Raphael Bickham ‘27 drives past Woodlawn's K.J. Lafayette (3) toward the goal in the Crusaders' win on Nov. 25.
By: Ron Brocato
Christmas break is a special time for students to celebrate the Nativity and spend quality time with family and friends while preparing for a new year of working toward their goals for the future. It will also be a time for Brother Martin head basketball coach Wesley Laurendine to evaluate the progress of his players as they continue to jell as a unit, just a few weeks before the start of the District 9-5A championship campaign.
And the Crusaders will use this period to add some new elements to the offense away from the prying eyes of district rivals by playing in two out-of-state tournaments. “Although out-of-state games count against your record, but not your team’s power rating, I schedule them because we can do things I might not have put into our game yet, so it won’t be on film,” the coach reasoned. As an example, he cites, “Maybe I can put in a 2-2-1 press and work on it during these games, so when we come back in January and have to play Rummel (in the first district game), they will not have seen it yet.”
Before the break, Brother Martin will host a three-night Catholic tournament on Dec. 11-13. Then, following a game at Chalmette on Dec. 19, Laurendine will take his team to Jackson, MS, to face private schools Madison-Ridgeland and Hartsfield Academies on Dec. 22-23. From there, the Crusaders venture off to Pensacola, FL, for the Dec. 27-30 tournament that will match schools from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama against his squad.
“I look to play games that are difficult with different styles of play and different high-level competition that doesn’t count against your power points. These kinds of games will either make or break you coming off a trip like that,” Laurendine said. “It’s not about winning; it’s about your team starting to play its best and jelling. That’s what I’m trying to do. By late January, we should be playing our best.”
District play begins for the Crusaders on Jan. 3. The league promises to be the most competitive among 5-A groupings in the state. No other large school district has matched the 50-6 pre-district composite record of the league’s eight teams, of which the Crusaders have posted a 6-1 record. Five of the eight league members were undefeated through Dec. 7, with St. Augustine leading the way at 9-0. John Curtis (8-0), Rummel (6-0), Edna Karr (6-0), and Jesuit (5-0) also had perfect records. Brother Martin and Holy Cross have one loss, and Warren Easton’s record is 5-4.
As impressive as the records are on paper, Laurendine is hardly awestruck. “Every team in this district is good with good players,” he said. “But nobody’s great. I don’t see anybody in the district that we can’t beat. If we play 32 minutes well, we may not win every game, but we’ll be in them all. And if we’re in them,” the coach continued, “we have a chance to win them. I just don’t see a team we can’t beat if we’re healthy.”
Health is an issue at the moment. Laurendine said his team lost a key player to a season-ending shoulder injury in 6-foot-8-inch sophomore center Luke Olivard. He was one of two players of height at the center position. “Right now we’re playing seven players, but we’re moving closer to where we can play eight,” the coach noted. “I just need for them to start jelling and knowing where each other is on the court, then getting stops at the other end.
“From Dec. 22 until Jan. 3, it's just basketball. If you do it right, we should be starting this escalation of play, and by late January, we should be playing our best basketball.”
Laurendine expressed his optimism about what the Crusaders are working to accomplish. “We’re improving every day, and once (the players) get to a point where they can play defensively for 32 minutes the way we’re trying to coach them to do, we will, instead of winning games by six points, we’ll be winning by 15 points. “He added, “Or, instead of winning a game by two points, we will have put the opponent away early.”
Since losing their season-opening game to Archbishop Hannan in mid-November, the Crusaders have won six consecutive games. Most recently, they have defeated Carver, Kennedy, and Sophie B. Wright in the latter school's tournament on Dec. 6.
Senior Will McChesky (13) outleaps a pair of Woodlawn defenders to score during the Crusaders' pre-district game on Nov. 25.
