Coaches' Corner, GHSA, GHSA Basketball

Coaching Carousel

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Majority of information courtesy of Kdubble on The Vent

*Updated 10/10*

Girls

Walnut Grove—Chris Ward
Sandy Creek—Janie Hodges—Scotland, NC
Rockdale County
Holy Innocents—Nichole Dixon—Wesleyan Asst.
Woodland-Stockbridge—Mike Johnson—Former Redan Asst.
Franklin County—Tony Watkins Sr.—Grayson
Oglethorpe County
Mountain View—Brad Blackmon—Asst. on staff
Elbert County—Wes Greer—Dawson County boys Asst.
White County—Jarvis Davenport—East Hall Asst.
Berkmar—Anthandus Beauford—Asst. on staff
Thomson
Central Gwinnett—ShaLisha Davis-–Tri-Cities Asst.
Savannah Christian—Joshua Kerkau—Oak Hall, FL
John’s Creek—Kirk Call—Parkview
Peach County—Tamica Andrews—Lamar County
Northside—Ashleigh Fox-–Jones County Asst.
Archer—Bob Westbrook—Etowah
Dalton—Jim Case-–Asst. on staff
Blessed Trinity—Tim Rountree—Asst. on boys staff
Arabia Mountain—Frank Henderson
Miller Grove—Yolanda Redmond—Miller Grove HC
Schley County—Cliff Royal
Prince Avenue—Richard Ricketts—AD
Shiloh—Nigel Carter—Asst. on staff
Riverdale—Alissa Wilson
Liberty County—Nichole Tazewell—Lewis Frasier Middle School
East Coweta
Cedar Shoals—Takesha Wall—Asst. on staff
Grayson—Robin Potter—Tucker
Montgomery County—Dr. Thomas Stockdale
Mt. Pisgah—Regina Tate-Leslie—Former Pace HC
Darlington—Tommy Atha—Asst. on staff
Etowah—Trip Holton—Asst. on staff
Central-Carrollton—Josh Smith—Asst. on staff
Banks County—Steve Shedd—Banks Middle School Coach
Tucker—JJ Oliver Jr.—Bluefield State 
Peachtree Ridge—Vanessa White—Dade County Asst.
Parkview—Cynthia Cooper—Asst. on staff
Windsor Forest—Samantha Tracy
Sprayberry—Melissa Little—Hiram Asst.
Murray County—Hannah Mayo—Asst. on staff
East Coweta—Lee Heaberlin—Sandy Creek baseball
Duluth—April Tate—Former Dutchdown HC
Seminole County—Carrie Stephens
Columbia
Therrell—Carla Holloway—Woodland-Stockbridge
Stockbridge—Jamilia Green—P.E. Teacher
Stephens County—Scott Strickland—Banks County boys Asst.

Boys

Griffin—Willie Reese—Meadowcreek
Lanier County—Ty Randolph—Dougherty
Jackson—Al Williams—Rockdale AD/Former Rockdale HC
Fellowship Christian—Roshown McLeod—Johnson Ferry Christian
Glascock County
Dougherty—Rufus McDuffie—5 state titles @ Mitchell-Baker
West Forsyth—Fredrick Hurt—Alpharetta
West  Laurens—Ed Ford—Montgomery County Co-HC
Chapel Hill—Ken Austin—Former Langston Hughes girls Asst.
Glynn Academy—Terrance Haywood—last at McIntosh Academy
Oconee County—Thad Burgess—Dawson County
East Jackson—David Akin—Former Parkview Asst.
Athens Academy—Ed Wilson—Frederica Academy
Etowah—Allen Whitehart—last at Buford
South Gwinnett—Ty Anderson—North Georgia Asst.
Veterans—Nick Brooks—Warner Robins Asst.
Lakeside—Jeff Williams—Greenbrier Asst.
Grovetown—Raymond Epps—Asst. of Staff
Dutchtown—Jamal Basit—South Gwinnett
Warren County
Duluth—Cabral Huff—Alcorn State Asst.
Bainbridge—Terry Smith—Peach County
Greene County—Steve McNease—Asst. on staff
Creekside—Gregory Freeman—Lovejoy
Johns Creek—Keenan Temple—Lambert Asst.
Alpharetta—Jason Dasigner—Pope Asst.
Dawson County—Chad Pittman—Chestatee
Bradwell Institute-—Will Douberly
Coahulla Creek—Matthew Legg—Murray County Asst.
Macon County
Prince Avenue—Will Cantrell—Hebron Christian 
Seminole County
Elbert County—Don Hurlburt—Etowah
Dodge County—Robert Cotton—Wayne County
Chestatee —Kevin Strickland-–Brookwood Asst.
Sequoyah—Allen Carden—Sprayberry girls HC
Mt. Pisgah—Doug Able-–Notre Dame, MD
Wesleyan—Adam Griffin—Asst. on staff
Peach County—Prelvis Paster—Lamar County
Meadowcreek—Curtis Gilleylen—Columbia girls HC
St. Anne-Pacelli—Corry Black—Former Chattahoochee Valley C.C. Asst.
Taylor County—Gerald Tranquille—Blountstown, FL
Groves—Xavier Woods—Twiggs County HC
Jenkins County—Quinton Sweet—Asst. on staff
Swainsboro—Brice Hobbs—Asst. on staff
Lovejoy—John Holladay—Volleyball HC
Pierce County—Joseph Garner—Tift County girls Asst.
Washington-Wilkes—Terrence Pendleton—Jacksonville State G.A.
Miller Grove—Rasul Chester—Stephenson
Hebron Christian—Derrick Heberling—Central Gwinnett Asst.
Lamar County—Warren Sellers—Former West Hall HC
West Hall—Bobby Pless—Girls Asst.
ELCA—Derrick Mason—Emmanuel College Assoc. HC
Central-Carrollton—Deion Sims—Asst. on staff
Mundy’s Mill—Dwight Callaway—Former Riverdale Asst.
Excel Christian
Stratford Academy —Sean Sweeney—Georgia Southwestern Asst.
Wayne County—Lemetrice Ray
Manchester—Dr. George McElroy—Shaw Asst.
Columbia—Dr. Phil McCrary—Former Columbia HC
Banneker—Carlos Cliett—Former North Springs HC
Heard County—Keith Simmons—Carrollton Asst.
Stephenson—Dwayne McKinney—Former Southwest DeKalb HC
Savannah Country Day—Hughes Barber—Asst. on staff
Pepperell—Zach Mendence—Asst. on staff
Hardaway—Kendall Mills-–Current Girls HC
Jackson-Atlanta—Travis Williams—Former Tennessee State HC
Toombs County—Laberton Sims—Tift County Asst.
Cross Keys—Duane Kelley—Former Alcovy HC
Woodland-Cartersville—Colman Roberts—Former girls HC
Pinecrest Academy—Terrance Vinson—Asst. on staff
Mount de Sales—Duane Hunter—Asst. on staff
Twiggs County—Andrew Johnson

GHSA, GHSA Basketball

New Region Alignments Early Preview

New region alignments go into effect next year, so what does that mean in the grand scheme of things for the 2016-17 basketball season? Transfers and coaching changes will rock the landscape in the upcoming months, but let’s try to take a look at how the new seven classifications will change the balance of power.

Class AAAAAAA

Class AAAAAAA features most of the big boys familiar with making deep state playoff runs as Class AAAAAA teams. Region 2 looks like it will be home to some of the powerhouses. Wheeler, Westlake and Pebblebrook along with Campbell line up in the six-team region. Westlake returns a bevy of talent with Chuma Okeke, Jamie Lewis, Danny Lewis and Michael Durr all slated to return. Pebblebrook will display Collin Sexton and JJ Smith in the backcourt while Wheeler boasts standout guard Darius Perry along with new faces sure to make an appearance.

Regions 7 and 8 have some scary teams as well. Norcross, Berkmar and Brookwood headline Region 7. The Blue Devils return Rayshaun Hammonds and Lance Thomas to one of the state’s most talented frontcourts while Kyle Sturdivant should see vast improvement his sophomore season. Berkmar will lean on its guard play with Al Durham, Zach Cooks and Jay Estime as Coach Greg Phillips’ catalysts. Brookwood loses do-everything guard Micah Kinsey, but a strong nucleus of leading scorer Bubba Parham, Trae Higginbotham and Amari Kelly should all be back after a 17-win campaign.

Newton will be the favorite to win Region 8 along with Shiloh while Coach Geoffrey Pierce looks to play spoiler again at Grayson with a Rams team that should never be counted out. If JD Notae, Ashton Hagans, Josh Tukes and Dre Butler remain intact, Coach Rick Rasmussen will have one of the toughest teams in the state. Life after Josh Okogie, Malik Chandler and Dejon Waters Jr. begins for Coach Kim Rivers, but the Generals still have Greg James and Thurman Massenburg expected to return, with a D-I commit from within the county transferring in.

Class AAAAAA

A lot of new faces will meet up in Class AAAAAA. Perennial powers Jonesboro and Tucker square off in Region 4. MJ Walker Jr. headlines the region’s talent while physical guard Kenton Eskridge leads the Tigers.

Talented athletes load Region 5 with South Paulding, Douglas County, Mays and Langston Hughes pacing the nine-team region. Kane Williams and Ja’Cori Wilson return to form a formidable duo as seniors for Coach Gil Davis at South Paulding. Rory Welsh will try to avoid being bitten from the transfer bug this year and has a great senior backcourt of Khalil Cuffee and Derrick Cook calling the shots as two guys with D-I potential. Mays snuck its way into the Elite Eight last year at 13-14, but has bigger things in store with the development of Reo Wright and Horace Wyatt Jr.

In Region 8, Dacula and Gainesville meet. The graduation of Kevon Tucker and Derek St. Hilaire opens the door for Gary Bishop to be the lead dog his senior season. Gainesville loses a strong group led by D’Marcus Simonds, but Bailey Minor, KJ Buffen and Xavier Bledson form an experienced trio with firepower.

Class AAAAA

Class AAAAA sees Miller Grove paired with Southwest DeKalb, Lithonia and Columbia in Region 5. The latter three proud programs will be chasing the Wolverines who will be the favorites to hang another banner. Cedar Shoals and Buford should enter 2016-17 as the frontrunners in Region 8. Walnut Grove graduates a ton off its 24-win roster and will attempt to reload to keep stride with the Jaguars and Wolves.

Class AAAA

Region 4-AAAA has some offensive firepower with Henry County, Eastside, North Clayton and Salem in the mix along with Woodward Academy. Javon Greene and Damion Rosser have juice in the backcourt for Henry County head coach Vincent Rosser. Isaiah Miller was one of the state’s most prolific scorers as a junior at Eastside, averaging 25.3 points to go along with his 6.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 4.3 steals per game. Coach Martisse Troup has a legitimate big man to feed the ball to inside with 6-8 Ahsan Asadullah. Woodward could surprise this year with three key juniors set to return.

St. Pius will need to get accustom to long road trips as they will play the likes of Madison County, Stephens County, Jefferson and the Oconee County schools in Region 8. Those programs haven’t seen the likes of a winner like St. Pius, but it won’t necessarily be a cakewalk for the Golden Lions after graduating Kerney Lane and Christian Merrill. NuNu Walker, Ty Nails and Deundra Singleton all return to Stephens County and could be a top contender to trouble the Lions after a 16-9 season.

Class AAA

Region 5-AAA is an interesting cluster. Cedar Grove, Pace Academy, Lovett, Westminster, Towers, Stone Mountain and Redan round out the potentially exciting region. Wendell Carter Jr. leads the defending state champion Knights, but Cedar Grove and Lovett will not back down while Stone Mountain and Redan always produce scrappy teams. Who is the elephant in the room in Region 7? That would be GAC who joins the likes of East Hall, Dawson County, Lumpkin County, North Hall and others.

Class AA

Two explosive guards meet in Region 3-AA with Dublin and Kameron Pauldo welcoming Nick Hargrove Jr. and Southwest Macon to Class AA. South Atlanta drops to Region 6 and should be the favorite with Therrell as a potential spoiler with Anthony Edwards entering year two.

Class A

A hellacious test will be presented to Holy Innocents’ and Wesleyan as both teams drop to Region 5-A with defending state champion Greenforest looming along with De’Andre Ballard of Southwest Atlanta Christian. Public powers still lie in Region 7 with Wilkinson County, Hancock Central and Lincoln County as the heavy favorites to make deep playoff runs.

College, NCAABB

Spotlight back on Jaylen Brown

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Last year it was in the Class AAAAAA state championship with Wheeler down one with 0.5 seconds left. This time it’s in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with leading scoring Tyrone Wallace sidelined. The spotlight has always found a way to shine brightest on Jaylen Brown, the consensus No. 2 ranked player coming out of high school last year and a presumed lotto pick in the upcoming NBA Draft if/when he decides to go pro.

So can Brown come up big one more time? He buried two free throws to break Pebblebrook’s heart 59-58 and posted 22 points, nine rebounds and was a perfect 12-of-12 from the line. Now he has a chance to carry Cal deep into the postseason. Brown averaged 15 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during the regular season and is the team’s leading scorer now that Wallace, a senior, broke his hand.

With the catalyst of the Golden Bears offense down, expect the offense to run through Brown even more. The NBA-bodied swingman is best in transition, slashing to the rack in the open floor. Hawaii will need to limit fast breaks to keep Brown in check. In the half court game, Brown will be tested with his jump shot. Top shooters Jordan Mathews and Jabari Bird remain available on the perimeter but with their top assist man out, threes might not be as easy to come by.

It will be on Brown’s shoulders to create more when the ball is in his hands and become a playmaker to open up looks for his snipers. The Rainbow Warriors would be wise to force Brown into becoming a jump shooter. The one area of the NBA bound forward’s game that needs the most work is his outside shot. He shot 30 percent from beyond the arc but struggled even more so down the stretch.

Through his final four games of the regular season, Brown averaged just 8.75 points and shot only 9-of-42 from the field, good for 21 percent. But Brown always finds a way to produce when put on the big stage. Against the toughest defense the Golden Bears have faced all year, Brown shot 5-of-11 and went 8-of-9 from the line for 18 points and six rebounds in a 63-62 loss at Virginia. He is a 65 percent foul shooter but seems to make them when they matter most.

So will Brown leave a lasting legacy at Cal and help his Bears to a deep March Madness run as a four seed? Or for the first time of his career, will the moment be too much for the five-star prospect? Either way history will be made and Jaylen Brown will be in the middle of it…again.

GHSA Basketball, NBA

Is post play a dying breed?

Harken back to the 90’s when big men roamed the paint. Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning. Playing down low wasn’t just a thankless job it was a right and a privilege. It wasn’t for the faint of heart. You knew if you were going inside and playing on the block, you were going to end the night with a couple scrapes, bruises and if you’re lucky enough, maybe a black eye or a broken nose from an elbow.

Fast forward to today’s game. The amount of three-point attempts across each level of play seemingly increases each year. That thin line arcing around the paint has slowly changed the way basketball is played. Just like a meteor coming to wipe out the dinosaurs, the three-point line has methodically pushed the interior play of big men into extinction.

As generations come and go, the athletes continue to get stronger, quicker and more aerodynamic, able to soar through the air for acrobatic dunks never before thought to be possible. As highlight reel slams and launching threes from 35-feet out become more popular and sexier to the common fan and the young player growing up, the yeomen’s work of battling at the pivot position drifts into obscurity.

With more and more tall players focusing more on their ball handling skills and standing at the three-point line to become the next Kevin Durant, the harder it is becoming to find true back-to-the-basket big men that can score and rebound. To find a forward or center in the high school ranks with footwork and technique is like finding a leprechaun with a pot of gold; it rarely happens but if you do find one, he’s a gem.

It looks like today’s game a lot of big guys get away with their size and athleticism. When you ask them to slow it down and show you a post move or a counter move, they freeze and can’t think of what to do. Being bigger, stronger and taller than everyone growing up can work for only so long until you reach the elite level of high school and beyond where you start matching up against players your own size.

The undersized big man who may thrive in high school at 6-foot-4 or the Mid-Major stud (see Jameel Warney of Stony Brook) that isn’t quite tall enough to really pound away at true 6-10 or 7-footers, eventually must rely on technique and footwork to hone their craft and survive. They can’t tower over others for easy hoops instead they have to play the angles, use pump fakes and bait defenders in by outsmarting them and leave them wondering how a smaller guy just hung 20 on them.

Smaller, less athletic players that want to be true post players understand that everything they do must be calculated. Ball fake middle, go baseline. Up & under. Sky hook. Face up or fade away, every trick in the book has to be utilized when going up against size or an elite shot blocker.

If that mindset of every movement matters was instilled into players with hard to teach size, imagine the possibilities. Veterans like Pau and Marc Gasol, Tim Duncan and Brook Lopez by no means are the athletes like DeAndre Jordan, Andre Drummond or Dwight Howard, but they are cerebral players that take their time on the block when they aren’t hitting shots from the mid-range.

I write this just to remind post players embrace the fact that you are a post player. Take pride in your craft and try to perfect the little things. Feel with your back to the basket is something that can’t be taken for granted. Bigs don’t have to score every time they touch the ball, but they should be rewarded every few trips down to keep the defense honest. Good things happen when the ball goes inside. It’s a post move and a score, a foul, or a kick out to an open shooter. Trust your big men and reward them for battling for position. Nothing is more frustrating to a player than having his man sealed off underneath the basket but instead seeing a 25-foot three launched. Big men can do more than just rebound and block shots. They can score as well if they take the time to polish their game.

 

GHSA Basketball

Unsigned Seniors Shine at HoopSeen Senior Showcase

Suwanee Sports Academy was the scene for some of the state’s top unsigned seniors to make a name for themselves one last time before deciding on where to further their educations and careers at.

A few quick takeaways from the camp include the Grayson Rams having a strong showing with Alphonso Willis, Austin Dukes and Hafeez Anifowoshe all playing well. Willis was one of the brightest stars at camp with his explosion to the hoop and ability to levitate and finish over defenders.

Chris Curlett of Norcross was one of the better athletes at the camp. His jump shot is a true jump shot, getting great elevation before knocking down perimeter looks.  Kiyani Anderson of Lovejoy turned a couple heads with his vicious dunks and erasing blocks.

Aidan Saunders from Miller Grove looked free, smooth and loose on the court, getting to the bucket or pulling up on a dime for a mid-range J.  Jordan Gaines out of Tri-Cities showed mobility while working the low block and has nice length for the next level.

For more in-depth coverage of the event with full player analysis, check back later this week on HoopSeen.com for expert insight and opinions with college interest and offers noted.

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