Hastings Boys' High School basketball coach Curtis Wooten wasn't about to gloss over any performances after his troops won one of two games yesterday to find some middle ground.
"We're in the middle eight playoffs where we belong this year," Wooten said with a hollow laugh of resignation after crushing Selwyn College 88-44 in their second match last night during the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Basketball Championship in Palmerston North.
"But next year it'll be different because a lot of our players will be back," Wooten was quick to add as his young charges went down 87-60 to Palmerston North Boys' High School in the morning encounter.
"We're not a school that can recruit two to three players each year.
"I think we've overachieved already because a lot of people didn't think we were capable of making it to the nationals.