Coming out of Practice: Dudley Panthers

I spoke with the Dudley Panthers head boy’s basketball coach, David Price, for a few minutes this morning, and I hope to get over there Monday afternoon to check out the practice sessions….

Coming out of four days of practice, Dudley knows what they need to be focusing on and after day four they have three men who can keep them headed in the right direction.

Give me PJ Hairston, Reggie Dillard and Brennan Wyatt and I can put a pretty decent 3 on 3 team on the court and you are going to have problems, stopping my three.

Hairston, Dillard and Wyatt are three of the best to be found in the area and they all have mucho game experience. PJ and Reggie hit the floor running as 9th graders for the Panthers and Brennan has been starting on a regular basis, at least since his was in the 10th grade at Dudley.

This year, Wyatt is a senior PG and he has committed to the Naval Academy, Hairston is a junior 2 or 3 player that can man the wing and go to the hole as a thoroughbred slasher and he has committed to UNC and Reggie can do all the things that Magic Johnson was doing back in East Lansing, Michigan, as Reggie can run the point, play the wing and take you to the hole….Reggie is still looking at colleges as a Panther sophomore and the colleges are looking at him with eyes wide-open as this kid just keeps on growing….

Those three kids, who I have seen play a game or two over the past few years, are the meat and potatoes of this year’s Panther squad, but there’s more than the Three Amigos that make up this Panther team.

Two ninth graders, Sam Hunt and Quale Richmond will factor into the Panthers’ success rate this season as will “The Bird Man”, Dominique Byrd and DJ Alston up front. DeShawn Manuel got key minutes in the Dudley backcourt last season, spelling Wyatt and the year of experience will be big bonus as they approach 2009/2010. Brandon Clyburn is another Panther that will have his name called out many times by Panther public address announcer Skip McCall…….

That’s at least 9-10 players that we have mentioned and this year Dudley will be deep out of necessity. Last year posed a few depth problems for the Panthers and this year must be a different story as DHS leaves the 3-A scene for the 4-A expeditions.

And on the subject of last year, who will be the missing pieces from the Panthers’ puzzle of players?????

Gone are Brandon “Biggs” Pennix who came all the way from the YMCA travel days with Sneaky Williamson and Jack Cassells, Trey Goddette has graduated on to Winston-Salem State University and Chris Whitsett has also used up his HS eligibility. Whitsett cooked up lunch and seved it to John Wall and CJ Leslie in last year’s Panther win over Word of God at Dudley…….Chris, #42, was out on the left wing slinging the long three-pointers and when he wasn’t nailing it from long-range he was taking it to the rack and throwing down some of the most awesome dunks you have ever seen.

Chris was often a bit hot and cold, but when he was hot, you better back off and get out of the way, cause Chris was taking over the game for 4-5 minute stretches…..

Biggs is gone, Trey has gone away and Chris will tell you this, #42 is through too, at DHS….The word is that BP is at Rockingham Community College and for Chris, we will miss his shots and dunks and we are still looking for him to be somewhere, in the fall of ’09.

The improvement on Wyatt, Hairston and Dillard is for real with the 6’6 PJ coming all the way back, from his slight summer injuries and he has bettered his entire game. PJ can light it up with his three-point shot and he can take it into the lane for the flusher/crusher or just go inside and draw the foul, ’cause how you gonna stop him, if you don’t foul him…

Wyatt is set to be the senior leader and he will have to be the coach on the floor, as they say about all of the point guards and Brennan is stronger this year and that will allow him to stay in the game longer as the season wears on. Every Panther player along with Wyatt will be stronger after having worked in the off season with Coach Mac(Curtis McMillan) and that includes preseason workouts too.

Reggie at 6’4, can run the floor and he can bring the ball up and take it inside against stronger players, with more range than say, the 6 feet and under ball handlers. Better ball handling skills and stronger defense, that is where Reggie will excel this year.

We will get to know more about the Panthers as we try to jump into that practice on Monday afternoon, but until then it is back to the street where we belong……

7 thoughts on “Coming out of Practice: Dudley Panthers

  1. I am curious to see how Dudley will reload inside, with losing Pennix and Goddette??? Because other than Hairston they were there prime rebounders, and inside prescense….

  2. Byrd, Alston and Clyburn can hit the boards and Reggie Dillard is a very strong rebounding guard too……

  3. Andy,

    Why no coverage of Oak Ridge Military? They and Greensboro Day are the top two teams in the county and you said you wanted to cover the top teams in the county “as they come out of practice”.

  4. We will have them up here, just give it some time.

    I have to get a good mix of public and private schools and who knows, I might be saving the best for last….

    I need to try and place HP Wesleyan and Caldwell Academy in this mix too, but you have to remember, I am not writing about any teams until I talk to the coaches and it will take to some time to get them all…..

  5. Andy nice to see you showing preview of all our local teams. It is a shame to see the haterade out so early,
    but what can you do. I am intrested in seeing GDS as well as hearing from coach Freddy as well. You see I
    appreciate all our local talent and programs and it is great to see you not being partial to high school programs.
    I don’t see bow you do it with all the whinners and haters but just want to thank you for making it a site we all canenjoy.
    Wish some of these haters would get a clue. But good lick and stay like you are thank you Coach Jam

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