Meanwhile, after Audrey left that Bayou City Hoops practice, Heather stands at a crossroads. Audrey has some work to do to get some chemistry with Cora on the court, and, in fact, I’m the one with whom she doesn’t get along off the court. Heck, even Susan gets along with her.
“I’m not sure how I feel about playing as a VA anymore. I’m surrounded by people whose commitment to basketball appears to be a little suspect, the school doesn’t take basketball seriously even though we made it to the quarterfinals last season…” Heather starts crying and confides in Susan.
“Do you have an idea of which school you could play for then?” Susan asks her.
“I’d say Lacassine offers the best chance to achieve my goals for next season”
Let’s see: Lake Arthur, Welsh and Elton were headed for first-round exits last season, and not even I can turn any of these teams into state champions, Hathaway’s front court is stacked, too, and I don’t even want to talk about out-of-parish schools, like Kinder, Crowley or Iowa. However, Lacassine has a gaping hole down the center, Heather starts ruminating about the parish’s hoops situation.
“If you really think Lacassine can get you what VA can’t… you seem to value basketball more than you do your education” Susan points out to Heather.
“In a world where knowledge loses value faster than ever, I think not learning as much senior year would be worth the cost of a shot of winning State! It seems like all-state teams often comprise the star players on teams going deep into the playoffs! And winning State will stay with us, provided we do so honestly!”
“It seems like Cora is your most improved player! Even half an AAU season made her a much better player than she was at the start!” Susan tells her about Cora’s improvement. “Passing, rim protection, you name it”
“Even with Taylor replaced by Cora, we’re not going to win State at VA! I’m not sold on our shooting guard!” Heather keeps arguing, wondering whether the VAs’ new starting SG will even be as good as Charlotte was. “Last season, you played us, and your gaping hole down the center cost you guys to lose the game! Maybe with me, the Cardinals might stand a chance at State! But do you think the reverse would be plausible?”
As much as it pains me to admit it, Heather’s right. She’s a good fit on the Cardinals, both offensively and defensively. However, she feels like 1A-B-C basketball is mostly the same as 3-4A basketball, probably based on out-of-district schedules. And yet, the financial playing field in 1A-B-C girls’ basketball has better parity than in 3-4A, Susan starts thinking. I am not sure of how I would fit in at VA, at the very least, off-court. I sense that Heather feels crushed academically, since VA has by far the most competitive academic environment in southwest Louisiana. My GPA and even more so class rank will suffer.
“Heather, as much as I would have loved you to transfer, there’s one LHSAA formality you need to be aware of. Even though intra-parish transfers are much more straightforward than inter-parish transfers, please keep in mind that the residence and transfer rule will prevent you from playing as a Cardinal next season unless you actually move into Lacassine’s attendance zone before the beginning of the school year. And the same for me in reverse, too, if I believed transferring to VA was the way to go” Susan tells Heather about possible complications of transferring.
Heather then looks up what to do to remain compliant with the residence and transfer rule and play as a Cardinal immediately after arriving at Lacassine. But at the same time, she sees Susan’s mouth foaming at the prospect of nabbing Heather as a transfer student for Lacassine. Kind of like a NBA general manager in free agency season, when signing the contract of the player deemed to be the solution to a team’s major problem.
Maybe... maybe Heather would prove our salvation in more ways than one! If Heather could play quiz bowl! Lacassine might not make it to the HSNCT, even with her, but we need a full roster for the school to even let us play! Right now, we’re missing one player! Susan starts daydreaming about Heather as a Cardinal, before leaving the dressing room.
But when Heather returns home, later that day, she feels the need to discuss a serious matter with her parents.
“Mom, dad, we need to talk. I feel like I’m not happy playing basketball for VA, and it made me unhappy as a VA!” Heather laments.
“What do you mean?” Heather’s mom asks her, not realizing that the HSNCT exacerbated the tensions with the rest of the team.
“I feel like things are going downhill at VA. The coach left us to our own devices outside the basketball season, and somehow, I feel like the rest of the team at VA is willing to put the sport on a back burner! Especially Audrey, but Cora, too!” Heather’s tone of voice grows louder and whinier. She starts crying. “I can’t believe that, even in the summer, when they should focus on basketball, they keep studying! They make me feel like their priorities are misplaced!”
“I know how important basketball is for you. But what exactly are you planning to do?” Heather’s dad asks her.
“I was coming to that. If that’s feasible, I would love to transfer to Lacassine”
Time to start sending clips, along with transcripts and ACT scores! In fact, I’m a little late to the party, but even though the Ivy League is a long shot, which wouldn’t happen without basketball, I can always send these materials after having filled out their recruitment questionnaires, or along with these! And yet I have the feeling that the Ivy League might be my only shot, and Audrey’s, too, to get any kind of Division I playing time! Heather starts thinking about how to go around contacting college coaches, and which ones. I’ll start with the good old Tulane Green Wave, even though it’s a Power-6 team, and hence an even longer shot!
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“Lacassine?” Her dad gasps. “Are you certain you are willing to have us move into some place in the middle of the meadows for a year? Doing otherwise would mean violating the LHSAA residence and transfer rule!”
“Moving out of the parish is going to be much more painful than transferring to Lacassine, even if I had relatives to move in with!”
“Our relatives are out of state. I won’t pretend to know their respective hoops situations, and while it’s not unheard of for families to move around as a consequence of a kid’s athletic career move, I am not sure it’s a good idea” Heather’s dad retorts.
“I mean, I could always ask them about the needs of their local schools’ basketball teams. However, if I am not mistaken, Lacassine doesn't offer any AP courses”
I mean, she took a total of 3 APs in her time at VA. I wonder what’s going on in her mind for her to be so willing to accept an academic downgrade for a shot at basketball glory, Heather’s mom, puzzled by this sudden request from Heather, ruminates.
“Mom, dad, we need to get started now if you let me transfer to Lacassine! Even an intra-parish transfer still requires some legwork, and to find a place to live in Lacassine’s attendance zone!” a distressed Heather complains about her parents’ attitude towards her.
“Think of people other than Audrey and Cora. How do you think Carrie, Tyler and the like will feel if you leave, or how you feel about them upon leaving?” Heather’s dad asks her.
“Just let me think about it…”
Tyler? He might still see me, and I can always go to VA football or math games with and for him. Carrie? I might start to resent her, on the court at first, and later off the court… but I can keep in touch with everyone online. However, my parents make me feel like having reduced access to them in person would change how I would feel towards them going forward, Heather ruminates.
“My peers? I’m closest to other basketball players, although because of my intense devotion to basketball, I struggled to make friends outside of the sport!” Heather keeps whining.
“You’re clearly not in the right mindset right now, I’m not sure transferring is a good idea just yet!” Heather’s dad sermons her.
“Not even being one of the good players on what was arguably the best post-pandemic VA girls’ basketball team helped me get anything remotely resembling friends! People interacted with me in a very shallow way since!”
“Honey, I acknowledge just how important your role was last season, but for some reason, it seems like VA’s newfound successes on the court have gotten to you, even when they are overshadowed by VA’s quiz bowl successes!” Heather’s mom scolds her.
When VA sucked on the court, before last season, which was my daughter’s breakout season, Heather wasn’t nearly as fixated on hoops! But she mostly kept to herself, back then, too… Heather’s mom reflects on how one good basketball season changed her.
“You have hoops talent, yes, but don’t do things you will regret later!”
“What do you mean, dad?” Heather yells at her dad, her face turning red.
“As you said, Lacassine doesn’t offer any AP courses, and dual enrollment courses are typically more trouble than APs, especially for athletes, albeit more on the administrative side” Heather’s mom retorts.
“Lacassine would represent a much-needed decrease in academic pressure!”
“And yet you’re using basketball to try to attend higher levels of colleges than even Tulane! If you can’t handle it now at VA, sorry, but if you made it to, I don’t know, an Ivy League roster, you will be eaten alive!” Heather’s dad keeps scolding her.
“Although opponents do, at times, shelter their star players in the classroom, and you’re right in that it’s not uniform across schools, it’s not uniform across sports either!”
“Yeah, football players get sheltered the most in the classroom by our opponents, but VA sure doesn’t shelter anyone! They let Audrey and I take APs as sophomores without cutting our playtime!”
As a sophomore, I took AP US Government at the urging of Kent’s predecessor, who taught that course back then; he retired a year ago. Last season, I took AP Bio and AP French; from what I heard, most of our opponents either cut playtime from players taking AP courses or don’t offer them to begin with! Heather ruminates.
“I get it, VA is one of the most competitive schools in the state… but are you willing to pay the academic price in college of this transfer?” Heather’s dad asks her.
“I just want to have something to be proud of from my teenage years. What do I have? VA never seems to amount to much in FFA stuff, and on top of that, there’s no glory in FFA! Right after I played my best basketball season, I feel like I must make the most out of it!”
“You said that VA didn’t take basketball seriously. In the current state of the VAs’ roster, how would you arrange the roster?” Heather’s mom asks her.
“First off, Cora has shown to be more willing to get to the paint and protect it than Carrie was. While I’d still play down the center, and Audrey as power forward, Carrie’s skillset is better suited to play point guard. I’d even argue that Taylor might have gotten too much playtime last season, and Cora, well, didn’t get as much as she should have!”
Heather starts behaving more like a coach and less like a student. Is that a good or a bad thing? Heather’s mom wonders if her change of attitude has rubbed her the wrong way.
“You seem inclined to think that you want to win State at any cost, irrespective of division! Lacassine plays in division B and hence the divisional opponents tend to have less depth!” Heather’s mom asks her. “Are you OK with playing in a lower division than at VA?”
“Absolutely! Because, actually, the skill gap between divisions isn’t as big as you make it out to be. Lower-division teams win against higher-division ones all the time, and we may be called upon to play opponents from all divisions! Lacassine lost against us last season because of their gaping hole down the center!
“What about other positions?” her mom asks her, believing that Heather didn’t do her due diligence about the Cardinals roster.
“They have some talent at all other positions though, especially Susan at shooting guard! Center is their weakest position, and this is where I will fit”
The following morning, Heather’s parents awaken, and then do a quick search for whether there’s anything within Lacassine’s attendance zone to live in. After their search returns no results…
“Wait a minute: there seems not to be anywhere to live that’s vacant in Lacassine’s area! This means you can forget about transferring to Lacassine!” Heather’s dad screams at her, as if trying to protect her from herself.
Heather then starts to shriek in horror. Once the shrieks subside:
“Damn it! I’ll be stuck at VA, playing for a program that lacks commitment to the sport! And then I’ll be forced to endure one more year of this nightmare!”
“Honey, what’s the biggest weakness you identified, assuming there wouldn’t be a transfer in either direction, and every player attending for the upcoming school year keeps playing?” Heather’s mom asks.
“Shooting guard. However, that spot is wide open as to who starts games”
If only one VA shooting guard playing this season becomes as good as Huiling was, maybe then we might have a shot at winning Division II Non-Select State, Heather starts praying for the development of VA SGs.