Ridge Basketball

The official twitter page of the Mountain Ridge Mens’ Basketball 🏀 Program. Effort - Attitude - Toughness - Trust.

[Ridge Basketball @Ridgebbll]

My guys!!

[Kaleb Bowen @_KalebBowen_]

Thank you for everything Coach❤️ @Ridgebbll

[Curt Finch, PhD @DrFinchDVUSD]

Mountain Ridge hoops @mrhs_pto @DVUSD getting I. Some work today! #Team

[Derek Deprey @derekdeprey]

Unpopular opinion…

AAU doesn’t need to lead to college basketball to be worth it.

For a lot of players today, it’s simply part of becoming competitive enough to play varsity basketball.

Not every player is chasing a Division I scholarship. Some are chasing a varsity roster spot. Some want to make the rotation. Some want to help their high school team win. Some just love the game.

And that’s enough!

I think we’ve become too obsessed with using college basketball as the scoreboard for whether a player’s journey was worth it.

What if they never play another organized game after high school?

If they loved the practices… loved the tournaments… loved the road trips… loved the teammates… loved competing…

Wasn’t that valuable too?

Not every basketball journey has to end with a scholarship to be a success.

Sometimes success is simply getting better, building friendships, making memories, learning life lessons, and squeezing EVERY DROP out of a game you love.

If you’re playing on Court 1 or Court 37, play hard.

The love of the game doesn’t care what division you’re headed to.

❤️🏀

[Coach Mike @azrebs_precbb]

🙏🏾all these kids leaving their traditional HS platforms for Prep programs not nationally established or recognized , understand the risks. Be informed and understand, that the same opptys you would have received at your high school may be the same ones you have whn u finish prep.

[Derek Deprey @derekdeprey]

One day you’re gonna wake up and AAU basketball will be over. No more weekend tournaments, packed gyms, or team hotels. No more “one more game” next weekend.

One day you’ll be out of eligibility for high school basketball. Then college basketball too.

And eventually, the thing that feels like your whole world right now becomes a memory.

So stop playing scared. Shoot your shot. Sprint the floor. Dive on the loose ball. Compete with confidence. Enjoy your teammates. Because one day you’ll wish you could go back and play just one more game with them.

Fear and hesitation have ended way more careers than missed shots ever will.

Just something to think about.

[Kaleb Bowen @_KalebBowen_]

Thank you for everything Coach❤️ @Ridgebbll

[Andrew Johnson @CoachA_Johnson]

Help support me in my Ridge Football Challenge '26 campaign. Any help is much needed and greatly appreciated!

We are headed to great camp in California!! The team needs your support!!

https://t.co/s1A8im8ymO

[Ridge Basketball @Ridgebbll]

You have raised an awesome young man. It was our pleasure to have him in our program and see the type of person he is.

We looked forward to seeing what he does in the future.

[Dr. Beth Wardlaw @APLBeth]

Thank you @Ridgebbll for all you have done for @_KalebBowen_ the last two years! We will forever be grateful for your coaching and leadership! We are so thankful that we picked your program to continue our journey! It was the best decision!

[Ridge Basketball @Ridgebbll]

Very proud of this young man! @_KalebBowen_
https://t.co/kLEaQiTc5L

[Fred Duncan @Fred__Duncan]

Michael Beasley said something every parent and coach should probably hear.

There have only been roughly 5,000 players in NBA history, and the modern draft is only 60 picks. Even getting drafted doesn’t guarantee a career. 

So yes, train hard, compete, try to win...

But

[Hoop Herald @TheHoopHerald]

“I feel like I give hope to everybody that is the same size as me… With hard work you can make it a long way, & I’m a prime example of that.” - Payton Pritchard

(Via @JustinmTurpin 🎥)

[Coach Matt Dennis @CoachMattDennis]

Coaching high school basketball is believing in a group of players before the results show up.

It’s seeing more than who they are today. It’s seeing who they can become with guidance, discipline, and confidence.

The job is bigger than basketball.
Teach effort.
Teach attitude.
Teach togetherness.

You’re building people first, players second.

#Coaching #Basketball #Leadership #PlayerDevelopment #cmdcoachinglab

[Steve Collins @TeachHoopsBBall]

A high school basketball team doesn't have to be full of future D1 players to dominate. It just needs:
- Seven kids willing to defend like their lives depend on it.
- A leader who makes EVERYONE around them better.
- A coach who knows success is about culture, not schemes.

[Hunter Price @CoachHPrice]

The saddest day as a coach for me wasn’t the last game, although those were brutal. It was graduation day.

People that I poured into for 4 years were now gone. People I spent moe time with my family would now be a memory.

That’s what fans don’t see. The game is just that, a game. But what truly sticks with you are memories and relationships.

Coaching is hard. Teaching is hard. Youth ministry is hard. They all involve being left as a part of the process. There’s a countdown clock going for every kid you invest in. You plant seeds that you never get to grow.

If you’ve never worked with kids, trust me. A part of you goes missing the day you say bye to your team for the last time.

You might say “Can’t you just stay in touch with them?” Yes. But no. They move on. They go to college. They start careers. They have families. They shouldn’t feel obligated to call old coach to make him/her feel better. And we understand that. We’re so happy for them. But it’s a brutal process.

[The Winning Difference @thewinningdiff1]

Winning becomes possible when nobody is obsessed with being the reason for it.

No one fighting for the spotlight.
No one worried about who gets mentioned.

Just people locked in, doing their job, making the extra effort, and putting the team above themselves.

[Amanda Christovich @achristovichh]

Dan Hurley on sustaining success in this era:

"Develop an identity. Trust your identity. Be as relentless as you possibly can. And recruit—coach hard. Most great players, they wanna be coached hard."

[The Field of 68 @TheFieldOf68]

“I feel sad, I’m sad. If you want to know the truth, I’m sad… I’m going to steal a quote from Kelvin Sampson: ‘I may not be as big a part of their life, but they are my life.’”

An emotional Brad Underwood after their loss to UConn.

[Coach AJ 🎯 Mental Fitness @coachajkings]

A few years ago, Brad Underwood shared what coaching is really about after a tough loss. Now he's in the Final Four - proof that this mindset works.

"When you're invested in it - our whole locker room was that way. You got coaches crying. Something comes to an end."

"You realize we spend way more time with them than we do our families. And so you build a bond, you build a connection."

That's the cost of caring - it hurts because it matters.

"We're a family. Every player that's ever played for me is part of our family."

"They've got my number. They can call me now. They can call me 20 years from now."

The relationship doesn't end when they leave campus. Great leaders are transformational in life not just transactional.

Then he called out what most people miss:
"You guys make it about all the wins and losses."

"25 years from now, some of those kids - I hope I'm still alive - are gonna pick up the phone and call me and need me. And I am there for them."

That's the real scoreboard...The relationships.

"That's why it hurts. That means I know I've connected in the right way with a group of guys that I loved coaching."

Great coaches don't just develop players. They develop people who become part of their lives forever.

"Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side today. But I'll have nothing but positive things about this season and this group of guys."

The wins and losses come and go, but the goal is for the relationships to stay.
(🎥@glenn_kinley)

[Ridge Basketball @Ridgebbll]

⬇️

[The Winning Difference @thewinningdiff1]

“Please don’t ever judge me for wins and losses that’s not who I am as a coach.
Relationships- you want it for them.”

Championships change careers.
Relationships change lives.

Athletes. Coaches.
Don’t just chase wins. Change people.

That’s the real legacy.

🎥@glenn_kinley

[The Winning Difference @thewinningdiff1]

“Please don’t ever judge me for wins and losses that’s not who I am as a coach.
Relationships- you want it for them.”

Championships change careers.
Relationships change lives.

Athletes. Coaches.
Don’t just chase wins. Change people.

That’s the real legacy.

🎥@glenn_kinley