There’s been a historic run in Lindside the last two years.
James Monroe capped a pair of dominant seasons with consecutive state titles in which they were largely unchallenged. That run yielded four first-team all-staters and an Evans Award winner in Eli Allen.
But most of the players that contributed meaningful minutes during those title runs have graduated and moved on. It’s now up to a new batch of Mavericks to carry the baton.
“We’ve had a pretty good run the past two or three years and had a lot of talent come through but you know the biggest thing is we’re telling these boys is they need to create their own identity.” James Monroe head coach Matt Sauvage said. “We’re not trying to piggyback off something that happened before because it doesn’t work that way in sports. So we’re trying to get them to create their own identity and just become who they are because it’s gonna be a different brand of basketball than we played the past two or three years. And I’m not going to say it’s a worse brand, just a different brand. So that’s the biggest thing, getting them to buy into that and stepping up because they’ve had, you know, three or four leaders here in the past few years that have been able to kind of step up behind the scenes a little bit. So this year, it’s time for them to kind of step out on their own.”
There are some carryovers. Cooper Ridgeway is the lone returning starter from last year’s team while others saw some meaningful minutes and spot starts here and there. But for the most part this year signals a change on numerous fronts and Sauvage and his staff figure out how the pieces fit together.
“We have Layton Dowdy back and he’s starting to come into his own,” Sauvage said. “He’s going from football legs to basketball legs and so is all of our team except for one or maybe two. So they’re just now starting to get the basketball legs and we’re starting to see a little bit of what we want to see but you know, it’s going to be be a few weeks before we get to that point. Layton, he’s going to take over a lot of ball handling duties, and that’s a that’s a big step and we’re throwing him into it. So far he’s doing a pretty good job with it. And so, but you know, he’s just going to continue to continue to get better at that. We’ve got Ryan Mann coming back. He got duty last year to started for us a couple games last year at the beginning when we had some injuries, but Ryan’s just a sophomore. He’s Eli’s brother. But he grew about three inches in the offseason, he’s up to about 6-foot-2 and he’s tough. I mean, he can absolutely get after it.
“Brady Baker, he actually started for us two games last year when we had some injuries there and he’s about 6-foot-3. He’s a big and we have a few and that’s the different brand of basketball you’re gonna see this year with a little bit more inside play from us, not just guard play. The past couple of years it’s been heavy on the guard side. And rightly so. But this year it’s gonna be more inside outside basketball when we get in the half court setting instead of the high pick and rolls. We’ll still do some of that, but it’s, it’s gonna be a different brand of offense than what people are used to seeing. We also had a kid transfer in from Greenbrier East in Ryan Cole and he’s about 6-foot-3. We’re still getting to know him and he’s still getting to know us. We’ve also got Will Boggess and Chaz Boggs. We’ve got about seven that will probably be in the rotation to start and we have three freshmen we like too.”
Hopes are high that the Mavericks can pull off a three-peat but Sauvage has never been one to look too far ahead in the future. He prefers to take the season one game at a time and enjoy the journey. He also realizes that it will take time to get his team up to speed with all of the turnover and the late start due to the football team’s semifinal run.
“We get asked whether it be just parents or students in the school about a three-peat.” Sauvage said. “I’m worried about our opener on Friday. We’re gonna take it one step at a time, but you know, obviously you’ve got to look in the future. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t. We’re looking at our section and region and seeing how we’re gonna stack up. Obviously you want to get back to states, but there’s a lot of steps that have to be taken in the process to get there and it’s gonna be more steps than normal. Not in a bad way but even the past three years with the team we had it was kind of a process. The past few years, there’s been a few changes, but for the core hasn’t changed a whole lot. We knew what roles were coming in. Not this year.
“We don’t know and we’re trying to figure that out as we go. And like I said, players are trying to figure us out, we’re figuring them out. It’s going to be a little bit of a challenge, but it’s gonna be more just figuring this game out and then seeing what works best for them. I’m worried about this Friday, personally. I will say that we’re going to focus on sectionals first and then go from there and see what happens.”
