Basketball Preview: Hillsboro Indians - SCOL
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
To the victors go the spoils, and for the past two years, the Hillsboro Indians have been South Central Ohio League champions, winning back-to-back titles with a core group of players.
All but one of those starters have since graduated the past two seasons, so now new players will be expected to do what their predecessors did, and that is win and compete for a league championship, as HHS finished 15-6 overall one year ago.
Whether that will happen … that is why they play the games, but this season could be an uphill climb for the Indians as all but player Jarrod Hart have very few, if any, minutes at the varsity level.
Last season, during his junior year, Hart totaled 9.3 points per game, with 4.2 assists per game, 3.8 rebounds per game and 2.1 steals per game.
"It's great having your point guard back because he knows the system, and he knows what we want to do," HHS head coach Brett Prince said. "He was first-team all-league. It's good to have a really good point guard back. He's been our leader with these guys since day one of our practices and in the summer.
"I'm thrilled he's back, and I see a big year for Jarrod."
The rest of the varsity team will include seniors Reese Leibreich and Lorontay Haithcock; juniors Alex Branscome, Wesley Sears and Jordan Captain; and sophomores Latrell Haithcock, Austin Bagshaw, Trey Moberly and Zach Young.
"Reese was our point guard on our JV team last year and played some minutes at varsity, but that is about it," Prince said of returning players. "We have a lot of young guys. We have a lot of guards … we don't have a lot of minutes or points coming back, but we have good young kids that are going to be ready to play.
"I like our young guys. They are competing and getting better every day. Early on, we are still getting to know each other, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse. We should be ready to go on November 30. We'll be fine."
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Prince spoke about some of his new varsity players.
"Reese (Leibreich) has had really good practices," Prince said. "I like the way he's shooting the ball, and Wes Sears has had success in early practices, and I look for them to contribute for us this year. Jordan Captain, I like his game. When he plays hard, he's a man in the post, so we are looking for big things for him.
"Trey was our JV star last year. He does all the little things and plays hard and will go after rebounds. We have a lot of scrappy young guys. Our sophomores will have to play like juniors, and our juniors will have to play like seniors early on. They are ready for it and know what we expect of them."
The second-year HHS head coach said the bar is still high at Hillsboro.
"The bar is high after the success we've had the past couple seasons, and they have to meet those expectations," Prince said.
Though the expectations are high, Prince spoke about what needs to be done to gain that success once again.
"We have to guard people," he said. "When you don't have any points coming back … we lost 53 ppg due to graduation, so we have to defend this year.
"If we don't defend and play defense, we are going to struggle. We aren't as talented offensively as we were last year, so our primary focus is to defend. That's why our shirts say 'defend' on the back of them, because I want them to know every day, that is our No. 1 priority.
"For me as a coach, if I could stamp my name on anything, I really want to teach our kids how to play defense. We've changed our defensive philosophy this year. We're also doing different things offensively, not a drastic change because we've gotten small, so we have to take advantage of our quickness."
All but one of those starters have since graduated the past two seasons, so now new players will be expected to do what their predecessors did, and that is win and compete for a league championship, as HHS finished 15-6 overall one year ago.
Whether that will happen … that is why they play the games, but this season could be an uphill climb for the Indians as all but player Jarrod Hart have very few, if any, minutes at the varsity level.
Last season, during his junior year, Hart totaled 9.3 points per game, with 4.2 assists per game, 3.8 rebounds per game and 2.1 steals per game.
"It's great having your point guard back because he knows the system, and he knows what we want to do," HHS head coach Brett Prince said. "He was first-team all-league. It's good to have a really good point guard back. He's been our leader with these guys since day one of our practices and in the summer.
"I'm thrilled he's back, and I see a big year for Jarrod."
The rest of the varsity team will include seniors Reese Leibreich and Lorontay Haithcock; juniors Alex Branscome, Wesley Sears and Jordan Captain; and sophomores Latrell Haithcock, Austin Bagshaw, Trey Moberly and Zach Young.
"Reese was our point guard on our JV team last year and played some minutes at varsity, but that is about it," Prince said of returning players. "We have a lot of young guys. We have a lot of guards … we don't have a lot of minutes or points coming back, but we have good young kids that are going to be ready to play.
"I like our young guys. They are competing and getting better every day. Early on, we are still getting to know each other, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse. We should be ready to go on November 30. We'll be fine."
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Prince spoke about some of his new varsity players.
"Reese (Leibreich) has had really good practices," Prince said. "I like the way he's shooting the ball, and Wes Sears has had success in early practices, and I look for them to contribute for us this year. Jordan Captain, I like his game. When he plays hard, he's a man in the post, so we are looking for big things for him.
"Trey was our JV star last year. He does all the little things and plays hard and will go after rebounds. We have a lot of scrappy young guys. Our sophomores will have to play like juniors, and our juniors will have to play like seniors early on. They are ready for it and know what we expect of them."
The second-year HHS head coach said the bar is still high at Hillsboro.
"The bar is high after the success we've had the past couple seasons, and they have to meet those expectations," Prince said.
Though the expectations are high, Prince spoke about what needs to be done to gain that success once again.
"We have to guard people," he said. "When you don't have any points coming back … we lost 53 ppg due to graduation, so we have to defend this year.
"If we don't defend and play defense, we are going to struggle. We aren't as talented offensively as we were last year, so our primary focus is to defend. That's why our shirts say 'defend' on the back of them, because I want them to know every day, that is our No. 1 priority.
"For me as a coach, if I could stamp my name on anything, I really want to teach our kids how to play defense. We've changed our defensive philosophy this year. We're also doing different things offensively, not a drastic change because we've gotten small, so we have to take advantage of our quickness."