It’s a new basketball season at Culver City high school and the Centaurs have a new head boys basketball coach, Ray Singleton. Singleton was an assistant coach last season to head coach Michael Cooper, so he is familiar with the basketball program at Culver City. That makes the transition a lot easier.
New coaches bring in their own system and that is exactly what he is doing. Although he said he learned a lot from the former Laker star Cooper, Singleton is implementing a different approach from last year. “The players have to get acclimated to the new system,” said Singleton last Tuesday. “They have to buy into the new system that we are trying to teach them. My philosophy is to keep it super simple. I am just trying to get everyone on board and buy into what we are doing.”
The Centaurs are currently 1-3 and one of the main reasons for a losing record is eight football players that are on the basketball team just joined the team this week. The football team made it to the CIF semifinal game a few weeks ago before losing to La Serna.
According to Singleton it is going to take some time before the football players get into basketball shape. “Even with us getting the football players back they are still about a month away from reaching their peak. They are still dealing with nagging football injuries. When you are a two-sport athlete you are always going to be playing with nagging injuries. They just have to push through it.”
Culver City boys’ and girls’ basketball teams has never really had size on the court and this year is no different for the boy’s team. “Size is not a factor for us so we will be counting on our athleticism and our speed,” said Singleton. “Another important variable for us is team chemistry.”
Singleton is also hoping that the main guys in the rotation are still familiar with each other from last year. “Knowing each other’s tendencies is very important along with having structure and discipline. Those qualities are very important,” said Singleton.
Singleton wants this team to play tough defense. He knows defense wins games at all levels of sports. “We are going to demand that they play defense. I learned that from Coach Cooper. His basketball mind was really advanced. I was blessed to be around him to see how a basketball mind of that magnitude works.”
Singleton also wants his team to be fundamentally sound and be able to make in game adjustments. “We have a group of some really good basketball players. We may not have a superstar but collectively we are a solid team.”