Thoughts from the Weekend: Josey

Josey's road loss to Glenn Hills (Friday) and its home loss to Laney (Saturday) certainly are not causes for immediate concern.  Glenn Hills is the only area team I recall as having an unblemished record.  And Laney, the defending class AA state champion, had one week to prepare with a particular sense of urgency after last weekend's loss to Butler.

A lack of scoring punch seemed to be responsible for the Eagles' weekend losses.  Josey failed to score more than 50 points in both games.  Fatigue is a possible factor as the team has played five games in eight days while Glenn Hills and Laney each had a six and seven day break, respectively, to prepare for the Eagles.  But tired legs can only explain so much.  I am talking about 16-18 year old kids!

I suspect that Josey's scorching hot guards finally cooled off after making such a high percentage of their shots in the first three games, all wins.  The good news for Josey fans is that despite failing to score many points over the weekend, the team still had a chance to win in both games against two of Augusta's best teams.  So coach Jabari Levi's Eagles are playing well defensively.

And I certainly won't bet that Josey's offense will continue to stall.  The team is quite inexperienced as none of the current players started last season.  And sophomore Darius Williams, who has moved to point guard after playing off the ball as a freshman, will continue to develop and use his unique abilities to keep the Eagles' offense on track.  ABR Live's "Expert on the Scene" and former NBA and Duke University star Will Avery paid the young guard a significant compliment Saturday, tweeting (from @WillAvery5) that "Williams may have the most raw talent of anybody in the area."

Despite two losses this weekend, that talent was evident, as the highlights above show.  And senior guard Charlie Green, also featured in the video, also displayed his ability to score in numerous ways.  Josey's fortunes may rise and fall with the ability of its relatively inexperienced guards to score consistently.  After Williams' run during last year's post season (shown in video below), I am confident he is up to the task.  And  it's probably fair to assume that he will not be alone as the season progresses.  So I continue to look for good things from Josey.