2009-10 Boys basketball preview: Copperas Cove Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 10 2009 05:08 AM By Angel Verdejo
Killeen Daily Herald

COPPERAS COVE – The official roster will say Copperas Cove enters the season with a new coach, but for Billy White Jr. and his Bulldawgs, it's almost like a reunion.

White isn't new to the Cove basketball program – he spent three seasons as the first assistant under former head coach David Farber before replacing him in April. Before joining Farber's staff and fresh off a standout playing career at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, White spent a year at Cove Junior High School.

There, White led a group of eighth-graders to an 8-8 season, a big improvement from their one-win season the year before.

Four years later, the then-eighth-graders and junior high coach reunite as seniors and varsity coach.

"They know the way I am and I know what buttons I can push on them and who I do and don't need to get on," White said. "The way I approach the game is a little different now. I grew a lot with those guys, so I'm just seeing the game from a different perspective."

That familiarity, players say, should be a main ingredient in Cove's road to improving on last season's 7-24 record.

"Having a coach you're been with for a while makes you feel a whole lot better," said Antonio Clemons, a senior, who played for White at Cove Junior High. "He don't play around – he means business. I know it's time to do work."

White is the fifth Cove head coach in the last decade. The Dawgs went 24-99 in the four seasons before Farber took over and just 29-66 in his three seasons. Cove did, however, snap an eight-year postseason drought and made the Class 4A playoffs in both 2007 and 2008.

Clemons, Josh Threat and Matt Pruitt are all projected starters and, along with Donte' Perry, make up four of the players White led at Cove Junior High. Not only is the foursome very familiar with each other, but also others who have been together in high school.

"The chemistry is real good," Clemons said. "Me and (senior) Romando (Garcia), the point guard, we play together all the time so we're going to get it done. Everybody feels a whole lot better together as a team.

"You're able to feel that he has your back. If you have to take another man, you know he has your back and you don't have to worry about it."

The chemistry should help a Cove team that enters the season with a new identity. The Dawgs will be looking for someone to step into the scoring role vacated with Raheem Odomes' graduation last spring. The current freshman at East Texas Baptist averaged 23.7 points a game as a senior and a double-double in points (17 per game) and rebounds (10) his junior year.

Odomes, the only known 1,000-point scorer in Cove history, signed with

East Texas Baptist in May, becoming the first Dawg in nine years to sign a national letter of intent to play in college.

The team's chemistry could help fill Odomes' void, as his scoring may have to come from multiple players.

"We're getting the kids to understand that we have to attack it as a team," White said. "Basketball is a team sport and you can't win with one guy. That was proved with Raheem, so we're not going to be able to win with one guy doing all of it."

Contact Angel Verdejo at averdejo@kdhnews.com

or (254) 501-7564.