ARC President Reacts To Criticism of Team

To enlighten Mr. Michael Mayer, who wrote in a recent letter (Aug. 9) criticizing ARC Mid-Valley for its loss in the second round of the Las Vegas Invitational National Prep Basketball Tournament, there were a number of factors that should be considered. One factor was that while the team had a number of tune-up games, we never had a full team at any practice until we got to Las Vegas. This was due to summer camps, summer high school league games and tournaments, and a player's first commitment must be to his high school team. After a week of practicing daily in Las Vegas, the team ran its offense properly, with more than one pass, on Friday, and blew out Oregon and Georgia to win the runner-up championship. Another factor was the loss of James Moses, a key starter who did well against New York the previous year, due to a broken ankle one week before Las Vegas. A third factor was youth in key positions. ARC Mid-Valley was a very young team and returns six juniors next year. Finally, the New York Gauchos were a very good team and were allowed to use 19-year-old Lloyd Daniels, who played because of a questionable technicality, not having earned enough high school credits to be considered a senior, but who is planning on attending junior college next year and then UNLV.