New coach finds another project in struggling Jays

Mark Verticchio is a coach who knows how to win and revive struggling basketball programs.

He spent last season at Mark Twain, leading the school girls program to its first state quarterfinal game. And before that, he coached in Louisiana where he took over a one-win team and led it to 12 victories the next year and then three wining seasons thereafter.

That is what he'll attempt to do at Oak Ridge, where he is in his first year coaching a team that combined to win only six games over the past two seasons.

"It's definitely a rebuilding program," Verticchio said. "Out of our top six players, two of them are sophomores and one of them is a freshman.

"The big goal will be improvement and to develop some sort of positive attitude because that hasn't been around here in quite a while. They don't know how to win."

Three starters from last year's Blue Jays squad will return, including point guard Garrett Light. He averaged about 16 points per game last winter.

"Hopefully, he's going to be a penetrator and handle the ball fairly well," Verticchio said. "We've worked a lot on his jump shots since I got here and it has gotten better. He can be a pretty solid point guard, I think. He's still a sophomore. You've got to remember that."

Also returning will be senior guards Dillon Abbott, Dustin Meyr and Kaz Lange. Verticchio also likes Brett Thomas, a 6-foot freshman guard who he said plays taller than he is and likely will collect a number of rebounds.

"He's a slasher," Verticchio said. "He's a bulky kid, so he's real strong. I think he could be a really, really nice player in time. He can shoot the ball a little bit and he's very strong."

Verticchio added that his squad mainly consists of guards and he does not have many tall players who can play near the basket.

He will look to Logan Mangels, a 6-2 sophomore, to play in the post. Verticchio said Mangels is not a typical post player, but he will play him there because he's one of the tallest boys. The coach added that Mangels will step out and shoot some 3-pointers.

Joining Mangels will be 6-1 center/forward Adam Seabaugh.

"We have very little depth in the post," Verticchio said. "He [Mangels] and Adam Seabaugh will have to be manning the post. Once we take those two guys out, we'll have to go with a five-guard lineup."

In the past, Verticchio has run a pattern set offense. He said he is not going to put his entire offense in and will scale it back as his players adjust to the new system and improve on some fundamentals.

As for his defensive method, the coach will likely use a 1-2-2 defense with a ball press. He said they'll also play some 2-3 in addition to some man-to-man.