Scouting Report: Woodlawn (Shreveport)
The field for the Don Redden Memorial Classic seems to set itself most years, with teams like Neville, West Ouachita, Wossman, Carroll, Rayville and others almost certain to make whatever concessions necessary to keep their spots. (Not that they would…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThe field for the Don Redden Memorial Classic seems to set itself most years, with teams like Neville, West Ouachita, Wossman, Carroll, Rayville and others almost certain to make whatever concessions necessary to keep their spots. (Not that they would need to.) That being said, in my two years here, there has always been one out-of-area team to make the trip to Ouachita for those four days of basketball.
This year, that team was Woodlawn (Shreveport) and the Knights showed pretty well, falling in a close championship game against the hosting Lions. Since this will likely be the last time I see Woodlawn until the playoffs, I decided to really focus in on the Knights whenever they were on the floor and try to get a good feel for this team. Having done so, let me pass on my notes to you so you can get to know this 4A contender.
- Center Devontae Brooks isn’t a half bad rebounder/shot blocker when he sets his mind to it, but he also embodies Woodlawn’s problem: he is their only notable muscle inside and he doesn’t have the body to really be a team’s muscle. Carroll’s Larry Owens exposed that weakness of Woodlawn’s pretty easily (it’s worth noting Woodlawn won the game), so therein lies the most obvious matchup issue for the Knights. That being said, Brooks can be particularly dangerous on the offensive glass in his own right, especially so as a slasher type, streaking through an alley in the lane to grab a rebound seemingly from nowhere.
- The other issue I noticed with the Knights (there are positive things coming, I promise) is depth. I don’t know if it was a coaching choice or a real issue, but I believe Woodlawn only played six guys in the semifinal against Carroll and only got up to seven in the championship game against Ouachita. An injury or foul trouble problem would be particularly brutal for Woodlawn over most other 4A teams, it seems, especially if it were to occur in the playoffs.
- I’m watching the first quarter of the semifinal against Carroll and Carroll’s gameplan is working to perfection: the Bulldogs have always been a 2-3 zone kind of team, forcing you to shoot 3’s. Woodlawn was shooting and missing early on, so much so I was beginning to think this team flat-out couldn’t shoot. Then they made three of them seemingly right on top of one another in the second half and senior guard Telvin Thomas returned to form.
- Quick break in the content to give a shoutout to coach Kenny Sykes. I loved the halfcourt sets this team runs against man defense: some nice spurts of creativity in there with a lot of variety in what they do. That’s a good coach right there.
- One more thing I noticed about Woodlawn: whenever an impact play is being made on defense, it seems sophomore guard Tra’michael Moton is right around the ball. He may not be the guy getting a straight-up steal in a 1-on-1 situation, but within the confines of a defensive system he plays in a way that seems to make things happen.
Final takeaway: Aggressive halfcourt defense and low post size can put a dent in this Woodlawn team, but that’s not necessarily easy to put together against a team with this level of athleticism and coached the way they are. Based on the version of Woodlawn I saw in the Redden, I would give the Knights Top 28 potential, but it’s hard for me to see that team getting there and upending both Bossier and Washington-Marion to win it all, since that’s what it will likely take. (Of course, Woodlawn gets their shots at changing that calculus by playing Bossier in the remaining regular season.)