Richmond Hill basketball coaches piece together scouting reports on opponents – Savannah Morning News

By Mike Brown| For Bryan County Now

Scouting an upcoming opponent is, of course, important. Any coach will tell you that.

Football coaches will spend hours during the course of a week breaking down film and looking for tendencies.

Its a little different in basketball, where teams play two and three games a week. Or at least it is for Richmond Hill High School boys coach Bill Henderson and girls coach Sarah Jones.

While film study is part of their routine, much of their game plan consists of putting together what information they can garner from various sources.

Well try to find some film or talk to other coaches that have played them, Henderson said. If weve played them before, well have an idea of what they like to do and what they want to do in certain situations.

Jones echoed Hendersons thoughts when it came to prepping her team for an upcoming game.

We try to get as much game film as possible, Jones said. We do what we can to get as much information as possible.

We talk to other coaches and well know some of their plays, Jones said. When I hear a call and I know what it means, youll hear me screaming at my team.

My assistants also watch everything. Against Statesboro, for example, two of their plays we hadnt seen before. We talked about it at halftime and when we heard that call we were able to react.

Theres nothing, of course, like past experience. Henderson and Jones have been at Richmond Hill for seven and eight years, respectively, and they have a good handle on what opposing coaches like to do in certain situations when the game becomes a chess match.

Theres no question both coaches are making the right moves. The boys (13-0, 5-0 Region 2-6A) are ranked No. 4 by the Atlanta Journal-Constitutionand have won 11 games by double figures, including a 76-60 win last Tuesday at Brunswick. The Wildcatsplayed Effingham County on Friday night.

The girls (10-3, 3-2) are off to a good start, too. They dropped a 39-36 nail-biter at Brunswick.

Henderson knows both Brunswick coach Chris Turner and Effingham County coach Jake Darling well and knows what to expect from their teams.

Chris Turner does a really good job at Brunswick, Henderson said. When you play a Jake Darling team, you know what youre going to get: a team that is well prepared, fundamentally sound and plays hard.

That contrasts with the circumstances againstStatesboro. The Wildcats, a 67-57 winner, were flying a little blind.

Coach Keith Legree is the first-year replacement for the legendary Lee Hill, who won more than 800 games before passing away last summer due to COVID-19.

Legree played for Hill before going on to an outstanding career at Cincinnati and Louisville. After seven years playing minor league baseball, Legree went into college coaching with stops at Texas Southern, Cincinnati and Detroit Mercy before returning to Statesboro.

You dont know what he may want to do, Henderson said. You just kind of figure hes going to do some of the same things coach Hill did. And with Statesboro, you know theyre going to big and athletic.

The bottom line, however, is that a team has to focus on what it does best and go out and execute, Henderson said.

In the win at Brunswick, the Wildcats led by two points after the first quarter and then took charge of the game in the second quarter when theywent on a 25-15 tear and never let the Pirates get any closer.

Jaeden Marshall led a quartet of Wildcats in double figures as barely missed a triple-double with 29 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Liam Markgraf scored 21 points while Brayden Baker and Nijajuan Youmans had 13 each. Baker also had seven rebounds while Youmans had 10 assists. Leighton Finley had a solid game with eight points and seven rebounds.

The girls battled the Pirates (12-1, 4-0) tooth-and-nail but couldnt pull it out despite a 12-point, six-rebound, four-assist effort from Azaria Johnson. Zoraya Thornton had eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while Brionna Sutton and Kyra Finley had seven points each. Finley also had eight rebounds.

Richmond Hill basketball coaches piece together scouting reports on opponents - Savannah Morning News