GREENE COUNTY
The Greene County boys’ basketball team began its second season under head coach Mark Wright in a positive way last week with a dominant 82-26 victory over region foe Taliaferro County.
The Tigers played with a full roster in their season opener, which they didn’t get to do last season. Wright said it’s good to have all of his players together, especially the kids from the football team.
“Fortunately, we have pretty much everybody coming back. We only lost one senior from last year,” Wright said. “Everybody else is returning, so now those sophomores are juniors, and those juniors are now seniors. They’re chomping at the bit. They’re ready to go. It’ll be a gradual process, though. I’ve still got a lot of young guys that have stayed the course over the summertime.”
Wright has had a lot of buy-in from his players during the offseason. He had several of his players show up for spring workouts and then compete in summer league games during June and July.
According to Wright, it’s a positive sign as he’s also trying to develop them into great young men as well.
“It’s all about consistency,” he added. “They’ve been pretty consistent on a basis since the summer. Lifting, getting reps in, and playing during the spring and summer leagues. It’s been good in that respect. From what I’ve seen, there’s been a huge buy-in on their part and that is also great for us.”
Wright has also seen a lot of development in some of his players since last year, especially on defense.
“More importantly, as a team, what’s been the biggest upside is how they’ve related to what we’re looking for on defense,” Wright added. “Trying to get young kids to focus on defense as opposed to offense is a bit of a chore within itself. But they’ve gravitated toward the value of playing defense, so collectively you should be able to see a big difference in how we approach the game defensively. Maybe we can win a couple of those one-or-two-point games we dropped last year.”
Jessee Broadus, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound forward, is going to be a game-changer for Greene County. The junior has spent a lot of his time during the offseason working on his rebounding skills.
Ryder Eschbach is another name to watch for the Tigers. He transferred from Loganville Christian Academy before the start of last season and his shot has improved over the summer months.
Other top returnees include Laryous Burt, Steve Miller, Rodricus Monford, and Jay’Shawn Jernigan.
However, Wright doesn’t want to highlight individual players.
“I want to focus on what we can do collectively as a team,” he said. “That’s what I want to see this year.”
Looking back, Greene County went 7-18 overall and 7-9 in region play in Wright’s first season at the helm. The Tigers lost seven games by five points or less and want to improve on that this year.
As far as goals go, Wright admitted the team doesn’t have many. He would like to win more close games, but that’s not the most important thing, which is to develop his players into grown men.
“I want to develop student-athletes,” Wright said. “A lot of the time we take things out of context. This is an extracurricular activity. Sometimes it’s glorified in the wrong ways, so we’re emphasizing what we need to accomplish. Are we (teaching) guys that can be a value to their community and represent their families well? In the meantime, they can be successful in what they love to do. So, that’s the main focus for us.”
Following the win over Taliaferro County, Greene County dropped close decisions to Morgan County (49-39) and Putnam County (76-69).
This week, the Tigers will face Putnam County again on Friday in Eatonton, while they will open up region play with Aquinas at home on Saturday.