TRENTON, Ga. - As any basketball coach with a few years on the bench, Glen Hicks has learned how to find something positive in almost any situation. However, when the Dade County High School boys' coach looks back to late December, he still finds it hard to uncover the silver lining.
The Wolverines entered the Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament with a 10-0 record, having scored 100 or more points in their previous three games. The team was confident as it prepared to take the court against some of Chattanooga's top teams. The Wolverines wanted to prove to their rabid fans that they belonged with the area's best.
Three days later, however, Hicks' team walked out of the Arts & Sciences gym with tails firmly tucked, having absorbed three nasty losses - 102-77 to McCallie, 105-86 to Ooltewah and 90-75 to Baylor. It was an eye-opening experience, for sure, and one that could easily have rattled the players and put a crimp in a highly anticipated season.
Instead, Dade (20-3) has reeled off 10 consecutive wins, including one by 66 points and another by 56, and remain undefeated in Georgia.
"I think our guys learned you better bring it every night," Hicks said. "When we walked out of there, people were telling me that was the best thing that could have happened. Well, I'm like Bobby Knight - can I put that in writing? I'm not big on losing, but our kids responded and we've won 10 in a row.
"We've matured a little bit, hopefully. We didn't change anything; we just had to get back to doing what we do better. Of course, McCallie, Ooltewah and Baylor had a lot to do with it."
Hicks may have seen the losses as missed opportunities, but his players took them like cold water poured on their heads.
"When you get your tails kicked three games in a row, your pride gets hurt," said senior point guard Travis Core. "It's definitely good, though, because sometimes you can learn more from your losses than your wins. I think we're a different team because of that tournament. We went in there to play some good teams and get challenged, and now we're just getting to the point where we can face those challenges."
Specifically, the Wolverines discovered that their run-and-gun style, while usually overwhelming undermanned teams, can be handled by athletic, deep squads such as McCallie and Ooltewah. They also know they will face similar teams in the postseason, where there will be no time to learn further lessons.
"We have to find ways to beat teams that are better than we are or as good as we are," Core said shortly after scoring 29 points in a 94-91 scare against an athletic Calhoun team this Tuesday. "We found out in the Chattanooga tournament that we can't just step out on the floor and expect to win. Just because we have 'Dade' written across our chest, teams aren't going to roll over."
More to the point, the Wolverines need to be able to clamp down defensively when a stop is needed, and they have to find a way to rebound better against athletic teams. Calhoun outrebounded them by 13 on Tuesday.
"There's no doubt we can score the basketball, but we have to keep other teams from scoring 90 points. It's all effort and competition," Core said.
Added 6-foot-9 center Andrew Reid: "We've got to improve on our defense and rebounding. Second-chance points are killing us now. If we can fix that, we'll be tough to beat."
Having clinched the subregion top seed, the Wolverines need to win just once in next week's subregion tournament to advance to the region field, where strong teams such as Rockmart (21-1), Model and Coosa await.
Hicks hopes the struggles of late December will pay off there. Maybe then he'll find that silver lining.