Carter just finds a way to piece winners together
It usually doesn’t matter who Greg Carter loses from a team the previous season.
He always seems to coach the Yellowjackets back into contention for district and state championships the next season.
There weren’t just many people with high expectations for SHS after Tyson Carter moved on to Mississippi State and Keith Harris made the trip to Scooba to join East Mississippi Community College’s program.
However, once again Greg Carter found a way once again to piece together a winner.
Even though the Jackets fell short of their goal of winning another Class 6A State championship last season, they did end the regular season with a 6-0 Region 3 record and finished with an impressive 27-4 overall mark.
Carter attacked the season with as much intensity as he ever has and that was impressive especially with the health scare with his heart he had to endure last summer.
Starkville went from relying on guards Harris and Tyson Carter to looking for players like Jesse Little, Darrious Agnew and Markedric Bell in the post.
Greg Carter’s ability to adapt to the personnel provided to him and still come up a 27-win season was one of the reasons we selected him Starkville Daily News Boys High School Coach of the Year.
It’s a pleasure to watch Carter work court side and the Jackets should be proud to have him.
With the announcement of the All-Area High School Basketball teams over the last couple of weeks, it officially puts an end to the 2016-17 local basketball season. It took a little longer than normal to reveal the teams because of the run the Mississippi State women’s basketball team had.
It was certainly an interesting season with what coach Vic Schaefer’s Bulldogs did, but also with the SHS Lady Jackets advancing all of the way to the Class 6A State championship game.
This was certainly a season for the girls to shine.
Starkville Academy’s programs also finished with winning seasons with the boys claiming the Class AAA, District 2 championship once again. Bruce Allsup always does a good job coaching his squads.
There shouldn’t be a huge talent drop off for any of the teams in the area so expect basketball to be strong once again around here next season.
Danny P. Smith is sports editor and columnist for the Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Daily News or its staff.