Unfortunately, it's gonna be sad to split my attention among both the girls and boys tourneys. Is this four-tourney (Division I and II), boys/girls format going to last?

This year, it was going to be split into two weeks, but the Police concert at Blaisdell Arena ruined that plan. What's to say it won't be like that more often than not? How many rock bands are willing to come to Hawaii in the dead of winter? Next year, it could be Pink Floyd. Or Cheap Trick. And it's not limited to classic rock. How's about Run DMC or Kanye West? Rhianna? Beyonce.

Enough grumbling. What sticks with me about tonight's games at Farrington is that Radford stuck to a lineup without Ta Nitra Byrd after the first quarter and did just fine against Roosevelt. On paper, the Lady Rams need Byrd to beat good teams. Last week, against the same Roosevelt team, Radford won 36-31.

This time, it was 60-46. Byrd sat with the flu, supposedly. I say that because though she was sick, she seemed to want to return to the game, but coach Tani Dutro stuck to her plan and rested the talented sophomore. That took guts, and more so, it took conviction. If there's one thing about Coach Dutro, she has an innate sense of where her kids are. She pushes the pedal down to the floor and expects intensity, but you'll never see her berate any player.

She simply wills them to play their best. They know she expects it. Coaching, besides the X's and O's, is about communication of expectation. Dutro's body language never wavers. She is persistent, positive, demanding.

I saw a small-college game somewhat recently, and it shocked me how negative the head coach of one team was. He wasn't whining or bitching at his players, but he simply gave off extreme signs of fatigue and disappointment. What am I talking about? Well, for most of the game -- I am not kidding -- he stood there in front of his bench, almost on the playing court, frozen like a statue. Arms folded. Posture slightly slouched. Chin down. Once in a while, he barked out orders, but basically, his presence showed that he expected failure.

It was shocking because his team needed more from him. He wasn't able to give it to them. Then, the oddest thing happened in the second half, with his team down more than 20 points. He sat and an assistant coach took the sideline. The assistant was the complete opposite, pacing a bit back and forth, clapping his hands, constantly talking to his different players. His tone was upbeat, his posture was upright and his demands were high. But his energy level was the biggest reason why the team began to respond.

They cut the lead down to about 10. Then the assistant sat and the head coach got up. He stood there, frozen once again, almost like he had resigned to the fact that his team would lose. I say this not because he's a bad coach. He just looked like he'd been beaten up too many times and had no gas left in the tank.

I left that game after it ended, wondering if the head coach realized at all what kind of negative energy he was giving his team. It was almost funny, except that I wanted to see his team do better.

After watching prep basketball for all these years, the better coaches have mastered the art of non-verbal communication. If you don't communicate, a high-school athlete will not play guessing games. Athletes feed off their pack leader, now more so than ever. I have never seen a good high school coach stand there and show the world that he has given up. Not a good coach.

Looking forward to some good games tonight, and I'll be wishing I could see more.

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