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Tiger boys focus on intangibles as b-ball season begins
If high school basketball were only about wins and losses, the boys coaching staff at Brentsville District would be gone.
“After last year’s record, nobody would want to coach here,” said varsity head coach Chris Southcott.
The Tigers exited the 2008-09 campaign with a 4-16 record even while averaging about 65 points per game offensively. Their big men in the post then graduated, along with most of their starters.
What stood out about last year’s squad and continues through this year is one simple fact Southcott stressed: they’re coachable.
“They’re a good group of kids,” said the fifth-year coach.
Southcott emphasized teamwork during tryouts this year as he did last year.
What is different now is even with fewer starters, seniors like Justin Weaver and Cole Farmer noticed the 2009-10 team is a cohesive bunch that likes being around each other.
“Last year, we were young and hadn’t played with each other,” said Weaver, now in his third varsity year.
Joking around, not taking drills seriously and just having fun instead of reaching for a goal became trademarks of a likeable team that did not finish tasks last year.
Things are different now.
“I can say anything to any guy and not be afraid of them coming back at me,” said the second-year guard Farmer.
Part of that is due to the no-nonsense attitude of assistant coach Daniel Nemerow, fresh up from coaching the junior varsity squad.
“He tells you when you do something wrong,” said Farmer. “He makes you do it right.”
“He doesn’t let us joke around as much,” added Weaver, who described Nemerow as a more “serious person.”
The way Southcott talks to his players shows that he now focuses as much on mindset as on fundamentals.
During a rare Wednesday morning practice last week, Southcott barked to his defenders that they need to “have some urgency.” His offensive drivers should attack the basket “with a purpose," he said.
“No matter what we’re doing when we walk in the gym, everything [we] do has a meaning and a purpose,” he said.
According to Southcott, players need to listen to what their coaches teach because if they miss even a single word, “the one word could be the one that can change [their] season.”
Focusing on the intangibles has not taken away from players showing they still have fun on the floor. The lack of drama was evident last week when a freshman leaping for a rebound violently crashed legs-first into the upper torso of star guard David Hammond under the hoop, knocking the junior on the ground.
Instead of treating the newbie to a lecture or a beat-down for recklessly taking out the Tigers’ primary shooter, everyone just laughed.
Hammond is expected to be as influential on the court this season as he was on the gridiron this fall, despite the football team’s winless season.
Last year, Hammond acted as the primary ball handler with the idea being the Brentsville guards would feed the ball down low to their taller players.
With a shorter squad this time around, fans can expect to see the team focus much more on perimeter shots, which is a specialty of Hammond.
“David has a great balance,” said Farmer, explaining Hammond knows when to shoot – which he does a lot – and when to pass.
Southcott explained that he wants Hammond to shoot more while allowing other guards like Farmer and Weaver to set up passes.
Farmer added that the perimeter game needs to come from everyone, including other standouts like Connor Murphy, David Heller, Zach Connor and K.C. Willard.
“I have faith in anybody on our team to take a shot,” he said.
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