City of Basketball Love

Matt Chandik (@MattChandik)
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(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.)

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It’s impossible for Mike Brown to not think about how far Garnet Valley has come.

Find rock bottom. Keep going two or three levels lower than that, and you’ll find where the Jaguars were before Brown took over. He was tabbed as coach after GV strung together three straight 1-21 campaigns, and while Brown knew that he needed to build his program from the middle school up, it was a tall task to try to keep kids home.

“Step one was convincing the middle school kids to stay. If you were a good basketball player when the program struggled, you had a lot of reasons to go somewhere else to play,” Brown said. “When we started to have success, the idea of staying home made more sense. You can talk about it all day long, but you have to back it up with wins.”

The number in the 'W' column started to balloon immediately. The Jags had nine of them in Brown’s first season, then followed it up by breaking into double digits the following season. A season ago, GV found itself on the right side of the scoreboard 14 times and ended its season in unfamiliar territory…the District One playoffs.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good,” Brown said. “It’s a credit to the work put in by the assistant coaches and the players. They work so hard. Everybody pitched in and I do feel good about the future. As a coach, you don’t necessarily want to have a good team. You want to have a good program. We used to hope to win. Now, we expect to win every time we play.”

Brandon Starr was one of those middle schoolers that first heard Brown’s message. Even when the Jags were taking their baby steps to establishing themselves as a legit Central League program, the now-senior guard remembers Brown setting forth a clear vision for what he wanted the team to be.

“Coach Brown used to come talk to us and tell us, ‘we’re going to be better and we want you to stay with us,’” Starr said. “It’s awesome to be a part of it and to be able to actually make an impact. We want to make it to the Central League championship. We’ve been talking about since we started practices and open gyms. We’ve grown tremendously through the year and we need to get back to where we left off in the district playoff.”

Garnet Valley contending for a Central League title? It used to sound preposterous, but it’s far from outrageous now. There’s an excellent nucleus that sets the foundation for what could be a special team.

Starr and Austin Laughlin are the headliners. They were two of only eight underclassmen to receive All-Central votes last year. Starr, a 6-3 lefty, is garnering collegiate attention. He’s grown two inches in the last year. Starr is likely a small forward for the Jags and a shooting guard in college. He can stretch a defense with his 3-point shooting, but his athleticism and size allow him to work inside and out.

“Brandon grew late, but he’s gotten better every year,” Brown said. “He’s a tough matchup because he’s difficult to guard inside and out.”

Laughlin doesn’t offer the same versatility that Starr does, but he can shoot the lights out. Another returning double-figure scorer, the junior 6-1 guard can handle the ball well. Brown loves his work ethic and expects big things from him.

Starr and Laughlin run the show, but they also get help from some big-time multi-sport athlete. Senior Jacob Buttermore is one of the Central League’s most versatile football players as a wide receiver, return man and kicker. He’s the best player on a team that has sprung a pair of upsets in the District One playoffs.

Oh, and he’s actually a future Division I lacrosse attackman, as he’ll play for traditional powerhouse Syracuse in college.

“Buttermore brings a lot of athleticism,” Brown said. “He can defend and he can shoot. Danny Guy is another football player that plays for us. He brings a lot of toughness to our lineup.

Athleticism in spades is never a bad thing, and Brown’s style suits that well. GV likes to play fast to make up for its relative lack of size. They can go 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3 up front, but there’s not a massive post presence to dump the ball to.

“We like to play fast,” Brown said. “Playing fast is a lot of more fun. We don’t want to play wild, but we do play at a fast pace and we don’t really want to slow it down.”

Connor O’Brien is a 6-1 guard who brings a steady, all-around presence to the lineup. He plays bigger than his listed size and can handle the ball, too, giving Brown a trio of ball-handling options. It’s the sophomore class that brings the size to the party, though. Cade Brennan – another football player - is a 6-4 sophomore who’s not the guy you want to be meeting at the rim. Evan Clarke is a 6-3 sophomore that Brown likes for his defense, rebounding and athleticism.

The coolest thing about Garnet Valley’s rise, though, is that the Jaguars don’t shy away from the heightened expectations.

“I like that we’re all together. We work as a team and have fun with each other, and when you have fun, you play well,” Starr said. “It would be huge for us to win the league. I could say in the future, ‘I was a part of the team.’ It would mean a lot to our team. We only have two seniors, three or four juniors and the rest are sophomores, so it would be crazy if a young team like that won the first Central League title for Garnet Valley.”

Crazier things have happened, like a team emerging from the specter of 3-63 to be talking about winning championships.