Coach Speak: Dan Williams believes Mainland boys basketball has talent to reload next season

Coach Speak is a feature in which a Glory Days Magazine staff member talks with an area head coach about how their team is playing, the state of the program and what the future holds. Recently, Managing Editor Giuseppe Ungaro caught up with Mainland Regional boys basketball coach Dan Williams. Ungaro: How are you assessing the season now that it’s over? Williams: I think in the relatively short time we have been here — this is our fourth year — that this was arguably our best season. The guys on the court had their best record (18-10). Officially, our record was 17-11 through an absolute screw-up on my part, certainly not the guys. We had a (JV) kid play an extra quarter (of varsity) and we had to forfeit against Millville. I don’t mean any disrespect to Millville, but it was a game where there wasn’t all that much doubt. We were knocked out in the quarterfinals (of South Jersey Group 3), but I was really proud of the way the guys responded in the second half. We played without one of our starters in the first half. We came back after being down 17 and it was a tie game with a shot to win it in regulation. One more basket or one more stop, we are that close to being in the semifinals. I know we went to the finals two years ago, so you certainly can argue that was a better year, but the way the guys responded to being 8-9 at one point to going on that stretch of 10 straight wins and taking a really good Highland team to the limit in the playoffs, I thought this year was a little bit better. We may have had more basketball talent two years ago. We had Darius Jerkins, who is playing very well for Stockton, and he was all-South Jersey player at the end of his career. We had Kenny Randall, who was a giant of a kid. Those two were tough to handle. This year we may have had less talent but we had more heart. Ungaro: This is the first group you have had for four years. How much are you going to miss this particular group of seniors? Williams: The answer is a lot, and I probably don’t even realize right now how much I’m going to miss them. Taylor Dirkes was our leading scorer, with Dean Deveney close behind as our second leading scorer. Believe it or not, Sam Jackson is our point guard and was within a half a rebound per game from being our leading rebounder. So Sam, Dean and Jake (O’Neill) really owned the boards for us. Jake blocked shots. Sam had the assists. So all the categories you stat out, collectively take that group out and we really don’t have any stats. It’s going to be tough. There’s no doubt about it. But having said that, it is the leadership that I will miss more than the numbers. Sam played three-plus years as our quarterback at point guard and Dean having gone through some things outside of basketball, like losing his mother at a young age, they were the coaches on the team. They were the adults on the team. They made the coaching staff’s lives easier. They set the intensity at practice. They set that bar every single day, and we didn’t have to waste time with any of that. I don’t think I’ll realize how much I will miss them until next year. Ungaro: What are reasons for optimism for next year? Under head coach Dan Williams, the Mainland Regional boys basketball team used a 10-game winning streak to earn a berth in the South Jersey Group 3 playoffs, where they nearly advanced to the semifinals. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) Williams: Dirkes is a senior and he worked hard. As the season went on he was the most improved. His numbers really went up, up and up as the season went on. If he was not the most improved guy it would be junior Osun Osuniyi, who is about 6-8 or (junior) Brandon Savitch, who really impressed the coaching staff as the season went on. He gave us a lot of different things. He became that second ball handler whether Sam was in the game or not. When Sam was really getting hounded by those ferocious guards from Atlantic City or other teams like that, Brandon could help bring it up. He got better and better at doing that. He really started to come on as a really solid shooter — maybe not like what Taylor was, but maybe with another year he can become that caliber of shooter. Osun with his length could have blocked more shots this year, but didn’t have as many opportunities with Jake here. He is probably more naturally gifted as a shot-blocker, and can finish. He just has to put on some muscle. He has a real thin frame. Those are two big pieces. We have a kid who played a small amount this year, freshman Sahmir Jones, who I think before his career closes can be the face of the program. He is dynamic guard, and he is left-handed, which is always different. There is something about a lefty. He can get to the hole and his shot improved a lot as the season went on. He is very athletic and is already doing well in track, from what I understand. He is athletic and he is starting to understand that he can become one of those difficult-to-get-by defenders. I don’t think he took a lot of stock in playing defense when he first started with us in the first couple of scrimmages, but by the end of the year, he became a real solid defender. I look for him to continue to improve. There are some guys that played small minutes, but played solidly, like John Mairone. He is a little guy but he will be a senior next year and he understands the game, understands what we are doing and understands his role, which is defense and to bring the ball up without turning it over. He is a heady player. Dalton Raring and Jack Bergman are good sized kids at about 6-foot-2. They don’t mind getting physical. They do all the dirty work and don’t mind getting on the floor. Ungaro: What’s it like to coach at Mainland Regional? Williams: I love it. I mean, I went to school here, I played here, so I certainly have a natural bias toward Mainland. I’m proud to have been part of it and hopefully try to continue make the guys proud to be Mustangs and love it here, want to do well here and grow into young men here. There is nowhere else I’d rather be coaching. There is a lot pride in the building. Coaches want to win everywhere, but there is a lot of good-natured competitiveness among the coaches, but at the same time they help each other out. A lot of the guys are close and pick each other’s brains. I happen to have a prep period with coach (Bob) Coffey and it’s great to pick his brain about what not to do and how to handle different situations. He has been through it for 30 solid years, and doing it well at the highest level. He has been nothing but helpful. It’s great being here. I’m sure there are a lot of great situations in South Jersey and in the (Cape-Atlantic League) but this is one I’m certainly thankful to have. Ungaro: How do you think being a student-athlete now is different than when you were in high school? Williams: The main difference I see is that there are so many things available for the kids in terms of the number of sports and the amount of times throughout the year they can play any of these sports. If you are a soccer kid there is more soccer in a year than you can play if you just want to focus on soccer. You can play soccer year-round. There is swimming year-round. Baseball, obviously there is spring and summer but there is fall ball and even winter ball. There is so much. It is a balancing act. Look at Deveney, our senior co-captain. He plays football, baseball and basketball. He is a throwback because plays them during their season. I don’t know how he excels the way he does in all three, but that is pretty rare. He is a throwback in that way. That’s how I recall
the way it was when I played. Some kids now may play two sports, but it is rare they play three. Sometimes they play one and they play it all year. They are 15 to 18 years old and you want them to experience things. You want them, if they like multiple sports, to play multiple sports, but you also want to win and you want to produce best product you can. It’s difficult to do that if they don’t put a basketball in their hand outside of traditional basketball season. I think it is far more challenging to be a high school kid than when I was because that wasn’t available. If it was, I didn’t know about it. I played soccer to stay in shape for basketball. I then played basketball most other times of the year, but then there were times there was nothing. We got time to be 15- or 16-year old kids. There is so many demands put on these kids. I’m amazed at the ones who can handle it well. Contact Giuseppe Ungaro: gungaro@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDgisepu [adsense]