Pre-Season Preview: Wenonah Dragons
Team: Wenonah High School (Birmingham AL) Classification: 5A (Area 9) Head Coach: Cedric Lane Instagram ID: @N/A Twitter ID: @N/A 2020-2021 Record: 11-15 (According to www.maxpreps.com) Key Returning Players: Jeff Duncan (5’9/Fr/PG) Key Characteristics: Game manager Gets guys good shots…
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Continue ReadingTeam: Wenonah High School (Birmingham AL)
Classification: 5A (Area 9)
Head Coach: Cedric Lane
Instagram ID: @N/A
Twitter ID: @N/A
2020-2021 Record: 11-15 (According to www.maxpreps.com)
Key Returning Players:
Key Characteristics:
Game manager
Gets guys good shots
Great on ball defender
Hard nosed tough PG
Goes both left and right and can finish going both ways.
Key Characteristics:
Athletic
Slasher
Scorer
Great in transition
Can jump out the gym
Key Characteristics:
Rebounder
Scorer
Leader
Slasher
Strong inside game
Key Players That Will Play Major Roles:
Kedrick Hubbard (6’4/Jr/Forward)
Key Characteristics:
Scorer
Plays inside & out
Shoots a high percentage.
Zakaria Stallworth (5’10/Fr/SG)
Scorer
Good in transition
Plays hard.
After a couple of years away from Wenonah, Coach Lane finds himself back at the school that he led to the Final 4 (2010) and won the State Championship (2011, 2012, 2013). The basketball community will never forget the 2011 championship, with his team down 18 with 6mins left in the game, with three starters already fouled out, and two starters with four fouls, and somehow Coach Lane rallied his team, and they scored 19 straight points and ended up winning by 4pts. That never-give-up mindset and always going at your opponents has become what Coach Lane teams are known for bringing night in and night out.
Coach Lane’s teams have always been uptempo full-court press teams, but in his first year back at the school he calls home, his uptempo, full-court press style of play will be challenged as he does not have the depth that he is used to having. This does not bother coach as he knows that he will have to play to the strength of his team, which is a very athletic squad.
When I spoke with Coach, he was very excited about his team and had rave reviews about his freshman PG, Jeff Duncan.
This is what coach had to say about Jeff, “I have a real good point guard that can really get us into what we need to get into. He is a real good floor general, a young kid, a freshman. Jeff is the real deal. He will be one of the next top point guards coming out of Alabama.”
Now for Coach Lane to say this, it raises antennas in the Birmingham area, because coach had an outstanding point guard named Justin Coleman. For coach to say this about Jeff, I am sure people will be lining up early to see just how good this freshman is. Especially as coach told me, “he is worthy of comparison.”
It will not take long to see how the Dragons respond to tough competition as they have several early-season match-ups to keep an eye on.
Nov. 16 @ Parker HS
Nov. 19 vs Midfield HS
Nov. 22-24: Bob Jones Tournament
Over the years, something that has become more impactful to Coach Lane and his development as a coach is realizing it is more about the Jimmys and the Joes than the X’s and O’s. He says he has always known it, but it has become more real than ever.
There are a lot of expectations for Coach Lane as he leads the Dragons into this year. He said he did not know people’s expectations for his team, and I immediately told him that people want to see if Coach Lane can get the Dragons back to the top. Time will tell.