Hoops preview: Patriots emphasizing importance of team
The Homewood High School boys basketball team would certainly not get mistaken for one of the NBA’s “super teams.” The Patriots don’t have multiple superstars all needing a certain share of the wealth to remain satisfied. There aren’t players that stand out far above the rest.
Head coach Tim Shepler is certainly fine with that.
“I like the challenge, because it’s a team game,” said Shepler. “What you try and sell kids is it’s all about team. You say that, some years you have stars and you’re trying to convince the stars to let the other guys do some things. But this year it’s truly [that] we all have to play well. It’ll be a fun year.”
A year removed from the program’s first Class 6A state championship, the Patriots put together a solid season last winter, but were unable to make it out of the area tournament. With their two leading scorers departed — Luke Touliatos is now at Samford and Trey Jemison transferred to Hoover — the Patriots will be relying upon fresh faces to step up.
In the search for new leaders, Shepler will look to the likes of Logan Padgett, Jack Goldasich and Larkin Williams to guide Homewood this winter.
Padgett, a junior forward, is the most likely to emerge as Homewood’s leading scorer. He was next on the pecking order behind Touliatos and Jemison a season ago, and has continually improved over the last few years. He is most comfortable facing the basket, but is versatile enough to do a variety of things.
“He kind of figured out a couple things last year,” Shepler said. “The next step is that you’re going to be that guy that we’re going to count on, so a great challenge for him.”
Goldasich hung out primarily behind the arc last year and served as a 3-point specialist. He has gotten stronger over the offseason and possesses a more complete, all-around game. Williams, the quarterback on the football team, will join the fray some time after the season begins, depending on how deep the football team advances in the postseason.
Shepler used the football team’s off week in the fall to gather the whole basketball team and go on a weekend retreat to Camp Cosby, an idea he got from the Gonzaga University basketball team.
“I was excited just to see that group together as a group and have a good time, and kind of talk about what they wanted to be about, what their culture was going to be, what they wanted to be,” he said.
Shepler thinks this year’s team has similarities to his 2012-13 Homewood team, one that compiled a 25-7 record. Leading scorer Malik Cook was a sophomore, and no other player averaged double figures. But the key to that team was its lockdown defense that allowed 37 points per contest.
“They all just knew if we don’t guard, we’re going to have a tough time,” Shepler said. “I can see this type of team doing something like that.”
Shepler said he wants to pick up the pace offensively this winter, but that his defensive philosophy will remain the same: no handouts.
“We just want to make sure our opponents earn everything they get,” he said.
John Andrew Dill, Isaiah Rouse, Will Simmons, Kentrell Martin, Wilson McCraw, Marcus McGhee, Courtland Meeks, Erik Schablow, Wesley Williams and Tre Roberson round out the Patriots’ varsity roster.
Simmons, Rouse and Dill join Goldasich as the four seniors, but Shepler is really excited about the Patriots’ seven-man junior class, highlighted by Padgett and Larkin Williams.
The Patriots open their season at home against Hueytown on Nov. 7.