With the second season of his tenure at Smackover in its early stages, Bucks coach Reggie Turner believes he has a team that could contend for a league title.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Turner said. “We’re not as big as we were last year, but we have a bunch of guys that can handle the ball and come in and guard. I feel like we can get out and run on some teams, so that’s what we’re looking to do.”
Smackover got a late start with the Bucks reaching the state quarterfinals in football.
The Bucks started the season 0-3 with a pair of losses to Monticello along with a road setback at Magnolia as many of the players were making the transition from football to basketball.
“So far, I think the kids have done a good job considering they’ve just come out of football,” Turner said. “I know it’s going to take awhile for them to get their basketball legs under them, but I fully expect them to get going once we get started with conference.”
Playing three times against schools that are a combined 9-3 early on has also challenged the Bucks.
“We’ve had a tough schedule early on,” Turner said. “We’ve played Monticello twice and Magnolia once, so I’m looking to get the guys ready to go for the conference season. Our guys played hard and fought hard, but you could tell they didn’t have their second wind in the second half of both of those games, and Monticello was able to pull away. I thought our guys did well early on. I saw a lot of bright spots.”
The lone team to have defeated Magnolia will supply the opposition for the Bucks tonight in their second 7-3A outing.
Ashdown, who dropped from 4A to 3A, won 21 games last year, reaching the second round of the state tournament.
Smackover won their league opener over Fouke Tuesday night, and the conference has a new look with the Bucks competing with Bismarck, Centerpoint, Genoa Central and Prescott in addition to Ashdown and Fouke.
“The side that we’re going through this year is the side that we had to face in the regionals last year,” Turner said. “It’s a conference that’s going to have some really good teams in it. You have a team like Prescott that I think started three sophomores and two juniors, so they’ll have all five of their starters coming back. Centerpoint, who won that conference last year, is a well-coached team and they play hard. We played them in the first round of the regional as the four seed and we ended up losing by five.
“They’re a team that executes well on the offensive end, and they play that man-to-man, pack-line defense. Ashdown is coming down from 4A, and if I’m not mistaken, they only lost one game in their conference, so you have some really good teams there that you’re going to be playing. It’s going to be tough, but hopefully we can find a way to try and finish somewhere at the top of the conference.”
Junior Jaqueze Modica, the Bucks’ leading scorer last season, scored 26 points in Tuesday’s win over Fouke in the league opener.
And while Modica will certainly be a key figure this year for Smackover at point guard, Turner said he is going to move Modica to other spots on the floor to take advantage of his versatility.
“We can put him on the wing where he’s very effective,” Turner said. “He can drive to the hole and catch and shoot, so we’re trying to get him in some different spots and utilize him in different areas to help us become successful.”
Greg Turner, a senior, will play mostly in the backcourt with Modica.
“I fully expect him to contribute a lot on the defensive end,” Turner said. “I think he can be a really good defender for us. He’s a high-energy guy and a really good athlete, so I expect good things from Greg.”
At the forward spots, the Bucks have senior K.J. King along with sophomore Javion Lee, junior Baylor Brumley and sophomore Austin Goodwin expected to be key contributors.
The bench will also provide solid depth for the Bucks with senior Javon Modica leading the reserves.
“He’s a really, really scrappy defensive player,” Turner said. “He plays with a lot of energy and a lot of heart. He can be one of those guys that can come in and give our team a spark right away. I think he’s done a good job in the first couple of games.”
The Bucks also have a pair of underclassmen who will be factors off the bench in Jakessio Welch and T’Jay Modica.
A freshman, Welch will play a key role in running the offense to give Jaqueze Modica a breather or to move him elsewhere on the floor.
“He will come in and take up a lot of the responsibility at the point guard spot when he’s on the floor with Jaqueze,” Turner said.
That depth should be a plus for the Bucks over the course of the season.
“We’ve got a lot of good players coming off the bench,” Turner said. “That gives us extra depth, so we’re hoping to make a good run this year.”
For Turner, the key to the Bucks’ success will be their defense.
“Playing together, getting up and down the floor and playing to our strengths,” Turner said. “We don’t have a lot size, but we do have a lot of guys that are quick that can put the ball on the floor and go to the hole. We’ve got a lot of guys that can move well laterally, so that helps us out defensively. I just think if we play tough, hard-nosed defense, play together and get out and try to run on some teams, I think we’ll have a successful year.”