What we learned at the Don Redden Memorial Classic
We get a lot of really good non-district play tournaments around the state, but few of them are as both highly regarded and well-played as the Don Redden Memorial Classic hosted by Ouachita. Ouachita beat Woodlawn (Shreve.) to win it…
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Continue ReadingWe get a lot of really good non-district play tournaments around the state, but few of them are as both highly regarded and well-played as the Don Redden Memorial Classic hosted by Ouachita. Ouachita beat Woodlawn (Shreve.) to win it on Sunday, after Carroll beat West Ouachita for the third-place finish and Rayville won a rematch with West Monroe to win the consolation bracket.
Now, let’s tell you what I some of the things I saw in the Redden:
- When Ouachita is hitting its 3’s, I’m beginning to think that team is unstoppable. Under Jeremy Madison’s coaching, the Lions are always going to play outstanding defense, and the 3-balls falling saw them jump out to a 29-11 lead on West Ouachita in the first quarter. (Then hit another on the first possession of the second quarter to continue the absurd barrage of 3’s.) Sophomore point guard Paul King was especially impressive in that semifinal, hitting five 3’s, and in talking to Madison in between games, he was not surprised by that shooting display, saying it happens somewhat regularly in practice. When a team can score like that and defend like that, I think they’re good enough to win 5A.
- The more I see this West Ouachita team, the more I like it. Kam Harris provides plenty of firepower for the backcourt by himself and is especially potent when Luke Farrar is hitting his 3’s; add in the small but pesky guys in the frontcourt like Garrett Guirlando, Carson Brown and Leshaveon Henderson and this team could set a solid ceiling for West Ouachita basketball. I’m not trying to portray this team as a 4A title contender, I know the Chiefs are far from that, but I also don’t think it’s far-fetched to say this bunch could win a playoff game.
- I saw something out of Carroll on Saturday that really impressed me: the Bulldogs, down by 10 at halftime against a Woodlawn team content with killing clock, went to a fullcourt press and mounted an impressive comeback. That’s notable to me because Carroll has been a classic zone team for years, one that shouldn’t be comfortable in a man-to-man setting. The fact that it was tells me Carroll has some promising athleticism in its backcourt to work with, which has been that team’s primary goal for two years now in an effort to bolster all-star big man Larry Owens. If coach Jesse Burnette can strike a chord with those athletes and turn them into quality basketball players come February, Carroll will once more be a Top 28 caliber team in 3A.
- I ran into another local media member at this tournament who was fawning over this West Monroe I’m not going to go as far as he did, but I can see where his optimism is rooted. Who doesn’t love their guard Jimmie Orange (you’ll read more on him in the coming days/weeks, too) and he has some pieces around him to make the team whole like big man Dennis Collins plus Jakeem Richard and Chris Tyler. I wouldn’t put this team at a competitive level with Ouachita or Natchitoches Central in District 2-5A yet, but a playoff win remains possible, which I would view as a nice step forward for this program.
(As a final note, I’ll have more on Wossman’s performance in this tournament in the High Five posted sometime Monday, so come back for that, and even more on Woodlawn at some point later on. Follow us on Twitter, @PrepHoopsLA, to see those things when they get published.)