar. Cause chaos, Shemar.
He is not what Coach Mosley wants
in a ballplayer.
But Shemar is so talented
that we might have to make
some exceptions.
He's one of the best players
on the floor. So that got my attention.
All right, I know he can help us.
I know I want him here,
but look at where you're at.
You're at East LA College.
There's a reason you're here.
There's some issues that we need to fix
so we can help you get to the next level.
- Did you graduate?
- I did not.
I'm still trying to get
my credits right now.
I don't know what it was, bro.
Like, I just couldn't do it.
I just always had
too much shit going on, for real.
Like, always.
And, like, I'm still trying to figure
some shit out to get that shit right.
I didn't even think I was gonna be able
to get into JUCO.
But I don't know, bro.
I just got to thinking about it,
and I just feel like I'm too nice
at this hoop shit to just give up.
He's got talent
that other kids don't have,
and because of that, unfortunately,
there's gonna be about two or three guys
on our team,
they're doing what I'm doing right now.
They're just gonna be
sitting here watching,
because that kid's probably gonna play.
Oh, yessir!
- Yessir, yessir!
- Pressure!
Yeah, Jon! Now sit, Jon.
Hold, hold, hold, hold!
- Foul!
- Hold it!
We good!
Let it go, now.
Let it go, let it go, let it go.
Good shit.
- Yeah.
- Sheesh.
That's how we come back
and how we keep the lead.
- Good intensity and defense.
- Yes.
Coach hates scrimmages.
But this group,
because it's so inexperienced together,
we need dudes to kind of separate
themself for leadership,
separate themself for the ability
to make guys that's around them better.
- Good luck.
- Good shit.
Yeah.
Because of the pandemic and
all of that, we lost a core of returners.
That's almost like
we're starting over again,
so it's frustrating me a little bit.
Because our culture is just gone.
And this gauntlet
of a schedule that we got.
Nobody gets it.
I mean, our first three games,
all three of them teams, they diving
on the floor like they salivating.
And then we got a bunch of dudes
that don't understand.
And you the only one
that kind of understands that.
I'm hoping we just get lucky,
'cause we're not gonna be ready.
It's just not enough time
to get ready for that.
And you the only one that know
what they coming with.
So help these guys understand that.
And then, if you want to even sniff
at Division I, bro,
you can't slip up this semester.
Dez is the lone returner, man.
He was such a free spirit
the year he was here.
Come on! Rebound!
Bring it up, bring it up!
Yes!
He had a role of,
"Hey, man. Just go in there
and cause chaos."
"Make a couple plays."
That year,
I was a defensive player.
Dez, up. Guard that fool.
They needed me
when it was a player going off.
Oh yeah. Dez ain't giving that up.
Dez ain't giving that up.
Dez ain't giving that up.
Dez causes chaos, dawg.
Dez is constantly trying to step back,
because he still wants to be a kid.
He still wants to enjoy that life and...
Nah. That time is over.
♪ It feels good ♪
He's a fucking fool.
You the only guy returning.
I need your leadership.
I need you to show us how to win.
I'm telling you, bro!
You jogging. Your pace is slow.
Come on. You supposed to be
setting the tone. Go!
My confidence going into this next year
was like, I'm gonna play.
I'm gonna exceed, I'm gonna show people
that I can do this at this level.
During the pandemic, I worked on my speed,
my handle, my shot.
I'm more valuable now
than what I was that year.
I can't just go back home.
I gotta make something happen.
For my son.
He's serious when he says,
"Now, I gotta get out of here."
It used to be, "I gotta get out of here
'cause I just have to get out."
Now it's like, "I gotta get out of here
because I gotta take care of this kid."
- What are you hoping?
- Hopefully, that I get a scholarship.
And I'm able to get a degree.
Make a little bit more money.
I can help him.
And then, like, if I'm lucky enough,
go to an overseas pro,
G League, something.
Grind my way up. I can get him,
and he's with me all the time.
I'm just trying to hoop.
I've been waiting to hoop, dawg.
Are y'all ready to hoop, dawg?
The two months of practice
gotta pay off this week.
For sure. I ain't gonna lie.
- I'm so excited for you.
- I'm ready to hoop.
He said it's six hours, right?
Six-hour drive,
but it's gonna be seven,
because we gotta stop and eat.
Oh shit.
He finna erase our memories.
- That boy ready to...
- That nigga is scary for real.
Hey, what up, Men in Black!
Coach got the fresh shave and all that!
- I thought he was finna walk up and like...
- "On the track."
I'm gonna hit y'all later
for sure when I get there.
All right, love y'all.
We good to go.
We're playing probably the toughest first
three games at least since I've been here.
♪ I gotta dance
I gotta dance, I gotta dance ♪
♪ I gotta dance, I gotta dance... ♪
It's a possibility that we can get
blown out. That's a possibility.
♪ That's right
I gotta learn how to dance, baby ♪
Everything's gotta come together.
You just never know.
♪ I gotta learn how to do
These latest things... ♪
I've seen it when the stars aligned
and everybody's playing great.
Everybody's energized, everybody's
remembering all the plays and all that.
I've seen it where it feels like
we're ready, we've done all we can,
and everything falls apart.
♪ I said I gotta dance
I gotta dance ♪
♪ I gotta learn how to dance ♪
♪ I got to keep my baby with me ♪
I don't know
how certain guys handle it.
I haven't coached them enough
to know that personality.
I don't know who's gonna be the guy,
and we're going to be good at the end,
but I would like to have wins
in the column as well.
Everybody we play up here, man,
they've won a state championship
in the last ten years.
Regardless of, you know,
our talent level versus theirs,
they're gonna be good.
They're gonna be well-coached.
With, uh, Santa Rosa, I'm like,
"Man, these dudes can play, man."
"What's going on?"
There we go, two and two.
We got to deal with him.
I don't know, I feel a little unprepared.
There's two parts.
I don't know them, and I don't know us.
So that's what makes me feel
kind of weird right now.
Ooh! Let's be quick
with the starters and the matchup, fellas.
All right, Brandon, you're gonna have 15.
Dez, you'll have 22.
Jon, you're at the point guard, 31.
Tyrelle, you have 34.
Bryan, you're gonna have 44.
Aight?
Y'all made it, man.
- This was, like, two years.
- Yeah.
We were sitting on Zoom and stuff, man.
Y'all made it.
We here at the first game.
We need to come out and let 'em know
who freaking show this is!
Whose show is this?!
Listen, the only thing
I'll be disappointed with
is if you don't play hard.
I don't care about a bucket.
I don't care about a play.
I don't care about none of that.
But if you get punked on defense,
and they go at us,
if you don't rebound,
and if you give up,
then I can't mess with that.
I don't care about nothing else.
Brand-new team,
brand-new plays, brand-new all of that.
All I care about is
that we come out and we play hard.
You let them know,
let them feel the energy.
There's nobody that practices
harder than us.
There's nobody in better shape.
You go out there and show it.
"Family" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Family!
♪ Damn
Floor seats for the Knicks ♪
♪ Couple models blow a kiss... ♪
The last time we saw
the East Los Angeles Huskies,
they were on their way to
this very campus here in San Francisco
to play in the state tournament
that most people thought they could win.
Let's get ready, baby!
About a year and a half later,
the Husky season starts in this building,
where the Huskies will begin a three-day
tournament with their season opener
here against the Bear Cubs of Santa Rosa.
- Been a long time coming.
- Long time.
There's no fucking way
these niggas worked harder than us
the past two months.
Let's go. "Family" on three.
"Family" on me.
- One, two, three!
- Family!
Hell yeah!
♪ Look at my seats
I'm sittin' cozy ♪
♪ We all grinded for the floor seats ♪
♪ Now all of the pretty girls
They know me ♪
♪ I'm on a jumbotron
You can't ignore me ♪
♪ Just look at my seats
I'm sittin' cozy... ♪
And the 2021 basketball season
is officially underway.
That falls. Dez Washington scores
the first points of the season.
I don't like starting a game
shooting threes. I like when they go in.
Dez Washington,
the only returner from that team
a year and a half ago.
Off the glass, it's good.
Six-point lead for East LA!
Get a stop! Get a stop!
You gotta make them feel
your freaking energy, man.
♪ Now all the pretty girls
They know me ♪
♪ I'm on a jumbotron
You can't ignore me ♪
♪ Just look at my seats
I'm sittin' cozy ♪
♪ Now all the pretty girls
They know me... ♪
Over the block,
and Johnson takes it right out of the air!
They're going to say goaltending.
- That is terrible.
- Oh man.
Bryan Penn-Johnson
looking to go to work.
Okay.
And he's already frustrated
with the officiating.
A very special talent, but just
a little too aggressive in the paint.
He puts DC in the game,
I'm tackling his ass.
I'm gonna tackle your ass,
you put DC in the game.
Shemar.
I would love to help this out,
but it's not like I'm getting in.
Morrow will fire a three
and puts it in!
Yeah, Shemar!
Morrow.
Shemar Morrow
with two threes off the bench.
Just like that, an 18-point lead.
And out of nowhere, Shemar Morrow,
off the bench, going coast to coast.
Look out below!
That will do it here tonight on day one.
The Huskies of East LA
will knock off
the Bear Cubs of Santa Rosa.
♪ Tiffany store on Fifth ♪
♪ I'm performin' with the glist'... ♪
Good evening and welcome
to day two of a three-day tournament
as the 49ers of Yuba College
take on the Huskies of East LA.
I didn't see much of Demetrius Calip
on the first day of this tournament.
We'll see if he is used
a little more often tonight
against Yuba College.
Rejected right at the backboard
by Joshua Phillips.
Oh, that's me.
Dangerous pass
stolen away by Brandon Wilson,
and he'll throw it down.
That's how you play defense
at East Los Angeles.
Y'all learning lessons.
Now y'all are gonna listen when we
get back to practice next week. All right?
Morrow tries a three,
and he banks it in.
Did you call the bank?
Bounce pass inside.
Perfect feed for...
Penn-Johnson misses his own shot
and follows it through with the slam.
It is a rout.
The Huskies pull away again
for the second straight night
with a 74-50 victory
to start their season
and the tournament 2 and 0.
And they'll try to win this tournament
tomorrow afternoon.
I tell you, bro.
First half, I couldn't move.
No, my legs felt like bricks, bro.
- Oh my God.
- Coach Rob like, "Jon, you good?"
I was like, "Yeah, I'm straight, bro."
'Cause I knew I was gonna be straight.
He sat right next to me like,
"I got bricks on my legs."
I could not move.
She asked me
if I could ask you
if you could wait in the car
five or ten minutes.
You so nasty.
I ain't never really had a drink
that's this cold without freezing it.
This joint is cold but liquid.
Yeah.
You have to ruin the whole...
I low-key knew we was gonna win.
- Our intensity was way higher than theirs.
- Yeah. Then, by the time...
We was getting the rebounds.
Then that second half, for real,
is when everybody caught a second wind.
- Yeah.
- Don't nobody practice as hard as us, bro.
Bro, I didn't sweat that game.
I'm not gonna lie.
I sweated, but, like, I was...
when they took me out,
I came out sitting straight.
- Yeah, but I was not tired.
- Like, "I'm not tired at all."
I was breathing regular the whole game.
Bro, that's the sick part about it.
These games are not half a practice, bro.
I'm glad we got to the games, boy,
'cause that was a long two months, boy.
- That shit was crazy.
- That's the longest preseason I ever had.
Longest preseason I ever had.
I'm going through a rough patch right now,
so once me and the coaches,
we all figure out what's going on,
I feel like there's gonna be
more time for me to go in.
It's just, right now, it's just...
I don't feel like
I should be embarrassed about it.
- Mm-hm.
- Like...
I do feel embarrassed
'cause I'm on the bench.
- 'Cause I played my whole life right now.
- Right.
But it is what it is. You just...
Yeah, you go from being the man
on your high school team to, like,
dudes is taller than me,
more athletic, you know.
Yeah, for me it's just like,
I feel like I am athletic.
And I am as tall as the players playing.
You, it's just listening, bro.
You was going against the grain so much.
For me, coming from a D1 school,
you don't expect
to be coming off the bench.
It hurts because you feel like
you're at a level below you.
I really feel like I'm a high major goer.
My... high major talent.
You gotta stay level-headed,
stay ready, bro.
Yeah. Once I get on that court, man.
- Right.
- It's showtime.
No runs,
no hits, no errors.
So Cal Choppers, zero. Utah Heat, four.
Everybody's playing right now.
I got my daughter on. She's in Vegas
right now, playing softball.
I gotta listen, 'cause if I don't,
my wife is gonna be like,
"You didn't listen to the game?" So...
My other daughter's playing basketball.
My son's driving my other daughter around.
My wife is in Vegas with... there.
Playing probably the biggest game
in ELAC history today, so, here we go.
Esparza grounds out,
third baseman to first baseman.
Man.
Yeah, this is gonna be
a good game, for real.
I mean, honestly,
but, like, I feel, talent-wise,
like, yeah, we should beat them, for real.
Yeah, I don't feel like they gonna score
on us like that. It's a little hard.
I feel like it's one of
the biggest games in our life.
I mean, I didn't play... like,
I'm used to playing, like, top teams,
but this, this some other shit, like,
this the college level,
so it's a little different.
The state gonna look at this like
a potential state championship matchup.
This is the game, baby!
- This is what it's about right here, baby!
- The championship.
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ It was five chains on my neck ♪
♪ It was no smut on my rep ♪
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ I was sellin' zones in the set ♪
♪ Make a quarter mil' no sweat ♪
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ I'm the streets' voice out west ♪
♪ Legendary, self-made progress ♪
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ First you get the money, then respect
Then the power and the hoes come next ♪
♪ Last time that I checked... ♪
Boy, Coach, we have got
a good one coming up.
It's the number-one team in the north
against the number-one team in the south.
CCSF against East Los Angeles College.
Let's go!
Both of these teams 2 and 0
coming into play today.
Last year, San Francisco was
a perfect 30 and 0.
Yeah!
East LA, 29 and 1.
These are programs that produce
Division I talent, pro talent.
That's an athletic,
big, wild group right there.
And it should be
a great matchup today.
Deshaun Highler in the building.
What's up with you?
- This was supposed to be your game!
- I know.
- Knock their heads off.
- Yeah, we'll talk afterwards. All right.
A possible state
championship preview, early in the season.
- I'm fired up.
- I'm fired up too.
This is big-time basketball!
Go, motherfuckers.
Play the whole floor!
- 1, 2, 3!
- Family!
Let's get it. Step out hard.
Let's get it. Let's go.
Come on!
♪ They're playing basketball ♪
♪ We love that basketball ♪
♪ Ball ♪
This is not
a super great skill group.
I already see the defensive line-up.
Really, they trying to come scare you.
They want to shut you down.
They don't want you to get nothing.
Get the ball out.
We attack them right at the rim.
Let's make them foul us.
And then we put our knee in they nuts
when they try to come at us. All right?
They ain't seen it.
They see what they see here,
but they ain't seen
what we gotta deal with down south.
Here we go. Bring it in. Let's go.
"Family" on three. One, two, three.
Family!
Just about set for tip-off
between two of the best programs
in the state.
And this figures to be
one heck of a matchup.
And we're underway!
An early three-pointer,
in and out.
Rebound!
He's fouled
by Bryan Penn-Johnson.
Taken down
with the hand across the face.
Man, Bryan.
Physical play
inside to begin with.
It's too early for that, fellas.
I'm totally good.
Defense! Defense! Defense!
They called a second foul?
I got two fouls
in less than a minute, bro? Come on.
That's two fouls quick
on number 23.
Sub, sub, sub! Sub!
- Oh my God.
- Gonna have to come out.
See ya later.
Hey. Yo, fuck that. Put me back in, bro.
He wants to talk all that shit. Fuck that.
If you're a valuable big man,
you can't afford
to go off the court that quickly.
Crossover dribble taken away.
JT Langston, a steal.
Single! JT!
JT!
Going left.
And the follow from JT Langston!
- Alley-oop coming.
- It falls off the mark.
Yeah.
A little sloppy to start
here for City College.
Wilson... drives left, scoop shot.
No good. The putback!
San Francisco City College
caught off guard a little bit.
Tough shot.
Offensive rebound, Dezmond Washington.
- The guys are fired up here.
- And that's nine in a row.
Nine-nothing, Huskies.
New team.
It's a whole different team.
Four subs coming in
for City College of San Francisco.
This is what they'll do.
They'll bring in an entirely new unit.
Justin Labagh with a deep roster.
Opposite! Where's my point guard?
And they cause a turnover!
- B!
- C'mon, Brandon!
Hey, stay locked in. Stay locked in.
So just use it, 'cause they want us
to hug up on that side, all right?
Get outta my seat.
You sweaty. Get outta my seat.
Look at the roller.
Tyrelle's by himself...
Foul!
That's a foul!
And another foul called
against the Huskies.
Come on, that was a foul on the guard!
Mosley can't believe it.
Yes, he did! Come on, man!
What the fuck?
He grabbed to move. I saw that!
Here comes City College.
Gimme that!
David Hector,
rejected but a foul.
No! That's not a foul!
- Sit down!
- That's not a foul! I'm the coach!
- You can't act like that.
- He went straight up and blocked.
- Come on!
- You get a double whistle!
He went like this and blocked!
I was straight up! What'd I do wrong?
Can you tell me that?
This is bull.
Can I talk to somebody?
Can I talk to somebody?
Can I talk to somebody?
And a technical foul
against John Mosley.
- What for?
- Talking to a ref.
What the hell kind of call is that?!
Press on!
And how about this?
East LA scored the first nine points.
CCSF on a 9-0 run to answer.
Come on, man.
That's an offensive foul
against Dezmond Washington.
To say East LA has gone cold
would be an understatement.
- Gaskin... with authority!
- They like that?
Did they like that
here in San Francisco?
That brought the fans
to their feet.
A turnover and a foul against East LA.
Oh my God.
That's two free throws.
We see who the show is.
This is the strike zone.
We're gonna see
a lot of free throws this half
at the rate that
we are picking up fouls here.
One-point lead and the ball for CCSF.
Jamir Thomas, pull-up three. Got it!
Come on, Josh.
Single, Morrow! Single! Single!
JT goes to the...
- What the fuck you doing?
- That's not the play!
If that was a bounce pass,
it went 4 feet over his head.
Another three on the way.
That one is good!
Oh man!
Here come the Huskies.
And another turnover.
Get it back to him! You good.
Let's get it! Get it back! It's all right.
Wow, Jamir Thomas shook off
the defender, and canned a three.
Whoo!
Time-out
for East Los Angeles.
Damn!
East LA bench
can't believe it.
Bring it here. Listen!
Listen, listen. Be quiet.
Make sure we get the ball out quick.
All we got to do is not turn the ball over
and we'll score every time.
All right, here we go. "Finish" on three.
One, two, three!
- Finish!
- Squat! Squat!
After a slow start,
CCSF has really taken control
of this game.
Let's see if East LA
get back into this.
Jamir Thomas.
Loses it, stripped from behind.
Nice pass. Langston.
30 to 18.
Charge!
And an offensive foul.
Shemar, sub.
As the game moves on,
we're expecting this to be close.
- Let's go!
- Every point critical.
Go to work, Shemar.
Bounces around
and rolls in for Morrow.
Tough shot.
Shemar! Go to work! Go to work!
Defense...
- Good deflection.
- Here they come again.
Here comes Shemar Morrow
in the open court.
Spin move. Left hand. Lay it up and in!
East LA back within three!
A back-and-forth first half.
Still two minutes to go. 36-33, CCSF.
- B!
- No help!
And raising for the jam
is Matthew Williams.
B! You need to see help side!
Ten seconds left
in the half.
Shooter! Go get him, Justin!
Don't leave him!
Robinson with two to shoot.
Gets it off.
- Gets it in at the buzzer.
- It's good.
A strong close to the half
for CCSF.
- And they lead it by nine. 44-35.
- That was a heck of a half.
The last two minutes we missed almost
every single one of our free throws.
That's ten points. We'd be up right now.
These niggas cannot guard, bro.
They keep getting called for holds.
We only down, what, nine?
And we missing all of our free throws.
- Keep that energy on the bench.
- We want this more than them.
We got to show that. We want this shit.
They weren't working
as hard as we was.
That was a wild half.
I think, I mean, for the most part,
we're okay, like, defensively.
To be honest,
we should be up by, like, five.
We gave away turnovers
and then just not executing properly.
In a game like this, you gotta listen
to what Coach Mosley is saying.
All right, here we go. Let's go.
Here we go, man.
Ready? "Finish" on three. One, two, three!
- Finish!
- Let's go!
Motion. Motion, motion.
- Drive! Motion!
- Motion! Exchange!
Naseem Gaskin blows by
and scores it, plus the foul!
Shemar, sub.
Let's go, Morrow! Let's go!
Why, though?
Why didn't nobody block that?
Penn-Johnson, stripped away.
Here goes Emmett Neal.
- Two-handed slam!
- JT, sub.
- Uh-oh. Uh-oh!
- Open three, Sapp.
- You know it. 61-35.
- Uh-oh!
- It does not look good.
- It's a 17-0 run.
- That's an offensive foul.
- Foul!
It's all going CCSF's way.
Can't bring that stuff here.
Look up there! It's on there!
That's real! Watch this!
We're gonna score on this one!
We gonna score!
Everything falling
for the Rams.
Jon, move!
It's been all CCSF here
in the second half, and another steal.
Gaskin ahead, and the slam for Holman.
Sorry-ass niggas.
At least I thought you gonna elbow
somebody in the mouth.
Niggas need to do something.
Right now, East LA's hoping
they could be the sequel, come March.
Long way to go until then.
- Bring it out, Dez.
- Don't shoot it, Bran.
Gonna get hurt.
Somebody's gonna get hurt.
Huskies will dribble it out.
And that will close out
a 94-65 win for CCSF.
A statement victory for the Rams.
Two good programs,
two well-coached teams,
and one team's a little bit better
than the other right now.
Fucking embarrassing, bro.
Don't stress yourself.
It's one game.
It's one loss. We'll get better.
Let's take it in first, man.
Here we go.
- Lose a 30-piece?
- 30.
30-piece. I don't even know if...
I can't remember the last 30-piece...
I can't remember.
I don't care who it is.
That's not supposed to happen like that.
So that's not good.
And I kind of knew we wasn't prepared,
but, uh, how this went,
that was pretty embarrassing.
Pretty embarrassing, so...
The world will get a chance to see.
But you got a chance to fix it.
Um, we'll stop and get something to eat,
but let's get out soon as possible,
um, so we can get back. That's a six-hour...
Hopefully we can get back before midnight.
All right?
Let's bring it in before we go.
- Ain't leaving like that.
- Let's go.
Let this be
the only loss of the year.
Yessir.
"Family" on three.
One, two, three.
Family!
We're not playing desperate enough.
I need guys playing desperate.
Right now, I don't need
basketball players.
I need guys that are desperate.
That's what I'm trying
to find in everybody.
Where you so desperate
that you'll do anything it takes.
You'll dive on the floor.
You'll go get every freaking rebound.
It's time to get desperate.
There's a level of urgency
that needs to happen.
The bus out there already?
That's what part of my job is too.
I got to do a better job
of making these guys desperate
for their lives.
Otherwise, ain't none of us getting out.
Nobody's moving on.
Nothing good is gonna happen
unless they freaking desperate
to get the hell out of here, man.
And they not there yet.
♪ Lady Luck and four leaf clovers ♪
♪ Won't ease this hurt I feel all over ♪
♪ I'm standin' on shaky ground, babe ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Whoa-ho-ho ♪
♪ I'm standin' on shaky ground, babe ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ My car got repossessed this morning ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Harder times I haven't seen in years ♪
♪ Girl, you better throw me
A life preserver ♪
♪ Babe ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm about to drown
In my own tears ♪
♪ I'm standin' on shaky ground, babe ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Whoa-ho-ho ♪
♪ Standin' on shaky ground, lord ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
everything goes away.
Everything.
It's peaceful out there, like,
I think that's why I love it so much.
I think that's why it's my therapy.
It's like
a divine feeling, almost.
I can't really explain it much.
It's one of those things.
If you feel it, you just know.
If you've been there, you know.
When I'm in that type of moment, bro,
I'll be feeling like I could do anything.
Nobody could guard me.
I don't give a fuck who.
Nigga, Bron can't guard me,
like, I be feeling like that.
Like, I'm the coldest nigga here,
on the floor, in the gym.
That's how I feel.
When you really in that moment,
you just feel like you the coldest
anybody has ever seen.
It's kinda that feeling.
It's like, I can play.
I can do this every game
if I got the time, if I got the minutes.
If you trust me, I could do this.
Like, I know it's in me.
You get a vision in your head
of how your life's supposed to go,
and then when it doesn't happen that way,
it feels like your life's been put on hold
until you meet
other people's expectations.
This is that level
where there's nowhere left to go.
The stakes are so high
here at the junior college level
because there's this stigma
about the junior college student athlete.
About, "What's wrong with him?
Why is he there?"
I have this chip on my shoulder
for these student athletes.
I want to partner with all these guys,
so they can have the last laugh,
and teach them
how to harness that motivation.
If somebody abandons you,
if you have trust issues,
here's how you respond to that.
You go out and work. You go out and take
what you do have. The opportunity.
You got this tool
to help you prove others wrong.
It's a mindset
to sacrifice yourself
for the sake of something else.
That's all it is.
We going the other way!
Gotta take a step backward
before I can take two steps forward.
The road I'm on now is
the road I'm supposed to be on.
It's just you and the work.
You have to do it,
and you don't have an option.
You got one door. Gotta go through it.
Every one of these young men are
gonna take a punch. Right in the jaw.
Everybody's gonna take a punch in the jaw.
Are you gonna be ready to take a punch
and then be able to get up and perform
when you got a small window,
a small opportunity?
I'll fuck with you right now!
They're looking for
a better opportunity here at East,
and they're in a panic.
But you can still start right now.
If you do, then I believe you're gonna
have a moment that's gonna get you over.
That's all they need, is just a moment
that flips the switch for their lives.
I just want everybody
to have a moment.
Sometimes, it takes four months
of work for you to have that moment
that's gonna be
the most important of your life.
But, because you know how to work,
because you're poised,
because you're tough,
you are ready for your moment.
We spend all this energy,
all this time, for these moments.
And when it comes together,
it's beautiful.
♪ Welcome back ♪
♪ Your dreams were your ticket out ♪
♪ Welcome back ♪
♪ To that same old place
That you laughed about ♪
♪ Well the names have all changed
Since you hung around ♪
♪ But those dreams have remained
And they've turned around ♪
♪ Who'd have thought they'd lead ya ♪
♪ Back here where we need ya? ♪
♪ Well, we tease him a lot
'Cause we got him on the spot ♪
♪ Welcome back ♪
♪ Welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back ♪
♪ What could ever lead ya ♪
I think it's time
for Coach Rob to have a locker.
That'll be new.
There is a sense of excitement, though,
of putting those names up, man.
There's a real sense of excitement
to watch them compete and build something.
Ain't nothing like having a season
to look forward to, that's for sure.
Can't wait.
She's stepping through the pass.
- You guys have to leave the gym.
- Mr. Turner?
- Are you guys in a class now?
- Yeah.
- Who's the teacher?
- Uh, Turner.
Yeah. No, this is Coach Mosley.
This is Mo. This is different.
- You're in the other gym.
- Oh, okay.
You want five-line warming up?
Want me to get that and stretch out?
How good is this dude?
I'm pretty sure...
If it's the dude I remember...
- Yeah.
- You might be onto something.
You might be onto something, Coach.
Hey. Come here.
Here, fill this out right quick.
- You ever seen that kid hoop, man?
- Yeah, he a monster.
- Yeah, Shemar? He a monster.
- I don't even know who he...
Dude, that kid a four, five-star.
Why is he here?
That's two 6'7" dudes show up today.
How long has it been
since you have a team
ready to play a season?
March 2020, so, you know,
we're talking about 16 to 18 months.
So it's been a while.
So... starting over a little bit.
Sorry, fellas.
Man, they cancelled it, man.
That's it?
It's a wrap.
- They cancelled it?
- Yeah, we're cancelled. We out.
- Fuck!
- Go in the locker room, man.
Just got on the bus, literally.
Y'all was gonna win it, dude, but...
You know what I'm saying?
That's how it goes.
- "Family" on three. One, two, three.
- Family.
The COVID experience didn't change
how I think.
It didn't change
how much I love basketball.
It made me realize that
man, these guys really do need help.
Get a pass earlier, Tyrelle.
Get it ahead of him.
Good passes.
- Jump stop, step to him.
- Jump stop, Justin.
- Rewind.
- Hey!
You guys keep traveling right here.
You going like this.
You traveling. So we gonna keep doing it
till you run fast and hard.
Every time... I'm talking, bro.
How you gonna talk over me?
I'm talking and you talking.
The whole objective is
to run fast and hard.
So we need to get this right. Here we go.
You guys got 20 seconds
to make two down-and-backs. Go!
Sprint. Don't pace yourself. Run!
- Sprint!
- It's not gonna get any easier.
- This is the easiest day of the year.
- Hell yeah.
Right now, we're two years out
from playing basketball.
We're starting from scratch.
Go, go. Quick.
Come on.
That's bullshit, Gary. Pick it up.
How low can you get your butt?
- Come on. Come on, go!
- More!
In terms of recruiting,
I had a couple D2s, D1s talking to my dad.
Get low, Brandon.
Once COVID hit, you know,
and seniors were returning,
there was no more scholarships left
on the table for anything.
So, I was sitting on the couch,
like, really having a conversation
with my parents,
"What am I gonna do next year?"
Fuck!
I was having fun
just being at home, playing all my games,
but I realized I was gonna have
to do something with my life,
so I was like, "All right, cool."
- Go strong!
- Ah! Missed it.
You sure did.
If I'm getting
this opportunity, I have to take it.
I don't want to go to JUCO,
but it's a good option
to get me back to another D1.
I was for sure just
a nigga outside for, like, three months.
It was either do some bad shit,
or nigga, you just broke,
for real, so, it's...
I got back to hooping.
My first impression of Mosley was, like,
I don't know, bro. I definitely thought
that nigga was a demon, for real.
Like, I just thought he was like,
the meanest nigga ever. Like, ever.
All the little pretty balls step back.
Whatever y'all think's gonna happen,
this is us.
Some of them don't want the smoke, Coach.
They find the soft guy,
and they stand next to him.
- It's obvious who's soft.
- It's obvious.
- C'mon, grown man basketball.
- Yeah, man, this ain't Europe, yo.
Gimme that shit! Gimme that shit.
Good block.
With COVID going down and everything,
the option is JUCO, either way I put it.
It's just something I have to go through
until I could get back to D1.
So, I'm just forced to sit and fix.
The path was different, definitely.
It didn't include JUCO.
It definitely did not include John Mosley.
That was definitely not someone
I thought I was gonna be knowing.
One, two, three...
Aw, hell yeah.
I was in Hawaii in Division II.
You let that little goon
do that to you.
My dad had gotten sick
when COVID first happened, March 2020.
I mean, I remember sitting there,
just watching the death toll rise
and stuff.
You all right, Damani?
Just sitting there praying like,
"I hope my dad is not a number."
I flew back out here
to go take care of him.
And after that, I wanted to be around.
So coming to ELAC is...
started back up again.
- Inhaler.
- Where's your inhaler at?
- It's in my backpack.
- Where's your backpack?
- Hanging at the door.
- I got it.
Pretty much here,
all I need to do is perform and get out.
Come on, sprint.
Six, five, four, three, two...
Sebastian Kane, I want to...
Tell me about Sebastian right quick,
before I tell you about
the point guard we probably just lost.
- Who?
- Damani.
What happened?
ER last night. Like, 5 hours, Coach.
EKG came back messed up.
They think he has an enlarged heart
that they missed a couple years ago.
Oh wow.
And so, he's been pretty much told,
until you see the specialist, nothing.
His dad told him he ain't hooping.
It just, I was, like, driving home and
everything, I was talking to my parents.
Just had pain in my chest still,
even after I felt fine.
- Yeah.
- Even now, still there.
- Yes.
- Hard to talk, project myself right now.
It's still feeling like it's still...
- A knot right there.
- Got that tightness?
They gotta take one more test.
- It's, like, an ultrasound of my heart.
- Yeah.
'Cause, right now, they think there's
an enlargement or something inside.
Okay.
I'm glad
you talked to your parents about it.
Because you know your dumb ass
would've went on that track today and run.
Mm-hmm.
Damn.
Sorry, kid.
I'm trying to figure out
how to get to the right group.
The picture you have in your mind
is not the picture at the end.
You'd be like,
"I never thought it'd look like this."
- Nothing you can do...
- Nothing to do about it.
The guy you never thought was gonna
make it, helped you win a playoff game.
- Sure did.
- 'Cause he dove on the floor.
Nah, there's four dudes out there
right now ain't gonna be there.
You just, it's hard to figure out
which, like, what...
- Yeah.
- If this was a business?
Easy today. You could've been like,
"You two, don't come back tomorrow."
That wouldn't have been hard.
But you're talking about
a kid's life, man, that's hard.
I said, "Hey.
I'mma help you with your dream."
That's hard.
I got a thousand people emailing, talkin'
'bout, "Can you help save my life?"
- Yeah.
- I'm just like, "Dude, like..."
- Yeah.
- I just pretend like I didn't see it.
Like, "I can't see..."
You look at the email, like,
want to try to, you know,
reach back out, they like, "Can you help?"
- "You the one for me."
- Yeah.
And so it feels like, man,
I don't want to let nobody down.
♪ One of these lives
I make things right ♪
♪ With the wrongs I've done
That's when I unite ♪
♪ With the Father, Son
Till then I fight ♪
♪ Rain on me
Put the blame on me ♪
♪ Got guilt, got hurt
Got shame on me ♪
♪ Got six magazines that's aimed at me ♪
♪ Done every magazine
What's fame to me? ♪
♪ It's a game to me
Where the bedroom at? ♪
This year, we got 20 guys, man,
that came in that are talented enough
to start for most teams in California.
♪ Think I care too much
Wanna share too much ♪
♪ In my head too much... ♪
We got about 10 kids that definitely
would have been at a Division I
if this was 2018.
♪ Look myself in the mirror ♪
♪ Amityville, ain't seen nothin' scarier ♪
♪ I fought like a pit bull terrier... ♪
The day you walk in,
you're proving something.
If you're not a good shooter,
you better prove it.
You're undersize and think you can play
with bigger guys, you better prove it.
♪ If I didn't learn to love myself
Forgive myself a hundred times, dawg ♪
If you think you're better,
then come and do it.
♪ I love when you count me out ♪
♪ I love when you count me out
I love when you count me out ♪
I've been kinda limited to where
they would think I wasn't gonna do much.
So I put the pressure on.
I gotta make it in basketball,
so I don't think about nothing else.
♪ I love when you count me out ♪
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuckin' it up ♪
The one returner is Dez Washington.
But now he's called upon to be a leader.
That's the challenge for Dez.
Four years, Dez! Come on, man.
Dez is the most likable guy
on every team he's ever played on.
I don't know how efficient
he's going to be when he gets his chance.
He's got a lot of grown-man stuff
he's dealing with.
He slipped up in high school,
and he's got a son.
♪ How you gon' win my trust
When the lies run deep? ♪
How do you make a life for your kid
until you can make a life for yourself?
It's time to get it together
because you have responsibilities.
It's time to be a man.
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuckin' it up ♪
♪ When you was at your lowest
Tell me where the hoes was at? ♪
♪ When you was at your lowest
Tell me where the bros... ♪
You in the SEC,
it's essentially NBA resources.
And two months later, you're here!
Good, come on. Good.
♪ I love when you count me out
I love when you count me out... ♪
The work that I'm putting in here
is going to elevate my career
past what it was before.
I want to say that, like, I went out there
and I did the work and I tried.
Call it favor from the Lord
when a guy like Shemar Morrow shows up.
What does he want to come to junior
college for? He's a pro-level talent.
Run!
When I was in fifth grade,
they were saying I was the next LeBron.
- ♪ Tell you 'bout the woman I know ♪
- ♪ That's my baby ♪
He's out here on his own.
He's 19, in California, playing college
with no high school diploma,
no financial aid, not knowing
where he's going to live next week.
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuck it up ♪
♪ You said I'd feel better
If I just worked hard ♪
♪ Without liftin' my head up ♪
I gotta make it on this hoop shit.
I gotta play at least one NBA game, bro.
Like I got to, bro, like...
I got to.
♪ Then change the story ♪
♪ Good energy in the room
Drop the location, please ♪
I have my life set up for basketball.
My dad played in the NBA.
So it's just like,
everybody kind of expects me to do this.
He's Hollywood, man.
He got the lil' Lawrence Taylor earrings.
He gonna come with the swag.
DC gonna make your blood pressure go up.
Hey. I've done it before.
No one had no problem.
You just do you.
Right now, he doesn't think
there's any way he doesn't play.
He's delusional. He really is.
I need a reason to yell
and scream and discipline.
And so it's always great
to have a guy like Demetrius.
They're going to be running for that guy.
♪ Fuck it up, fuck it up, fuck it up
Fuck it up, fuckin' it up ♪
Tuck your shirt in.
Have y'all taken team pictures before?
No, they haven't, Coach.
One, two, three, yeah.
DC messed it up with the white leg.
Go get the black one,
'cause that don't look right.
I think we're the most talented team
in the state. No question we are.
But, unfortunately, half of our team's
not gonna see very many minutes.
There's five guys that are gonna
suit up that are never going to play.
Here we go. Let's go.
At community college,
you got kids that are hopeless.
All they wanted to do was,
"Let me go somewhere
where there's a level of hope."
Ready. Let's go!
And they just want help.
They want to get to where they wanna be.
I'm just like,
"Man, I can't help everybody."
♪ This is me, and I'm blessed
This is me, and I'm blessed... ♪
Are we done?
- We done?
- All right, here we go. Let's go!
What time
we got practice tomorrow?
Yeah, it don't matter.
- Man.
- He said it don't matter.
- Gonna be here until he texts us.
- We gonna be in there anyway.
And then we're going to be there.
There's no in-between!
There's no in-between!
- Once we get out of there...
- We gonna be right back in here.
Not gonna lie. I don't call
this place JUCO. I call this place "here."
I can't expose myself
to this reality too much.
Bro.
Bro, I've been craving seafood
so much lately.
- With what money?
- That has nothing to do with my cravings.
- But what brand? That's how...
- Got some expensive cravings!
Just 'cause niggas broke
don't mean niggas can't crave it.
- Can't want better for myself, nigga?
- Oh yeah.
Seafood at our tax bracket,
what's wrong with you?
- We're all broke.
- We here.
I'm like, "I want some seafood for real."
He's like, "Shut up, broke-ass nigga."
What the fuck?!
- Don't let him get to your body.
- Josh!
- Point that!
- Low, Jon!
- He goes by you, we got a problem.
- They going on the track.
Hey! The best defender,
how he play, Pat Bev.
He's sticking his butt out,
and his nose is in there.
It don't sound right,
but his nose is here.
This is where he's at.
He's burning calories.
Coach is getting his work in today, dawg.
Here. If it's like this,
you ain't playing.
That's 'cause he found out
I was seven pounds lighter than him.
He was real disappointed.
The other day. He was real disappointed.
- Aw, he's about to get them seven back.
- Yeah. He was like, "Damn, I'm 205."
Go. Four inside, four outside.
- We're attacking our D. Attack him!
- Ready? Back up. Go!
Yeah, get a hand up.
Attack him, Dez. Yeah, Dez!
- That was a return.
- Yeah, Red!
- That's a returner play.
- Way to go.
Made him turn the ball over.
That's how the returner
should be making that every time.
Go!
Come back, DC!
Get down, DC!
Go, DC, go!
You fill outside the paint if you help.
Or you don't.
And you don't get beat baseline.
You turning your head
like I'm not talking to you?
I'm looking for my man.
Go to the baseline.
Baseline,
baseline, baseline, baseline!
Baseline!
Y'all think I'm playing.
You at East LA College!
Why aren't you,
"Man, I got to get the hell out of here"?
"The freaking walls are dirty!
I gotta get out of here!"
But you all got it figured out!
You don't see this is the play
that earns you a scholarship.
This one. That earns you a scholarship.
Not this.
That don't earn you nothing!
Bro, body language!
Five in a minute!
This is so unwarranted.
I don't care how corny
you think it is. You gonna do it my way.
I have a choice! You don't have a choice!
I have a choice! I got 17 other choices.
You ain't got but one,
and that's my choice.
Don't say shit.
- Why you pushing me?
- 'Cause you about to say something to him.
I'm looking at you
'cause you one of 'em.
The hell you think I'm looking at you for?
'Cause you're one of them
that think you got more than my choice.
You don't have a choice but my choice!
I got 17 choices other than you!
Five in a minute.
Who the hell he think he is?
Going to ask, "Why am I looking at you?"
He said,
"Why the hell am I looking at him?"
Can you believe that?
- Yeah. I can. This fool ain't right.
- He said that for real?
It's not hard
to keep from running.
All you gotta do is work hard
and do what the fuck he says. That's it.
Don't got to say nothing.
Don't got to say
nothing but "Yes, Coach."
We ain't got enough leadership
here to slap the hell out of somebody
who causing me to run.
Things ain't like they used to be.
- I'd have whooped his ass long ago.
- I'd put that shit in check long ago.
Nigga, don't do that.
Stop. I'll fight you.
- No, no, no.
- Here we go.
Now we got fake leadership.
Now we got fake leadership, wow.
Hold that nigga back.
Don't hold me back, nigga.
I don't know why you keep talking.
Shut the fuck up. Damn.
- Shut the fuck up.
- Everybody on the track.
Everybody on the track.
You just stay here then.
Go.
This year,
Coach has a real panic to him.
Somehow, this fool still thinks
he's the underdog.
6:15. DC.
6:19.6:20.
- What the fuck?
- Man.
In his mind,
he really believes it's year one,
and he's just grabbing guys
off the street to play.
Ready, go!
There has never been success here
as far as a state title.
Go.
So, until Coach Mosley
could capture a title,
I think that
chip on his shoulder will never fall off.
I think he's always going to have
that underdog mentality.
He act like
he didn't have no juice.
See, psychologically,
now I know who faking.
Coach feels pressure to have them dudes
almost in mid-season form right away
because he knows
it's a gauntlet waiting on us.
I normally like to take it slow
and kind of build up
and start playing
some of the tougher teams in November.
But, man, the first week is like,
we going up to San Francisco.
It's a suicide mission.
I don't know what I was thinking.
This is the toughest preseason schedule
that we've ever had.
Everybody in America is coming
to watch the JC kids for that weekend.
Coach gotta give 'em
some semblance of looking right.
We're playing three of the best teams
in Northern California.
Santa Rosa, who was in the Elite Eight.
You got Yuba.
We'll play them the second night.
Then you got San Francisco City.
So after we get beat up
by Santa Rosa and Yuba,
then San Francisco's ready to go.
Dunbar's gonna run it out.
Your champion is
City College of San Francisco.
And it's over.
City College of San Francisco completes
the championship run.
How many state championships
has this team won?
We've won three in the last ten years.
We like playing fast.
You'll see we run a motion offense.
And it's kind of positionless basketball.
We just... you know, we want
to be the most aggressive team.
I mean, we want to play the best teams.
They're one of the best teams
and one of the best programs.
It's gonna be a good test for us,
and I think we'll be a good test for them.
There is a sense of nervousness,
but the competitive nature
in our staff is,
"Let's go get it."
So it's not...
it's a great... it's a good nervous.
I like going into
a game knowing we can lose.
These guys been sitting out
almost two years.
So he's asking of himself
and of those guys
almost an impossible task.
Our learning curve has to shrink.
It almost can't be a curve.
Our learning curve has to be straight.
It has to be a learning line.
We gotta go fast.
Y'all should be sprinting through. 6:27.
He's slow as hell.
The year took him out of shape.
Let's go, BP!
Sprint this one through, Bryan. B!
Come on, man. Get them knees across.
- 8:16. Get over there.
- 8:16.
All right. Hey, let's walk it out.
Damn, my knee hurt.
I've been playing basketball
for about eight years now.
I started playing end of eighth grade,
freshman year of high school.
It kinda came easy to me.
I was very excited for
the trajectory that I was at,
and it kind of just... crashed really fast.
Going into my senior year of high school,
I had the offers I wanted.
I had the offers
that I didn't even know I was gonna get.
I was busting my ass at U-Dub,
and nothing came of it.
I decided that it was better off if
I transfer schools and ended up at LSU.
The trouble with LSU
kind of came off the court.
I ended up failing my math final,
and I was ineligible.
And they were like, "If you can't play,
then you kinda just have to go home."
Put yourself in a position to where,
like, last year you're in the SEC
on a top-20 team with pros on it.
That's what you're a part of.
You're in that locker room,
on that plane ride.
You're on ESPN.
All these things are happening,
and now Bryan's
in this locker room at East LA.
I wouldn't say
it felt like failure coming here.
It felt like a punishment,
almost, you know what I mean?
But no one's forcing me to be here.
No one's gonna think less of me
if I don't want to play basketball.
But I have this opportunity,
and it would be selfish of me
not to at least seize it and try my best.
So I got JUCO stuff happening, man.
But we gonna go running time.
I really don't even want to...
I just got to do something today.
- That's cool.
- Yeah.
Do not start this game missing threes.
You can take a bad shot
if it's within his offense.
- Just gotta be his way. Got that concept?
- Yeah.
Let's execute. Do what we did this week.
- One, two, three.
- Play hard.
- Let's go.
- We got this.
Gotta be able to make plays.
- Grab it!
- I think we can execute today.
This is where
the sausage is really made.
In September and October.
Man, they were short as hell.
For a coach, it's a stressful time
trying to piece it together.
Figuring out who's going to play,
or who's going to make the team.
- Yeah!
- Start running, JT!
- Yeah, Dez!
- Good finish, boy!
This is also the time when you figure out
what your new players are capable of,
physically and mentally.
That's what we're working on.
God! Why are we waiting so long?
Hey, that's what I'm saying!
You gotta be better passers, man.
These next three weeks gonna be
real crucial for them.
See who's up for it,
who can still play when they beat down.
Then we want to see
what kind of teammate you are.
Fuck! Ooh!
Mm.
Ah!
You got Tourette's out here.
- You can't be passionate now?
- No, that's the rules.
I know it's the rules but
it's like, sometimes you just passionate.
Like...
...that's what makes basketball fun.
Kids aren't stupid, and they'll see,
"Yo, this dude is better than me,
and Coach likes him. He plays more."
They're starting to figure out,
especially when I put
a green-and-white jersey on them.
Then the competition becomes crazy.
- Oh yeah, DC. Oh yeah.
- Thank you.
The physicality kicks it up a notch.
Don't do that, DC.
'Cause I'm just fucking...
- Don't do that, DC.
- Hey. It's basketball. Let's do it.
Now you really start to see
personalities conflict,
and things start to boil over.
Come to center, DC.
They're getting a crash course
in getting to know each other,
because now they're competing
against one another.
- You need to play some D, Shemar.
- I got you.
Can I get a rebound? You ain't got
a rebound, You been playing six minutes.
Don't let him run his offense, Shemar.
There we go. I like that.
Good job.
Shemar Morrow is the...
He's the most talented
basketball player we have on the squad.
I was for sure, like, I was gonna
do one year of college, like,
and up to the league, for real.
That's always been the plan.
I've always thought
that's what I was gonna do.
Oh sh...
Cause chaos, Shemar. Cause chaos, Shemar.
He is not what Coach Mosley wants
in a ballplayer.
But Shemar is so talented
that we might have to make
some exceptions.
He's one of the best players
on the floor. So that got my attention.
All right, I know he can help us.
I know I want him here,
but look at where you're at.
You're at East LA College.
There's a reason you're here.
There's some issues that we need to fix
so we can help you get to the next level.
- Did you graduate?
- I did not.
I'm still trying to get
my credits right now.
I don't know what it was, bro.
Like, I just couldn't do it.
I just always had
too much shit going on, for real.
Like, always.
And, like, I'm still trying to figure
some shit out to get that shit right.
I didn't even think I was gonna be able
to get into JUCO.
But I don't know, bro.
I just got to thinking about it,
and I just feel like I'm too nice
at this hoop shit to just give up.
He's got talent
that other kids don't have,
and because of that, unfortunately,
there's gonna be about two or three guys
on our team,
they're doing what I'm doing right now.
They're just gonna be
sitting here watching,
because that kid's probably gonna play.
Oh, yessir!
- Yessir, yessir!
- Pressure!
Yeah, Jon! Now sit, Jon.
Hold, hold, hold, hold!
- Foul!
- Hold it!
We good!
Let it go, now.
Let it go, let it go, let it go.
Good shit.
- Yeah.
- Sheesh.
That's how we come back
and how we keep the lead.
- Good intensity and defense.
- Yes.
Coach hates scrimmages.
But this group,
because it's so inexperienced together,
we need dudes to kind of separate
themself for leadership,
separate themself for the ability
to make guys that's around them better.
- Good luck.
- Good shit.
Yeah.
Because of the pandemic and
all of that, we lost a core of returners.
That's almost like
we're starting over again,
so it's frustrating me a little bit.
Because our culture is just gone.
And this gauntlet
of a schedule that we got.
Nobody gets it.
I mean, our first three games,
all three of them teams, they diving
on the floor like they salivating.
And then we got a bunch of dudes
that don't understand.
And you the only one
that kind of understands that.
I'm hoping we just get lucky,
'cause we're not gonna be ready.
It's just not enough time
to get ready for that.
And you the only one that know
what they coming with.
So help these guys understand that.
And then, if you want to even sniff
at Division I, bro,
you can't slip up this semester.
Dez is the lone returner, man.
He was such a free spirit
the year he was here.
Come on! Rebound!
Bring it up, bring it up!
Yes!
He had a role of,
"Hey, man. Just go in there
and cause chaos."
"Make a couple plays."
That year,
I was a defensive player.
Dez, up. Guard that fool.
They needed me
when it was a player going off.
Oh yeah. Dez ain't giving that up.
Dez ain't giving that up.
Dez ain't giving that up.
Dez causes chaos, dawg.
Dez is constantly trying to step back,
because he still wants to be a kid.
He still wants to enjoy that life and...
Nah. That time is over.
♪ It feels good ♪
He's a fucking fool.
You the only guy returning.
I need your leadership.
I need you to show us how to win.
I'm telling you, bro!
You jogging. Your pace is slow.
Come on. You supposed to be
setting the tone. Go!
My confidence going into this next year
was like, I'm gonna play.
I'm gonna exceed, I'm gonna show people
that I can do this at this level.
During the pandemic, I worked on my speed,
my handle, my shot.
I'm more valuable now
than what I was that year.
I can't just go back home.
I gotta make something happen.
For my son.
He's serious when he says,
"Now, I gotta get out of here."
It used to be, "I gotta get out of here
'cause I just have to get out."
Now it's like, "I gotta get out of here
because I gotta take care of this kid."
- What are you hoping?
- Hopefully, that I get a scholarship.
And I'm able to get a degree.
Make a little bit more money.
I can help him.
And then, like, if I'm lucky enough,
go to an overseas pro,
G League, something.
Grind my way up. I can get him,
and he's with me all the time.
I'm just trying to hoop.
I've been waiting to hoop, dawg.
Are y'all ready to hoop, dawg?
The two months of practice
gotta pay off this week.
For sure. I ain't gonna lie.
- I'm so excited for you.
- I'm ready to hoop.
He said it's six hours, right?
Six-hour drive,
but it's gonna be seven,
because we gotta stop and eat.
Oh shit.
He finna erase our memories.
- That boy ready to...
- That nigga is scary for real.
Hey, what up, Men in Black!
Coach got the fresh shave and all that!
- I thought he was finna walk up and like...
- "On the track."
I'm gonna hit y'all later
for sure when I get there.
All right, love y'all.
We good to go.
We're playing probably the toughest first
three games at least since I've been here.
♪ I gotta dance
I gotta dance, I gotta dance ♪
♪ I gotta dance, I gotta dance... ♪
It's a possibility that we can get
blown out. That's a possibility.
♪ That's right
I gotta learn how to dance, baby ♪
Everything's gotta come together.
You just never know.
♪ I gotta learn how to do
These latest things... ♪
I've seen it when the stars aligned
and everybody's playing great.
Everybody's energized, everybody's
remembering all the plays and all that.
I've seen it where it feels like
we're ready, we've done all we can,
and everything falls apart.
♪ I said I gotta dance
I gotta dance ♪
♪ I gotta learn how to dance ♪
♪ I got to keep my baby with me ♪
I don't know
how certain guys handle it.
I haven't coached them enough
to know that personality.
I don't know who's gonna be the guy,
and we're going to be good at the end,
but I would like to have wins
in the column as well.
Everybody we play up here, man,
they've won a state championship
in the last ten years.
Regardless of, you know,
our talent level versus theirs,
they're gonna be good.
They're gonna be well-coached.
With, uh, Santa Rosa, I'm like,
"Man, these dudes can play, man."
"What's going on?"
There we go, two and two.
We got to deal with him.
I don't know, I feel a little unprepared.
There's two parts.
I don't know them, and I don't know us.
So that's what makes me feel
kind of weird right now.
Ooh! Let's be quick
with the starters and the matchup, fellas.
All right, Brandon, you're gonna have 15.
Dez, you'll have 22.
Jon, you're at the point guard, 31.
Tyrelle, you have 34.
Bryan, you're gonna have 44.
Aight?
Y'all made it, man.
- This was, like, two years.
- Yeah.
We were sitting on Zoom and stuff, man.
Y'all made it.
We here at the first game.
We need to come out and let 'em know
who freaking show this is!
Whose show is this?!
Listen, the only thing
I'll be disappointed with
is if you don't play hard.
I don't care about a bucket.
I don't care about a play.
I don't care about none of that.
But if you get punked on defense,
and they go at us,
if you don't rebound,
and if you give up,
then I can't mess with that.
I don't care about nothing else.
Brand-new team,
brand-new plays, brand-new all of that.
All I care about is
that we come out and we play hard.
You let them know,
let them feel the energy.
There's nobody that practices
harder than us.
There's nobody in better shape.
You go out there and show it.
"Family" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Family!
♪ Damn
Floor seats for the Knicks ♪
♪ Couple models blow a kiss... ♪
The last time we saw
the East Los Angeles Huskies,
they were on their way to
this very campus here in San Francisco
to play in the state tournament
that most people thought they could win.
Let's get ready, baby!
About a year and a half later,
the Husky season starts in this building,
where the Huskies will begin a three-day
tournament with their season opener
here against the Bear Cubs of Santa Rosa.
- Been a long time coming.
- Long time.
There's no fucking way
these niggas worked harder than us
the past two months.
Let's go. "Family" on three.
"Family" on me.
- One, two, three!
- Family!
Hell yeah!
♪ Look at my seats
I'm sittin' cozy ♪
♪ We all grinded for the floor seats ♪
♪ Now all of the pretty girls
They know me ♪
♪ I'm on a jumbotron
You can't ignore me ♪
♪ Just look at my seats
I'm sittin' cozy... ♪
And the 2021 basketball season
is officially underway.
That falls. Dez Washington scores
the first points of the season.
I don't like starting a game
shooting threes. I like when they go in.
Dez Washington,
the only returner from that team
a year and a half ago.
Off the glass, it's good.
Six-point lead for East LA!
Get a stop! Get a stop!
You gotta make them feel
your freaking energy, man.
♪ Now all the pretty girls
They know me ♪
♪ I'm on a jumbotron
You can't ignore me ♪
♪ Just look at my seats
I'm sittin' cozy ♪
♪ Now all the pretty girls
They know me... ♪
Over the block,
and Johnson takes it right out of the air!
They're going to say goaltending.
- That is terrible.
- Oh man.
Bryan Penn-Johnson
looking to go to work.
Okay.
And he's already frustrated
with the officiating.
A very special talent, but just
a little too aggressive in the paint.
He puts DC in the game,
I'm tackling his ass.
I'm gonna tackle your ass,
you put DC in the game.
Shemar.
I would love to help this out,
but it's not like I'm getting in.
Morrow will fire a three
and puts it in!
Yeah, Shemar!
Morrow.
Shemar Morrow
with two threes off the bench.
Just like that, an 18-point lead.
And out of nowhere, Shemar Morrow,
off the bench, going coast to coast.
Look out below!
That will do it here tonight on day one.
The Huskies of East LA
will knock off
the Bear Cubs of Santa Rosa.
♪ Tiffany store on Fifth ♪
♪ I'm performin' with the glist'... ♪
Good evening and welcome
to day two of a three-day tournament
as the 49ers of Yuba College
take on the Huskies of East LA.
I didn't see much of Demetrius Calip
on the first day of this tournament.
We'll see if he is used
a little more often tonight
against Yuba College.
Rejected right at the backboard
by Joshua Phillips.
Oh, that's me.
Dangerous pass
stolen away by Brandon Wilson,
and he'll throw it down.
That's how you play defense
at East Los Angeles.
Y'all learning lessons.
Now y'all are gonna listen when we
get back to practice next week. All right?
Morrow tries a three,
and he banks it in.
Did you call the bank?
Bounce pass inside.
Perfect feed for...
Penn-Johnson misses his own shot
and follows it through with the slam.
It is a rout.
The Huskies pull away again
for the second straight night
with a 74-50 victory
to start their season
and the tournament 2 and 0.
And they'll try to win this tournament
tomorrow afternoon.
I tell you, bro.
First half, I couldn't move.
No, my legs felt like bricks, bro.
- Oh my God.
- Coach Rob like, "Jon, you good?"
I was like, "Yeah, I'm straight, bro."
'Cause I knew I was gonna be straight.
He sat right next to me like,
"I got bricks on my legs."
I could not move.
She asked me
if I could ask you
if you could wait in the car
five or ten minutes.
You so nasty.
I ain't never really had a drink
that's this cold without freezing it.
This joint is cold but liquid.
Yeah.
You have to ruin the whole...
I low-key knew we was gonna win.
- Our intensity was way higher than theirs.
- Yeah. Then, by the time...
We was getting the rebounds.
Then that second half, for real,
is when everybody caught a second wind.
- Yeah.
- Don't nobody practice as hard as us, bro.
Bro, I didn't sweat that game.
I'm not gonna lie.
I sweated, but, like, I was...
when they took me out,
I came out sitting straight.
- Yeah, but I was not tired.
- Like, "I'm not tired at all."
I was breathing regular the whole game.
Bro, that's the sick part about it.
These games are not half a practice, bro.
I'm glad we got to the games, boy,
'cause that was a long two months, boy.
- That shit was crazy.
- That's the longest preseason I ever had.
Longest preseason I ever had.
I'm going through a rough patch right now,
so once me and the coaches,
we all figure out what's going on,
I feel like there's gonna be
more time for me to go in.
It's just, right now, it's just...
I don't feel like
I should be embarrassed about it.
- Mm-hm.
- Like...
I do feel embarrassed
'cause I'm on the bench.
- 'Cause I played my whole life right now.
- Right.
But it is what it is. You just...
Yeah, you go from being the man
on your high school team to, like,
dudes is taller than me,
more athletic, you know.
Yeah, for me it's just like,
I feel like I am athletic.
And I am as tall as the players playing.
You, it's just listening, bro.
You was going against the grain so much.
For me, coming from a D1 school,
you don't expect
to be coming off the bench.
It hurts because you feel like
you're at a level below you.
I really feel like I'm a high major goer.
My... high major talent.
You gotta stay level-headed,
stay ready, bro.
Yeah. Once I get on that court, man.
- Right.
- It's showtime.
No runs,
no hits, no errors.
So Cal Choppers, zero. Utah Heat, four.
Everybody's playing right now.
I got my daughter on. She's in Vegas
right now, playing softball.
I gotta listen, 'cause if I don't,
my wife is gonna be like,
"You didn't listen to the game?" So...
My other daughter's playing basketball.
My son's driving my other daughter around.
My wife is in Vegas with... there.
Playing probably the biggest game
in ELAC history today, so, here we go.
Esparza grounds out,
third baseman to first baseman.
Man.
Yeah, this is gonna be
a good game, for real.
I mean, honestly,
but, like, I feel, talent-wise,
like, yeah, we should beat them, for real.
Yeah, I don't feel like they gonna score
on us like that. It's a little hard.
I feel like it's one of
the biggest games in our life.
I mean, I didn't play... like,
I'm used to playing, like, top teams,
but this, this some other shit, like,
this the college level,
so it's a little different.
The state gonna look at this like
a potential state championship matchup.
This is the game, baby!
- This is what it's about right here, baby!
- The championship.
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ It was five chains on my neck ♪
♪ It was no smut on my rep ♪
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ I was sellin' zones in the set ♪
♪ Make a quarter mil' no sweat ♪
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ I'm the streets' voice out west ♪
♪ Legendary, self-made progress ♪
♪ Last time that I checked ♪
♪ First you get the money, then respect
Then the power and the hoes come next ♪
♪ Last time that I checked... ♪
Boy, Coach, we have got
a good one coming up.
It's the number-one team in the north
against the number-one team in the south.
CCSF against East Los Angeles College.
Let's go!
Both of these teams 2 and 0
coming into play today.
Last year, San Francisco was
a perfect 30 and 0.
Yeah!
East LA, 29 and 1.
These are programs that produce
Division I talent, pro talent.
That's an athletic,
big, wild group right there.
And it should be
a great matchup today.
Deshaun Highler in the building.
What's up with you?
- This was supposed to be your game!
- I know.
- Knock their heads off.
- Yeah, we'll talk afterwards. All right.
A possible state
championship preview, early in the season.
- I'm fired up.
- I'm fired up too.
This is big-time basketball!
Go, motherfuckers.
Play the whole floor!
- 1, 2, 3!
- Family!
Let's get it. Step out hard.
Let's get it. Let's go.
Come on!
♪ They're playing basketball ♪
♪ We love that basketball ♪
♪ Ball ♪
This is not
a super great skill group.
I already see the defensive line-up.
Really, they trying to come scare you.
They want to shut you down.
They don't want you to get nothing.
Get the ball out.
We attack them right at the rim.
Let's make them foul us.
And then we put our knee in they nuts
when they try to come at us. All right?
They ain't seen it.
They see what they see here,
but they ain't seen
what we gotta deal with down south.
Here we go. Bring it in. Let's go.
"Family" on three. One, two, three.
Family!
Just about set for tip-off
between two of the best programs
in the state.
And this figures to be
one heck of a matchup.
And we're underway!
An early three-pointer,
in and out.
Rebound!
He's fouled
by Bryan Penn-Johnson.
Taken down
with the hand across the face.
Man, Bryan.
Physical play
inside to begin with.
It's too early for that, fellas.
I'm totally good.
Defense! Defense! Defense!
They called a second foul?
I got two fouls
in less than a minute, bro? Come on.
That's two fouls quick
on number 23.
Sub, sub, sub! Sub!
- Oh my God.
- Gonna have to come out.
See ya later.
Hey. Yo, fuck that. Put me back in, bro.
He wants to talk all that shit. Fuck that.
If you're a valuable big man,
you can't afford
to go off the court that quickly.
Crossover dribble taken away.
JT Langston, a steal.
Single! JT!
JT!
Going left.
And the follow from JT Langston!
- Alley-oop coming.
- It falls off the mark.
Yeah.
A little sloppy to start
here for City College.
Wilson... drives left, scoop shot.
No good. The putback!
San Francisco City College
caught off guard a little bit.
Tough shot.
Offensive rebound, Dezmond Washington.
- The guys are fired up here.
- And that's nine in a row.
Nine-nothing, Huskies.
New team.
It's a whole different team.
Four subs coming in
for City College of San Francisco.
This is what they'll do.
They'll bring in an entirely new unit.
Justin Labagh with a deep roster.
Opposite! Where's my point guard?
And they cause a turnover!
- B!
- C'mon, Brandon!
Hey, stay locked in. Stay locked in.
So just use it, 'cause they want us
to hug up on that side, all right?
Get outta my seat.
You sweaty. Get outta my seat.
Look at the roller.
Tyrelle's by himself...
Foul!
That's a foul!
And another foul called
against the Huskies.
Come on, that was a foul on the guard!
Mosley can't believe it.
Yes, he did! Come on, man!
What the fuck?
He grabbed to move. I saw that!
Here comes City College.
Gimme that!
David Hector,
rejected but a foul.
No! That's not a foul!
- Sit down!
- That's not a foul! I'm the coach!
- You can't act like that.
- He went straight up and blocked.
- Come on!
- You get a double whistle!
He went like this and blocked!
I was straight up! What'd I do wrong?
Can you tell me that?
This is bull.
Can I talk to somebody?
Can I talk to somebody?
Can I talk to somebody?
And a technical foul
against John Mosley.
- What for?
- Talking to a ref.
What the hell kind of call is that?!
Press on!
And how about this?
East LA scored the first nine points.
CCSF on a 9-0 run to answer.
Come on, man.
That's an offensive foul
against Dezmond Washington.
To say East LA has gone cold
would be an understatement.
- Gaskin... with authority!
- They like that?
Did they like that
here in San Francisco?
That brought the fans
to their feet.
A turnover and a foul against East LA.
Oh my God.
That's two free throws.
We see who the show is.
This is the strike zone.
We're gonna see
a lot of free throws this half
at the rate that
we are picking up fouls here.
One-point lead and the ball for CCSF.
Jamir Thomas, pull-up three. Got it!
Come on, Josh.
Single, Morrow! Single! Single!
JT goes to the...
- What the fuck you doing?
- That's not the play!
If that was a bounce pass,
it went 4 feet over his head.
Another three on the way.
That one is good!
Oh man!
Here come the Huskies.
And another turnover.
Get it back to him! You good.
Let's get it! Get it back! It's all right.
Wow, Jamir Thomas shook off
the defender, and canned a three.
Whoo!
Time-out
for East Los Angeles.
Damn!
East LA bench
can't believe it.
Bring it here. Listen!
Listen, listen. Be quiet.
Make sure we get the ball out quick.
All we got to do is not turn the ball over
and we'll score every time.
All right, here we go. "Finish" on three.
One, two, three!
- Finish!
- Squat! Squat!
After a slow start,
CCSF has really taken control
of this game.
Let's see if East LA
get back into this.
Jamir Thomas.
Loses it, stripped from behind.
Nice pass. Langston.
30 to 18.
Charge!
And an offensive foul.
Shemar, sub.
As the game moves on,
we're expecting this to be close.
- Let's go!
- Every point critical.
Go to work, Shemar.
Bounces around
and rolls in for Morrow.
Tough shot.
Shemar! Go to work! Go to work!
Defense...
- Good deflection.
- Here they come again.
Here comes Shemar Morrow
in the open court.
Spin move. Left hand. Lay it up and in!
East LA back within three!
A back-and-forth first half.
Still two minutes to go. 36-33, CCSF.
- B!
- No help!
And raising for the jam
is Matthew Williams.
B! You need to see help side!
Ten seconds left
in the half.
Shooter! Go get him, Justin!
Don't leave him!
Robinson with two to shoot.
Gets it off.
- Gets it in at the buzzer.
- It's good.
A strong close to the half
for CCSF.
- And they lead it by nine. 44-35.
- That was a heck of a half.
The last two minutes we missed almost
every single one of our free throws.
That's ten points. We'd be up right now.
These niggas cannot guard, bro.
They keep getting called for holds.
We only down, what, nine?
And we missing all of our free throws.
- Keep that energy on the bench.
- We want this more than them.
We got to show that. We want this shit.
They weren't working
as hard as we was.
That was a wild half.
I think, I mean, for the most part,
we're okay, like, defensively.
To be honest,
we should be up by, like, five.
We gave away turnovers
and then just not executing properly.
In a game like this, you gotta listen
to what Coach Mosley is saying.
All right, here we go. Let's go.
Here we go, man.
Ready? "Finish" on three. One, two, three!
- Finish!
- Let's go!
Motion. Motion, motion.
- Drive! Motion!
- Motion! Exchange!
Naseem Gaskin blows by
and scores it, plus the foul!
Shemar, sub.
Let's go, Morrow! Let's go!
Why, though?
Why didn't nobody block that?
Penn-Johnson, stripped away.
Here goes Emmett Neal.
- Two-handed slam!
- JT, sub.
- Uh-oh. Uh-oh!
- Open three, Sapp.
- You know it. 61-35.
- Uh-oh!
- It does not look good.
- It's a 17-0 run.
- That's an offensive foul.
- Foul!
It's all going CCSF's way.
Can't bring that stuff here.
Look up there! It's on there!
That's real! Watch this!
We're gonna score on this one!
We gonna score!
Everything falling
for the Rams.
Jon, move!
It's been all CCSF here
in the second half, and another steal.
Gaskin ahead, and the slam for Holman.
Sorry-ass niggas.
At least I thought you gonna elbow
somebody in the mouth.
Niggas need to do something.
Right now, East LA's hoping
they could be the sequel, come March.
Long way to go until then.
- Bring it out, Dez.
- Don't shoot it, Bran.
Gonna get hurt.
Somebody's gonna get hurt.
Huskies will dribble it out.
And that will close out
a 94-65 win for CCSF.
A statement victory for the Rams.
Two good programs,
two well-coached teams,
and one team's a little bit better
than the other right now.
Fucking embarrassing, bro.
Don't stress yourself.
It's one game.
It's one loss. We'll get better.
Let's take it in first, man.
Here we go.
- Lose a 30-piece?
- 30.
30-piece. I don't even know if...
I can't remember the last 30-piece...
I can't remember.
I don't care who it is.
That's not supposed to happen like that.
So that's not good.
And I kind of knew we wasn't prepared,
but, uh, how this went,
that was pretty embarrassing.
Pretty embarrassing, so...
The world will get a chance to see.
But you got a chance to fix it.
Um, we'll stop and get something to eat,
but let's get out soon as possible,
um, so we can get back. That's a six-hour...
Hopefully we can get back before midnight.
All right?
Let's bring it in before we go.
- Ain't leaving like that.
- Let's go.
Let this be
the only loss of the year.
Yessir.
"Family" on three.
One, two, three.
Family!
We're not playing desperate enough.
I need guys playing desperate.
Right now, I don't need
basketball players.
I need guys that are desperate.
That's what I'm trying
to find in everybody.
Where you so desperate
that you'll do anything it takes.
You'll dive on the floor.
You'll go get every freaking rebound.
It's time to get desperate.
There's a level of urgency
that needs to happen.
The bus out there already?
That's what part of my job is too.
I got to do a better job
of making these guys desperate
for their lives.
Otherwise, ain't none of us getting out.
Nobody's moving on.
Nothing good is gonna happen
unless they freaking desperate
to get the hell out of here, man.
And they not there yet.
♪ Lady Luck and four leaf clovers ♪
♪ Won't ease this hurt I feel all over ♪
♪ I'm standin' on shaky ground, babe ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Whoa-ho-ho ♪
♪ I'm standin' on shaky ground, babe ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ My car got repossessed this morning ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Harder times I haven't seen in years ♪
♪ Girl, you better throw me
A life preserver ♪
♪ Babe ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm about to drown
In my own tears ♪
♪ I'm standin' on shaky ground, babe ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Whoa-ho-ho ♪
♪ Standin' on shaky ground, lord ♪
♪ Ever since you put me down ♪
♪ Ooh ♪