“Overdose? Not hardly”

You would think that covering eight basketball games in 10 days would put a sports writer in Hoops Overdose. Not so, my friend. Or at least not so for this portly pursuer of all things round ball. I’m in Hoops Heaven. I have covered season openers for Powhatan boys and girls and Goochland boys and girls and written about a total of 12 different squads in that time frame. Thankfully, neither Blessed Sacrament boys nor girls opened at home or I probably would have needed resuscitation, but I did manage to squeeze in one Lady Knights contest and one-and-a-third of the boy’s games.

Although it was one of the last games I covered, maybe I ought to start there, at the 1/3 game that is. I was a bit late getting there. (So I read the time wrong and didn’t arrive until half way through the third quarter.) For those of you who are not familiar with the set up, high school varsities play a 32 minute game (four eight minute quarters) colleges play 40 minutes and the pros 48.

The Blessed Sacrament Huguenot boys had scheduled a team I had never heard of, Evangel Christian. When I walked into the gym there were two minutes left in the third quarter and the Knights had a respectable 26 points on the board — they were losing by 45!

Now folks, the BSH boys are good athletes. Most of them play two or three sports, but I’m here to tell you that the kids they were playing that night were not athletes, they were Gazelles, except for their point guard. He was a fullback. At about 6’, 220 pounds, the kid had absolutely sick ball-handling and scoring skills. The rockets surrounding him missed two shots total for the rest of the game and ran the fast break like they were on rails. After I managed to get my jaw off of the floor, I went home and looked Evangel up on the Internet. It’s a small private school in Chester. No big deal until you notice that Oak Hill Academy and the Bull City Tournament in Durham, North Carolina are on their schedule.

Did I hear “and your point is?”

FYI Oak Hill Academy, at tiny Mouth of Wilson Va., is the perennial national prep school champion. Incidentally, it has also put 20 graduates into the NBA. Carmelo Anthony, Jerry Stackhouse, Rajon Rondo, Jeff McGinnis ring any bells?  Huum. What was Andy Janto thinking? The Knights are essentially a group of very good football players, playing basketball. They played a tough, physical game to beat Kenston Forrest but are searching for a point guard and outside shooting. Don’t ever look for them for finesse.

Actually, I thought that I had already seen the fastest team I would for at least a long while at the Trinity Christian Tournament. Goochland High School put four pocket rocket guards on the floor at one time against Colonial Heights. And they weren’t just as fast as ferrets — they could also handle the ball at 62 miles-an-hour and jump out of the gym. David Brooks, Mark Sampson, Darrius Athey and M.J. Cox are a joy to watch. They beat Colonial Heights that night but haven’t had much success since with their somewhat out of control “street ball” style. They lost a close game in the final minutes to Fluvanna and a not so close game to Powatan, who didn’t try to match their speed, but gave up rebounding to get back on defense. Regardless these little guys are worth the price of admission.

Another bargain is Goochland’s Amy Zickefoose. Need a three or just a bunch of points? She put the Powhatan Girls away with her ball-handling, power game and long-distance bombs for a total of 23 points; over half of the Bulldogs’ total.

Paulette Bowman’s Goochland girls are a team which has been looking for its identity, particularly with leading scorer Erin Lonon hurt. Pretty much the same can be said for the Blessed Sacrament girls, who lost a couple of really close contests early on, but still went 0-3 without their stabilizer, Devon Batterson. This is a team that has a real chance to gel when all the pieces are allowed to assume their natural roles.

Overall, the most impressive team I have seen so far, outside of Evangel Christian — and those guys are in a world of their own — is Powhatan’s boys.

I’ve seen all of their games this year; three, and followed them more closely than any of the other squads last year. They have no superstars as they did last year, although senior Luke Myers is loads of fun to watch and could emerge as a big time scorer. The Indians success revolves around senior Emmett Brown, who may get you five points, 15, or none. But he’ll rebound, defend and steal like a professional thief. A 6’2” forward, he often runs the offense from the point, filling in as offensive leader while sophomore Shawn Minor morphs into the point guard role. The Indians have started the season 3-0 and have shown substantial improvement in each victory.

Admittedly, it’s early in the season for all 12 of these teams. Improvement or lack of, injuries and strength of schedule will eventually determine how far these teams progress. But I can tell you this, the quality of their game and their enthusiasm for it makes any of these local teams worthy of turning the TV off for a couple of hours each week.