Jabin Talley, Ryan Phillips and Cody Reece.

When we last saw the Boys Basketball team they were walking off the court up at Spotswood High School in Penn Laird. The highly successful season ended with a loss to the eventual State Champion Trailblazers in the quarterfinals.

Six seniors turned in their uniforms after the game and not long after, Assistant Coach Kris Richardson switched sides by leaving Varsity Boys hoops for Middle School Girls.

Barnes was named Coach of the Year by the Roanoke Times but he knows that fact and $5.00 will get you a cup of Coffee ☕. Year six doesn’t officially get under way until early November but Barnes doesn’t like to  leave anything to chance so there is an open Gym for potential hoopsters whenever its possible.

Barnes preaches next Man up to his players and this off-season the same message applied to his staff. The tradition of surrounding your team with former Cavaliers continued in a Big Way.

Long time Cavalier, Jason (1,000+ points in College ) Stockner slid up the food chain, going from Head Coach of Junior Varsity up to lead Assistant Coach.

Both former players, Jabin Talley(2024) and Cody Reece (2025) are now members of the Varsity staff. We will have feature stories about these young Men before you know it.

Ryan Largen is set to return as the Assistant Coach for the Junior Varsity team, where up and coming Ryan Phillips is set to Coach his very first game in the Big Chair 💺.

Phillips had himself a Year in 2024 – 2025 as he assisted with both the Basketball 🏀 program and followed that up by riding shotgun to Head Coach Adam Nester on the District 🏆🏆🏆 Champion Junior Varsity Baseball team.

Phillips is the perfect combination of young and knowledgeable, destined to lead on The Hill for decades to come.  When I asked the easiest question out there, Phillips showed just how prepared he is for the latest challenge. I asked the question, what would be the one thing people should know about how he will lead his team ?

” I want people to know that they are part of a family,” said Phillips. ” I was playing AAU ball back in the third grade and I remained friends with the players and coaches ever since. I want to have that be what we are doing here.”

Challenge your players to the tenth degree and let them know that you care about them at the same time, sounds like young Mr Phillips is taking a page right out of the Anthony Barnes playbook.

Like I said, Barnes doesn’t like to leave anything to chance…

Looking for more on Boys Basketball 🏀

The mask in the Photo 📷 dates this one taking place during Covid but its picture perfect on the eve of catching up with Boys Basketball 🏀 Coach, Anthony Barnes on Thursday afternoon.

Brother Osborne…..

Congratulations 👏 Ma’am and hoping for the very best for you !

Furman Basketball 🏀 : Coming soon to a Gymnasium near you !

A few years back I started working on a segment designed to highlight the efforts of our Student Athletes that were fortunate enough to compete at the College level. Like anything else I do, I came up with a clever name and set out to see if it worked. Trips were taken to watch Alyssa Ervin,Katie Lam, Madison Stockner, Jabin Talley,Elijah Cox, Macie Adkins, Kalee Bunn and Adrienne Harris to name a few.

  There is a sign in the gym that reads, ” Once a Cavalier, Always a Cavalier” and its that sign that led me down the path of wanting to gather information about the Cavalier success stories.

There is a fine line between journalists and paparazzi, then again maybe the gap between them is as wide as the Grand Canyon. This year I want to work with any parent or Coach or former Cavalier themselves, any that want to share their story.

  Two parents that come to mind are Mama Smoot and Marion Harris. Both of the Smoot twins are going to School over at Southwest Virginia Community College and I will welcome any / all updates on their time there. Marion Harris has Natalie playing LaCrosse again this season at Emory and Henry and I’m already looking forward to hearing about her adventures on the field over there.

But the number of former Cavaliers competing at the next level is growing at a solid clip. Would love to share stories about Karmen Smith, Ashlyn Newman, Landon Puckett, Cody Reece, Brett Berrier as examples but the paparazzi stalk people, dig through peoples trash 🗑 to find things to write ✍ about or take a photo 📷 of. I am just someone who wants to share a positive story about a local Kiddo that is doing good !

  Kevin DeHaven, Casey Burcham, Kayla Nester, Adrienne Harris and Brandi Cochran Mitchell are just five quick examples of Carroll County High School graduates 🎓 that played at the next level and then returned home to be leaders of our Youth. All part of the thought process involved with this category.

When the number one objective is to treat everyone equally, it doesn’t matter if its D1, D2, D3, Junior College, NAIA or Community College. Equally is Equally.

In closing, I will touch on a thought about Success stories and how they can help the current program. Nothing but Love for the duo that share Tommy Thompson Field in the Spring and Adrienne Harris & Forrest Johnson are going to be a HUGE part of our future but right now they are faced with challenges that Burcham, Seth Greer and Anthony Barnes don’t face. Soccer ⚽️ is still not mainstream here in Carroll County so having Success stories are simply more valuable to them.

You take someone like young Mr Puckett or Miss Smith or Miss Newman and use them as examples of if you commit yourself to Soccer and Academics in the same manner, it can lead to great things and here are our most recent examples.

Happy to help anyone who wants the help but there just needs to be a meet in the middle kind of a sign from someone who is part of the story.

If you’re not sure, feel free to ask Mama Smoot or Marion Harris and they will tell you that it’s safe to enter the water.