Change is nothing new in high school sports.
For the Greenbrier East boys basketball team this year, change starts at the top with a new head coach in Jared Patton.
“I have coached a lot of travel ball for years and years,” Patton said. “Anything Little League, I have coached. I love working with kids, developing kids and seeing them grow.”
Over the past six years, Patton has been an assistant under Bimbo Coles with the last four coming at the high school.
“What better teaching could you get from anybody else than an NBA player and former Olympian,” Patton said. “The last six years have been fantastic. I always tell everybody that I thought I knew basketball until I met Bimbo and it seemed like I didn’t know anything.”
Greenbrier East lost several key players from last year due to graduation including Bailee Coles and William Gabbert. Replacing those two scorers will be a key to the Spartans success this season.
“With us, we preach a team type game. Over the past handful of years, we did have a lot of scoring from a few players. We don’t have that Bailee or Will this year, but we do have a lot of good kids that can score,” Patton said. “I feel like we are going to have four or five guys scoring in double digits. They know how to play and they know how to get up and down the floor. Relying on one two guys to score is not our make up this year.”
Heading up the returning group is a trio of juniors that should have a big impact on the season, John “Goose” Gabbert, Adam Seams and Monquelle Davis.
“Goose Gabbert is Will’s brother and both of them are tremendous kids to coach,” Patton said. “They just absorb everything that you put out there.”
Seams is also an all-state soccer player that never appears to run out of gas. Davis is extremely athletic and is coming off an outstanding football season at quarterback for the Spartans.
“They have been great for us the last couple of years and I don’t look for that to change,” Patton said.
Coach Patton has coaxed his son, Zach Patton, off the golf course and back onto the basketball court for this season.
“Zach didn’t play last year, but as a sophomore, he averaged about 10 points a game,” coach Patton said.
The Greenbrier East coach is also excited about the improvement of senior Aaron Griffith who he feels cane be a difference maker for him.
“Aaron has really stepped up his game. Last year he averaged three or four points per game. When we played some off season stuff, I don’t remember a game where he was below 15 points,” Patton said.
A couple of youngsters have also made some early impacts and could see some playing time on the varsity floor.
“We have some young players like Gabe Patton and Ryan Cole that we feel are the future of the program,” Patton said. “They are learning from the older guys, but they are stepping right in and not backing down.”
Patton really feels the strength of his team with be balance and the amount of players that he can put on the floor this year.
“After coaching this group in JV basketball for so many years, I like balance scoring. We do have a lot of good shooters. I tell the guys that if they are on the floor, they need to be a threat. If they are not a threat, they won’t be playing,” Patton said. “All of these guys are playing great ball right now. On any given night, we could have a number of guys step up.”
Patton also believes strongly in defense and his is counting on his depth to create pressure for 32 minutes each night.
“We have 13 guys on varsity and I don’t care how we rotate them. (Assistant coach) Dave Austin does my rotations and I want to be as fresh in the fourth quarter as I am in the first,” Patton said. “That means substituting early. When the game starts, we have to be as aggressive as we can possibly be on the defensive end. Nate Patton and Jamel Samuels are my defensive coaches and they are doing a fantastic job getting the guys ready for the season.”
A state tournament berth has eluded the Spartans for a number of years now. Playing in a section that include Woodrow Wilson, Princeton and Oak Hill is never easy. Factor in possible regional clashes with teams like George Washington and Patton knows his team has to be battle tested when the postseason arrives.
“It has been a while since we were in the state tournament. I put the schedule together for us this year and there are no cupcakes on there. Every single night that we play is going to be a huge challenge for us,” Patton said. “Hopefully we can take that and use it when sectionals and regionals come around. We are just trying to prepare ourselves for the opportunity.”
