By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Carter Weakley
Mike Moore expected to be on the sideline of the Tipton-Rosemark Academy Rebel Basketball team in 2016-17. Actually he made plans to be there for a while after experiencing success in the Memphis area at Ridgeway and Cordova. “Like I was telling everybody else, when I came here I expected to be the assistant coach for the next 10 years,” Moore said. “I did not expect to be the head coach. So this is unexpected is the best way to explain it.” After the departure of David Hunt, Moore stepped up to lead the Rebel program and bring his veteran head coaching experience to a youthful squad. “We lost about 5 or 6 seniors,” he noted. “And they all played well. We’ve got a transfer in with Dylan Mundt. And getting Carter Weakley last year in the middle of the season was huge. Last game of the year we played Harding and he had 27 against Harding. When you have a point guard, you have a chance.” With the athletic Weakley in the backcourt, Moore figured he needed some post threats. So the newly crowned leader of Rebel Hoops started looking around the campus. “I’ve recruited a young man out of the hall in Wesley Deathrage,” he recalled. “I couldn’t get him to play last year. He played football this year for the first time and he’s going to play basketball. He’s going to help us inside. “I had a freshman this year who played on the eighth grade team who is 6’3,” Moore continued. “Jay, he has some growing to do. His dad is about 6’8.” Now Moore is incorporating the Rebel Football players into the mix after their playoff run. “When I get them back, we’re not going to have very much time to practice and get ready,” Moore noted. “When I was the head coach at Cordova, I would start off slow and try to make it where we were playing our best ball in January and February. That would work out and I hope we can do that here.” Moore said the new-look Rebels will have a different scheme on the court in 2016-17. “With it being my first year, I am going to run my own system,” he said. “All the players are going to learn and everything is going to be new to them. We’ve got to do that. And then once we do all the learning process, then we can start to take off.” Moore said as his players make the transition and adjust, he wants to see effort and daily improvements. “If we can play hard and don’t quit, even when there are a couple of times we’re not playing so well,” he said. “Maybe we’re playing a team that is better than us. Or they’ve been with their coach for several years.
“Or they know their system better than we know mind in November,” Moore concluded. “If the kids will keep their heads up and play hard and realize what the ultimate goal is which is February, we’ll do well.”
