Our third in a series of articles previewing our local high school basketball teams. This time Brett Shugart takes a look at a new program in MVP, the Union County Yellow Jackets, and the Landrum Cardinals. Stay tuned to the website for one more set of schools coming up soon!
MVP-
Good news, Mountain View Prep lost no seniors last year to graduation. Bad News is they have 0 returning players.
Coach Nick Lagroone was chosen to lead the first-year school’s inaugural basketball season for the MVP Stars. Lagroone has spent the last four years as an assistant at Presbyterian College, with stops at Southeast Missouri State, and Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academy in Georgia. While coaching the Eagles he went 27-2 with a region championship and a state title game appearance.
Lagroone is tasked with putting a whole new group of players together in a sport where chemistry is a big part of finding success. The Stars will be led by Termaine Williams, an inside player who has already logged a couple of double-doubles so far in the young season. Junior Noah Byrd will also play a lot of meaningful minutes and is someone to keep an eye on this year. MVP has two freshman who will also contribute Point Guard Drayton Proctor who has been called a “true point guard” will help lead the offense along with Browan Smith who is a great shooter. Those two will look to take the pressure off Williams by playing well on the outside.
This team has plenty of talent, just needs time to come together as a team and learn to play off of each other.
Winning breeds winning, so with the football team having major success in their first season bodes well for the first year basketball team.
Union County-
By Mitchell Moss’s standards 10-16 (4-4) is not going to be good enough. Having played and coaching under some of the best coaches our area has seen, he knows what it takes to be elite. Moss played at Union High under legendary head coach Joe Pitt and was an assistant under Dorman legend Thomas Ryan. Moss record after 5 seasons as head coach is 79-48 with two region championships.
Moss has his job cut out for him this year. The Jackets must find a replacement to 2x 3A All-State Selection Keishawn Gibson. Gibson led the Jackets last year with almost 16 points per game and 3 assist per game. Gibson was a leader on and off the court for the Jackets whose team and lots of underclassmen playing significant minutes. Coach Moss also said losing a vocal leader like Seven Eison is a challenge as well. Eison averaged almost 9 points a game but his leadership was bigger than any stat you will find on the stat sheet.
Moss was excited about the talent they do have coming back, as they had a lot of underclassmen contribute in big ways last season. Among those coming back is Junior Point Guard Eric Gray. Gray has seen a lot of minutes from being on varsity as a freshman. Last year as a sophomore Gray averaged 10 points per game, adding 4 rebounds per game as a guard was huge from a smaller Jacket team. Gray looks to pick up where Gibson left off and be the leader for the Jackets on the court. Senior Nathan Koepke also returns having logged lots of minutes for the Jackets in the last couple of year. As a Junior Koepke added 6 points per game and almost 4 rebounds. Two returners who will get to see more minutes this season are Senior Jamison Parks (3.2ppg/1rpg) and Junior AJ Shaw (2ppg), and Moss was optimistic their contribution will be huge if the Jackets want to find success this year.
New faces to watch this season for the Jackets this year are Senior Jaden Flemming who only saw action in 3 games last season and Freshman Caren Wison.
Union County will be a fast athletic team this season and Moss and The Jackets look to compete for a Region title against region foes of Woodruff, MVP, Greer Middle College, Broome and Chapman.
“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. There are going to be growing pains early on, but once we find our identity and rhythm we will be able to make some noise in our region. Excited to see where we will be when its all said and done.” Said Coach Mitchell Moss.
Landrum-
Consistency is word that comes to mind when we think of Landrum Basketball. The Cardinals and coach Lyn Smith have won four consecutive region titles and are a favorite to add a 5th this season.
That task will not come without its challenges. Smith and the Cards have to replace a big mintues with the graduation of 9 seniors including 2x All State selection Franklin Davis. Davis now playing at Limestone College averaged 20 points per game, 5 rebounds, and 3 Assist per game. Another big graduation was Mario Gonzalez (10ppg/4rpg/2apg) who contributed heavily for the Cards.
Landrum has lots of returning players who played significant minutes from last season. Benett Edwards returns after a great junior season where he averaged 14 points per game along with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. AJ Lindsey also returns after being a standout on the football team this fall. He’s poised for a great junior season after adding 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assist per game as a sophomore. Coach Smith is also excited how Colby Walker will contribute this season as a senior leader.
New faces to watch for the Cardinals this season are Senior Drew Coleman, Junior Shooting Guard Cooper Tidwell, Freshman Noah Dodd , Junior Ivan Williams, Sophomore Micah McClintock and Sophomore Isiah Atkins. Smith said he was excited about the group moving up from a JV squad who went 22-2 last season with a majority moving up to varsity this year.
Coach Smith said “ We feel like we have a solid team with solid pieces. As the season progresses and we continue to improve, this could be a great year for our team? We have some talented young men on this team”
There are some new faces along with some familiar foes in the region this year for the Cardinals.
Landrum will also host their annual Holiday tournament “The Battle at the Border” December 27th-30th. Its always a well-run tournament with lots of great competition and I encourage you to attend.
