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Prepping for Preps '16-17: West Catholic Prep

12/07/2016, 3:00pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Jason Hasson (above) directs traffic during a West Catholic practice in late November. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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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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Jason Hasson’s voice booms over West Catholic basketball practice.

The Burrs’ 34-year-old first-year head coach is a commanding presence to begin with, always in the middle of things during practice in “the Pit,” West Catholic’s intimate gym set deep within the bowels of the school at 45th and Chestnut. With an intense gaze and direct manner, he’s constantly evaluating the 15-some boys working on defensive drills, barking out instructions and critique time and time again.

It also doesn’t hurt that he’s using a microphone, clipped to his shirt, to make sure every word is heard above the squeaking sneakers and bouncing balls. The message is clear: pay attention, or else.

“I think it makes a big difference -- saving my voice number one, and it’s just easier to teach,’ he said. “And with this team we need a lot of teaching, we need a lot of instruction.”

The mic sets the stage for what is as high-intensity a practice as you’ll see at the high school level. Hasson’s style is go-go-go, and the players are still catching up.

His drills, largely focused on the defensive end of the court, allow his players to be almost as physical as they want, ignoring boundaries and rules in favor of playing hard and competing on every single rep.

One particular portion of practice has the team split into three, rotating in for a 5-on-5 half-court drill where points are based on stops, not scores. With Hasson ensuring the energy level stays high -- picking on kids who aren’t talking defensively, who aren’t diving on the floor, the microphone insuring everybody hears just who isn’t doing quite enough -- the Burrs’ players pick up on the intensity, arguing with each other as to what they all need to do to make the coach happy.

This particular day saw two players asked to leave practice after particularly frustrated outbursts. None of that fazed Hasson.

It’s all by design.

“My teams always are fighting at practice, my teams are always yelling at each other, and that’s how families operate,” Hasson said. “If you’re brothers and sisters, you fight. I’m not afraid of guys fighting with each other, arguing with each other, as long as we’re constantly competing and then at the end we come together as a unit, because that’s what families do.”

The focus on the defensive end is a staple for Hasson, who spent the previous five years building Pope John XXIII (N.J.) from an afterthought to a powerhouse on the Garden State’s terrific non-Public scene, up there with Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict’s and the rest.

“He wants us to get up on people, make them turn it over, and just be active on the ball and then in help defense,” sophomore guard Imere Harris said. “Just real active on defense.”

“This is no different than any other team I’ve coached,” Hasson said. “It’s going to take them a while to understand how to bring that intensity everyday.

“That’s how my teams at Pope John always were, we were very intense, we were very well-conditioned, flying all over the court, playing a lot of intense defense, and that’s what we’re trying to do here.”

Harris is the leading returning scorer (9.8 ppg) from a team that went 6-17 overall (4-9 Catholic League) in the last year of Jazz Williams’ tenure. Also back is junior forward C.J. Pressley, who chipped in a few points a game as a sophomore, but after that’s largely a new group that will be tested in the area’s toughest high school league for the first time.

There are only two seniors on the entire roster -- Sekou Fofana (6-5) and Larry Covington (6-2), so Hasson will lean heavily on his youth this year.

And he’s got some very intriguing pieces.

Sophomore Ayotunde Sanusi is a rail-thin 7-footer who’s certainly raw but will give the Burrs a legitimate rim protector that’s crucial in the top half of the PCL. Fellow sophomores Harris, Daijon Womack (6-3), Samier Kinsler (6-0) and Tyree Corbett (6-6) will all play big minutes as well; Corbett, an athletic wing who’s got a wingspan approaching seven feet, might be the best long-term prospect on the entire team. Junior Ty Sutton-Durham (6-0) should help Harris, Kinsler and Womack in both running the offense and shouldering the scoring burden.

Then there are the two freshmen forwards, Duane Satchell (6-9) and Naadir Wood (6-8), who Hasson expects to be big pieces of the program going forward.

Inexperience aside, the biggest issue for West Catholic initially is just the learning process, adjusting not just to a new coach and new system but to each other.

“The team chemistry, it’s getting there,” Harris said. “It’s getting there, but I believe we can bring it up more.”

It’s going to be a process for Hasson, the son of former Altoona (Pa.) coach Paul Hasson, as he begins his second head coaching tenure.

They’re not going to be expected to do much in the Catholic League this year, though the Burrs’ athleticism and defensive tenacity could certainly pick them up a few wins; a top-10 league finish and first-round playoff spot is not out of the question.

As driven as Hasson is, he knows that it’s going to be a process. But he’s not going to let that process just happen naturally. He’s going to make sure his players hear the message, microphone and all.

I know everyone thinks overnight we just turned that team around, but I was there five years,” Hasson said. “We weren’t state champions or top 25 in the country until year four, so I know about a process, I know about building something.

“I am a little bit impatient -- I demand a lot of these guys and they’ve responded pretty well -- but we still have a long way to go.”


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