Brown Mackie loaded with talent
Brown Mackie (Salina, KS) coach Francis Flax knew he'd have a pretty good team coming into this season.
"People in the business tell me we've got seven mid-major players," Flax said. "That might be stretching it a little bit, but we've got seven guys that could play Division One ball."
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Still even Flax didn't think the Lions would be standing 14-and-1, with the lone loss an 80-63 setback against Johnson County Community College back on December 11th.
"We expected to be pretty good, but I didn't expect it to be this way. I thought we might be about 10 and 4," Flax said. "We've got such good balance. We're pretty good on the perimeter, pretty good underneath, our point situation is good."
The Lions topped Penn Valley last night for their 14th win in 15 games. They will head to Illinois for a ten-team shootout on Sunday. We asked Flax about some of his top performers this season.
"Our leading scorer is Oliver Lafayette. He's a good scorer, a two guard, averaging about 20 a game. He also leads our team, and maybe the nation, in steals. He can get you from the three-point line or get you off the dribble and take you to the basket. Offensively, he's just got a nice game."
Flax said Wichita State is the leader to land Lafayette, but James Madison, New Orleans, Southeast Lousiana and Lousiana-Lafayette are also pursuing him.
"Jeremy Richardson, he's averaging about 11. He plays the point on our press and keys our press. He's 6-4, a long, lanky lefthander. He just creates a lot of havoc. He's a slasher, can get to the basket any way."
Richardson plays small forward and Flax says a number of mid-major programs are showing interest.
"Dominic Bishop, he's our point guard, averaging 11 points and 5.8 assists," Flax said. He's a lefty out of Buffalo also and he's just a real good player."
Flax said Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is on Bishop hard as well as Western Kentucky and a number of schools in Louisiana.
James Dixon was the newcomer of the year as a freshman and has scored 20 points in back-to-back games for the Lions. Flax expects the recruiting interest to pick up on Dixon.
Oddly enough, the guy that may be Brown Mackie's best player won't even play Division One next year. James Williams is too old and will have to go Division II.
"He's a high major, but has to go D2. He's a high major averaging about 15 a game or 11 or 12 boards. He had 28 and 19 last night and threw six dunks in there. He just dominates inside."
Flax said a long list of DII schools want Williams, but that Washburn and Southern Indiana are leading the way.
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