Veteran Richwood head basketball head coach J.B. Miller emphasizes one distinct philosophy to his team.
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finished.
That played out last year for the Lumberjacks who struggled during the season which included two double-digit losses to Greenbrier West.
However, in the opening round of sectional play, Richwood played the Cavaliers to a five-point setback.
“It is still really early and hard to determine how things will go,” Miller said. “We have three really good players and some players that can help us. We keep emphasizing that everybody will have different roles and different games this year.”
Seniors Cooper Donahue and Aiden Miller, along with junior Grant Russell will be counted on heavily for scoring and leadership this year.
“We had two seniors that played all the time last year in Josh Landreth and Braden Spencer. Braden scored a lot for us, but hopefully this year we will be able to spread it around a little more.”
Aiden Miller is the son of the head coach, while Grant Russell is the son of assistant head coach Todd Russell. The elder Russell is also the head football coach.
Grant is really smart and he is an athlete. He understands the game and he can score,” Miller said. “He can take the ball to the hole and he can shoot it as well.”
Russell will be asked to add another role to his game this year because he will be used more up top to run the offense.
“We are going to make Grant the (point guard) and put him sort of in charge of things,” Miller said. “We want to try and free up Aiden and Cooper to keep them from handling the ball all of the time. Hopefully that way they can better do what we need them to do this year.”
“Cooper will shoot whenever he has the opportunities,” Miller went on to say. “Aiden in on the other end. He his (former Woodrow Wilson head) coach (Dave) Barksdale’s protege. He is all about playing some defense. We definitely want him to play defense, but we need him to score too.”
Trae Trivolette and Adryan Frame will man the post positions for the Lumberjacks.
“Both of them played some varsity last year and played every JV game. Trae is right-handed, but shoots good left. He also has some nice post moves. Adryan has been a big surprise for us. This is only his second full season of basketball.”
Tyler Barnhouse will add depth at the guard position, while Dalton Spencer will be the next man up in the post.
Miller also expects contributions from freshmen Ian Crowder and Christian Griffith, especially on the defensive end.
“Dakota O’Dell played football and has some great speed. We just need to get him under control,” Miller said. “Skyler Broyles will be used some as well. There are only so many players that we can put on the floor, but we are going to try and be more patient this year.”
Richwood opens the season on the road at Greenbrier West, Dec. 9.