You’ve got to give him credit. Ben Breeden is going about things in ways that a lot of public school coaches won’t. One year ago, Central Virginia was going to get a rare treat – a premier public school program taking on a premier private school. The highly anticipated matchup between Madison County and Blue Ridge never happened, but that was Mother Nature’s fault during last year’s snowpocolypse. The Mountaineers went on to a Group A Division 1 title while the Barons came up just short in their VISAA Division 1 championship run.
The Mountaineers graduated all five of their starters and a sizable portion of its bench last year, but Breeden doesn’t want his team to go into hiding. Perhaps for this current team, it was even more important to connect with one of the more talented private schools. This past spring the second year Madison coach reached out to a nearby school in Woodberry Forest.
“I like where this idea can go,” Breeden said. “We’re all interested, whether that means practices, games or pick-up games.”
While Madison’s interest in playing the private schools stretches back deeper into last year, getting Woodberry involved happened just shortly after the Mountaineers’ state coronation.
“Ben and I got talking just after the season ended,” said Tigers coach Joel Justus. “We came out for a spring jamboree they had and it was great. We were talking afterwards and we both thought it would just be great to establish some relationship between our two schools.”
The Tigers are technically located in Madison County, although they are closer to the town of Orange and Orange County high school. While Justus is working on playing with the Hornets, he and Breeden reached an understanding first.
“This is something we’d like to do with other schools, Orange and Culpeper too,” Justus said. “We want to play a role, establish a name in the local basketball community.”
That’s no easy task. Like it or not, private schools are the big white elephant in the room when it comes to the vast majority of public schools. The perception amongst some coaches and fans of the public basketball community is that the private schools are out to recruit players. With athletes often moving between the public and private sectors, it’s not a completely ungrounded concern, but to his credit, Breeden doesn’t care.
“Listen, if it happens it happens – you can’t control that or worry about that and I’m not concerned about it,” Breeden said. “We’re going to keep moving forward with this. We’re going to make this a good relationship.”
That Breeden was willing to play Blue Ridge last year is testament to his cause as he looks to build on what was the best possible first year at the helm at Madison – an unbeaten run to a state title. And that he’s pitting his young team against a talented private school like the Tigers last Friday shows that the Mountaineers’ basketball program is all too serious about making last season’s run another notch in the belt.
“You’re playing a talented team when you play Woodberry,” Breeden said. “The games that matter are played in our district and during the playoffs, so that’s when we need to be our best. I think this game (against the Tigers) is really important to getting us ready for that.”
For the Tigers, the chance to play Madison is an opportunity to create a more localized brand and improve basketball on the whole in this area. Justus is dead set on establishing his team as a top program within Central Virginia, not just on a state level. He wants his team to play the best that Central Virginia has to offer. He sees potential in the public schools nearby and thinks that all can prosper.
“We’ve got good players and we want to play against good players,” Justus said. “If we can branch out into the community, I think it’s going to benefit everyone, and most especially the players. That’s how everyone gets better.”
It’s refreshing to see two coaches come to this agreement when there isn’t always the warmest of relationships between publics and privates.
What Woodberry and Madison County are showing is that there can be a happy medium. The Tigers are happy to be playing close to home against a team that has established a name for itself as a major player, even if they are currently rebuilding. Probably most importantly, the Mountaineers are sending a message to their Bull-Run District counterparts and the Jefferson District teams they play every year that they mean business, and seasons like the ’08-’09 and ’09-’10 campaigns can be expected again.
At the end of the day, Breeden and Justus are setting a solid example of putting the players first before the coaches. They could have just scheduled respective public and private opponents way out of the area. But they didn’t, and it looks like, in the long run, basketball in Central Virginia is the winner.
Boys Top Five
1. Blue Ridge (16-0) — After a bit of a break, the Barons got back to what they’ve been doing all season. There’s word that the Barons could get a date with Oak Hill later this month, and that team will benefit from that matchup no matter what the outcome.
2. Fluvanna County (19-1) — The Flucos just narrowly missed a chance to play in the Region II Division 3 tournament last year, but that won’t be a problem this year if they beat William Monroe on Tuesday – Fluvanna would officialy wrap up the Jefferson District regular season title.
3. Albemarle (13-7) — Home and away split for the Patriots. A solid win against Colonial Forge sets up senior night with Riverbend. Then Albemarle gets another crack at the Eagles to close out the regular season.
4. Charlottesville (13-5) — Just like they did before, the Black Knights bounce back from a district defeat with a winning streak. Charlottesville has the second seed in the JD tournament locked up and looks poised for a third meeting with Fluvanna.
5. Buckingham (11-4) — The Knights jump back into the top five as winners of three straight. Buckingham can’t catch Amelia in the James River standings, but they’ve got second place sewn up. Can the Knights make it to their fourth straight Region B tourney?
Lurking — Miller (10-9), Fork Union (5-3), Orange County (14-6), William Monroe (12-9),
Girls Top Five
1. St. Anne’s-Belfield (15-1) — This week can’t end soon enough. Just two games stand between the Saints, the postseason and the official pursuit of an elusive state title. Expect them to take it out on St. Catherine’s and Collegiate to end the regular season.
2. Miller (13-4) — Huge week for the Mavericks. Beating Western Albemarle without Ashley Bowles is a testament to this team’s depth. But Miller has four of its next six games on the road. Getting the leading scorer back would be critical.
3. Western Albemarle (17-4) — The Warriors have been great all year, especially on defense. But the loss against Miller showed that there’s still room for improvement, most especially on offense.
4. William Monroe (17-3) — The Dragons may be on the fast track to another collision with Western Albemarle in the JD final, but they’ve got some business to take care of before they can make that happen.
5. Charlottesville (14-5) — Only two games stand between the Black Knights and another shot at Monroe — Louisa in the regular season and whomever they match up against, most likely Monticello or Orange, in the JD quarters.
Lurking — Covenant (9-9)
