Their basketball man is the God-fearing, endlessly grafting John Mosley, who is explicit about his responsibility to help his boys find their only way out. In at least one previous season of Last Chance U, his flaws have turned promise into failure. So, the coach is always the main protagonist. For that to happen, they have to hope that the guy whose coaching career hasn’t progressed beyond the underfunded community college down the road is the right combination of father figure, driven competitor and tactical genius. The players in Last Chance U, football or basketball, have a moon shot out of a precarious existence, but they can’t do it by themselves. Joe, Deshaun and the rest have placed their destinies in the palm of one man: their coach. When the recruiters for division one teams come around, he is asking them to pick him over bigger kids who want it just as badly. You would always want a man like him on your side, but there is a snag: Deshaun is only 6ft 2in tall. His mother’s recent death from cancer has left him with no one but his teammates and his wonderfully supportive girlfriend to rely on. Then there is the captain, Deshaun Highler, a wiry hustler with a tough core forged by adversity. He is the team’s best player, but his temperament is shot and the referees keep penalising him when opponents bounce off his 6ft 8in, 17st 12lb (2-metre, 113kg) frame. Leading the supporting players is Joe Hampton, who made it to college basketball’s top division once, only for a serious injury to put him out of the game and into a wayward funk that ended with jail time. ![]() That is not a dealbreaker, though, because, like all great observational documentaries, Last Chance U is a character drama – and ELAC has all the right archetypes. Gone are the open blue skies above the training pitches and the unreal shimmer of the Friday night lights, replaced by gruelling practices on squeaky floors in preparation for matches that are – in a high-scoring sport where inferior opponents are slowly crushed – less rich in dramatic turning points. If this season is a winning one, and if they can stay in school and get their grades, they could still make it.Īfter five seasons of football in Mississippi, Kansas and California, Last Chance U has switched to basketball, following East Los Angeles College through their 2019-20 campaign. They are several leagues below the big time and their dreams of gaining sports scholarships to elite institutions have almost been extinguished – but not quite.
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