CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley Central boys basketball coach Chuck Clark thought briefly before answering a reporter’s question.
Basically, he was assessing what his Bears are doing well as they head into tonight’s Region 3-AAA tournament against Cumberland County at Jim Smiddy Arena.
He didn’t say defense, although that phase of Bradley’s game has been good.
He didn’t say offense, but the Bears have won 10 of their last 11 games and 12-of-14, a streak that included a 47-40 victory over Cleveland for the District 5-AAA tournament title.
Instead, Clark said: “I think this team has a strong will to win.”
Clark picked a moment in the Cleveland game to make his point.
During a timeout, Clark was ready to change the offense because the players made a mess of a particular play earlier.
“They said, ‘Look, let us run this one again because we didn’t do exactly what you’d drawn up,’ after I had brought it to their attention,” Clark said.
“And they said, ‘We’re going to execute it this time.’ And they did. It was the time we hit Daniel (Clark) down low, he gave a ball fake and made a layup.”
How often does a player, or players, make that kind of input during a game?
“Not a whole lot,” said Clark, a long-time assistant before taking over for Kent Smith, who stepped down for personal reasons after the 2012-13 season. “During the timeout, two players sitting side-by-side, I think it was Cole (Copeland) and Daniel, said they would run the play right next time because they knew what went wrong. So, I gave them that liberty.”
Bradley players like the fact Clark listens to them, but they know it only goes so far.
They have earned the trust of their coach and felt free enough to persuade Clark to give them another try.
“We execute that play he was talking about a lot in practice,” said Daniel Clark, a 6-foot-2-inch senior and nephew of the coach. “It should come naturally to us. If we mess up one time, we can definitely get it right the second time. Our team chemistry is very good right now. We’re all pushing each other to the limit. We want to get better every day.”
This is not something that’s exclusive coming out of the Bears’ timeout huddle. There are plenty of coaches and players capable of doing the same thing.
But, Clark unabashedly likes that quality in the players on this year’s team.
“They’re basketball IQ is pretty good,” he said. “That is what I brag about with this whole team. We can change up anything we want to do. We’ve worked on different defenses over the course of the year and we change offenses up. We can use different personnel and rotate different people in and out and they adjust really well.
“That’s why I can say that’s probably the strength of the team. If teams scout us, they might not see the same thing when they play us. It’s not that we’re a chameleon and will change our total plan, but we can change at different spots in the game to give them a different look. They’ll have to adjust to us rather than us adjusting to them.
“We hammer home to the guys about the discipline it takes to play at Bradley and it becomes a part of them. They have to become basketball-minded, and these guys are at that stage.”
Senior Tucker Maroon said the players have to hold up their end of the bargain when it comes to being focused as to what they’re expected to do on the court.
“Execution was our main thing in the district tournament,” he said, “and we’re probably playing the best ball we’ve played all year. But when we run our plays we have to run them right. Coach can’t call a play and watch us act like we don’t know what we’re doing. If you do that, you just fall apart.”
The last time Cumberland County (14-18) played the Bears (20-8) was in the 2010 region tournament quarterfinals in McMinnville.
Bradley had just lost to Ooltewah, 85-66, in the district tourney semifinals and McMinn County, 59-56, in the third-place game. Four days later, the Bears took it on the chin, 54-46, and ended their season with a 16-15 record. The Jets haven’t won a region game since.
The two teams renew their series Tuesday night – the start has been moved up to 6 p.m. because of weather concerns – in the Region 3-AAA quarterfinals at Jim Smiddy Arena. The other three scheduled will be played as well.
And this time around Bradley is the champion and No. 1 seed from District 5-AAA and the Jets limp in as the No. 4 seed from District 6-AAA and have lost eight of their last 13 games. They dropped a 69-45 district semifinal decision against White County on Feb. 14, and then waited out a week-long weather delay before tourney officials decided to send four semifinalists to the regional without finishing the district tournament.
The Bears have strung together a long list of successful seasons, but have come up short of their ultimate yearly goal of winning a state championship. The school has three state title trophies, but only one – in 1961-52 – since it claimed championships in 1940 and 1942.
Bradley finished as the state runner-up in 2000 and 2003, losing both times to Memphis White Station.
First things first.
“We can’t take Cumberland County for granted just because they’re a No. 4 seed,” said sophomore Cole Copeland, the district’s regular-season MVP and member of the all-tournament team. “We need to just go out there and play like we’ve been playing. It’s one-and-done right now. We’re at home and this is a great place to play. I’m looking forward to the game, for sure.”
The Bears have watched tape on the Jets and quickly noticed they have a penchant for the 3-point shot.
“They can knock them down,” Maroon said. “They remind me some of Soddy-Daisy because they want to speed you up and shoot they 3s when they need to. I was shocked how well Soddy did in the district, but that shows you have to play good basketball at tournament time and that’s what we did in district.”
Obviously, Cumberland County coach Will Foster, who is 2-1 against the Bears in his six seasons, has noticed that Bradley isn’t shy from 3-point distance either.
Maroon, Copeland, Clark, Bradley McCurdy and Ty Morgan – the Bears’ starting five – have combined to take 489 of the team’s 515 3-point attempts, making 161.
And while the team is making 18 percent from behind the arc, the starters are hitting a solid 33 percent.
The breakdown:
Maroon 74 178 42%
Morgan 15 37 41%
Copeland 35 110 32%
Clark 23 88 26%
McCurdy 14 76 18%
These Bears aren’t blessed with a superstar player, but they’ve got five to nine – all having played in at least 24 games – that complement each other and fully understand their roles.
The “Three Amigo” scorers – Copeland, Clark and Maroon – average 13.7, 13.0 and 13.0 points per game, respectively, to pace the Bears. And when you combine field goals and 3-point shots, they’re shooting 44 percent (131-298), 41 percent (122-296) and 47 percent (62-174).
Morgan (60-132, 45 percent) averages 7.0 points per game and McCurdy (62-174, 36 percent) 6.1 points.
Bradley played just one team from District 6-AAA this season, sweeping Stone Memorial, the No. 2 squad from the northern district, by scores of 68-42 and 66-49. The second game was played in Crossville.
And the Bears will be playing in familiar surroundings, although the arena was still battling a roof leak near mid-court during the boys and girls practice sessions on Saturday.
“Playing in Smiddy is always a plus,” coach Clark said. “When Kent was here we went 50-something games and never lost. We’ve had a pretty good home-court advantage.”
Tuesday, Boys
All Times Eastern
Cumberland County (13-18) at Bradley Central (20-8), 6 p.m.
Cookeville (22-9) at Cleveland (17-8), 6 p.m.
Ooltewah (16-16) at Stone Memorial (14-16), 7 p.m.
Soddy-Daisy (11-18) at White County (26-3), 8 p.m.
Wednesday
Semifinals
Cumberland County girls vs. Cookeville, 4 p.m.
White Co.-Soddy-Daisy boys winner vs. Cleveland-Cookeville winner, 5:30 p.m.
Bradley Central girls vs. White County, 7 p.m.
Bradley-Cumberland boys winner vs. Stone Memorial-Ooltewah winner, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday
Girls championship, 6 p.m.
Boys championship, 7:30 p.m.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)