anso said:I forgot to say :
It is much easier for the wheelchairs to pick up the ball on the floor
and I'm not sure the unis are more manuverable : we are not as stable
as they are and the handicaped are really at ease in their wheelchairs,
they don't use those just for fun (even if some of them can walk, and
some are not even handicaped, they just like to play in wheelchairs
with the handicaped persons).
I don't really know who should beat the other ones but anyway it is
much better to mix the teams.
An'So
Wheelchairs have a number of manuverability problems. For example,
turning requires you to use one hand; turning sharply requires you to
use two. So you can't ever shoot reliably while you're turning, and
you can't turn sharply while handling the ball at all. Think about the
circle inscribed by the outside wheel when a moving wheelchair user
turns by stopping his inner wheel; the radius is the width of the wheel
base, so the circle is something like two meters in diameter. That's
an enormous turn compared to what a unicycle is capable of.
Wheelchairs may be able to accelerate and decelerate faster than
unicycles when the wheelchair user is not handling the ball, but when
handling the ball the unicycle has a clear advantage.
Neither steed can move laterally, but a unicycle with its tight turning
radius can simulate lateral movement (critical on defense) much more
easily than a wheelchair.
And finally, the height advantage alone would be almost impossible to
overcome. I don't see any way the wheelchairs could even attempt to
defend against unicycles playing keep-away with the ball; the
unicyclists sit half a meter higher, and wheelchairs can't jump. The
unicycles will get almost all contested rebounds, will be in position
to block most shots, and will have a clean look at the basket every
time. Shortness will get the wheelchairs some steals off the dribble,
and loose balls, but I don't see how that could overcome the
disadvantages.
Again, that's assuming an experienced unicycle team. It takes most
people quite a while to be able to shoot reliably on a unicycle, and
many unicyclists spend a lot of time off their unicycle when they're
playing uniBB. But if I were to take the top 5 players from the
Berkeley group and give them 10 minutes of coaching, I think we'd beat
a top wheelchair team every time.
Mixing the teams sounds fun and competitive; I'm sure there would be
interesting strategies and tactics. I could see pressure defense
involving one wheelchair and one unicycle attacking the ball; the
wheelchair takes up a lot of space and blocks the low passes, while the
unicycle can apply pressure and block the high passes.
I have seen wheelchair basketball at halftime at Cal games, so I think
there may be a group around here we could try to hook up with.
--
tholub
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