Potter’s House Heating Up With Enticing Transfers
After a topsy-turvy year plagued by uncertainty, Potter’s House Christian Academy has registered its recruiting presence with an infusion of talent for the 2018-19 season.
It was a trying time for the program without head coach Steve McLaughlin last year, who took a sabbatical while his wife underwent cancer treatments. She is now fully healthy and 100 percent cancer free.
McLaughlin is now back and ready to pilot Potter’s House back into the SIAA’s upper crust following the hiatus and subsequent irregular down year.
A few weeks prior to when most SIAA programs arrive on campus, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based Academy capitalized on the high level transfer market.
Recruiting has long been the unparalleled lifeblood of Florida’s fabled SIAA conference, which once boasted in the vicinity of 35 Division-I prospects.
After a collective down year, one which witnessed the conference squander some significant star power with Elijah Weaver (USC) and Darius Days (LSU) fleeing for Rockledge and IMG respectively, the SIAA will once again reign supreme as a veritable breeding house for gritty, Division-I bound guards.
The Lions have brought in a highly-coveted 6-foot-4 point guard in Massachusetts native Taelon Martin.
Holding a handful of high major offers, including South Carolina, Marquette, Syracuse, and Pitt, Martin is a certifiable two-way threat who converts turnovers into transition leak-outs as effectively as any guard in the country.
He’s got a proven scoring aptitude at all three levels. He additionally possesses the type of springboard-bounce which enables him to finish in the open court with relative ease.
Also bolstering the backcourt is 6-foot-7 Thomasi Gilgeous-Alexander. The younger brother of the former Kentucky star and newly minted NBA rookie, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Class of 2019 Alexander is lethal for his versatility.
He’s got the IQ, natural playmaking acumen and multi-layered defensive mentality as bedrock assets.
With offers from New Mexico, Fresno State, and South Carolina on the table, Gilgeous-Alexander is capable of guarding the 1-3 and perhaps even the four at this level.
He’s got crafty handle and the know-how to facilitate and really carve up a defense with his surgical passing.
How will the intriguing new pieces change the dynamic of this Potter House program?
“We’re going to play fast, fast, fast,” said McLaughlin, a Jacksonville native who has churned out elite level prospects such as 7-foot behemoth Udoka Azubuike (now at Kansas).
“We’re going to try to score 85+ points a night.”
Instrumental in bringing in a torrent of talent to Potter’s House has been newly acquired coach Nick Couluris. Previously at DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Couluris helped turnaround a downtrodden DME high school team, catapulting a program that went an abysmal 5-25 in 2016-17 to a berth in the state final four in 2017-18.
“We have a ton of talent at the wing and guard spots,” Couluris explained.
“Without giving too much away or sounding like everyone in this day in age, we want to play aggressively on both ends. We don’t want to over coach our talent. Players win games. Coaches lose them. We plan on playing with pace and spacing. All of our guys are big time playmakers, they’ve all shown it on the highest of levels thus far. Sounds simple but let our players make plays. Teach concepts, in which our guys can play within and under.”
Marsei Caston, a returning Class of 2019 prospect, has the type of prodigious vertical leaping ability and finishing to become one of the most memorable SIAA players since Corey Sanders was at West Oaks.
Fueled by a never-ending supply of adrenaline and soaring athletic outbursts, Corey Sanders was one of the most electrifying high school basketball players ever.
There’s very little embellishment or exaggeration in that statement, as perusing his various highlight films would indicate.
Caston is cut from a similar cloth. He’s quick, he’s elusive, and he can provide smothering on-ball defense. Similar to the previously mentioned Martin, Caston converts turnovers into transition buckets with a full head of steam.
While Caston’s handle and shot off the dribble are his hallmark qualities, he’s developed into a dependable long range shooter. A 25-point eruption, one underscored by six 3-pointers, against Aspire Academy on The Grind Session last season is emblematic of his newfound confidence on the perimeter.
“Marsei will be able to do what he does best now which is score,” explained McLaughlin.
“Last year he had to do so much because we didn’t have much around him. Now, with the new pieces he can play more off the call and get buckets. Everybody’s going to have the opportunity to get buckets because we’re getting it off the rim and going fast.”
With his veteran leadership, Caston will be a calming influence with the ball in his hands. The coaching staff is not opposed to playing him off the ball, either.
“(Caston) will be the lead, veteran guard for us,” Couluris explained.
“Ideally, we’d like him to play the two alongside Taelon at the one. Both can handle the ball.”
In the trenches, Potter’s House envisions a ramped up role of importance for raw but promising bigs such as 6-foot-9 Class of 2022 Frank Ireye and 6-foot-11 Class of 2020 Victor Kelechi.
Both prospects are athletes who can rim run, catch lobs, block and alter shots.