Hoops preview: New year, new look

The 2017-18 basketball season will bring a new challenge for Donnie Quinn. 

For the first time in his three-year tenure as the Spain Park High School boys coach, the Jaguars will lack a bona fide star to build around. 

The centerpiece of last year’s team, Jamal Johnson, is now a freshman at the University of Memphis. In 2016-17, he took over the program’s reins from current Auburn sophomore Austin Wiley.

The highly-sought college recruits carried the load during their time at Spain Park. On the floor, they brought size, skill and veteran leadership. 

“We’re not going to be how Spain Park’s been the last couple years, probably,” Quinn said. “We’ll probably be fairly undersized, but I really like this team. I think they’re going to have a chance to compete.” 

That’s about all Quinn can ask for given the turnover in personnel. Certainly, the Jags will miss Johnson, who averaged nearly 25 points and seven rebounds per game last season. They also will miss Lynn Kidd, a talented up-and-comer who was expected to help compensate for the loss of Johnson’s production. Kidd earned substantial court time as a freshman post player, but he transferred to a prep school in the offseason. 

His departure means Quinn will rely heavily on guards DayQuan Williams, Parker Boswell and Trey Johnson, the younger brother of Jamal Johnson, as the Jags look to improve upon last year’s finish. Spain Park’s 2016-17 campaign ended in the opening round of the Class 7A, Area 6 tournament at the hands of Huffman. 

“It was just one of those teams you just never really knew what we were going to do,” Quinn said of his previous roster. “I think we could have been a lot better than we were, but it was just hard to stay consistent.”

Quinn will attempt to establish more stability this season even as he implements a new system. Due to Spain Park’s lack of size — Quinn said he may have one player who is at most 6-foot-4 — the coach plans to tweak his team’s tempo based on its opponent.

If Quinn believes his players can outrun the other team, the Jags will push the pace and fire lots of shots. If not, Spain Park may slow it down and deploy a four-corners offense.

“It could be anything from playing as fast as we possibly can play to playing as slow as we can possibly play and spreading the court,” Quinn said. 

Regardless of the pace, Boswell, a junior, is likely to be the one driving his team up the court. He has contributed since his freshman year and possesses polished ball-handling abilities. He’s also a good defender, which his coach appreciates. 

Quinn said this year’s team will need to play sound defense if it wants to reach its full potential. Given its size disadvantage, keeping opponents out of the paint — and away from the boards — will be key. 

 “I just think defensively we’re going to have to kick it up not just one notch, but a couple notches,” Quinn said. “We’re going to have to be very limited in our mistakes.” 

The Jags will start with a clean slate on Nov. 7, when they open the season at home against Cornerstone.