Team Preview: Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
This is a new season for the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs' boys basketball program as they look to gain improvement this season under head coach Jason McLaughlin.
The Mustangs return two players from last year in seniors Tyler Davidson (a four-year varsity player and point guard) and Wes Pierson (a three-year varsity player). Also seeing some time at varsity last season who are returning are sophomores Gage Waits, Ryan Inman and senior Austin Gorman.
Last year the Mustangs finished with an overall record of 8-14, with a sectional tournament win over North Adams. In the Southern Hills League, they were 6-7 on the year.
Also on the roster this season are seniors Matt West and Jesse VanVleet and juniors Jake Skaggs and Alec Smith as the Mustangs have 33 total players in the high school program this season from the freshman up to the varsity.
This past offseason for McLaughlin and his team was best described as a learning process by the head coach.
"I had to take some time to see who some of my players were going to be because we had a lot of kids play a lot of different stuff over the summer," he said. "I wanted to see what we wanted to do come this time of the year. We were competitive … we played in some Monday night leagues. It was just a learning process."
LC lost five seniors, four of whom were starters.
"We have a lot of uncertainty because when you lose four starters, you don't know where the scoring is going to come from or where a lot of the rebounding is going to come from," McLaughlin said. "The ball handling, I don't think is going to be a big issue, but scoring and rebounding are two things I'm concerned about and how we are going to replace that … but we seem to be doing all right so far."
The post position will need to be replaced as well.
"We have a couple kids, one in Ryan Inman (6-4) who will be competing for time. He's really athletic and ran cross-country," McLaughlin said. "He's gotten a lot better from last year.
"Alec Smith (6-3) has really worked on his play and aggressiveness this offseason, and he'll see some action for us too."
Though they are rebuilding this year, the Mustangs do have some strengths.
"We are a lot quicker team than we were last year at all positions," McLaughlin said. "We didn't have quick post players last year, but this year we do. We have kids who are able to run up and down the court very quickly.
"Gage will be playing a lot for us; he's another one of those good athletes who will make us quicker on both ends of the court. He pushes everybody else to move faster as well."
What improvements does the coach feel need to be made as the season progresses?
"We need to work on team chemistry … passing to open people. I think that comes with experience at playing at the varsity level. That will be one of the keys," McLaughlin said. "Another thing will be figuring out who will be the scorers and what role each person can play."
One of the scorers will have to be Davidson, according to McLaughlin.
"I know Tyler will have to step up and contribute more to the scoring," he said. "He's averaged around nine points a game, but he's going have to get into double figures.
"Wes will also have to step up for us for 10 or 12 points a game at least. Other than that, we're going to have to have some kids get offensive rebounds and have post players who get eight or 10 points and eight or 10 rebounds per game. I don't think we have one guy who is going to carry the team night in and night out."
This season is unique for McLaughlin because he'll be able to coach more and give more instruction with a younger team.
"I teach, and I like teaching basketball too," he said. "They are more inexperienced, but it seems like they are more open to what I'm trying to teach them rather than wanting to do it their own way. This year's group works hard.
"Defensively, we are going to be a better man-to-man team because our quickness will allow us to play that. We've been focusing on that, but we still have to improve a lot on that to get really good at it. We want to play an up-tempo style, but we'll throw any style in there that will make us better."
McLaughlin has confidence in his team.
"We are going to come every night and play our hearts out," he said. "I think we'll be competitive."[[In-content Ad]]
The Mustangs return two players from last year in seniors Tyler Davidson (a four-year varsity player and point guard) and Wes Pierson (a three-year varsity player). Also seeing some time at varsity last season who are returning are sophomores Gage Waits, Ryan Inman and senior Austin Gorman.
Last year the Mustangs finished with an overall record of 8-14, with a sectional tournament win over North Adams. In the Southern Hills League, they were 6-7 on the year.
Also on the roster this season are seniors Matt West and Jesse VanVleet and juniors Jake Skaggs and Alec Smith as the Mustangs have 33 total players in the high school program this season from the freshman up to the varsity.
This past offseason for McLaughlin and his team was best described as a learning process by the head coach.
"I had to take some time to see who some of my players were going to be because we had a lot of kids play a lot of different stuff over the summer," he said. "I wanted to see what we wanted to do come this time of the year. We were competitive … we played in some Monday night leagues. It was just a learning process."
LC lost five seniors, four of whom were starters.
"We have a lot of uncertainty because when you lose four starters, you don't know where the scoring is going to come from or where a lot of the rebounding is going to come from," McLaughlin said. "The ball handling, I don't think is going to be a big issue, but scoring and rebounding are two things I'm concerned about and how we are going to replace that … but we seem to be doing all right so far."
The post position will need to be replaced as well.
"We have a couple kids, one in Ryan Inman (6-4) who will be competing for time. He's really athletic and ran cross-country," McLaughlin said. "He's gotten a lot better from last year.
"Alec Smith (6-3) has really worked on his play and aggressiveness this offseason, and he'll see some action for us too."
Though they are rebuilding this year, the Mustangs do have some strengths.
"We are a lot quicker team than we were last year at all positions," McLaughlin said. "We didn't have quick post players last year, but this year we do. We have kids who are able to run up and down the court very quickly.
"Gage will be playing a lot for us; he's another one of those good athletes who will make us quicker on both ends of the court. He pushes everybody else to move faster as well."
What improvements does the coach feel need to be made as the season progresses?
"We need to work on team chemistry … passing to open people. I think that comes with experience at playing at the varsity level. That will be one of the keys," McLaughlin said. "Another thing will be figuring out who will be the scorers and what role each person can play."
One of the scorers will have to be Davidson, according to McLaughlin.
"I know Tyler will have to step up and contribute more to the scoring," he said. "He's averaged around nine points a game, but he's going have to get into double figures.
"Wes will also have to step up for us for 10 or 12 points a game at least. Other than that, we're going to have to have some kids get offensive rebounds and have post players who get eight or 10 points and eight or 10 rebounds per game. I don't think we have one guy who is going to carry the team night in and night out."
This season is unique for McLaughlin because he'll be able to coach more and give more instruction with a younger team.
"I teach, and I like teaching basketball too," he said. "They are more inexperienced, but it seems like they are more open to what I'm trying to teach them rather than wanting to do it their own way. This year's group works hard.
"Defensively, we are going to be a better man-to-man team because our quickness will allow us to play that. We've been focusing on that, but we still have to improve a lot on that to get really good at it. We want to play an up-tempo style, but we'll throw any style in there that will make us better."
McLaughlin has confidence in his team.
"We are going to come every night and play our hearts out," he said. "I think we'll be competitive."[[In-content Ad]]