By Andy Amey
TERRE HAUTE — If another trumpet player plays the same notes as Miles Davis, will it be the same music?
Terre Haute South’s high school basketball team will be trying to answer a similar question next week, when the Braves finally open their schedule at Lawrence North and at Mooresville.
Coach Mike Saylor has some familiar faces back from a team that was 21-5 last year, 39-10 the past two seasons. But the leader of that band, Indiana All-Star point guard Jake Odum, is gone, and one test for the Braves will be finding out ways to compensate for the loss of Odum’s improvisational skills — not to mention his team leadership in points, rebounds, assists and steals.
Saylor, who will slide 5-foot-11 junior Anthony McGill into the point guard slot, is fairly confident.
“I still think we have a pretty good ring-leader,” Saylor said recently. “Jake is Jake, with his unique talent … Anthony McGill is a different factor, but still a formidable player.”
McGill, a letterwinner as a freshman and a double-figure scorer as a sophomore starting guard, is probably a better perimeter shooter than his predecessor.
If he’s not Odum’s equal in the penetrate-and-kick part of South’s offense, he’s still pretty good at that part of the game too.
And one of McGill’s targets when kicking the ball to the perimeter is the player who allowed Odum to amass plenty of assists the past two seasons. John Michael Jarvis, a 6-1 senior about to earn his fourth varsity letter, is one of the state’s most dangerous outside shooters, averaging 15 points per game a year ago. Fully recovered from the ankle injury that hampered him at the end of last season, Jarvis also has the athletic ability to challenge for the team leadership in rebounds and steals.
While those two players are the key Braves, however, the key to the success of the season is probably the players around them. Or, as Saylor said recently, “We want a guy at every position who can make the defense pay for forgetting about them.”
Candidates for those jobs are many, probably starting with 6-3 senior Jacob Tanoos, who solidified his spot in South’s plans last season with a decisive streak of outside shooting against Terre Haute North in Hulman Center, and 6-0 senior Chris Rose, whose energy and athleticism are vital in South’s defensive plans.
Two more seniors with limited varsity time a year ago are 6-6 Ike Worrell and 6-2 Lem Young, while 6-0 senior Bryn Schwartz returns after not playing a year ago. Jermaine Smith, a 5-11 sophomore, has also seen some varsity playing time.
“We have a pack of guys who haven’t really stepped forward and established themselves,” said Saylor, “although Rose probably has as far as effort is concerned.”
If lineup spots remain uncertain, there are other candidates too: three more seniors (South has nine among its 13 varsity players) in 6-0 Bobby McKenna, 6-7 transfer Joey Etling and 5-11 first-time player Zach Lookebill, and two intriguing freshmen, 5-10 Gary Ulrich and 5-11 Jeffrey Turner.
All 13 Braves have the green light from beyond the arc, by the way. That includes Worrell and Etling — both of whom, Saylor says, are as accurate from outside as from around the basket — and even the formerly shy Rose, who swished a pair of jumpers for five points at last week’s jamboree.
TH South roster
Player Ht. Yr.
Joey Etling 6-7 Sr.
John Michael Jarvis 6-1 Sr.
Zach Lookebill 5-11 Sr.
Bobby McKenna 6-0 Sr.
Chris Rose 6-0 Sr.
Bryn Schwartz 6-0 Sr.
Jacob Tanoos 6-3 Sr.
Ike Worrell 6-6 Sr.
Lem Young 6-2 Sr.
Anthony McGill 5-11 Jr.
Jermaine Smith 5-11 So.
Jeffrey Turner 5-11 Fr.
Gary Ulrich 5-10 Fr.
Terre Haute
South schedule
Dec. 4 — At Lawrence North (MIC), 6 p.m.
Dec. 5 — At Mooresville, 6 p.m.
Dec. 11 — At Center Grove (MIC), 6 p.m.
Dec. 12 — Evansville Reitz, 6 p.m.
Dec. 18 — West Vigo, 6 p.m.
Dec. 22 — Indianapolis Arlington, 6 p.m.
Dec. 26 — Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic at Terre Haute North, TBA
Dec. 28-30 — Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic at Terre Haute North, TBA
Jan. 8 — At Warren Central (MIC), 6 p.m.
Jan. 9 — At Bedford North Lawrence, 6 p.m.
Jan. 15 — Northview, 6 p.m.
Jan. 22 — Carmel (MIC), 6 p.m.
Jan. 23 — At Evansville Central, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 29 — Terre Haute North in Hulman Center (MIC), 8 p.m.
Feb. 5 — Ben Davis (MIC), 6 p.m.
Feb. 6 — At Vincennes Lincoln, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 11 — Bloomfield, 6 p.m.
Feb. 13. — At Indianapolis North Central (MIC), 1 p.m.
Feb. 19 — Evansville North, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 26 — Rockville, 6 p.m.
MIC — denotes Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference game
