LJ BB: 7 feet

I have an idea. I think Coach Paul Baranowski will probably think I'm crazy.

I was reading about seven-footer Brandon McCoy's transfer to Cathedral Catholic from Morse, and the idea came to me to have Reed Farley cover McCoy when La Jolla plays its first Western League basketball game January 5 at Cathedral.

Here is my reasoning: Reed, though normally playing point guard, is physical enough where he could get to the spots near the basket where McCoy sets up before Brandon does. And, though Reed is only 6'4", compared to McCoy's 84-inch vertical length, Farley can jump with the best of them.

Plus La Jolla has other options at point guard. Eddie Parker brings the ball down, and so does Nick Hammel. Farley already plays part of the game near the baseline, with someone else setting up the LJHS offense. So this isn't a big stretch as far as where geographically on the court Farley positions himself.

Usually, a player plays both offense and defense in the same position, like playing point guard and defending the opponent's point guard. But there's no reason a player couldn't defend in the post and play out front on offense.

Okay, is this a knock on the Vikings' tallest big man, Alex Pitrofsky, who would probably normally be assigned to cover the center? Not at all. Believe me, and you will remember this if you saw La Jolla play Cathedral last year, the Dons have plenty of other big men. At least one more of them will be on the floor at the same time as the newly-transferred McCoy, and "Pitro" can ably cover him.

As I'm proposing this, I'm realizing it doesn't have to be a match-up the Vikings would play the whole game. For one, Farley could cover McCoy part of the game--the start, when the big man's tempo could be disrupted--and part of the game Pitrofsky could slide in there.

And La Jolla has other big men who can rotate in. Daniel McColl, at 6'2", comes immediately to mind. Daniel, as he already has shown through summer and fall leagues, and the opening games this month, loves to bang and bump. It would be fun to watch him, 10 inches shorter, sidle up to the former Morse star and go toe-to-toe.

Charlie Gal, who measures a taller 6'5", is a sophomore and is physical, but more so on offense. He could play a role in a tag-team approach to Cathedral's giant.

Maybe it's a cockamamie idea. But the genesis of the thought was Reed's wider experience in the game, especially tough games, his physicality, and his leaping ability.

You say, come on, increase the seven-footer's height advantage even more by having someone other than the Vikings' tallest player defend him?

Not at all. I believe, in my limited observation, of McCoy's play, and talking with a person knowledgeable of Morse's program last year who said the young man, though talented, has some maturing to do--don't they all?--convinces me this idea shouldn't be discarded out of hand.

Having a more mobile player with adequate (among the Vikings' options) height denying Brandon the spot next to the key that he may want to set up on offense could be a game-changer, lead to the real McCoy getting frustrated in his efforts to occupy space in the middle, and result in a beneficial effect.

The important thing, from the coach's standpoint, is not just McCoy but the whole Cathedral team. In being aware of the seven-footer, it would be possible to over-focus on him.

There are several talented players on the CCHS roster. They were young last year, started out bumpily, then settled into a rhythm and played well at the finish of league play. Baranowski will have to look at the Dons' attack overall, then match up according to who he has in his own stable. It's not just McCoy-vs.-La Jolla. It's Cathedral-vs.-La Jolla.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper