DUNCAN — So, I know you are all depressed that my Monday Morning quarterback is said and done, just like the football season for area teams, but don’t despair. With a new sports season comes a new column.

With that said, I submit for your consideration the first edition of “Post Presence.”

Quick First Step

Good players seldom have to think, they simply react.

That’s what makes experience so important. While inexperienced players grind their gears, trying to figure out what the right move is, veterans waste no time, reading the situation and reacting properly.

So when I the Duncan Demons spoke with such optimism about the season, I looked at a lineup nearly devoid of varsity experience and remained skeptical.

Two games in, though, I too am becoming a believer.

The competition hasn’t been stellar — a game against Ardmore on Tuesday will be a better measuring stick — but the talent is obviously there.

Surprise, Surprise

The same school that brought us the season’s biggest surprise performer in football may have the same thing in store for basketball season.

After Kevin Harris — a second-team All-Area basketball player last season — had a huge year as Central High’s most dangerous weapon on the football field, I expected him to assume that same role on the basketball court. So far, though, there has been another player filling up the scoring column: senior guard Dallin Ferrin.

Through four games, Ferrin is averaging 22 points an outing. Two years ago, as a sophomore, he was a member of Duncan’s junior varsity squad. After transferring the Central High, he has come seemingly out of nowhere to be one of the top scorers in the area.

A star is born?

If it wasn’t for injuries, sports fans may never have gotten to know Tom Brady, Steve Young or Jeremy Lin.

Duncan senior guard Jamie Carberry certainly wasn’t sitting on the second string like those players, but when injuries stuck she stepped up like they did, and may have begun establishing herself as a standout.

With only eight players in uniform Friday, Carberry put her versatility and scoring ability on display with 39 points and 13 rebounds.

As the saying goes, “once is a fluke, twice is a trend.” It remains to be seen if this was a one-time performance or the start of a special season. All we know now is Duncan has reason to be excited..

Endangered position

It was a sentence uttered by many coaches this preseason: “We’re not very tall.”

They also said things like, “We’re going to be more guard-oriented,” “we have to keep teams from getting the ball inside,” or “we’re going to rely a lot more on our speed.”

The coaches were all getting at the same thing, their teams had lost their height and were having to make due with a smaller lineup.

Central High lost a pair of 6-foot girls in Austyn Taylor and Nikole Repp, Duncan lost 6-5 center Michael Buben, while Bray-Doyle lost Ronnie Keck (6-4), Velma-Alma lost Corbin Byford (6-7) and Comanche lost Eric Brownlee (6-4).

All were strong low-post players. None, it seems, are being replaced this season.

Either this year’s senior and junior classes are a bit on the shorter side or last year’s seniors just did a really good job of eating their vegetables and drinking their milk.

 

Greg Crews is sports editor of The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354 or at greg.crews@duncanbanner.com.