The championship journey begins tonight.
Don’t worry, though, because Luther Riley won’t have any butterflies when his Columbus High School boys basketball team hits the floor at 7:30 tonight for its season opener against Shannon. After all, when you have won four state titles and a Grand Slam championship at John W. Provine High boys basketball team in Jackson, you’re probably used to the hype that accompanies a new season.
But that sense of anticipation surrounding Columbus High boys basketball is new for many in the community. Riley has done his best to build that excitement, holding a skills camp in the summer and putting on “Purple Madness,” which featured a 3-point shooting and a slam dunk contest, last month before a packed house in the school’s gym. After seeing both events generate a lot of momentum, Riley said he is eager to get things started in the Falcons’ Nest.
“It is the same approach,” Riley said. “We are trying to build to win a championship. The building has started, but it will start with the first game (tonight). All of the work we have done since my firsday here, we can display it starting (tonight), with it going all toward us winning a state championship.”
Riley has been working to create that kind of energy ever since May 11, when the Columbus Municipal School Board approved him as Columbus High’s new boys basketball coach. He comes to Columbus after coaching at Alcorn State, a Division I school in Lorman, for four seasons. He had a 38-91 record in his time as head coach.
Riley hopes to help Columbus High take the next step after it finished 22-6 and advanced to the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A State tournament last season under longtime head coach Sammy Smith, who is now the school’s athletic director.
With eight players who have received basketball scholarship offers and another, Chris Deloach, who could receive an offer to play basketball or football in college, Columbus has attracted the attention of everyone in the state of Mississippi. Earlier this week, The Clarion-Ledger ranked Columbus No. 3 behind reigning Class 6A champion Starkville and perennial powerhouse Callaway in its Super 10 preseason poll. Sophomore Robert Woodard II, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward, likely will be Columbus High’s biggest attraction. Woodard II was part of the gold-medal winning USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team earlier this year. He averaged 5.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game in the five-game tournament in Bahia Blanca, Argentina.
Riley hopes Woodard II’s national profile will help all of the Falcons raise their level. He said the start of a new season in Columbus is different from his starts at Provine High in part because the state’s capital always has been recognized for having some of the best teams every year. He knows Greg Carter has built a formidable basketball program 30 minutes away in Starkville, and he sees no reason why he and the Falcons can’t do the same in Columbus.
If that sounds like a daunting challenge, don’t worry because Riley is up for it.
“I was hired to come in and try to compete for championships,” Riley said. “That has been my trademark since I have been a basketball coach. I think I do championship work. I try to have a championship mind-set. I try to practice and work by championship standards. What is left for you? You have to compete for a championship.
“I try to let that spill over to our guys and have them be champions in the classroom and life as well. There is a big difference between being a winner and being a champion. I constantly preach that difference and tell the guys let’s be a champion in life, in the classroom, and here on the court.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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