City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's "Prepping for Preps," our series of articles previewing area high school teams for the 2015-16 season. For the complete list of schools previewed so far, click here)

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HARRISBURG — Kirk Smallwood really doesn’t seem too worried that his basketball-playing program has just four youngsters zipping about practice who logged any sort of playing time in last season’s finale.

Frankly, it’s not the 60-year-old Smallwood’s manner. Smallwood’s infinitely more concerned about what players he has available and who his coaching staff needs to have prepared and ready when yet another season is set to begin.

“Doesn’t matter,” Smallwood stated late last week.

“Guys who come to practice every day are the guys we’re going to teach and coach and make them better people and better players.”

And there you have what Smallwood’s remarkably successful Harrisburg Cougars are truly all about — in a concise yet comprehensive form.

Turning grueling, defense-heavy workouts into fast-paced, perspiration-drenched scraps that, on more nights than not, go Harrisburg’s way.

Yet while Smallwood’s Cougars may not have a roster flush with faces all that familiar to Harrisburg’s avid hoops partisans, the expectations for the 2015-16 season in Pennsylvania’s Capital City are just as high as ever.

In the ‘Burg, though, they really never change.

“We expect to win the league every year,” Smallwood said matter-of-factly, referring to the Mid-Penn Conference’s rugged Commonwealth Division. “That’s what we expect. Our goal is to win the league, win districts and win states.

“We have a team that’s very talented. We’ve got good pieces,” added Smallwood (521-120 in 22 years at Harrisburg, 568-193 in 27 seasons overall), who has piloted the Cougars to two PIAA Class AAAA championships and six District 3-AAAA titles. “We just have to gel and we just have to become more disciplined. We have to be able to shoot the ball better and be more efficient offensively.

“And we’ve got to be able to shut down people.”

Smallwood’s upbeat Cougars also must compensate for the departure of three-time all-state selection Jahaad Proctor, who last season averaged a school-record 24.4 points per game and finished (1,689 points) as Harrisburg’s all-time leading scorer.

Proctor is a freshman at Iona College, playing in the highly competitive MAAC.

Without Proctor plugged into the Harrisburg lineup, the Cougars will turn to Chris Whitaker, a springy 6-3 wing who last season averaged 12.4 points per outing for a 22-9 club that claimed the Mid-Penn Commonwealth championship and advanced to the state quarters before falling 65-58 to Allderdice.

Anthony “Big Ten” Johnson, the remarkably agile 6-7 Harrisburg native who spent the past two seasons at Glen Mills, also is being counted on to help fill the significant offensive chasm created last spring when Proctor donned a cap and gown.

“I’m really excited,” said Johnson, who averaged a double-double (13.6 ppg/11.7 rpg) last season at Glen Mills. “Playing with my new teammates, we want to build our chemistry and win our league this year. I’m excited to be back in Harrisburg and I’m excited for the season to get going.”

Johnson’s efforts at the defensive end of the floor, as an intimidating presence capable of rebounding, protecting the rim and igniting the Cougars’ transition game, may be even more influential since he averaged 4.4 blocks per outing last season.

Johnson will head into his senior season, which begins Tuesday night at Mifflin County, holding Division I scholarship offers from Rider and Wagner. Morgan State, Temple and Pittsburgh also are checking out the 17-year-old forward. 

“Losing Jahaad left a big void, but with the guys we have we feel like we can fill that void very quickly,” admitted Whitaker, who is hearing from a variety of Division I programs. “Jahaad could average 20-25 easy and Ten can average 20-25 easy, so a lot of the guys can really make up for it.

“By far, having that rim protector really helps us out a lot,” Whitaker continued. “Over the past three or four years, we haven’t been able to play Cougar-style basketball, because our guards were scared that if we let a guy get past us we didn’t have a guy to protect the rim. With Ten [back there], we don’t have that worry any more so we can get back to playing that fast, up-tempo style pace we like to play.

“We can go for the steals. We can dive on the floor.”

And with an athletic nucleus available — beyond Whitaker and Johnson — the Cougars also believe they have the personnel needed to go after the victories and the trophies and the championships they genuinely covet.

Others returning from Harrisburg’s season-ending setback to Allderdice — Whitaker pocketed 10 points in that reversal — include 5-10 senior lead guard Naasir Johnson, 6-5 junior forward Damion Barber and 6-3 sophomore wing Shaquon Anderson-Butts.

Barber and Anderson-Butts are high-major Division I football recruits. The remarkably physical Barber suffered a knee injury near the end of the football season, but he’s expected to rejoin the Cougars shortly.

Quentin “Tito” Flemister, a 5-10 junior, and 6-0 sophomore Yahmir Wilkerson will provide backcourt depth. Senior Christian Ray and junior Elijah Barrett, both of whom stand 6-4, are still adjusting to the Harrisburg program after transferring in from Central Dauphin and Steel-High, respectively.

Ray is a terrific perimeter shooter, while the long, rangy Barrett will work the glass and the painted area. Harrisburg also had 6-9 junior big man Brennen Jackson when preseason practice began, but he transferred to Central Dauphin East.

“Everybody’s got to contribute,” Smallwood said. “We know what Big Ten will do every night. We know what Chris’ll do every night. But it’s those guys that have to get the six and eight, take the charges and get the rebounds and get some assists. Those guys will be very, very important to how far we can go.”

“Losing Jahaad made me the leader of this team,” Whitaker admitted. “Being expected to be the leader of this team makes my job a lot more difficult, a lot more challenging but I’m ready for it. I’m expected to do a lot, but with the great cast I have around me, they’re gonna make me look good because of how good they play.”

With the incredibly challenging schedule Smallwood has concocted, all of the Cougars will have to play well — every single night — and they know it.

In addition to tough Commonwealth Division scrapes against Carlisle, Central Dauphin East, State College, Cumberland Valley and Chambersburg, the Cougars must navigate an imposing non-league slate featuring perennial hammers such as Philadelphia’s Martin Luther King, Berks Catholic, Chester, Penn Wood, McCaskey, Bishop McNamara (Md.) and Williamsport.

One five-day stretch will feature back-to-back-to-back games against CD East, McCaskey and Bishop McNamara — one on the road and two at neutral venues — then a day off before a scrap at Kimber Gymnasium with Carlisle.

“Let’s do it. Let’s do it,” a grinning Smallwood cracked. “I think we’re built like that. It’s just a matter of us coming together and understanding what we have to do to be successful and just stay with our strengths and we’ll be fine.”

Plus, surviving that challenging array of games means Smallwood’s Cougars also will be prepared come February and March.

Remember, the expectations never waver at Harrisburg.

“I hope to accomplish three things,” Johnson admitted. “The first is to win our division, the second is to go to districts and win districts and the third one is to win a state championship.”

See …

“Expectations are always high at Harrisburg, that’s one thing … but we like that,” Whitaker added. “It should be a really fun year and, like I said, anything less than a state title is unacceptable.”