Prospect Spotlight: Alphonso Billups (2022)
There are a lot of teams that are young and look a lot different this year in Virginia, especially in the Richmond area, but none may top the Varina Blue Devils. After experiencing a lot of success, going to the state tournament the last three years and winning the Class 5 State Championship two years ago, the Blue Devils are rebuilding as they lost all six of the guys who pretty much contributed everything last year.
While they’re new and extremely young, Varina has some building blocks with a talented 2022 class led by 6’5” wing Alphonso Billups.
The sophomore saw very little action in meaningful games last year as former Head Coach Andrew Lacy only went six deep for much of the season, but with him moving on to Richard Bland College most of the players moved on as well. That allows the talented Billups to be the leader and the go-to guy for this team, and he’s shown early in the season he’s capable of doing it. He believes despite how young they are, they are going to have a good season this year.
“I think we’re going to do great, we’re just trying to build confidence in everyone and get everyone there and just win moving forward,” Billups said.
At 6’5” with long arms and he still may be growing, Billups has a great frame to play the game and he has all of the tools to play on the wing. He can put it on the deck and handle pressure, he can get to his spots off the bounce, he can shoot the deep ball and he has pretty good feel for his age. He’s a mismatch at this level that can guard multiple positions and rebound, but why hear it from me when he can tell you himself?
“I can score from anywhere,” he said. “I can shoot threes, I can rebound, I can do a little bit of everything. I need to continue to work on boxing out so I can be an even better rebounder.”
Billups is going to blow up this year as the go-to guy who is going to put up big numbers, but if they’re going to succeed the rest of the young core will have to improve over the season as well. It’s something that Billups knows and despite being as young as he is he’s ready to step up as a leader and be the man for this group.
“Just playing with them and being there for them, sharing the ball and helping them improve. Our goal is to improve and win as a team. My goal is to be First Team All Region this year.”
Looking toward the future I fully expect Billups to be one of the top scorers in the Richmond area regardless of class. He projects to be a no brainer division one player and will see the coaches and recruitment come along with time. If he can fill out and continue to develop he will be a special player moving forward.