Players don’t shy from drastic position changes
Published in The Daily Journal, Jan. 27, 2010
When Marcus Ware graduated, he left a huge hole in the middle of the Vineland High School boys’ basketball team’s lineup. A 6-foot-7, 230-pound hole, to be exact.
The most likely candidate to fill that position was Josh Ashley, a 6-6, 178-pound junior who played beside Ware as a role player last season. But rather than shifting deeper into the post, Ashley glided out to the wing.
“My coach (Jack Martine) wants to get the ball more in my hands, not only to score but to make plays for my teammates,” Ashley said.
That’s easier to do from the perimeter for Ashley, who struggled to master the footwork and positioning necessary to play in the post. Size and athleticism were not enough to play inside at the varsity level.
“I never liked getting the ball inside,” Ashley said. “I wasn’t always involved in organized basketball growing up. I played a lot of streetball.”
On high school teams everywhere, players are shifting to different positions than the ones they played last year, as graduation and individual development create new ways for players to contribute.
Inside to outside
When Millville’s two starting guards graduated and their rising point guard moved out of the district, Jaymere Hadden looked at the Thunderbolts’ returning roster and realized the team would need a new floor general.
So the lanky 6-3 center asked around, trying to recruit a few ballhandlers from the student body. None emerged.
Hadden, seeing no other alternative, took it upon himself to become that player.
“I could not handle the ball for nothing last year,” admitted Hadden, a junior. “I knew I was going to have to work on that part of my game because I knew we were going to need a dominant guard. And I want to go to college, and I knew at the height I am, I’m going to be a guard there.”
If Hadden continues to improve at the rate he has since his transformation began last summer, the sky may be the limit. He traveled to Florida with St. Augustine Prep guard Isaiah Morton for an AAU tournament, sharing the backcourt with the area’s most seasoned backcourt player. In addition, he has been working out with the legendary Paul Gause, who scored 3,144 points at Schalick, the third-highest career total in state history.
“His cousin goes to Millville, I think, and he just came to our practice one day,” Hadden said of Gause, who could not be reached for comment for this story. “He comes to all our games, and this summer he’s going to teach me a lot about ballhandling for next year.”
Outside to inside
In Charlie Monaghan’s playing career at St. Augustine, the only constant has been change.
Monaghan arrived in Richland two years ago expecting to play small forward alongside twin towers Gene Teague and Jack Crawford. But when Teague transferred out and Crawford elected not to play basketball and focus on football, which he now plays at Penn State, Monaghan was thrust into the post.
“There was an opening there,” said Monaghan, a 6-6, 200-pound junior from West Deptford. “I wanted to contribute as much as I could as a freshman to the varsity, so I’d run inside.”
After 6-9 center Heberto Guanipa arrived, Monaghan shifted out to the high post or wing. Now that Guanipa has graduated, Monaghan is relearning the post game.
He worked with assistant coach Jose Gonzalez on his post game, which was an awkward adjustment at first. Not only is the game more physical on the block, but Monaghan had to fight certain instincts, such as establishing position and waiting for a post-entry pass rather than coming to the ball, as he would on the perimeter.
Monaghan said he takes the changes in stride because, on the whole, they make him a more well-rounded basketball player.
He also knows next year will bring changes, as always. Freshmen Ryn Bland and Austin Johnson are expected to bring heft to the Hermits next season, so Monaghan is ready for anything.
“Next year, Ryn should be getting a little bit of time and Austin should be developed,” Monaghan said. “Maybe I’ll even move out to the wing next year and play the three. Whatever helps the team.”
Benjee
