Training Camp Report - Small Wonders

A little bit of new and a little bit of old will combine to make Southfield Christian one of the early season favorites to make some noise on the state's Class D boys basketball landscape in 2012.

The new flavor for the Eagles comes in the form of first-year head coach Josh Baker and superstar transfer Chris Dewberry.

The old consists of the Hunter brothers, senior Lindsay III and sophomore Lindsay IV, sons of former NBA veteran and current Southfield Christian assistant coach Papa Lindsay, and two of the most dynamic players in their conference.

Baker has spent the last several years as the top assistant at state Class A powerhouse Romulus and was considered one of the Metro Detroit area's hottest young coaching commodities before landing on the Eagles bench this past spring.

He's been impressed with what he's seen from his ball club so far this preseason.

"I've been pleasantly surprised with what this team has shown me since Day 1," Baker said. "They are an extremely hard working group with tons of potential. We'll have toughness and skill and if we can deal with the expectations that surround us and keep focused and level-headed, I think it will be a good year."

Despite the program having not found much success in the past two decades, a series of recently released preseason rankings find Baker and the Eagles ranked very high, as high as No. 4 in the state in some.

The young sideline general hopes his team takes the preseason hype in stride.

"I've told these guys and they've got to understand all this talk about how good we can be or what we might be able to do doesn't mean anything until the ball rolls out next week and we start to earn it on the floor," he said.

On the heels of a season where they finished 11-10, the Eagles will be very backcourt heavy this winter, stacked with speedy guards that will run-and-gun opposing teams to death if they let them.

Dewberry, a slick and silky-stroking shooting guard comes over to Southfield Christian from Class A Waterford Kettering, where he helped lead the Corsairs to a league title in 2010 and was one of the highest scorers in the KLAA.

Both Hunter boys have the ability to drop 25 on any given night.  Lindsay III is the more pure scorer of the duo, but Lindsey IV might turn out the more well-rounded sibling on the hardwood when it's all said and done on his prep career a few years down the line.

Senior Gavin Toma, a four-year varsity member that has battled a number of nagging injuries the last couple of season is finally healthy and will be the team's point guard. Toma is the perfect pace-setter to the run the Eagles' offense and he's sure to have an assist field day setting up his high-powered backcourt mates this winter.

Shifty and fast freshman Bakari Evelyn is slated to be a big part of the squad's backcourt rotation as well, flanking Toma as the Eagles' back-up floor general.

Sophomore forward Gerald Merriweather, a 6-foot-3 human pogo stick with a knack for cleaning up the garbage around the rim and turning it to points, will be Baker's only true presence in the paint.

Workmanlike senior forward David Johnson and pesky junior guard Landon Miller will team with Evelyn to head the reserve unit.

When Ben Cookingham, Perry Bender and Cameron Garner become eligible in January, they will push for minutes, too.

Southfield Christian will battle it out this year in the rough and rugged MIAC, arguably the best small school conference in the state. Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, conference champs last season and a team that was a buzzer-beater away from going to the Elite 8 in 2011, will probably be the Eagles biggest adversary in trying to claim their program's first league crown in 27 years, however, MIAC stalwarts like Birmingham Roeper, Allen Park Inter-City Baptist and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, should also play critical roles in the final outcome of the standings.

The last time Southfield Christian won a district championship was in 1982.

Baker's ballers open the upcoming campaign on Dec 8 on the road against Livonia Clarenville.