Scouting Report: Ouachita Lions
Twice in the last four years, Ouachita has made the trip to Lake Charles as one of the final four teams standing in the 5A bracket; it’s possible none of those seasons started an outlook as optimistic as this one…
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Continue ReadingTwice in the last four years, Ouachita has made the trip to Lake Charles as one of the final four teams standing in the 5A bracket; it’s possible none of those seasons started an outlook as optimistic as this one does.
The run to the Top 28 last year for Ouachita was fueled by underclassmen (not to diminish some of the key buckets throughout the playoff run by seniors such as Jay Gill and Zach Hannibal), giving the 2016-17 Lions a spot in the Top 28 for most people trying to project it. I got went out and saw the Lions a couple of times, in wins over West Ouachita and Wossman, and here’s what I saw.
- I was curious to see Rod Hall and Paul King start alongside one another in the backcourt. Hall and King are very similar players – short but quick point guards that can score, but are much more suited as facilitators – to the point that King would come off the bench to give Hall breathers last season. I admit to being skeptical when I first saw it, but it seems to work so far – especially defensively, as both of them are high-energy, pesky defenders that can annoy an opposing ball handler.
- Now, that being said about Hall and King being limited scoring threats, Hall becoming one could open up a world of potential for this team. When he sets his mind to creating separation, Hall can do so better than any pass-first point guard I’ve seen at the high school level; he just hasn’t finished those shots so far. He made nasty 1-on-1 moves four times against Wossman that both got audible responses out of the crowd and created more than enough room to shoot…but only made one of those shots. If he can make more of those fall, it could win Ouachita pivotal district or playoff games down the road.
- I love the game of forward Willie Lapoole. He’s skinny for a low block guy in 5A, but he’s a skilled rebounder and is going to give more effort than most on the offensive glass in particular. He is not going to block many shots (partially by design), but he is going to affect a ton of them. All of those skills should interplay nicely with Jay Head (more on him later).
- Before we get to Jay Head, I also liked a bench option in the frontcourt in Myron Washington. Washington got a lot of time against West Ouachita while Head was out and he has some skills similar to Lapoole: he doesn’t have the body to do some of the things that NBA teams want low block guys to do, but some intangibles are absolutely there to produce in a few minutes off the bench. Occasional big man foul trouble isn’t necessarily going to derail the Lions.
- And now we get to the main event, Jay Head. He’s ranked in our 2017 top 15 for obvious reasons: he can score in a bevy of ways in the paint, he plays with a lot of energy, he will blocks shots but won’t make a living of it and he’ll make his free throws with relative consistency. With the support of a backcourt that seems destined to improve with more reps, Head could become one of the premier forwards in 5A.
Final takeaway: It feels odd to make this kind of statement so early in the season, but this team looks like it has what it takes to make it to the Top 28 once again, especially in a 5A bracket that no longer features Scotlandville. Assuming it gets better at shooting throughout the season, this Ouachita team has it in them to blowout some solid teams if it combines its outstanding defense with scoring spurts. The key to competing with 5A’s best (Natchitoches Central, for instance) will be interior defense: it has some of that now, but it will have to be more physical/dominating to have the same impact deep in the playoffs.