OCHS boys basketball coach Carlos Strong practices with his team, going through drills to work on the Patriots’ defense. Strong is in his first year at OCHS, which is 1-12 heading into the final four regular-season games. (Photo/ Avery Cameron)
While the Oglethorpe County boys basketball team record isn’t what he hoped, sitting at 1-12 overall and 1-5 in Region 8-A Division I, coach Carlos Strong has faith in his team.
He said he believes they can finish well and build a new culture.
“There’s such a thing as a winning culture and a losing culture,” Strong said. “And we want a winning culture.”
The Patriots are fifth in the region, with a lone victory over Athens Academy. They have five region games remaining after Tuesday’s games against Providence were moved to Thursday because of the inclement weather.
Banks County is scheduled to play at OCHS on Friday as the regular-season winds down.
Strong, who replaced former coach Larry Brown, didn’t arrive until mid-summer, so the Patriots missed opportunities that other programs had. They didn’t have the full summer to practice, missed camp opportunities and had less time to build chemistry with a new coach and each other.
“There are many different ways to build ‘winning cultures,’ said Strong, who is focused on responsibility and accountability with expectations of being on time, keeping the locker room clean and caring about each other.
This solidarity is also reflected in the team’s wardrobe on game days. Strong’s players now wear blazers.
“That’s part of changing the culture,” he said. “We’re not going to go anywhere with our pants sagging. We are all going to be uniform.”
While Strong is busy building culture, team leaders are working on chemistry. Senior Jordan Johnson and junior Payton Prince agreed that a good dynamic must be achieved.
“At the beginning, whenever we didn’t have a win, (the chemistry) was kind of hard,” Johnson said. “But after we got that first win, it started to seem a little easier.”
Johnson and Prince said they believe their team has lacked ball movement and communication, but see changes.
“I’m not building a good team,” Strong said. “I’m building a good program where we’re going to be good for years to come.”