No. 1 Findlay Prep Begins High School Hoops Title Defense

When a team finishes a season 33-0 and wins the High School Basketball National Championship, the bar can be set no higher.

As a new season began on Friday, Nov. 13, there was a buzz of anticipation, nervousness, and excitement in the air at the Henderson International Gymnasium.

This was the first test for a team that enters the season as the preseason No. 1 team in the nation according to many high school basketball publications, most notably the ESPNU National Poll.

However, this is not the same Findlay Prep team of last year.

There are still three senior returning players left from last year's squad, but the rest are all new faces. These new faces, and the mix of senior veteran leaders, will be counted on to lead this team to the promise land again.

Top 30 prospect point guard Corey Joseph, top 15 prospect power forward/center Tristan Thompson, and "Mr. Do Anything and Everything" forward Godwin Okonji will be relied on heavily to lead this team in the right direction again.

Game one of the season went as planned on Friday night, as the seniors and the newbies meshed together just enough to provide the Findlay Prep Pilots with a 137-95 victory over visiting National Prep of California.

It was business as usual for this Findlay Prep team, as there was no pre-game championship banner ceremony, or any sense of complacency that often settles in with a team coming into a new season off of a championship. No, it was the same jump on you early and often attitude that the Pilots displayed numerous times last season.

If you want to get nit-picky, the defense was not up to par yet, allowing 95 points to a National Prep team that, quite honestly, was average at best.

On the flip side, Findlay Prep set a school record for most points in a game with 137.

It was just the first game of a long and grueling 35-40 game schedule that has the Las Vegas, NV squad facing some of the best high school basketball teams in the nation over 10 different states.

While the journey promises to be a long and unpredictable one, a mainstay for the Findlay Prep Pilots is the consistent play of senior point guard, Corey Joseph.

Joseph, who has nearly every imaginable top-flight college program after his services, started the season with a silky smooth, under-control-at-all-times performance. The 6'3" Joseph netted 28 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds, and four steals to put a major stamp on the opener.

Most importantly, for a point guard who is in charge of this new entourage of players coming together, Joseph committed zero turnovers.

Not only did Joseph show up for leadership duty, but so did his summer AAU teammate Tristan Thompson. Playing all summer together for Team Canada's Grassroots Elite program, Joseph and Thompson are no strangers to each other and they know what it takes to win.

Thompson duplicated his point guard's effort with a 22-point, 10-rebound performance, as his 6'10", 240-pound frame proved to be too much for an undersized National Prep team.

The 6'8" Godwin Okonji also imposed his will and size on the interior, chipping in with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

This type of senior leadership was key throughout the night, as it seemingly helped the new faces relax and settle in and make contributions of their own.

Newcomers Nick Johnson and Jabari Brown are quite possibly the key pieces in the puzzle to staking their claim to a repeat championship. However, they have some huge shoes to fill.

They replace All-American guards Avery Bradley and D.J. Richardson, who are now starring for the Texas Longhorns and the Fighting Illini of Illinois, respectively.

Both Johnson and Brown had a solid debut, with Brown dropping 26 points and Johnson adding 21 points to stave off the memories of Bradley and Richardson for at least one night.

Replacing high calibre players like Bradley and Richardson is nearly impossible, but this West Coast tandem seems to be up to the challenge. Brown showed the poise and pure stroke that reminded some of Avery Bradley, while Johnson showed the flashiness and explosiveness of both Bradley and Richardson.

Johnson broke out a 360 dunk on a breakaway, a put-back dunk off of a missed three-pointer, and ended the night with an exclamation mark with a reverse cock-back dunk off of a slick pass on a two-on-one fast break.

Overall, the night was a success, and just a small step towards the ultimate goal of defending the crown.

A continued improvement in the defense and the maturation process of the newcomers ultimately may prove to be the difference for the season.

Stay tuned; it's going to be a wild ride!