Senior-laden Redbirds gear up for a promising season, open Tuesday night

ALTON - Experience, depth, length, and athleticism is what the Alton Redbirds boys basketball team has at their disposal to make the 2018-2019 season a memorable one.

Even though the Redbirds have recorded five consecutive winning campaigns in a row, expectations are higher than they’ve been in a handful of years.

“We have a bunch of kids that we feel comfortable putting out on the floor,” Smith said. “Hopefully if we make a commitment to play a way that we’ve wanted to for the last three or four years, but we haven’t been able to buy into playing that way. From our perspective it would be more fun for the kids because more kids are going to play, more kids are going to contribute. If they commit to playing that style, it’ll be a lot more enjoyable for everybody.”

The Redbirds return the core of their team that went 16-12 last year who are senior-laden and will play an up-tempo style.

Among those seniors are Donovan Clay and Malik Smith.

Twelve months ago, Clay was a 6-foot-3 forward who was always tasked with guarding the opposing teams tallest player and usually was out-sized. Despite that, he averaged over ten points a game and led the team in rebounds. After a huge growth spurt in the offseason, he now stands at 6-foot-7 and a changed player for the better.

“We’re hoping that he’s going to be a drastically different player than he was last year,” Smith said. “This summer he has developed a lot more confidence. He’s a heck of a lot more aggressive, and I think with strength, and his size people will see a different game than they what they’ve been accustomed to, with that being said he’s a 6-7 kid that can handle it, pass it and shoot it which is a nice combination.”

Shooting guard Malik Smith also averaged over ten points a game and was the second leading scoring behind Kevin Caldwell, who’s now a freshman at Southwestern Illinois Community College. Like Clay, Smith also grew a bit in size in the offseason. He was 6-foot-2 last year and now 6-foot-4. Coach Smith expects Malik to continue what he did last year and then some.

“Malik has a very nice ability to put the ball in the basket. He shoots the ball really well,” Smith said. “He’s been very effective for us in scoring the basketball. I don’t foresee any of that changing.”

Seniors Charles Miller (6-0), Izeal Terrell (6-3), Josh Rivers (6-4) and Ahmad Sanders (5-10) all return who either started or played valuable minutes off the bench. Coach Smith points out how Miller, Sanders, Terrell, and junior Moory Woods (6-3) have had success on the football field by helping the Redbirds get to two straight playoffs can only be a positive for team chemistry.

“Those football kids that have experienced some success and they understand now that not necessarily the guys that score all the baskets are the ones that are going to make everything successful,” Eric Smith said. “We got some kids that have come in and through the first couple weeks of practice decided that they were going to be the guys that do the crap work. I think that’s kind of what we missed a little bit last year was toughness. Those kids have accepted that role and done a nice job so far.”

For the last couple of years, the Redbirds overall team length was one of the shortest in the Southwestern Conference. This season Alton, thanks to some growth spurts will have their tallest team since the 2014-2015 Redbirds squad that went 27-5.

“We haven’t had the 6-7, 6-8, 6-9 kid like everybody else in our league since [Bryan] Hudson, but we do have a lot more length than we’ve had recently,” Smith said. We don’t have any trees, but we got pretty good even keel right across the top. In the past all those kids were five-ten, now they’re six-two.”

Coach Smith believes his team won’t have a ton of trouble putting plenty of points on the board on a regular basis. However, his main concern is how the defense will not let themselves be second best physically on a consistent basis.

“The thing that has always been our Achille's Heel the last few years is did we have enough fight and toughness to not let people score the basketball,” Smith said. “I hope if anything that we’ve seen the last couple of weeks carry over you’re going to see a group of kids that score the basketball and run. On the defensive end, you’re going to see kids that are diving on the floor and taking charges and doing those extra things that’ll help us win a game.”

Alton look to be a key contender in the always vigorous Southwestern Conference. The big favorite heading into the season is the reigning Class 4A state champions Belleville West and then East St. Louis.

“There are four teams off the top of my head that’ll be pretty darn good, and there’s a handful in the middle where they can beat anybody on any given night,” Eric Smith said. “Hopefully with the development of some kids, I think we’ll challenge Belleville West a little bit better. We didn’t have a bad team last year. They put it on us pretty good three times [last season], but I think us and some other teams fit a little bit better in a game plan that can compete or beat them.”

The Redbirds open the season Tuesday night as they host the Carnahan Cougars in the Alton Redbird Tip-Off Classic. On Wednesday they’ll play Althoff Catholic, Friday against Riverview Gardens and then close on Saturday with Ritenour. All tip-off times are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on Riverbender.com.

“We’re hoping that we continue to get better every night and if we do that we think we got a chance to be a pretty good team,” Alton head coach Eric Smith said. We think we have a chance to be decent this year, so we want to make sure we challenge ourselves and be ready until regionals come around. I think they’ll be a fun group of kids to watch.”

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