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Ridgewood High Basketball A Work In Progress

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By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: November 29, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Whenever a program puts together six FHSAA tournament-qualifying teams in seven years - including three straight - the expectation to reach that perennial status quo just sort of comes naturally.

Lose a couple key contributors? No problem. Just make some shifts, fill in the gaps and gear up for another run to the postseason.

That is the enviable position into which the Ridgewood boys basketball program has engineered itself into. This season has the potential to hold just as much promise.

But it is still not to say there isn't some work ahead for this new-look Rams team, though.

The main transition in the 2008-09 season is at point guard. All-time Ridgewood assists leader Mike Lawrence has graduated and will be replaced by senior Alvin Satram.

Known primarily for his sharpshooting prowess, Satram grew up running the point before becoming a 2-guard on varsity and feels he will develop back into the role nicely.

"It's a change from last year," he said following Ridgewood's season opener at Mitchell, a 55-39 win. "With Lawrence I just had to set up and shoot. This year I have to create for other guys and I've got to create for myself."

"It's a lot tougher, but as the season goes along I should get used to it."

From seeing the slashing, speedy senior in action over the past two years, Rams Coach Gary Anders is convinced his new floor general will step up aptly.

"I have full confidence in Alvin," he said. "It's obviously a little bit different than where he was last year, but over the summer and fall he played the point a lot. He'll make the adjustment fine."

The Rams frontcourt will once again be dominated by the presence of 6-foot-8, East Tennessee State University signee Lukas Poderis. The big man averaged nearly a double-double last season - 18.5 points and 9.6 rebounds - and is perhaps at his most formidable down low on defense.

Anders said the jury is still out on just how up-tempo this year's squad will be compared to its run-and-gun predecessor, but not to expect the pace to drop off too drastically.

"We're still looking for an identity, but we've only played a couple games together," he said. "We hope to still run, but I think we have to get better in the half court. You may see a little bit more of a balanced attack out of us."

Senior forward Bryan Jones said after Tuesday's opener against Mitchell that he saw the capabilities of this team's transition game during summer ball, but that a little tweaking needs to take place before it's fully effective.

"I think we're more of a fast paced team, but we need to work on our passing more because we had a lot of turnovers," he said. "If we get the ball moving and don't give it away, I think we'll be really good."

Guiding each game's tempo along with Satram in the backcourt will be junior Jacob Rauh. Anders is expecting Rauh to contribute in a big way this year from his sixth man role last season.

"We're expecting him to step up majorly for us," Anders said. "He's got to take a lot of responsibility and we expect him to do so."

If the pieces gel as they are blueprinted, Ridgewood likely will battle for the Class 5A-District 7 crown with annual rival Land O' Lakes. Anders also mentioned Central, 7-20 in 2007-08, as a potential dark horse not to be taken lightly.

The Rams were ousted in the regional semifinals for the second consecutive year last season, and, beyond the growth that admittedly needs to take place now, Jones and Satram said their goals still lay where they always do when it's all said and done.

"That just motivates us to come out and go further this year," Satram said of last year's 61-57 playoff loss to Brandon. "Our goal is just to go out there, play our hardest and try to win every single game."

Eric Horchy can be reached at 727-815-1071 or horchy@suncoastnews.com.

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