High school basketball preview: North Redskins (+video)
Schedule
December – 4, at Carroll; 8, at South; 11, Kapaun; 15, at Heights; 18, at West; 19, Southeast.
January – 5, Northwest; 12, at East; 14, 15 or 16, TBA at Koch Arena; 19, Carroll (G), 21-23, at McPherson tournament (B); 26, Carroll (B); 28-30, at Pratt tournament (G).
February – 2, South; 5, at Kapaun; 9, Heights; 12, West; 16, at Southeast; 19, at Northwest; 25, East.
Boys
Coach: Gary Squires, eighth season
Last season: 3-18
Top players
Tiylar Cotton, 6-1, sr., G
Payton Hatter, 6-5, so., F
Kace Vongsakda, 5-10, so., G
Chase McCollum, 5-10, so., G
Keyon Childress, 5-10, sr., G
The final connection to the Conner Frankamp era – aside from the coach – ends this season with North hoping to recapture some of its success.
That will mostly depend on Cotton, a senior guard who played as a freshman alongside Frankamp, the City League’s career scoring leader.
Cotton averaged 13 points during North’s three-win season. The pieces around him, including multiple freshmen, began to materialize enough to give North added confidence.
“(Cotton) will be the guy we depend on night-in and night-out,” Squires said. “He can average 14 or 16 (points) a game and he’s capable of scoring in the mid-20s. He’s quick, an excellent shooter, a playmaker and just a good overall player. He jumps well and he can get to the rim.”
Vongsakda might be the player most due for a leap after he averaged about nine points, the same as fellow sophomore Hatter, who gives North a versatile post presence. McCollum, a transfer, will be eligible for the second semester to provide another perimeter option.
Hatter is the most experienced post player even though he’s younger than Hunter Shockley and Jonah Carrasco. Squires wants him to use all of his 170 pounds.
“He’s an excellent outside shooter, he can shoot the three ball,” Squires said. “But we’re going to rely on him to go inside, too, and get the easy baskets. He’s got to play more physical inside for us to do well.”
Girls
Coach: Branden Patterson, fourth season
Last season: 6-12
Top players
Marissa Evans, 5-7, sr., G
Imani Jones, 5-9, jr., F
Danisha Brown, 5-0, jr., G
Alex Condit, 5-10, so., F
In describing his team, Patterson kept returning to the same adjective – coachable.
Maybe an openness to learning has helped North improve its win total in each of Patterson’s three seasons, and maybe that coachability has enabled Patterson to get the most out of his players.
With positive results, it’s not worth questioning.
“And they can speak it so well,” Patterson said. “Whatever it is I’m teaching, we use the same terminology every well, so my basketball vocabulary becomes theirs. They’re able to teach it. Not only are they coachable, but they have that gift of being able to teach each other.”
North will mostly be built around the backcourt of Evans and Brown, its leading returning scorers. Their chemistry is important as players who control the ball most often.
“They get along,” Patterson said. “Danisha is 5-foot-nothing, but she’s so fast. Marissa is six inches taller, but she seems like a giant next to (Brown). She’s actually longer than she is tall. Defensively, we run a 2-3 zone, so those kids both play guard and they work well on the defensive end.
“They have a lot of time together, so they mesh well together. Most of the time, they have fun while they’re playing together so they share the ball.”
Jeffrey Lutz
This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 8:54 AM with the headline "High school basketball preview: North Redskins (+video)."