Training Camp Report - Raiders Nation

The name on the marquee is the same.

Most likely, the results will be the same too.

Taking over from his father, first-year North Farmington boys basketball coach Todd Negoshian has a diverse, deep and exciting mix of talent on his roster this season and expects the 2011-2012 Raiders to maintain the stellar tradition on the court his dad, Tom, started with the program three decades ago.

"This is a fun group to coach because they love to compete," he said following the team's opening practice of the year on Monday. "We're going to be young and raw in spots, but the skill is obviously there and hopefully they'll pick things up quick and we should be pretty solid by the end of the season."

The recently retired Tom Negoshian won't be far away from his beloved Raiders' this winter, since he's agreed to stay on as an assistant. Former Farmington Hills Harrison head coach Pete Mantyla has also come over and joined the staff, bringing with him a wealth of experience on the bench.

"My job's going to be made a lot easier since in my opinion, I have the best two assistant coaches in the world," the young Negoshian said.

Headlining North Farmington's attack this season on the hardwood will be a pair of all-league selections in senior forward Dorrell Foster and junior point guard Caleb Hogans. Foster is an athletic and rangy swingman with a nice outside game and the ability to take the ball to the rim with authority. Hogans is an ultra-quick playmaker that is equally comfortable popping a 3-ball, running the fast break or driving the lane and creating for his teammates.

Junior forward Sterling Sharp is another up-and-coming returning starter for the Raiders. A top college baseball recruit, Sharp is a jumping jack on the wing who is dangerous beyond the arc as well.

Negoshian's starting line-up will probably be rounded out by seniors Kevin Penny and Greg Joyce. Penny, the quarterback on the school's league championship football team, is a utility guy that does a little bit of everything and will be looked at by the coaching staff for leadership in the locker room. Joyce is a fundamentally sound big fella that will hold down the post for the Raiders after serving an apprenticeship lasts season under all-state center Urbane Bingham.

Sophomores Chauncey Bridges and David Lett and juniors Claude Lewis and Cameron Darden are expected to be key reserves and all will see significant minutes. Bridges will back-up Hogans at the point, while the lanky workhorse trio of Lewis, Darden and Lett will spell Foster and Sharp on the wing.

Freshman big man Jaron Rogers, one of the top ninth-graders in the state, is battling a minor knee injury that will keep him out of the lineup for the first part of the schedule. Carlos Rogers, Jaron's dad, is a former NBA veteran who prepped at Detroit Northwestern and played in college at Tennessee Tech. Jaron and Dorrell Foster are first cousins.

North Farmington should compete for the OAA Red crown with fellow league frontrunners Clarkston, Southfield-Lathrup, and Pontiac.

In Tom Negoshian's final year on the sidelines last year, he eclipsed the 300-win mark as the Raiders went 14-9 and lost in the district finals to eventual quarterfinalist Orchard Lake St. Mary's. The 2010 season saw Negoshian win the sixth district championship of his celebrated tenure.

"I feel honored to follow in my dad's shoes as head coach at North Farmington," Todd said of taking his father's place atop the Raiders' cage program. "I grew up in this gym as a young boy and it was always my dream to coach here. I can't explain how much it means to me. I think it's going to be a good year."

Spending the last four years besides his dad on North Farmington's bench as an assistant, Negoshian was on Greg Kampe's staff at Oakland University in the mid-2000s.

When he was in high school Negoshian was a prolific point guard at Walled Lake Central, averaging 25 points and six assists per game over his final two years as a prepster in 1997 and 1998. While in college at Cornerstone, he won a NAIA National Championship.

TEAM JUNIOR NOGO tip off the season in two weeks on the road against River Rouge.