Jonesboro won the Class AAAA state championship last season with only one senior on the roster. That bodes well for this season.
The Cardinals’ have their four top scorers back from last year’s title squad, including superstar sophomore MJ Walker. Coach Dan Maehlman spoke with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week to discuss what’s next for program this season.
Q: You have a lot of guys back from last season’s squad. What’s different about this year’s team compared to last season?
A: Right now, everything. Regardless if you have returners coming back, you're always going to have new faces and have to have players step up in new roles. So our team compared to what it was last year on March 7, when we won the state championship, is completely different. We still have some of the same pieces, but how that whole puzzle comes together—and it's not even close yet—will be completely different from what we did next year.
Q: In what ways do you think the puzzle will come together differently this year?
A: The style won't be any different. Kids will have to accept different roles and understand their roles from one year to the next. Kids that didn't get minutes last year will have to step up. The biggest thing for us every year, regardless that we won a state championship, is defining roles for our kids. And that goes from our best players, from MJ (Walker) to Austin (Donaldson) to Tracy (Hector), it doesn't matter. Everybody has a role and needs to understand it. And when that is understood by those kids, that's when we become pretty good. Obviously, you want that to happen toward the end of the year.
Q: After last season's breakout campaign, what do people not know about sophomore MJ Walker (6-5, 205)?
A: He brings so much to the table. Everyone thought he was such a great offensive player, which he is, but they always questioned if he can guard. Can he play defense? Is he going to be able to guard the other team's best players? That's the things that I don't think people understand. He's leading the team in charges already this year. That's the thing we work with him on, because once he goes to the next level, which will be high major, he's going to have to be able guard kids that are bigger or smaller than him.
He’s a gym rat that is so humble. I’ve have kids that were similar to him in (current Atlanta Falcons wide receiver) Harry Douglas and Toney Douglas (who is playing professional overseas). You don’t find kids that have that much talent and still are so humble and liked by their classmates, their teachers and everybody. It’s a blessing to have a kid like that in your program.
Q: Who is your most improved player from last year to this season?
A: Two guys: (forward) Austin Donaldson and (point guard) Tracy Hector. Both of those kids from last year have completely transformed their bodies. Austin has signed with Tennessee-Chattanooga. Tracy just got his test scores back and will be receiving some offers. Both of those kids have gone from being really big players last year, but they've transformed their bodies and their games over the summer. Their dedication to basketball is hard to find in high school kids.
Q: There’s been a lot of talk around college basketball about the slower pace and lower-scoring games. Have you noticed this trickling into the high school game as well?
A: I don't think the pace has really slowed down in my opinion. I watch a lot of basketball, and you see Kentucky going up and down the floor. I think, more so, the fundamentals that the kids use now kind of slow the pace down. That's not a bad thing, to me. That makes basketball fun to watch.
Q: What fundamentals are you referring to, defense or offense? Both?
A: I think it goes both ways. Traditionally in college basketball as well as high school in the state of Georgia, those teams that are successful year in and year out have a edge about themselves defensively. Offensively, if you're more fundamentally sound and instead of just getting the ball and throwing up the first shot and everyone just running around, you try to use each other and get the best shot possible ... yeah, it's going to slow the game down and sometimes it might be more boring, but that's the way basketball, to me, is supposed to be played.
Q: Are you happy with your team’s patience to start the season?
A: No, I'm not. Not even close. The beginning of the season we don't run a single offense with any kind of dribble. We do that for probably the first month. So many kids just want to put the ball on the floor as soon as they get it. So we run everything strictly with no dribble. And it gets frustrating at times, but it carries over at some point. We share the ball very well. Our kids find each other and pass the ball very well. But right now everything's too much one-on-one. We legitimately have three or four Division I kids on the perimeter, and a freshman kid in the post that's probably a high major Division I kid. Anybody at any time can take their man off the dribble and do some one-on-one stuff. But in high school basketball, to me, that's not beneficial. You have to mold your game to what's going to make your team successful.
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