Feeling the effects of graduation in nothing new in high school sports.
In the case of the Greenbrier East boys basketball team, the effects feels like a landslide with the departure of eight graduated seniors from last year.
While the lack of varsity experience will be high for the Spartans, head coach Jared Patton is not pushing the panic button by any means.
“The basketball IQ was extremely high on the team the last two years. This year it will be a lot of growing pains, but I really think we will be alright,” Patton said. “This is a fun group that will work hard. I think we are going to surprise some people. They are young and have a lot to learn, but we are putting them through the ringer every day.”
The Spartans enter the 2023-24 campaign with eight returning players, but only senior Gabe Patton has varsity experience. Patton and Peyton DeHaven are also the only two seniors on the roster.
“Gabe is the only one that I have that you can call a true varsity player,” Patton said. “Peyton worked out with the varsity last year, but with eight seniors, it was hard to find time to put him in since our games were so tough and competitive. Peyton is very good defensively and he will be one of our primary ball handlers.”
The role of team leader will be a new one for the coaches son.
“I challenge Gabe daily to be the best leader for the group. He is stepping up right now and that is what we want. That will help him in basketball or baseball, whatever interest he may have on the next level,” coach Patton said. “Although he has played varsity in the past, the other guys have had the big roles and Gabe was more of a supportive player. I hope the kids play off of him this year. He will definitely be our leader on the floor.”
The good news for the younger Patton is he did have so many quality seniors to learn from over his career.
“He has learned from some great players and great guys,” Patton said. “(Former standout) Goose (Gabbert) was in telling Gabe it was his time to step up and lead the team. He told him he was ready, just play his game.”
Reed McGraw will share the point guard duties with DeHaven, but Patton admits that he is still looking at different options.
“Gabe may touch the point sometimes and Brody Hamric may see some time there. We are developing those guys,” Patton said.
Hamric was the quarterback on the football team and Patton expects him to play a big role on his team this season.
“Brody will be a good player. Jacob Tomlinson will also be good,” Patton said. “Nathan Dixon is a 10th grader and he problem understands our offensive sets more so than a lot of the guys. We just have to get him comfortable playing at that level.”
A player to watch that has been lurking in the shadows of the heavy senior-laden team is junior Donavin Penn.
Donavin is highly competitive and probably our best defensive player on the team. He is long, active and doesn’t back down from anything,” Patton said. “If I want to work on somebody’s dribbling skill set, I just put Donavin on them. He is tough. He will likely be guarding the best player on the other team this year. That is his assignment. He understands it and is up for the challenge.”
Penn can also score the basketball, but he too will have an adjustment period going from JV to varsity.
“He can score. We have been working on what is a good shot and what is a bad shot though. Everybody takes bad shots, but with Don, I can have that conversation with him and get him to better understand,” Patton said. “We have certain things we like to do as a team. If we have good ball movement, we will have wide open layups and wide open 3’s. With young teams it doesn’t always work that way.”
The team may young and inexperienced, but the schedule has not been watered down this year. East opens with with Beckley at home and Oak Hill on the road to open the season. They will have dates later in the year with Shady Spring and two-time defending AAAA champion Morgantown.
“We play tough schedules and that is what the guys wanted the last couple of years. Not sure that is what these guys wanted, but I told them we are classified as a four-A basketball team even though we are the smallest in the state,” Patton said. “When the postseason comes around we want to be battle tested. We might not win them all, but we will surprise some people.”
