After years of coverage of hard hitting, now-or-nothing action in junior college football, Netflix’s Last Chance U brand branched into basketball last year with a new series about the East Los Angeles College Huskies. Now, Last Chance U: Basketball is back for a second season that will bring back a bunch of familiar faces and introduce some new ones.
opening shot: A lone player practices his shot and ball handling late at night on a fenced-off outdoor basketball court, punctuated by clips of players talking about how much the sport means to them. Serious, intense instrumental music plays; From the beginning it is clear that basketball is more than just a game.
The essentials: The first season of last chance u‘s foray into junior collegiate basketball took us into the world of East Los Angeles College, a school many of the players didn’t expect to end up at, but one where head coach John Mosley will make the most of it what he can you. It may not be Division I or the D-League, but Mosley expects championship performance from his players. He might just need to shout a little to get that point across, and that makes one hell of a show.
What shows will it remind you of? In the meantime, last chance u is a brand in its own right, and you should know what you’re getting: compelling, heartbreaking stories from the often unseen fringes of the sports world.
Our opinion: COVID has been brutal on anyone involved in organized sport. But while it was a major disruption for professional and high-profile collegiate athletes, it was basically disastrous for players on the fringes of the big time, the highly talented high school players seeking scholarship during the pandemic.
These grades can be found throughout East Los Angeles College’s current list. It’s a team full of guys who couldn’t imagine ending up here but are still hanging in there and hoping to keep their tire dreams alive. “We have about ten kids who would definitely have been in a Division I[school]if that was 2018,” speculates assistant coach Ken Hunter. In short rounds of introductions at the beginning of the first episode of the new season, a number of players confirm this belief and speak of lost scholarships or missed opportunities when family members fell ill. Other players struggled for reasons beyond COVID — issues out of court or conflicts with coaches that caused them to drop out of traditional college opportunities and end up hoping to regroup at ELAC.
“You get a vision in your head of how you want your life to go,” complains one player, “and when it doesn’t, you kind of feel like your life is being put on hold until you live up to other people’s expectations . ”
Huskies head trainer John Mosley — and his top assistants Hunter and Rob Robinson — have expectations. They are determined to get those careers back on track and put this unlikely group of players on a championship track. But it won’t be easy.
“The day you walk in the house, you prove something,” Robinson notes. “If you’re not a good shot, you’d better prove it. If you’re too small and think you can play with bigger boys, you better prove it. If you think you’re better, come on in and do it.”
Where Robinson and Hunter lend a calmer, more steady tone to their coaching, head coach Mosley brings the fire, as shown in an early scene in which he erupts in frustration at his players’ lack of rush in practice. “You’re at East LA College!” he yells. “Why aren’t you like, ‘Man, I gotta get out of here? The damn walls are dirty! I’ve got to get out of here!’ But you’ve got it all figured out, and you don’t see that this is the play’ – he mimes a fairground game – ‘that will get you a scholarship! This! Not this one” – he mimics a rather half-hearted attempt at the ball – “it won’t do you any good!”
Mosley clearly believes in his players’ potential and seems to want the best for them, but when that happens it will be on his terms. “You’re going to do it my way. I have the choice! You have no choice! I have seventeen other choices, you only have one, and that’s my choice!”
gender and skin: No sex or skin, but there is some harsh language (and music) that might be inappropriate for younger viewers.
farewell shot: The team regroups after an embarrassing loss in the locker room to start the season with a long drive home to Los Angeles ahead of them. “It’s time to get desperate, get some level of urgency going,” Mosley notes in a rueful on-camera comment. “It’s also part of my job, I have to do better than make these guys despair for their lives. Otherwise none of us will get out, none of us will go any further, nothing good will happen unless they really want to get out of here. And they are not there yet.”
sleeping star: In a team full of diverse backgrounds and personalities, guard Demetrius Calip II stands out, with the expectations of a father who played in the NBA and a striking social media presence worthy of the nickname “Hollywood” by coaches.
Most pilot line: “When I play basketball, everything is gone,” one player remarks right at the beginning of the first episode. “Everything. It’s peaceful out there, like… I think that’s why I love it so much. It’s my therapy.”
Our appeal: Stream it. last chance u has long been one of the best brands for sports documentaries, and season 2 of the basketball version has everything you’re looking for.
Scott Hines is an architect, blogger, and veteran internet user from Louisville, Kentucky who publishes the ever-popular Campaign cookbook newsletter.