“The winning on the football field, I believe will always transition to the basketball court,” said McCullough, who also got a late start last season when Springfield reached the state semifinals in football. “The energy these football guys bring and the knowing how to win will definitely transfer to the basketball floor. I was joking the other day that it was going to be football on hardwood and they busted out laughing.”
The basketball team finally started practice on Dec. 6, just three days after the Springfield football team played in the Division I state championship game.
“It’s been fun, but we’ve had our ups-and-downs,” McCullough said. “We’ve got a bunch of bumps and bruises. It’s a different type of muscle you work when it comes from football to basketball. We’re just trying to work out the kinks and get the basketball legs back instead of the football legs.”
The Wildcats were forced to reschedule several games. Springfield will open its season tonight in Greater Western Ohio Conference action at Springboro.
The Wildcats graduated three seniors, including Josh Tolliver, the 2021 Clark County Mr. Basketball who averaged 16.5 points per game last season.
They return six varsity players --seniors Micha Johnson (9.3 points per game), Eddie Muhammad (8.5 ppg, 2.0 steals per game), Vasean Washington and Harvard football commit Delian Bradley, junior Tyron Barnes and sophomore Aaron Scott. Sophomore Duncan Bradley will also play key minutes.
“We’ll play hard, we’ll get after and we’ll press,” McCullough said. “We’ll play full-court man-to-man quite a bit. They’ve been doing a pretty good job at it in practice the last few days, but they get tired pretty quick. Once they get in shape, it’ll have an uptempo feel and we’ll pressure the ball the full length of the court for sure.”
The GWOC will be one of the toughest big school basketball conferences in the state this winter. Centerville returns several key players from last year’s state championship squad. Miamisburg and Wayne both advanced to the D-I districts last season. Northmont also has a new head coach in Darnell Hoskins, who previously coached at Springfield, Thurgood Marshall and Middletown.
“There’s never an easy night,” McCullough said.
After McCullough was hired last year, the Wildcats weren’t able to participate in summer workouts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a year under his belt, the late start will go a lot smoother this time around as the players are familiar with his style, he said.
“The minute they walked into the court (last week) it was a bunch of handshakes and hugs,” McCullough said. “I followed them throughout the football tournament. Even though they were playing football, they’re still my guys when it comes to basketball.”
They’ll open the season with three straight road games. The first home game is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 27, against Fairmont.
“I haven’t lost any sleep because I’ve got a bunch of winners from the football team that are playing basketball,” McCullough said.
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