Western League b BB: 'We're young'

By Ed Piper

"We've lost two out of three. Who are we to take anybody lightly?" asked St. Augustine coach Mike Haupt rhetorically, coming off a non-league loss to Country Day Sat., Jan. 6, a six-point league loss to Mission Bay, and before that an upset of Bishop O'Dowd of Oakland, a Northern California power, in the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic.

"Hey, we're fighting. I love my guys. We're young. We're going to keep playing hard," the veteran coach said when contacted at school during class sessions Mon., Jan. 8. The Saints, led by a sophomore core that includes 6'6" Chibuzo Agbo, draw an easier opponent, Kearny, at Kearny High Tues., Jan. 9 in the second week of Western League action.

Kearny has absorbed sizeable losses at the hands of its Western League opponents so far: 73-54 at Henry, and 73-40 at Cathedral Catholic. The matchup with St. Augustine should provide a salve to soothe the hurting Saints, who have been up and down since defeating host Torrey Pines on Tipoff Night Dec. 26 prior to the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic.

"They're going to get better," Haupt said of his team, which includes his son, Luke, a 6'5" sophomore guard who played well versus the Falcons.

"I've watched the game tape of Saturday over and over," he said of the Country Day defeat. "We're up by five in the fourth quarter."

He went on to mention another close loss. So, in his view, St. Augustine is close. The team is not playing badly. The unit just has to go through the normal maturing process, because most of the key players are underclassmen.

Regarding how he treats a younger team as opposed to one populated with upperclassmen, Haupt said, "It's a fine line... Absolutely, they're a young team. You don't want to give them the idea it's okay to (play below their abilities). You don't want to bury them, either."

Told of a coach who motivated with fear back in the day, Haupt responded, "I think kids are a little different these days. I don't think fear goes very far."