City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
--

(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2016-17 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed so far can be found here.)

~~~

In recent years, when the word “Downingtown” has come up in basketball circles, it’s usually been followed by the word “West.”

The Whippets’ program has overshadowed its crosstown rival, Downingtown East, on the basketball court in both a head-to-head and overall sense, with back-to-back district playoff and Ches-Mont title game appearances under their belt.

As a new year approaches, however, West's dominant reign in the Downingtown Area School District may be on the decline, if for no other reason than the rising level of talent East head coach John Goodman has put together in the Cougars' program.

And although the team they have put together entering the 2016-17 season would certainly like to notch their first win over the Whippets since the current seniors were just freshmen, the focus is on a higher goal, one that hasn’t been achieved in East’s 13 years since the district split one high school in two.

“We’ve been (to districts) three of my first four years, but we’ve never won (a district game),” said Goodman, who's entering his fifth year at Downingtown East. “One of things we talk about, like our senior class helping to break through with the program, is making the Ches-Mont final four and hopefully winning a district game, that would be huge.”

With that said, Goodman and his team recognize that the balance of power may be shifting within their school district, and will look to capitalize on that as momentum for their goals this season.

Downingtown West graduated a terrific senior class in Josh Warren (Cornell), Ryan Betley (Penn) and Dom Guerrera (West Chester), and while there's still talent on the Whippets' roster, there aren't three scholarship players to replace them.

“When (West) has three D-II-or-higher players leave, the gap kind of shrinks a little bit,” Goodman said. “I think across the league it’s going to be a dog fight. I know that’s a cliché, but I could see any of the seven teams beating anyone on any night, and I could see a team making the final four at 8-4. It’s going to be interesting.”

“It’s exciting,” he added. “I think with the two years of West and Coatesville just kind of doing their own thing, being in their own tier, it kind of took a little excitement out, but I think this year, it’s going to be fun to watch.”

In order to do so, the Cougars will rely on a strong quartet of seniors, led most notably by 6-foot-8 forward Ryan Cahill and 6-1 guard Jared Desrochers, as well as talented 6-2 junior guard Malik Slay, who are all buying into the idea that the door has opened for their emergence this season.

“Seeing West have all that success I think helps them realize they want that,” Goodman said. “They’ve just been playing together so much the last couple of years that I think they’re just confident, they’re really itching to go.”

“This year, this group is really excited for the opportunity to play West, play Coatesville, and see where we’re at,” he added.

According to Goodman, it’s been Slay who has had the most impressive offseason, and is developing into the upperclassman role that his team will need this year.

Slay, despite being just a junior, is one of the most experienced players on the roster in a varsity sense, having started all of last season and even a few games as a freshman.

“This my tenth year of high school, and I haven’t seen a player make a jump from one year to another as big as Malik has (this summer),” Goodman said.

Goodman went on to call Slay “the epitome of a gym rat,” saying that his work ethic has been contagious throughout the whole team.

Arguably the biggest loss for Downingtown East in terms of ability level from last year, 6-foot-8 forward and current USC tight end Cary Angeline, didn’t even play his senior season, as he spent the year sidelined by an injury.

The current players adapted and learned to play without Angeline, and it’s paying off this year, as they won’t have to deal as much with the loss of graduates as most teams.

“Cary was just so good that it was kind of all about him, not that he wanted that but it’s just kind of how it was,” Goodman said. “So to have a year of just being pretty balance, getting those guys more confident, more reps, I thought it was a successful year for us.”

The addition of 6-foot-6 freshman Andrew King will also help give the Cougars one of the area’s most sizable frontcourts. As a highly-touted freshman on the national landscape, he’ll need to keep his focus on his role on the team in order to contribute to the best of his ability.

As his head coach would attest, he’s already doing that quite well at such a young age.

“He just wants to fit in, he’s very socially mature, and at no point have I thought he thought he was a superstar, which is very encouraging” Goodman said. “I’ve just been kind of saying to him, ‘some guys are getting offers freshman year, but freshman year is not going to make or break you. Take care of what you can take care of, and the success will come.’ He’s just such a hard worker.”

With the pieces they have this season, although the goals that have been set are respectable, there’s certainly reason to believe the ceiling for Downingtown East may be even higher.

“There’s a balance of wanting to do something that’s never been done before in school history, but also wanting to do even more than that,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting, it’s a really good group...we’re really looking forward to seeing how we do.”