Summary
Last Chance U: Basketball reminds audiences why we adore this series. It’s a change of sport, but the concept is all the same. Audiences will love this team.
Netflix’s Last Chance U: Basketball season 1 will be released on the streaming service on March 10, 2021.
There’s a reason why Last Chance U is award-winning. It taps into the mind of the audience. It feeds into human conditioning and how adulthood is formed in the younger years. Everything feels possible when younger — dreams are made, milestones are drawn up. The Netflix series continues to tug at the hearts and encourage empathy for young athletes who desperately try to do everything they can to make themselves who they want to be, regardless of circumstances. Coupled with highly competitive, win-at-all-costs junior sport, with brilliant direction from the creators, and the concept will stay.
Admittedly, when it was announced that American football would be dropped and replaced with basketball, there was a sense of deflation. However, we have to come to terms that the last season of Last Chance U was not its best, while still being enjoyable. Netflix’s Last Chance U: Basketball is the chance for a reset and to go again. It freshens up the series with a different sport, but the outcome is essentially the same; it examines the lives of the coaches and athletes, and on the other hand, raises the importance of winning — it’s still “last chance”, one more opportunity to get that scholarship and have a genuine shot at a sporting life.
Last Chance U: Basketball follows East Los Angeles College Huskies (ELAC) with head coach John Mosley. Despite the coach’s raw energy, reliance on religious faith, and a tendency to go into long rants when he’s trying to get a message to his team, he is not a controversial one as we saw in previous seasons. This man will be loved. He’s a family man, but his love for his players and eagerness to make sure they get their scholarships is admirable. While getting to know the kids is important, Last Chance U understands that finding the right coach to document is equally as important; their ethos sets the theme of the series, and it drives the feeling for each chapter. John Mosley is all about “hard work and perseverance” — he knows the rest will follow.
The new wave of athletes presented all have a range of problems, but there’s consistent energy flowing between them — they all have a heart. Some seasons present athletes that do not have that sense of collectiveness, where their individual problems selfishly bring them all down, but there’s nothing like that here. The problems feel equally as damaging, but they feel like a group of brothers, and it could be down to the coach’s efforts. For the first time, this feels like a team where each player has their back, and genuinely — they know how good they are, so there’s a sense that they do not want to destroy the dream by self-sabotage.
But do not be mistaken, Last Chance U: Basketball season 1 has jaw-dropping dramas — once again, the camera crew captures everything to near-perfection. The level of direction that has gone into this series is nothing short of incredible; sometimes, it does not feel like a documentary — it’s produced to a level where it flows so well you could easily mistake it for a drama.
Last Chance U: Basketball reminds audiences why we adore this series. It’s a change of sport, but the concept is all the same. Audiences will love this team.
